Sorry I took a while updating this. I got distracted by one-shots. And real life. Who needs that, I ask you?

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It was already 10 o'clock in the morning when I reached home. Of course I straightaway went to my room, setting up my laptop and checking out the videos and pictures that I took of the eclipse. Since Ryan has set up his website, I only had to convert the format of the files to fit into his program, and soon, our videos and pictures will be online for the world to see.

Nothing makes me happier than sharing knowledge and getting feedbacks from others. And I had a feeling that soon, Ryan's website will get tons of hits from people who are interested in solar eclipses. It will be interesting to see if other places were affected as much as we were.

About an hour later Dad walked into the room, asking if I wanted to follow him to buy some food at the supermarket. Sometimes I followed to help him, since no one else ever did. Jake would be either working or sleeping, Brad would be in his room or out with his friends, and Suze…well, she has her own things to do. Things that do not involve scientific matters, and which I stay away from.

"Sure dad. I'll just log off the Net in a second," I said, clicking off the screens. After all the files had been downloaded and all the pictures uploaded, all we had to do was wait for feedbacks.

"Okay. I'll wait for you in the car," he said, closing the door as he went.

It's not a big deal for him to cook for us, but I know some of my friends thought it was weird that my dad cooked. I didn't see the problem with that. Although traditionally women are viewed as the gender that takes care of domestic chores, but as we reached the 21st century, the line set for gender roles have blurred. It's no longer so strange to see a working woman and a man taking care of the household chores in a family.

Of course, mom takes care of the chores too, only that today she was reporting on the eclipse so she couldn't prepare our lunch. But I think all of us are used to – and prefer - Dad's cooking anyway.

As I closed my bedroom door on my way downstairs, I heard Suze talking in her room. I would assume that she was on the phone, except for the fact that at that very moment, Brad walked out of his room, the cordless phone cradled to his chin, nodding his head as he went down without even looking at me.

And since I know Dad would mention if Adam and Cee Cee came over for a visit, it was obvious that Suze was entertaining a different kind of guest. I quickly walked down the stairs. I would prefer to stay away from things I didn't know. Although I was a little curious as to how she was able to communicate with the dead the way no one else could, I just need to remind myself of that age-old proverb, "curiosity kills the cat." And I wasn't that curious to find out about her abilities that I would go so far as to kill myself.

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I pushed the shopping cart as my dad looked at the groceries.

I was not too good with food, but sometimes dad would show me the different types of vegetables and recommend the better brands of canned goods. It's one of the reasons why I like going shopping with him, the fact that I learn a lot from him. You can never have too much knowledge.

As we stopped in the dairy products aisle, I saw a man walking out of the employees' backroom in a hurry. He looked angry. He was wearing an apron with the supermarket's name emblazoned across the front and carrying a large box, most probably containing food products. He stormed over to a cart a few aisles away from us, and slammed down the box on top of the cart.

A few shoppers glanced over to see the source of the noise, but he was completely oblivious to them. He swiped back his dark hair from his face, muttering under his breath as he opened the box. Taking out handfuls of bags of what looked like flour, he tossed them carelessly onto the shelf. He didn't even bother to put them properly.

I knew I was staring, but I couldn't help it. My mind was moving fast, thinking of various reasons why he was acting the way he did. The man looked young,possibly in his twenties, but he didn't look healthy. He was very skinny and had a haggard look on his face. It was not the face of someone you would trust working in your store, but I guess the supermarket just took whomever they could. It's not like many people were dying to get jobs at supermarkets in a small town nowadays.

"David," Dad suddenly called out. I started from my stupor, turning around to look at him. I felt my face flushing, and was sure that Dad would reprimand me for rudely staring at that man.

"Yeah, dad?"

He held out two packets of cheese. "Sliced or spread?"

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Half an hour later I was helping Dad set up the table for lunch. We're just having some grilled sandwiches for lunch because he said that we're going to have a big dinner. But he wouldn't say what he was planning. I didn't care, as long as they tasted good.

"Can you call down Brad and Suze? They should know it's lunchtime by now," said Dad as he carried a bottle of mayo to the table.

"What about mom?" I knew Jake couldn't come home for lunch as he was working extra shifts during weekends to save money for his Camaro.

"She'll be back in the evening for dinner. It's just us for lunch, kiddo," he grinned.

I hated when he called me that. Just because I was the youngest didn't mean I was a kid. My intelligence actually surpassed some of those older than me. But I didn't say anything. Gloating is an action only done by those with inferior self-esteem who feels the need to put down others in order to feel good about themselves. An action I deemed to be unnecessary.

I put down the last plate on the table and walked up the stairs. As I got nearer to the landing, music from Brad's room became louder. When I finally reached in front of his room, the noise was deafening. How could he stand to listen to a noise as loud as this? I must inform him that our eardrums are very delicate and anything louder than the average noise can cause them to burst and affect our hearing, possibly even make us deaf. And I don't think Brad wanted to be deaf.

I banged on his door. Twice. Thrice. On the third time, I used both my fists to pound on his door, and shouted, "Brad! Lunch!"

The music stopped and I heard him shout, "I heard you, dweeb! I'll come down when I'm ready!" Then the music started again, but the volume was lower.

Well, he better not take a long time getting ready because Dad hated it when people arrives late during meal times. He says that almost everyday, which is quite unfortunate for us who were already seating at the table and had to listen to his speech about the importance of punctuality while we wait for the offending latecomer.

Then I walked across the hall to Suze's room, which thankfully, was quiet. I knocked on her door and waited a few seconds before she said, "Come in."

Since I didn't usually go into her room unless I absolutely needed to, I opened her door and poked my head in. She was sitting on her bed, reading a magazine.

"Hey Suze, dad call us to…" I didn't finish my sentence. Not because I didn't want to, but because I couldn't. I just saw something I couldn't believe.

There was a guy sitting on Suze's window seat.

I stared at him, puzzled. Then I looked at Suze. She was looking at me expectantly; waiting for me to finish whatever it was I was saying. She didn't seem upset or troubled by the presence of a guy in her bedroom.

My thoughts were incapable of processing what I was seeing. Was Suze…sneaking a guy into her room? If so, how come she didn't try to hide him from me?

"David?" Suze said slowly, raising her eyebrows. I knew that I was staring at her but there was nothing I could do. Save from asking her the truth. So that's what I did.

"Suze, may I talk to you for a moment?" I kept my eyes on her, not looking at the guy. True, he was reading a book and looked harmless, but he was a stranger. And Suze should know better than to let a guy enter her bedroom without informing Mom and Dad.

She looked confused, then I noticed that she glanced at the guy, but without making it look obvious. And now he was looking at me. I panicked, and hurried out to the hallway.

"What's up?" Suze asked, closing her door behind her as she stepped out of her room.

I swallowed, not sure if I was doing the right thing. After all, it wasn't any of my business who she invited to her room. But I didn't want her to get into trouble either.

"Who is that guy in your room?" I whispered. I had no idea why I whispered, but suddenly I was afraid he might hear our conversation. Although why I was afraid I had no idea too.

Suze looked startled, her green eyes wide. "Wh- what guy?"

"The guy that was sitting on your window seat. The one who was reading," I whispered back.

Now she was plainly staring at me in shock, her mouth opening as she tried to say something but nothing came out. Finally, she managed to utter in a very low voice, "You can see him?"

I frowned. What was she talking about? "Of course I could see him. And I don't mean to intrude in your life, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to bring a potential romantic interest to your room without your Mom or even Dad's knowledge. I won't say anything to them, but if Jake or Brad found out, I wouldn't doubt that they will tell them about him. And also –"

"Wait, wait, wait," she cut me off, looking breathless all of a sudden. "You can see him. I don't understand."

"What's not to understand?" I looked at her as she paced in front of me, then stopped abruptly and turned towards me again.

"Don't you know who that is?" She asked me urgently, her eyes searching mine.

I slowly shook my head. How was I supposed to know who her friends are? Other than Cee Cee Webbs and Adam McTavish, both of whom I've spoken to.

Suze took a deep breath and spoke slowly, as if she was afraid that I would not understand. "That guy…is Jesse. Remember? We've spoken about him before. But we called him Hector De Silva instead."

I stared at her. "Hector De Silva? As in the man who died in this house back in the 1800s? But why would…"

No. That is impossible.

"He's the ghost that's haunting my room," Suze finished, her face reflecting a mixture of emotions; wonder, amazement, surprise and even a little fear.If she was looking like that, I couldn't imagine what my face must have looked like.

How do you react to knowing that you have suddenly acquired the ability to see ghosts?