I had barely gotten off the phone with Michelle when Anthony and Lilli both demanded to know who it was that had called me.
"One of my friends from back home, why?" I interrogated.
"You had starry eyes when you looked at the caller I.D." Lilli giggled. Anthony laughed along with her.
"Psh, no I didn't." I blushed, giving myself away. Smooth, Matt, really smooth.
"Aww look Tony his face is getting red!" Lilli pinned Anthony with the nickname I've never heard him called before.
"Tony? Why didn't you have me call you Tony at the gas station?" I wondered.
"I prefer Anthony." He said firmly, making eye contact with Lilli.
Before Lilli could argue back, the doorbell rang. Anthony ran ahead and Lilli and I trailed behind him. It was the electric company.
"Just letting you know that the power will be shut off in two hours until tomorrow morning, we're doing some repairs." The man in the dark blue uniform explained. I noticed the grease stains on his front pockets and the bit of lettuce stuck between his teeth.
"Great, that's just what we need. To be here in the dark..." Anthony trailed off.
"It wouldn't be as dark if you would take those black light-blockers off the windows." The man at the door said, trying to be helpful. Lilli shot the man a look of approval. Wait... will the man notice that Lilli is a ghost in this early morning light?
The man tipped his hat and walked off with the tool kit he had set on the front step of the house.
"Excuse me, sir!" I ran swiftly out the door towards his truck. I needed to get my stuff from my car anyway. He turned and saw me jogging toward him. "You have a bit of lettuce stuck in your teeth, just thought you ought to know." I smiled politely (or what I thought was politely) at the man as he stopped in front of the battered door of his truck to look at his reflection in the side mirror.
I turned and walked back towards my car to drag my suitcase in and charge my dying phone. Yanking the suitcase out of the trunk and glancing at my hockey gear, a sense of guilt washed through me. I was letting my team down by running away from the reality: I had killed one of our teammates, if indirectly and accidentally.
The wheels of the suitcase struggled across the gravel driveway. Lugging it past the graveyard I had seen last night from the upstairs window, I thought I caught a glimpse of something behind the yard in the trees.
"Just your imagination." I muttered to myself, when a cold hand suddenly landed lightly on my shoulder. I stiffened, ready to use my suitcase as a weapon.
"Geezus, Matt. It's just me." Anthony grumbled as I turned around, nearly smacking his head with my own.
"Sorry, I just thought I saw something over there behind the graveyard." I pointed into the trees where I had seen the thing, whatever it was, and Anthony just shrugged.
"Who knows, it could have been a bear. C'mon, let's get back to the house." Lilli was standing in the doorway, holding a pan of scrambled eggs.
"Might as well eat these before the power in the fridge goes out." She handed me the pan and a fork. "We ate all the bacon already."
I grabbed the fork and started shoving eggs into my mouth. It seemed like it had been forever since the last time I ate.
Lilli walked into the kitchen where she was rewarded with sun rays piercing right through her transparent body. She sighed, brushing her hair back behind her shoulders and trying to get the sun to warm her pale face.
"It seems like it's been forever." She stated, puffing her bangs up with a breath of air.
"Since what, eh?" I inquired with a mouth full of the delicious eggs she made. Just the right amount of salt.
"Since I've felt the sunlight." She stated simply, drawing in the dust on the window sill.
"Oh, I see. I live in Northern Idaho so our winters get pretty rough but it's a great place to live in the summer. At least, I think so." Anthony came in and heated up some water in the microwave.
"It rained so much before I died. I think that's part of the reason why I was so depressed that year." Lilli was looking out the window, deep in thought.
"A very small part, I hope." Anthony murmured, as he took out his cup of hot water and poured some Swiss Miss hot chocolate into it.
"I suppose it was a very small part, but a part just the same." Lilli sighed, examining her fingernails as if it made any difference what they look like when she is dead.
"Do you have any idea the impact you've had on all of us?" Anthony suddenly demanded, slamming his cup of hot chocolate on the counter so it sloshed over the sides. Lilli looked at him, startled like a deer in the headlights.
"I-I can't say that I do." Lilli apologized, wiping up the spilled drink with a paper towel.
"Your death? It tore everyone apart." Anthony told her, pushing his fists into the counter so that his shoulders hunched up. "I have been... stumbling through life these past years, without my cousin, my best friend Lilli, to accompany me through it."
"I d-don't know what to say." Lilli stammered, frightened of Anthony's piercing, steely gaze.
I felt like an intruder, but as soon as I made for the door Anthony put out his hand, telling me to stay. I obliged, quietly setting the pan for the eggs in the sink.
Anthony continued his stare-down with Lilli.
"I'm so sorry, Tony." Lilli made to hug him but stopped short as she realized she was transparent and could not be tangibly felt.
"I just wanted to help you, Lilli." Anthony sounded like he was going to cry. Personally, I had had enough of this (And, for all you readers, I'm starting to have enough of this too. What about you? -Megan) and just wanted them to get everything off their chest so maybe I could go home to my friends and family before the next frost. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be back before labor day.
