Sugarcane and Indigo

When Ghost Speak

Indigo Byrd had been running for the last two weeks when a ghost appeared in his passenger seat.

Violet Byrd sat staring straight out of windshield for long tense moments before she finally spoke, scaring the crap out of her brother.

"You know," she stated, "I liked you better when you were a fat kid; you did less running."

Indigo jerked the steering wheel causing the car to sharply veer, his heart pounding with fright. "Violet! You scared the crap out of me!"

Violet didn't respond, just turned in her seat to look at the Arizonan scenery as it passed by.

"Where have you been?" Indigo demanded, "I haven't seen you in weeks!"

Violet flipped back around to glance at her brother, "I've been around. Why are you running?"

Indigo didn't say anything causing Violet to cross her arms over her chest.

"God, you're such a baby!"

Indigo snorted, "You're literally a child, Vi."

"And yet you're the one running away!"

Indigo growled. "You wouldn't get it. You're dead."

"Oh, playing the dead card? Real mature, Indigo."

"Well, you are!"

"Why are you running?" Violet asked again.

Indigo squeezed the bridge of his nose like he had a headache coming on and pulled the car off to the shoulder of the road. "Look, Vi, I died two weeks ago. I died!"

Violet raised an eyebrow unimpressed. "What? Do you want a cookie or something?"

Indigo scowled and turned away from her to look out the window. "Shut up, Vi. It's traumatic."

"Ooohh, busting out the big words aren't we? So, you died - get over it!"

Indigo rubbed his temples, he definitely had a headache now. "Look, can we not? Like, can we just not do this?"

Violet pouted, "Why are you running, Indigo? Just tell me."

Indigo shook his head, "I don't know! Okay? I don't know. Because I died? Because I trusted Lavender and she lied to me? Because magic apparently exists? Take your pick."

Violet snorted, "You're lying."

"Am not!"

"You're running away because you're a coward!"

Indigo glared at her but didn't say anything, causing Violet to let out a huff.

"Look, Indigo, you know I love you but this is what you do when things get hard - you run. You did this when we were a kid and you had a crush on Lavender, you did this when Dad told you to stop talking to me because I was dead, and you're doing this again now."

Indigo still didn't say anything, just looked away as a flicker of shame crossed his face.

Violet shuffled a little closer to him, her curly hair trailing across her face as if a non-existent breeze was floating through the car. "Do you know why I asked you to go back to Nowhere?"