Afterlife

Chapter 2

"Trust"

Her eyes fluttered open. The first thing that Max saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. Not able to think for a moment she closed her eyes again while groaning as she felt a slight pain to her head. With that in mind, that means that she was stressed out to the point where she fainted. Memories suddenly rushed to her which made her snap her eyes wide open. Taking a huge deep breath, she sat up slowly and looked around. She was laying on a couch in the living room that she walked by earlier when she was giving herself a tour of the house. Now that Max was wide awake, she noticed something odd about the lighting in the house. She realized that it was brighter than it was earlier because the lights are on.

Guess mom and dad got the electricity running.

"Damn, this place is brighter than I remember." Said a voice behind her.

Slightly startled, Max saw the ghost girl again leaning on the wall rubbing her eyes from the light. Max paused. This whole situation was odd. The fact that it was already weird when she first met the girl made it much more weirder when she realized that the ghost was bothered by the light itself... Actually Max doesn't even know what's running through her head anymore and just sighed heavily while looking at her.

"What happened?"

The other girl noticed that she was now awake and floated up in the air in a lying position with her hand behind her head. She tilted her head slightly to face Max.

"You fainted, I caught you, I brought you here on the couch, the electricity is back on and now you're awake." She said casually.

Max rubbed her head. There was a lot to take in.

"Okay… So what's your name? It's not fair that you know mine and I don't know yours."

The ghost girl rose an eyebrow and spun around now floating on her stomach looking at her in amusement. Part of Max was jealous that she can float around but the other part of her was still freaked out and still couldn't believe what she's seeing.

"Not my fault you talked to yourself in third person for a few moments earlier."

Max had a faint blush on her cheek from embarrassment, "S-shut up! I was freaked out okay? You just don't meet a ghost out of nowhere…" She grumbled.

The ghost looked at the side deep in thought seemingly bothered by something then looked back to Max with a serious face.

"If I tell you my name, will you help me?"

Max was a bit taken back then frowned. Memories about ghosts ran through her head. She had read books of ghosts before and that they sometimes ask help from the living to release them from being bounded on earth. Then there was also a fact where a ghost will trick a person into pitying them and then take over their body as soon as they got close with the ghost for a second chance on living. Helping this ghost, or any ghosts seemed sketchy to Max.

Max looked at her cautiously, "You do know that I can ask my parents who previously lived here right?"

The ghost girl pouted making Max think she had the upper hand until she once again grinned and floated towards the window with her arms crossed.

"I have two names hippie, let's see you find out which one is my real name."

Max bit her lip. This gorgeous ghost girl is playing tricks on her and messing with her brain. Okay she is very curious on what her name is but would she risk her soul just for a name? Max stared at her for a good long time until she noticed that another pair of piercing blue eyes was looking back at her with a knowing smile on the owner's face.

"Damn Max, I only caught you once and you're already falling for me."

Feeling hot and uncomfortable Max looked away quickly. She needed to change the subject.

"How long have you been like this?"

The ghost hummed to herself and started counting with her fingers. A few seconds went by as Max watched her fiddle with her long slender fingers. She didn't even realize that her companion already replied until she repeated herself a bit louder to get Max's attention.

"I said, I've been dead for a decade now which means that I've been on earth for 28 years including my human life."

The girl said it as if it was nothing to her but Max suddenly felt queasy. Reality smacked her in the face making her remember where ghosts came from. They were people who once lived and was either murdered or had died from diseases or natural cause. Ghost's who still linger in one place are bonded to stay until they find peace by getting revenge or finishing their objective before dying. Max knows there are more things to know about ghosts but her focus was about the actual ghost in front of her.

Max tensed up on the couch and hesitated to ask the question which the other girl noticed.

"I probably know what you're gonna ask but, " she said in forced amusement, "you should tell me first or I'll make a fool of myself."

A moment of awkward silence went by until Max finally spoke.

"How...did you die?"

A grave look went upon the ghosts face and the lights around them flickered scaring Max deeply. Her heart pounded in her chest fearing of what's going to happen. The air around her suddenly went cold making her shiver and gulp loudly. Maybe that wasn't the question she was expecting me to ask?

The ghost looked at her with a menacing look, increasing the heavy thudding of her heart. Max was so sure that her heartbeat could be heard throughout the house. The cold blue empty eyes of the ghost suddenly disappeared and was replaced by regret. Sighing she floated onto another couch and layed down with her hands behind her head.

"I can feel your heart resonating around the room… Sorry about that. My ghost powers or whatever are still unstable."

Max mentally noted about the ghost power part and loosened her muscles a bit while rubbing her right arm with her left hand.

"No, I uh, I shouldn't have asked that…sorry."

The ghost girl fixed her beanie and smiled at Max then hummed to herself while looking at her wrist.

"How about this. I've been looking for my bracelet for a good long time now. So if you're truly sorry, go find it. Call it a mini easter egg hunt yeah?"

Max's face scrunched up. It seems like she needed to do a lot of things for this ghost. She crossed her arms and looked at her challengingly.

"And if I don't?"

The ghost smiled sweetly at Max and shrugged at her while tilting her head to the side.

"This house will probably be filled by your screams every single night."

Max shuddered a bit. She almost forgot that it was a ghost that she's talking to. Something that may kill her any moment. She sighed in defeat not wanting to ruin any chances.

"Okay okay, fine. Why am I doing this," She grumbled, "What does your bracelet look like?"

She heard the other girl chuckling.

"It's black and has silver spikes pointing out throughout the whole thing."

Max pictured the bracelet. It seemed easy enough to find something like that without missing it somewhere. However where should she start looking though?

"So, it's somewhere here at the house right?"

The girl nodded.

"Okay, where did you last saw it or something?"

"In my room."

"Upstairs. In the attic?"

"Yep."

Thinking of where to find it was tiring her out. Max scratched the back of her neck while sighing heavily. She is still feeling exhausted and everything that's going on at the moment wasn't helping. Where's mom and dad anyways? As if realizing something Max quickly stood up.

"Wait a second. How am I supposed to explain your presence here to my parents?"

Before the other girl could reply, the front door opened with her parents rushing in with the loud sounds of their conversation.

"Oh honey, I already planned to meet with my old friends! This is so wonderful."

"Yes I know. You hav've telling me that in the car."

"Sorry, just excited to be back."

"You aren't the only one."

There was a sound of kissing going on and Max groaned. She walked towards Chloe and told her to hide in rushed whisper.

"What are you doing?! Hide! Go!"

The ghost girl rolled her eyes and flew up the ceiling right before her parents came in the living room.

"Oh Maxine, sorry we were out for so long. How is the house? Pretty neat right?" Asked her dad.

Max nodded forcing a small smile.

"Yeah… It really is cool. I looked around and there we're some pretty interesting rooms." Like the one where I met a ghost.

"Speaking of rooms," Her mom said, "Our furniture and other things will be arriving soon." She then squealed. Max remembered her mom back in Seattle talking animatedly about what she would do here in Arcadia Bay. She had so many plans planned out already making Max and her dad go crazy. Yet that's something that Max loves about her mom.

"Hey mom? Who previously lived her?"

Her dad somehow wandered out the room leaving them both to their conversation. Vanessa brought a finger to her chin.

"It was actually from an old friend of mine, Joyce Price with her husband William."

Max smiled.

Bingo.

"I saw their family pictures down the hall. What's the name of their daughter?"

"Curious Max huh? Well her name is Elizabeth. She was such a darling. She used to give us coffee and snacks when she was very young every time we visited here." Her mom's eye was suddenly filled with tears.

"It's… really painful that she's no longer here. Her parents were so heartbroken. She was their only daughter, their sunshine their little princess."

Max suddenly felt horrible. She only wanted to know the ghosts name but this was becoming a heavier topic than she expected.

"Mom, how did she...die?"

Her mom looked up and smiled sadly at Max.

"She went missing Max," She said softly,"They never found her body. One day she was searching for her missing best friend, Rachel, until she too just… disappeared. Until to this day, I still think she found her best friend and that they're living in California just like how they planned when they were little. Her mom however just… gave up."

"Gave up? Why?"

"After a month Elizabeth disappeared, her father William got into a car accident. He didn't make it. Joyce was still recovering from her daughter's disappearance then William too left her. She couldn't bare anything anymore. It was very painful. Then after the funeral, we had to leave for Seattle. We already made plans and we couldn't postpone it any longer. It was her darkest days. I should've been with her yet I left. I still can't forgive myself for leaving her behind."

Looking away Max noticed something blue float by behind her mom and into the wall. Max held her breath. So she knows my parents… does that mean she knew me when I was little before? Wait that means she won't harm any of us right?

"Honey! Our furniture is here!"

Vanessa wiped her eyes and walked out after telling Max that she can relax for a while leaving her alone in the living room. Or so she thought.

"She looks old now."

Max jumped as the voice came right behind her. Spinning around, Elizabeth was there smiling at her with amusement.

"Hm. You're very jumpy."

"Shut it!" Gulping down the heavy topic with her mom, Max crossed her arms.

"So Elizabeth? I'll be honest I wasn't expecting you to have… a girlish name."

Elizabeth snickered.

"Well I also didn't expect them to name you Max either. If you had a shorter hair cut, I might've mistaken you for a boy who hasn't reached puberty."

Max turned bright red and went up towards the girl who was fortunately standing on the floor. However, that didn't really make any difference since she was still taller than Max but the latter tried to puff her chest out to show authority.

"It's a shortcut for Maxine! And I'm 17!"

The other girl was obviously entertained by Max's outburst and ruffled her hair. As she made contact with her, Max felt a pleasant chill go down from her head and throughout her whole body. Elizabeth too stopped when she felt something warm go through her. The warmth of being alive.

They both looked at each other suddenly not knowing what to do. Max felt oddly warm even though she felt goosebumps all over her. Her breath hitched to a stop savouring this moment without meaning to and they just stood there. As they looked at each other in the eye, Max noticed that her blue eyes were solid. It wasn't transparent. She looked solid, as if she were alive. Reaching up out of curiosity, she cupped the ghosts cheek. The contact sent more warmth in Elizabeth's whole being.

"I can...touch you."

"Y-yeah…"

"You're surprisingly soft."

"...yeah…"

Max rubbed her thumb against her cheek and that seemed to snap her out of her daydream. Turning red, Max took a step back and coughed awkwardly trying to hide her embarrassment.

"S-sorry. Uhm…"

After her hand left her face, Elizabeth felt cold. Colder than she was before. She didn't get it. She knew she felt something odd when carrying Max earlier but this time the feeling was much more intense. She missed the warmth of the living.

Max looked up and saw a confused crestfallen face of Elizabeth looking at her. Did I do something weird? Well, no duh Max you practically groped her face!

"I'm so-"

"Maxine! Help me carry these boxes for a bit!" Her father's voice startles them both and Max turned around to see him slightly struggling with a gigantic box in his arms.

"I'll be there in a sec."

She looked back at the ghost girl but she was gone. Max looked around trying to find her and sighed while looking at the hand that touched her face.

~LiS~

Apparently, her parents couldn't see her even when she drove Max crazy by making faces behind and in front of their faces. Max tried her hardest to maintain her composure but her parents saw a bits of panic flashing on her face. They asked what was wrong and Max had to come up with an excuse. After that, they were almost halfway done with moving their furnitures and belongings when her parents asked her which room she wanted to have. Max was thinking of her choices and completely forgot about the ghost that resides in the house. She stood there thinking about wanting a big wall to hang her photos. The large room of the attic bedroom flashed through her head but crossed that out since she did not want to sleep there at all.

"Well I guess I can take the one at the second fl-" Max paused, "Actually, I'll take the one in the attic."

She blinked.

Huh? Wait what?

Her mom had a confused expression on her face while her dad frowned.

"The attic? Isn't it a bit more dustier up there? Are you sure you want to sleep there?" asked Ryan.

Max nodded enthusiastically, "Hella yes! It looks great and I already cleaned most of it earlier when I came here."

W-what's going on!? And since when did I ever say hella before?

Her mom thought deeply and nodded, "I suppose. Elizabeth's stuff is still up there… Well as long as the bed and it's surroundings is clean then go ahead. You can finish cleaning tomorrow but we have to get rid of her stuff too if you want. Joyce left everything to us in this house.."

Max shook her head,"Nah. It looks cool. Seems like she had a hella awesome taste and I like it."

What the fuck? I'm not controlling my body!

Her parents looked at her seeming to find something odd going on but shrugged it off.

"Well… if you say so."

Max walked away from them and into an empty room. She felt a chilling wind go through her making her slump to the ground. She saw Elizabeth appear in front of her floating and laughing hysterically.

"W-what the… what the…?"

"I am not...sorry...Holy shit that was awesome." Elizabeth said in broken laughter.

Max turned white and stared at her.

"You...possessed me?"

"Damn that was so weird! Everything looked so tall. God damn Max I didn't think you were that short!"

Max could only scream at her in embarrassment and anger.

~LiS~

Groaning heavily, she laid down on the soft mattress with the owner laughing at her. Max sat up glaring at the laughing ghost with rage and threw a pillow at her which just flew through her. The action made the other girl laugh harder.

"I can't believe you! You just don't go in someone's body without their permission! As a matter of fact, don't even go in someone's body in the first place!"

"Oh come one Maxine, you were taking too long to pick a room so I just made things easier for you."

"Well because of you, I'm sleeping in dead girls room! And it's Max, never maxine." She grumbled.

The blue haired ghost stuck her tongue at her and disappeared down the floor. Max let out a noise of frustration as she slumped back onto the bed, Elizabeth's bed. She curled up against the pillow and noticed that it had a nice smell of mint with a mix of nature to it. It was something she cannot describe but it was pleasant. The scent almost made her forget the raging fire inside her from Elizabeth's action of possessing her in front of her parents.

She still couldn't believe what just happened. She didn't even feel anything go in her to feel that a ghost is possessing her until too late. Looking around the room she did notice that it was cleaner than before. Her head pounded in agony trying to think about ghosts and their powers. All she knows is that this one can definitely go through walls, possess people, becoming solid and touch things including people, and surprisingly clean up things. It wasn't as dusty like it was before earlier in the morning. Most of the clothes and other objects were moved to the side and were hidden in boxes or on top of the dresser. The bed too felt like it was recently washed.

Ghosts have weird powers or something...

Max laid on her back. The light of a small lamp illuminated the room with including the light of the moon going through the only huge window in the attic.

Biting her lip, she tried not to think too much about the whole thing. She didn't even believe in ghosts before until she actually met one. Mas has a lot of questions going through her mind.

"By the way…" Said a voice across the room. Max sat up and saw Elizabeth scratching the back of her neck nervously.

"I'm really sorry for what I did. Just… understand that I haven't talked to anyone in a very long time so I was really excited to have you guys here. When I saw your vehicle stop at the front, I thought of scaring you guys away until I recognized your parents. I was curious on what they were doing here until you got out of the car. I heard your conversation about moving her and I guess I don't really mind at all." She smiled a bit while looking at the floor. It also seemed like she wanted to say something else until she sighed and looked up grinning.

"It was a good thing I was curious about you or else I wouldn't have caught you staring at my photo for five minutes."

Max turned red.

"F-five minutes? You're lying!"

"Oh, you're right. It was ten minutes."

She continued to flush red and the blue haired ghost decided to continue.

"So yeah. Hope you can forgive what I did cause I was just too damn excited."

They stared at each other. One was nervous and the other overwhelmed.

"...I'll think about it. It's been a very crazy day and I think that my brain will work better tomorrow."

"Right right. The princess needs her beauty sleep."

"Shut up…"

Elizabeth just grinned and headed up to the roof. Max watched her float up but reached out towards her.

"Hey wait."

Elizabeth stopped halfway through the ceiling and came back down.

"Yeah?"

"Is your name actually Elizabeth?"

She floated towards Max a bit and tilted her head to the side and pretended to think hard.

"Hmm… Is it?"

Fatigue was starting to drag Max into deep sleep but her stubbornness tried to fight it.

"I have a feeling it isn't."

"You know what they say, always trust yer guts."

She rose an eyebrow at the floating girl. Another pang of pain rang through her head.

I don't like being teased… Maybe I should just accept the deal and help her? My parents knew her so she's probably not mean. I mean, she haven't really done anything to hurt me right?

Max tried to talk again but the other girl brought her finger to her own lips gesturing Max to stay quiet.

"Max, you've had a long crazy day and I truly am sorry for that so rest up okay?"

All she could do was nod slowly and watch the ghost girl smile then disappear. No longer feeling her presence in the room, Max felt lonely. In just a day, she already got used to her being around and now she felt alone. Even somewhat scared. She turned the lamp off and settled in the bed, under the blankets. Elizabeth's scent covered her entire body and soul that sleep overcame her quickly, releasing her from the chains of all of her worries.

Hours later Max slightly woke up as she felt Elizabeth's presence in the room. With half open eyelids, she saw her leaning against the window while looking out of it. The moon was shining through her but it left a inhumane glow in her transparent body. Some of the light from the moon bounced off her creating a glimmering light sparkling around her. Her blue hair seems to flow unnaturally around her neck. Max noticed that the black leather jacket she was wearing earlier is now gone. She was wearing a white loose tank top with an image of a skull in front. Glancing lower, she noticed her right arm was filled with a tattoo of something green and red. Max couldn't make out what it looks like from afar and sleepy eyes. Nonetheless, Max couldn't even think of what she is seeing and just captured the image of the gorgeous ghost girl in her mind. It was truly captivating.

Max was once again brought back to sleep missing the sad look on Elizabeth's face.

Sensing that the other girl had once again fallen asleep, she floated towards her in silence. Watching Max sleep sent a unknown feeling deep in her chest. She didn't understand. She was no longer alive yet she feels like she is whenever she's around Max. Especially when she touches her. She leaned in towards her ear moving a lock of her soft brown hair away, careful not to touch her and whispered softly.

"You were half right."

She brought something out from her pocket and laid the bracelet that she told Max to find earlier beside her pillow.

"My name is Chloe Elizabeth Price."