A/N: This is a very long chapter. Wrote it in a spur-of-the-moment feeling, hasn't been revised yet. It's pretty pathetic in some parts, but I think it's somewhat cute. If you're old enough to read the Mediator books, you're old enough to read this. The only things I own are the idea for this story, the writing for this story, and the character 'Xander' in this story. Happy reading!
I paced and paced until a firm pair of hands caught my shoulders. I look up to see the love of my life – Jesse – looking down at me with those eyes of his. Those eyes were the ones that convinced me to do this, that face. I was doing this for his sake. And whenever I did something for Jesse in the past, it always turned out well, right? Wrong!
I'm not normally a nail-biter. Or a teeth-grinder. Or one of those people who bites their bottom lip with their teeth. No, I'm not normally any of those. But then again, I'm not normal at all, am I? It was being abnormal that led me to doing these habits that were not normal to me. It was my mediating.
"Querida, it will be fine." Jesse gave me an encouraging smile. Despite the fact that my boyfriend is holding me, smiling at me, and possibly even leaning down to kiss me, I'm still unbelievably tense. I'm jumpy, too, bobbing up and down with nerves that are trying desperately to be calmed by Jesse. As I leaned up to kiss him (or kiss him back, depending on his intentions) my jumpiness collided with his face and probably bruised him.
"Sorry sorry sorry!" I said sincerely. I didn't mean to hurt him. After all, I love Jesse, and I love him in the real way, not the hormonal teenager's way. I know, it's a pretty sappy thing for a 'tough' girl like me to say, but it was true. And it wasn't just the fact that he'd saved my life enough to really bruise my self-defensive ego. It was also just him and his charming, traditional, ancient ways. He was just so...lovable.
I suppose I should start from the beginning. Well, it's more like the middle. The beginning is the part about how Jesse and me fell in love, but I suppose you already know that. The middle begins on the day that matters; Jesse's birthday.
"Happy Birthday!" I said.
"What? It's not my birthday." Jesse responded, though he still accepted his birthday kiss.
"It is now! I figured since, well, you don't really have a recorded birthday, I thought you deserved one." I threw him an embarrassed smile. Jesse, being born as a farmer's boy in the 1800s, wasn't born at a hospital. Chances are, his birthday was written down somewhere but lost in they years to come. He remembered small birthday celebrations, but couldn't remember the day. So, I made up a new day. May 7th, aka today.
I had done a lot to make Jesse's 'birthday' special. I had worn a summer dress (shocking, I know!). A 'dainty' one, as Jesse had put it. I had made a reservation at a fancy-schmancy Spanish restaurant. I had even gotten him a lame little birthday hat.
"C'mon! Today's your day. We'll do whatever you want to do. Absolutely anything. Your decision." I knew that giving him 'anything' would have been bound to backfire in the wrong way for most girls, but Jesse was, erm, traditional is a way to put it. He wouldn't dare dream of us doing stuff like that. So, I took my chances.
"Anything?" Jesse questioned.
"Anything." I said.
"Hm...Well, I know you like violence."
"This isn't about what I like, Jesse! It's about you!"
"Well, in that case. How about we go for a ride? We could go out for a meal." he suggested.
"Save that for later. I've already made reservations at the cheesiest restaurant in town. Espana de Siglo. I know you like that place." Without intending to, I let out a giggle. Perhaps it was the anticipation of how great our day would be, or perhaps it was realizing just how well I knew my boyfriend.
"How about we go to the beach? Get some ice cream?" Jesse smiled at the thought of an old-fashioned date; simple ice-cream, casual walks along the ocean, romantic sunsets. As much as it pains me to admit it, doing something like that with Jesse would be awesome. I knew he liked it too, so I hastily agreed.
The date had gone well, a bit of talking, a bit of making out, a bit of romantics. The dinner had gone well, too. It was afterwards, on my doorstep, when things went awry. Jesse was giving me a kiss goodnight, even though he knew he would be there the next day and was there so often he practically lived at my place. After the kiss, he asked me one more question.
"Could I have just one more itty-bitty little thing from you?" Jesse had been cautious with his question, but for some reason I didn't take this as an ominous warning.
"Anything." I said, carefree.
"Must it happen today?"
"I suppose not, so long as you ask for it today..."
"To be honest, it's two things. One after the other. The second thing's a surprise." Jesse was stalling, but I still didn't notice.
"Okay...So, what's the first thing?" I asked, just a tad suspicious.
"Well...Could you tell them?" he finally got the question out. I knew what he was talking about without an explanation. It was a topic long argued between us and Father Dom. Telling my family the truth.
I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. They would send me to a psychologist, or send me to a research facility, or do something, anything. And something and anything was absolutely not what I needed. And yet, I had to. I don't break promises, especially not to Jesse. I learned that lesson the hard way.
Doc was out on a computer camp thing for the weekend of Jesse's sort-of-not-really-a-birthday-birthday, which is why I couldn't tell them then. Then the next weekend came, which just so happens to be today, bringing us back to the present.
"I can't do it. They won't listen." I mumble.
"Shhhhh, Susannah. They will. It will be alright." Jesse whispers into my hair. Then the phone rings. I quickly rush down the stairs, desperate for a distraction. Just my luck, it was someone calling to make sure I wasn't distracted. Who else? Father Dom.
"Hello, I'm just calling to talk with Susannah about her little mediator-" Father Dom said.
"Shhh! What are you doing, saying that without even knowing who answered the other end?" Then I remember; it won't matter who was on the other end, if I tell them. Which is exactly what he's calling about.
"I see. So, I take that as a no, you haven't told them?"
"Well...No. Not yet..." I mumble. I hear footsteps, Mom walking into the kitchen where I'm on the phone. Great. This is just perfect. Not!
"Is that your mother I hear, with the groceries?" Father D. asks.
"N-no..."
"Susannah! You must tell her!" Father D.'s about to go on one of his lectures, so I hand the phone to Jesse, now standing behind me. I turn away to face my mother.
"Mom?" I ask.
"Yes, sweetie?" She's busy with the groceries. I go over to help her with them. Jesse just gives me a disappointed but encouraging look.
"Uhm, Mom, I wanted to talk to you..."
"About what, sweetheart?" Mom's now concerned. She glances over at Jesse with an accusatory stare.
"Well, I kind of need to talk to the whole family." That changed her focus from Jesse to me.
"Andy! C'mere! Get the kids!" She calls, before saying to me, "About what, dear?"
Andy, Jake, Brad, and David come lazily into the room.
"What now? Has she been arrested again?" Brad complained.
"Brad!" Mom chided.
"Well...I have something to tell you guys." I looked back at Jesse, who was still standing there, receiver in hand, and saw him nod and giving me the courage to continue speaking. I looked at Andy and knew what he was thinking – something about pregnancy, drugs, alcohol, or (on a very slim chance) marriage.
"I have a...confession to make." Everyone was confused. I cleared my throat and went over to sit at the kitchen table. "When I was six, my Dad died. You all know that." Mom was now being sympathetic and and patting my back from the chair she sat in beside me.
"Well...Everyone said he was gone. Gone forever." They all nodded. I could tell that Dopey was actually taking this seriously, and Sleepy found this interesting enough to stay awake. "But...he wasn't."
At that point, Mom and Andy, I could tell, were prepared to start talking about teenage instability and traumas and stuff, but I quickly put them to a stop with more of my story. "Not for me, at least. For me, he was always there."
"He'll always have a place in your heart, Suze, and I don't want you to think I'm going to replace-" Andy started.
"No, no. Not in my heart. Like, he was actually there. His ghost was, at least."
"That's it, she's lost it, I'm outta here." Brad got up and left. Andy yelled at him something about getting his butt back here and listening. I just fiddled with the tablecloth, averting my eyes from everyone. I took a deep breath before beginning again.
"You see...I'm a...I'm a mediator."
"You're a what?" Sleepy asked.
"A-a mediator. It's...it's a little confusing." I said.
"Well, then, make it less confusing. 'Cause all I'm hearing right now is the meaningless ramblings of a mental patient." Brad said. This caused everyone, including me, to stare at Brad in complete shock. It was pretty pathetic that Brad's use of a big word was more surprising than my seeing ghosts.
"Uhm...a mediator is sort of like this person...who can see...stuff."
"Ghosts." A voice from behind us cut in. I'd forgotten Jesse was standing there. He stepped out of the shadows as though he were a character in a cliché horror-movie scene.
"Yeah...what he said."
"...Are you telling us that you see ghosts?" Doc asked. He had seen ghosts before, but not the kind I see. Mom and Andy traded worried looks. It made me feel as though I had brain damage or something. But whatever.
"Yeah. And...and I help them onto the other side."
Awkward silence.
"And what exactly is...the 'other side'?" David asked, obviously in the interest of science.
"I-I've never actually seen it. Just the path to it. And its guard." I mumbled.
"And why should we believe you?" Brad asked.
"Yeah. Not to be mean or anything, but it is pretty outrageous." Jake followed.
"I've seen it." Again, with the cliché movie scene, Jesse? Haven't we had enough of this?
Awkward silence followed. Mom got up, suggesting something about discussing this another time, but Andy got her to sit back down. Good old Andy, not the kind to procrastinate, of course.
"...Okay. It's obvious that Suze is thinking...something. This is perfectly natural. All we need to do...is get...a psychologist to check her out." Andy was very cautious about the whole thing, trying desperately not to hurt my feelings as he shot a pleading look to Mom.
"But, I'm telling the truth! I have seen ghosts!" I said. My feelings weren't hurt, necessarily, but my opinion was ridiculed, and that called for defense.
"I'm...I'm sure you think you saw them, but..."
"But nothing. Susannah is telling the truth." Jesse interrupted.
"Jesse, If...if you don't mind, could you please give us a little privacy?"
"If you wish for proof, I have Father Dominic on the phone." Jesse held the phone out to Andy, offering it.
"Yeah, Father Dom knows!" I said, only now remembering this fact. Tiny noises came from the phone receiver, so with a sigh, Andy took the phone from Jesse's hand.
"Hello?" Andy said. "Yes, that's-that's what she told us...Abnormal? You think this qualifies as only abnormal? This is downright outrageous! To hear my very own step-daughter say..." Mom ushered Andy out of the room before I could hear anything else that I wasn't supposed to. Doc then ran off somewhere. This left me with Jake, Jesse, and Brad. To my surprise, Brad chose this time to start laughing.
"What? What's so funny?" I asked, honestly concerned.
"To think that you actually believe that you, of all people, can see ghosts. It just – Ha!" Dopey laughed as he spoke. When he caught on that no one else was laughing, he shut up. For better or for worse, we are left with silence in the room now. Jesse comes over and sits in the chair next to me, the chair Mom had just left. After a few moments, Sleepy decides to break the silence.
"What're you after?" he asks.
"...What do you mean?" I respond.
"You. This whole...delusional act. It's obviously an act, the question is – why?"
"It is not an act. It's something I've lived with my whole life." I responded hotly.
"Sure it isn't. Don't worry, I won't tell. Just tell me what could possibly be more important than your parents' trust in your mental health. 'Cause it's got to be something."
I didn't respond. Brad kept on opening and closing his mouth, as though he had something to say, but I guess he finally learned a little bit of common sense since he decided that this was not the time to bring it up. Doc just walked back in, a huge stack of books in hand. I assume that they're about ghosts and other stuff. But whatever they were about, he still stuck his nose in and read. That's when Xander showed up.
Xander is a little boy who died after running away from bullies and ran into the middle of the road. Sad, but true. He's been following me around for a while, trying to do his best to learn all of the 'cool ghostly powers' and get back at the mean kids who bullied him. Every time I try to tell him that I don't know any of them, the powers or the kids, he decides that I'm still the most likely to run into those of us who do. So here he is, back again. I suppose the fact that both Jesse and I looked at the exact same place at the exact same time, then looked at each other, then looked back to that place where there just so happened to be nothing, went up on Dopey's suspicion radar.
"What're you looking at?" Dopey asks.
"A ghost." I reply.
"Yeah, right." Sarcasm doesn't sound good coming from Dopey.
"Yes, exactly right. His name's Xander."
"No, it isn't. Your act's not working so give it up. And besides, Xander is a stupid name. What kind of kid gets named Xander?"
Xander started fuming, an enraged look on his face. Then he stood still, closed his eyes, and concentrated. Just like how my mirror shook when Jesse got mad, the stuff in the kitchen shook when Xander got mad.
"Whoa..." Doc said. Of course, Doc believed me. He'd seen a ghost before, not the way I've seen one, but he had known that something was there. And, of course, Doc knew that all of the shaking was caused by a ghost. It was just logical, because of his proof of ghosts, our topic of ghosts, and my saying that there was a ghost in the room.
"You think a tiny little earthquake is gonna convince us? We live in California, duh." Dopey said obnoxiously. When I didn't respond, awkward silence followed. Then, Dopey started to stand up. Oh, wait, he's not standing up. He's...he's floating! I turn to Xander, and a triumphant smile lights up his face. I snickered a little when Dopey started screaming like a little girl. He's now floating all the way up to the ceiling. I didn't know a ten-year-old ghost could have so much power! I guess this just shows why not to get in the way of a determined dead kid. I glance over at Sleepy, who is going back and forth giving Dopey and me WTH looks. Doc's calmly sitting there, waving his hand below Dopey to check that he's actually floating, that there aren't any ropes or anything. Dopey's annoying screams finally drag Mom and Andy back into the room. Andy drops the phone, Father Dom's voice now speaking to the floor and trying to figure out what's going on. Father Dom will probably hang up soon. Mom rushes over to help Dopey down, but she can't. Jesse, Xander, and I are just standing there, calmly snickering.
"That's what you get for trying to insult a dead guy." I say in between giggles.
"Get him down from here, right this instant Susannah!" Mom yells at me, a mixture of confusion and anger.
"Hey, I didn't do anything! Dop-er, I mean, Brad is the one who said that Xander is a stupid name." I defend. "You'll have to apologize to Xander, Brad. Oh, but wait, that would mean believing me. Do you believe me?"
"No!" Of course, Dopey, in the worst possible situation would still say that he's right and his attacker is wrong. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
"Well, then, I suppose you'll have to stay there until Xander calms down. Doesn't look like he'll calm down anytime soon, though, considering he's a hormonal pre-teen without a life." Mom glared at me, an expression that told me even though I wasn't in control of the problem, I was making it worse. So I stopped teasing him.
"Xander, put the boy down." Jesse commands. With a stubborn but defeated look on his face, he let go of Dopey. If ghosts didn't know anything, they at least knew not to mess with Jesse. Dopey dropped to the floor.
"Ow...You b*tch! I don't know how you did that, but when I figure it out, I'll-" Dopey whines.
"I would think that you don't call your sister that name, Brad." Jesse says.
"What're you doing here, anyhow? I bet she just brought you along 'cause she wanted you to see me tormented, huh? Well, lemme tell you one thing, I-"
"Brad, that's enough." Apparently, Andy's temporary paralysis had come to an end. "Suze, I think you have some explaining to do."
"Yeah...I guess I do. Where should I start?" I said.
"How about from the beginning?" Mom said.
"Well...okay."
"A ghost is...a ghost. Usually, when someone dies, they just...move on to wherever they're supposed to go. But sometimes, well, they need a little push. They have something holding them back, and it's a mediator's job to find out what that is, and...fix it. D'you get it?" I asked, a little embarassed.
"I guess. So...does that make you a mediator?" Andy asked.
"Sort of. A mediator can only see, touch, and speak to ghosts. I'm...well, I'm something else. I'm more than a mediator, I guess. I can see ghosts, speak to them, touch them, and...I can go places."
"What sort of places?" Mom asked, obviously a little worried. Well, she'd be relieved when she found out that at least the places I go to aren't drinking parties and crack-houses.
"Um...I can go to...where the ghosts go. Not the whole heaven or hell thing, but...the gate, I guess you'd call it. And, I can travel through time..." The last bit I said was barely a whisper.
"What'd you say?" Dopey asked with a glare.
"Um...how about some coffee? Coffee, anyone?" Changing the subject was the best solution, I decided.
"Susannah..." Jesse warned. Instead, he got up to make the coffee. With an exasperated sigh, I continued.
"And-I-can-time-travel!" I said it in one breath to just get it over with. Dopey, Andy, Sleepy, and Mom all did a spit-take with the coffee they had just gotten.
"You can what? Oh, nevermind...Just continue with your story." Sleepy said.
"Okay. It all started...when Dad died. He went for a run, he had a heart attack, and...he came back. I thought you guys were lying to me, saying Dad was gone, when he was so obviously standing right next to you, laughing and talking. When a ghost passes through normal people, they would just feel a shiver, nothing else. You guys probably had no idea, but Dad stayed with me for about ten or twelve years before he moved on, a few months ago. He would always pop in at exactly the wrong time." I smiled at the thought.
"Now, Suze, like I said before, I don't want to replace your father." Andy said.
"I know that. And...you didn't. I understood when you guys married, and I didn't mind. Dad's the one who needed a little help. He...well, he wanted Mom to move on, but he wanted to make sure she were in good care. It took a lot of convincing before he finally agreed not to follow you on your honeymoon." The couple's faces turned bright red at the thought. "But...I guess you passed the test because Dad left you alone."
"Then I moved here. I thought I was done with ghosts, that they would stop bothering me now that they didn't know where I lived. Wishful thinking, of course. I had forgotten that people die in California, too. The first ghost I ran into here was...Jesse." My mom and step-dad nearly did another spit-take, but gulped it down first.
"Jesse as in...Jesse?" Mom shot an astonished look at my boyfriend.
"Jesse as in...Jesse." I admitted. Jesse looked pretty bashful, but he gave a little nod to show that I was referring to him.
"Are you saying...that your boyfriend is...dead?" Dopey said.
"Um...sort of. But...I'll get to that later. Anyways, Jesse was sitting on the windowsill of my room. He'd died, I think, 18-something?"
"1850." Jesse corrects me.
"Um...yeah. 1850. Anyhow, he had been living in my room ever since then. I told him to get out. He refused. Something about how this was his home before mine. So...I let him stay, but made sure I wasn't spied on while I was changing or whatever . As if Jesse would do that. So...I ended up with a roommate. Then, I started school. Father Dom...he was a mediator, too. He helped me and explained it to me. I guess he's kind of like my mentor."
"There was this complete b*tch who'd died and was a bit too clingy to her boyfriend, Bryan. She was dead, and wanted her boyfriend to be dead with her. That's why all that bad stuff happened to Bryan, and why he changed schools. It got so bad that I finally had to exorcise her. Like, when you use candles and blood and stuff to get rid of an 'evil being'? I wasn't sure it would work...but it did. She wouldn't go down without a fight, though...and she kind of...maybe...might've...knocked down the school." Astonished looks passed over everyone's faces.
"And then there was that time when that lady came in...screaming her head off. She just popped into my room at, like, 2 a.m. and started screeching her eyes out. She told me to pass on a message to Red. Apparently, my mediating skills weren't at their best that night, because Jesse started scolding me about not even asking her name. Jesse's like my conscience, I guess, and that's why I let him stay. Anyways, I ended up interviewing Mr. Beaumont, who is sometimes called 'Red'. That's how I started dating Tad. For many reasons, Father Dom thought Mr. Beaumont was a vampire. I mean, if ghosts exist, who's to say that vampires don't? It ended...badly. With fire and electrocution and pencil-stabbing. Not good. That's when Jesse saved me the first time. It turned out that Mr. Beaumont wasn't the psycho, though, it was his brother. And then I realized that I'd made a big mistake." I looked to Doc for permission, because this next part had to do with him. "The lady...she was your mom."
"She...she wanted me to tell David something. Um...She wanted me to say that it wasn't his fault. That he didn't kill her. So...that's what I did." Jake patted David's back in an attempt to condole him. "Um...the next big ghost thing was during the summer, when I went to that hotel for a job. I ran into a kid named Jack there. Turns out, he was a mediator. And...so was his brother." I'm not sure why I'm telling them every little detail, but for some reason I can't stop myself.
"Paul. He was more than a mediator, though. Like me, he was a 'shifter'. And, he was jealous." My brothers' expressions show that they clearly had no idea about Paul. "He asked me out, I rejected him, he's not used to being rejected, he got mad, and so on and so forth. But, I'll get to that later. Going in chronological order here, so next comes...the body in the backyard. I'm going to assume that you know who it is now...don't you?" The silence that followed didn't answer my question. With a sigh, I said, "No? Then I'll guess I'll have to tell you. In 1850, Jesse was engaged to a woman named Maria. Neither wanted to marry, since Jesse wanted to be a doctor and marrying her meant working on the ranch, and Maria was in love with a guy named Diego." I glanced over at Jesse to make sure I had my facts right.
"Well, Diego didn't want Maria to marry. So...he killed Jesse and buried his body in the backyard. In all the history books, it says Jesse ran away and left Maria at the alter. This meant he was a disgrace to his family, blah blah blah. Well, you also found the letters. That would disgrace Maria and Diego's family. Maria, being the self-righteous b*tch she is, held a knife to my throat and blackmailed me into not letting anyone know about her letters. She also put the bugs in your juice," I nodded to Dopey, "And killed the museum guy. Father Dom agreed to an exorcism, but stupid Slater had to exorcise Jesse instead. So, I went to the 'other side' to save him, Paul got in the way of us getting back, but we got back, Maria and Diego and Paul were all complete beyatches, and that's when we started to like each other." I was clearly referring to Jesse at that last part.
"EW, SKIP THE MUSHINESS!" Dopey screamed, plugging his ears. Everyone laughed, which loosened the tension a little, so I continued.
"Well, that's when Paul returned. He said he'd moved all the way here to see me. He said he wanted to show me some mediator stuff. He was the one who taught me that I could do more, like...time-travelling. I didn't fall for it, but it wasn't like Father Dom knew anything about this, so I went to Paul's grandfather's house. He...tried to rape me, but I got away and ran into Jake's friend, Neil. Me being a mediator and all, Craig wasn't far behind. Doing his annoying ghost thing, he took over the wheel and tried to kill us. Um, then, I think, Brad had his dumb party, before which he had blackmailed me so I wouldn't tattle-"
"Brad!" Mom accused. "No television for a week!"
"Hey, I thought we had gotten over the punishment for the party! C'mon, Mom!" The 'mom' made my mom stop short. Either way, I figured that now was not the time to let a fight occur, so I intervened with my story.
"Anyways, Brad said that he'd tell you that I was sneaking Jesse into my room each night if I told about the party. I hadn't snuck him in, though, and you guys had no evidence to prove my innocence, so I wasn't going to take my chances and get punished for something I didn't do. Especially since Jesse had left. So I planned to just have some reading time the night of the party. Um...Are you guys even listening to me?" I asked. Their faces were so still, I couldn't tell if my family was intently listening or completely asleep.
They said something along the lines of "Yeah, we're listening – go on." so I went on.
"Jesse visited to say goodbye that night. Then Paul came in. He said something that he knew would seriously piss off Jesse. How I had left my hair clip in his bed – even though I hadn't! I hadn't, I'd dropped it at school, I swear!" Quick to defend my innocence, of course. "Boys will be boys, and what do you know? They got into a fight. Rolling down the stairs, punching each other in the face, spitting insults and demands, the whole package. Except...no one could see Jesse. All they saw was Paul, punching himself, jumping in the air, rolling on the floor, and being thrown through a door, like he was on drugs or something. Jesse nearly drowned him in the hot tub, even. Craig – the dead guy who was upset because his brother, the geek, had survived and not him, the jock – decided to start drowning Neil, too." Brad and Jake looked at each other, finally figuring out what had gone down the night of their party.
"I tried everything to pull them apart, but with Jesse's ghost-strength and Paul's determination, it was pretty much impossible. So, I pulled them apart in a different way. I...took Paul to the other side. That would've been when I fainted." I said to Brad and Jake, since they were the only ones who would've seen me faint.
"I'm gonna skip over the whole punishing-Brad-and-Jake thing and jump to the next ghost thing. Time-travel."
"Is it really possible?" Doc asked, ever so curious.
"Listen, and maybe you'll find out." I said. "Okay, so, Paul was jealous. Again. He wanted to date me, I told him no, not after the last time when he tried to murder me, re-kill Jesse, and have a go at date-rape. So, he figured that Jesse was the one in the way, so if he got rid of him, we would end up together. He traveled back in time to make sure Jesse was never killed, but instead died a happy death from old age. Jesse went all romantic and told me he'd rather be dead and with me than alive and without me, so I followed Paul to put a stop to it. Paul basically kidnapped me and threw me in a burning barn where Jesse was supposed to be. The living Jesse, Hector de Silva, saved me. I decided that it was time to go home, but when I got back to the present, apparently Jesse had come back with me. I took him to the hospital and thought he was dead...again."
"Then, ghost Jesse came and met living Jesse and then woosh big transformation thingy and Jesse ends up a living human being. And a mediator. Ladies and gentlemen, you just heard the life story of the one and only Susannah Simon." I announced. "Can I go now?" I asked Jesse.
A chorus of 'whoa's followed, as well as a ton of questions. Mostly about whether it was true or not.
"Look, if you don't believe me, look it up. H-E-C-T-O-R D-E S-I-L-V-A. Tell me what you find." Doc rummaged through his pile of books until he found one on the 1850's.
"Here it is! Hector de Silva, page 57."
"Does this mean that the glass door doesn't come out of my allowance? 'Cause, it was technically Jesse's fault." Brad says. Seriously, after pouring out my life story, that's all he hast to say? 'Does it come out of my allowance?'! The idiot!
"Well... here it is. You want to see?" Doc held the book up for everyone to see the painting. The painting of Jesse, done in 1847. Being done only four years ago, (well, three years before his death and one year after his revival, with no change during the ghost time) the painting looked exactly like him. If you ignore the white fluffy shirt he's wearing in the painting.
"Oh, my-"
"That's-"
"Whoa."
"Hi." Jesse mumbled.
"You're-"
"And-"
"Wow."
"Yeah." I said. "So...any questions?"
A/N: If you got this far, I applaud you! Must've been a great challenge to read my 5,600 word chapter of awfulness. I left it hanging here because I want the questions to come from the readers. Write a review for a question to be asked by the family, and I'll put it in the next chapter. Thanks!