Ch 1
The young twenty-five-year-old blonde paced around the kitchen clock waiting for a phone call. She heard the phone ring and immediately rushed to pick it up. "Hello?" she asked desperately.
"Hey, it's Tori, I have a huge favour to ask."
A faint smile sat on the blonde's lips. "Tori, I've been worried sick. You said you'd be home from your tech. retreat by Tuesday." she huffed.
"I'm sorry." Tori grumbled with a hopeful tone that Chloe was overly familiar with.
"You think saying sorry will make me turn a blind eye?"
"Yeah. Something came up but I promise I'll be home tonight."
"Good." Chloe said triumphantly.
"And so will my brothers."
Chloe squinted her eyes and paused, a few beats of silence passed over the phone, "Your brothers?" Chloe repeated hesitantly.
"Apparently Dad decided that he couldn't live with his 'freeloaders' anymore so he kicked them out. Or so I'm told."
"Why with us? We barely have any room for them! Don't they have any other friends to take them in?"
"I'm all they have. Please?"
"We only have three bedrooms you know. Someone's gonna have to share."
"You're the best Chloe! I'll see you tonight." Tori said before hanging up abruptly.
A dull buzzing tone strung out of the phone and the blonde placed it back onto the hook.
Chloe picked her purse up and left her townhouse to shop for more groceries to accommodate for her extra guests.
If she remembered correctly, their names were Simon and Drake. She pondered again, perhaps Darren or Derek. She had only seen a family photo of the three siblings once and vaguely remembered Tori liking them very much.
As she walked towards the plaza she noticed a figure float towards her. She squinted and then a smile crept onto her lips. "Liz!" she exclaimed.
"Hey Chloe." the young ghost said as she waved.
"What brings you to the land of the living today?"
"Dunno, just bored. Can I follow you around for a bit."
"I don't mind at all."
The two walked and Liz went on about other people she had seen and visited. They had been apart for a month but when Liz was around she would help Chloe out and keep her company.
Off in the distance, Liz spotted another ghost. "I'll be right back."
"Go ahead." Chloe said in a muffled laugh. As her pace slowed , her eyes followed after Liz until she was suddenly shoved onto the ground. She groaned and peered up at the wall that hit her. Rubbing her forehead she focused on the figure like wall.
"Sorry." she squeaked.
A hand reached out for hers and she blindly took it. After patting herself off she looked at two tall young men in front of her.
"Sorry I wasn't watching where I was looking." she apologized. "Thanks for helping me up."
She turned to the man she had bumped into, "Are you okay?" she asked.
The tall man didn't answer. He was clearly irritated by her question.
Chloe shuffled away from him uncomfortably. She moved her hair behind her ears to look at the large man in the eyes as confidently as possible.
His brother sputtered a laugh, "He's fine, just grumpy."
"Oh." she replied softly, "I see."
"I'm Si-" he was cut off by the larger man who shook his head. "We're in a rush, sorry for the inconvenience."
His hair was black and slightly long; it covered his eyes. Chloe stared at the taller man and tried to position herself at an angle where she could see his face.
He turned away from her gaze and pulled the other man away from Chloe and stormed off.
Chloe tried not to laugh at the odd pair as she thought of them while she waited for Liz.
"What's with that smile?" Liz asked when she returned.
"I wasn't paying attention and carelessly bumped into someone."
Liz giggled, "That's so you. Be more careful!" she scolded.
Chloe and Liz ventured into the store and bought what was required. They reminisced about being in the same support group up until Liz was murdered.
Tori and Chloe had met during the investigation of Liz's murder. They had single-handedly found the killer alongside Liz in ghost form.
"That was where I first met Tori. She hated me." she said wistfully.
"What did you expect? Tori and I were best friends whereas we had just met a month before. She was super suspicious of you."
"At least we're all together now. Her brothers are in town too."
"Simon and Derek?"
"Derek!" she exclaimed happily, "That was his name. It was on the tip of my tongue."
"What are they doing here?"
"I'm not too sure. Tori said that Mr. Bae kicked the two of them out so they'll live with us for now."
"WOW. I wonder what made him blow his top. He loves his kids."
"I've never met the man, to be honest."
"Well I've only met him onc-" Liz stopped mid sentence.
"Liz?"
Chloe desperately reached out for the blonde now staring off into the distance.
"Liz?" Chloe called again but Liz didn't seem to notice.
Her expression was plagued with horror. "Liz, what's wrong?" she said with uneasiness.
"Liz, what's wrong?" Chloe asked with uneasiness.
"He's gonna jump." she whispered.
Chloe quickly threw her eyes up to the direction Liz was looking in.
"Oh my God. Liz use your powers and keep him in place." she ordered.
Chloe bolted into the building and ran up the stairwell until she reached the top. She was glad Tori had been dragging her to the gym for the last year.
The man at the edge of the building had stopped atop completely still.
"It is-" she paused, "a ghost?"
"He's not." Liz insisted as she floated beside Chloe.
Chloe slowly approached him. "Hey, step back from the edge. It's dangerous!" she cried out. He turned to look at her and she found his face familiar.
She continued to step forward until she reached the railing.
"Come back over the railing." she told him. He glared at her. "Please." she begged.
"It's none of your business whether I jump or not." he growled.
She resisted the urge to cower but couldn't help shaking. "Don't jump." she pleaded; her voice nearly breaking.
"What do you expect me to do? Listen to your stereotypical life lessons and hear the same old stupid spiel? No thanks."
"Fine." she huffed.
She carefully climbed over the railing and stood on the edge beside him.
"Are you crazy!" he yelled.
"Probably." she mumbled.
Liz flew in front of Chloe. "Oh God, Chloe. Please be careful."
"Your life is important."
"It's meaningless. It's better this way."
"What's your name?" she asked the young bulky man.
"Shut up. Do you have a death wish?" He picked her up and put her back over the railing.
"WOAH." she said as she admired how easily he picked her up. He didn't want to hurt her at least. Her expression grew softer knowing that he was at least compassionate.
She climbed back over.
He groaned.
"Leave me alone. Let me die in peace."
"No way. If you don't step back over, I'm gonna stay right here." she stomped her foot to make her point but lost her balance and slipped.
She yelped as she felt herself fall and a large hand grabbed her arm.
His breath hitched. He put her back over the railing and this time he stepped over as well and sat on the ground in shock.
"Sorry, that must have scared you." she said guiltily.
"Well of course it did. Here I am trying to kill myself and this girl comes along and kills herself instead." he grumbled.
"Thank you for saving me." she said timidly.
"I didn't do it on purpose. Anyone would have reached for you."
"You could have jumped with me I suppose."
"Very funny."
"So why were going to jump in the first place?"
"Bud out."
"Please, if you were going to jump there is certainly a reason and I'll listen. I won't tell a single soul. I SWEAR." she said as she as she placed her hand over her heart.
He wouldn't budge.
"How about I tell you a huge secret and I'll trade you. Deal?" she said as she held out her hand.
He swatted it away, "I don't need your pity."
"It's not pity."
"Then what is it? How do you expect me to trust you? You nearly died why aren't you at least in shock?"
"I've been on that edge too you know."
"A beautiful girl like you?" he mocked.
She felt heat rise in her cheeks. She took a deep breath in, "I'm a necromancer. I talk to ghosts. In fact, I can raise them from the dead too with simple concentration. When I first started out I couldn't always tell ghost from human apart in public. I looked crazy, the people in this city all think I'm schizo and I've honestly gotten used to it."
He looked at her skeptically.
"I can prove it. If you ask me something like what colour that-" she pointed at something incredibly far away, "is I could get her to look at it and tell me. We can confirm it."
Liz sat in front of Chloe, "That won't be necessary. I can prove it, I know him."
"You know him?" Chloe said slowly.
"Derek Souza."
"Derek?"
He turned to look at Chloe and furrowed his brow.
"Yeah, Simon and Tori's brother. I was in the same school as him back in elementary." Liz explained.
Chloe gasped. She quickly spun to look at him.
"You believe me then?" she asked.
"Maybe." he told her.
"Liz says you're Simon Bae and Victoria Enright's big brother. Derek Souza."
"Liz? What's her full name?"
"Elizabeth Delaney. Blonde. Taller than me. Best friends with Tori before she passed away."
He nodded knowingly.
"You know Tori's a witch so I'm sure you believe I'm a necromancer. You can trust me. I'm a friend of Tori's."
Now he seemed even more determined not to tell her.
Chloe mentally cursed herself knowing that being a friend of Tori's wasn't always a compliment. She began pouting. "I know what she's like. I live with her. I wouldn't tell her. Never ever. Tell me what's wrong."
"No one has ever really talked to me like you have."
"Like what?" she asked as she crawled to inch her way to face him.
"Nicely. Almost like you care. My brother and my dad are very similar to you."
"I do care. I wanna help. I almost took my life once. People looked at me like I was a freak and these ghosts drove me crazy! But Liz guided me through it and so did Tori. I want to help you like they helped me. Please let me help."
Derek looked at her pleading blue eyes. "Simon and I were in a gang fight and-"
"Are you injured?" Her hand brushed against his arm as she narrowed her eyes with concern.
"I'm fine. But they weren't. I kinda have super strength and I didn't fully hold back when they hurt Simon. Simon and I got off scott free of charges since the gang that attacked us were notorious offenders but not everyone in the neighbourhood agreed. They were hazing Simon, Dad and I. I didn't mind it but it got to Simon and Dad so I said I'd leave and Simon followed me."
"So Tori's story about you guys being freeloaders is a lie?"
"Naw, that's just what Simon told her."
"So why kill yourself?"
"I always mess up. It's always my fault that Simon and Dad have to suffer. I guess I'm just not thinking." he paused for a few moments, "You know, I hurt those guys so badly that they're in critical condition. I couldn't control myself, couldn't hold back, and look how many people I drag down with me. The worst part is, this isn't even the first time."
Chloe got up onto her knees and hugged him. She nuzzled her face into the side of his neck and whispered reassuring words to soothe him.
"You did it to protect your family Derek. You and your brother are going to be living with us so I'll listen to any of your worries from now on." she said with a smile.
"Can you let go now?" he asked her.
"Sorry." she said with a blush creeping over her cheeks.
She released him and stood. Chloe held her hand out and he suprisingly took it.
She smiled at him again and awkwardly asked, "Would you mind holding some of the groceries?"
Chloe held them out and he took them all.