After a year of delays and emotional rollercoaster, the last chapter is here! I feel sad about letting this go, but like someone said, Doc has grown up and ready to face the world on his own now.

So goodbye Doc.

Thank you to all my readers and my reviewers, especially those who had stayed with me from the first chapter until now. My gratitude for you has no bounds.

Loves, Aina

How did it feel like?

I grinned when I saw Ryan's question, and quickly typed back my answer.

It felt… unbelievable.

Once Suze and I had walked out of Pezzini Farm Fresh Produce, we were escorted to the ambulance where we were wrapped with blankets and immediately checked over by the paramedics. I was shaking slightly from the cold, but Suze had it worse, her nose was red and she could barely move her fingers.

After we were given some hot chocolates, I felt better, and Suze started complaining about the guy who had fixed the bomb to her so I guess she felt better too.

There was a swarm of reporters just outside the police barriers, shouting questions towards us and towards the Chief of Police. He ignored them as he took some statements from the guy who had taken the store hostage, handcuffed and subdued in the backseat of one of the police cars. The suspect didn't look like he wanted to talk though, but when he saw some policeman carry the vest with the liquid bomb in it, his eyes widened and he started to thrash around and shouted obscenities towards the people in general.

The Police Chief wrote down some stuff, paying no attention to the guy's behavior before he slammed the car door shut and the police officer in the car drove off, the criminal exiting the scene amidst intense photographing by the reporters.

One of the reporters made her way towards us, managing to break through the police barrier after she told them "that's my kids!" and Suze's mom finally stood in front of us, her face pale. She hugged us, rapidly talking about how she never imagined that we could be involved and how lucky we were to survive. She insisted that we go to the hospital for checkup, but Suze flatly refused to go and I had no opinion one way or the other. It was until the one of the paramedic had said that we were fine that she finally stopped talking about going to the hospital.

Before we left, the Police Chief came to me and started to ask questions about what had happened, with Suze's mom's permission – even though she was really reluctant to agree at first.

But I wanted to talk, because I knew that witness's statements are the strongest evidence to be used in court. So I told him what happened, which was that I snuck into the meat locker after Suze was brought in, and I figured out that it was a liquid bomb and took the vest off after disconnecting the wires.

I never said that I told them the truth. How was I supposed to explain the existence of a ghost police officer who was the actual person to disarm the bomb?

So I had to take the credits for the job done. Not that I mind….much.

Suze's mom looked like she would burst into tears – whether in relief or fear, I didn't know - and when the Police Chief looked skeptical and said that I must be extremely smart to figure out how to disarm a bomb, she turned to him and told him off, saying that I was smarter than most kids my age and that I had been offered to move up a grade but which we had rejected due to fear of older kids feeling threatened by my intelligence and that if Police Chief ever doubted anything I say, she would go on national TV and announced that the police didn't even know anything about any bombs until a 12-year-old civilian had saved everyone from exploding into pieces.

Now I could see from where Suze had inherited her scary attitude and threatening behavior.

After that, the Police Chief treated us better, smiling and praising my quick thinking and all kinds of stuff while Suze looked on boredly, until Suze's mom said if that was all, we should be getting home for some rest after a tough day.

When we got home, Dad, Brad and Jake had found out what happened from watching us in the news – yep, Suze and I were on television – and they acted appropriately according to each personality.

Dad was glad that both of us were safe, Brad didn't believe that there was actually a bomb and said that it was probably a fake, while Jake thought we had it close and grumbled about how things like that never happen to him.

So now I'm in my room, chatting with Ryan on MSN about what had happened. He had seen what had happened in the news too, and he said that I would probably be a celebrity when I go to school tomorrow, which was quite a pleasing prospect.

Though at the moment, I'm just happy that everything had worked out fine, and that I was excluded from preparing lunch as a treat for my ordeal today. Suze was also excluded, and she's in her room because her mom had forced her to rest.

But I bet she's talking to her friends about what had happened. Friends like Cee Cee Webb and Adam McTavish…and maybe Jesse de Silva.

Strange how I viewed Jesse as a friend first, and a ghost second.

Dad called us down to lunch, and I said bye to Ryan and logged off. When I saw Suze going downstairs ahead of me, I was reminded of Sean and I briefly wondered about his fate. But then the smell of quesadillas made my stomach growl, and I reminded myself to ask Suze about him later.

After lunch, I made my way to Suze's room and knocked on her door. When she said yeah, I poked my head in and asked if she's free. She said she was and asked me to come in, folding the letters from her friend Gina that she had been reading and placed them into their envelopes. Then she sat up from where she had been lying on her stomach across the bed.

I looked around the room and saw that it was empty of any ghosts, and I made my way to her study desk and sat on the chair.

"I wanted to ask you about Sean. I didn't understand why he had moved on," I said.

"Well, he finally found the reason why he was hanging around. Remember when he explained how he died? He said he screwed up and his partner died in the process, although his partner didn't become a ghost. And I figured that the reason why he became a ghost was that he had to save another life, in order to pay back for the one that he had lost. After he saved my life, he was able to move on," Suze explained, looking reflective.

Comprehension dawned on me. "So it wasn't because of his family at all?"

"Apparently not."

"A life for a life. That's…amazing. If he didn't save you, he might be stuck as a ghost forever!"

Suze shrugged. "Maybe, but I think sooner or later he would have ended up saving someone else and he would move on. But…let's just say I'm really glad he saved my life. And that you helped, Doc, so thank you. Even though I think getting your face splashed in the newspapers is more than enough thanks you could get."

My ears were hot with embarrassment. "I had to explain it like that! Otherwise it wouldn't have made sense."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and better you be the bomb expert than me, because no one would ever buy that."

"Definitely."

She threw a pillow at me. I caught it and laughed as I threw it back at her, hitting her right on the shoulder.

Then we sat in silence for a while, thinking back to the events that, as hard as it was to believe, happened just this morning. I heard a thump, and a second later, the huge orange cat, Spike, walked in from the window.

"Where do you think he is now?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he's in heaven, or in another life. I never know where ghosts go after they moved on," Suze said.

"I hope he's in a better place. He was a good man," I said, because it was true. I didn't think I would ever forget Sean, for what he had done for us and for being so accepting even though he was taken from his family much too early.

"Yeah."

I stood up, my question answered. "Well, thanks for explaining. I think I'm going to look up on books about supernatural destiny from the library tomorrow, maybe I can find out more about spirits and their fate."

Suze looked confused. "Uh, okay. But…aren't you saying hi to Jesse first?"

My turn to look confused. "Jesse? He's here?"

Suze slowly turned towards the window seat, where Spike was floating peacefully, as if sitting on an invisible cloud. Then she looked back at me, her meaning apparent.

"Oh," I said, because that was the only thing that came to mind.

I sat back on the chair, my heart sinking as I realized that my so-called 'mediator powers' were not permanent. I didn't know what to say, the disappointment settling heavy inside of me, and Suze looked equally speechless.

I didn't understand how I received the ability to see ghosts in the first place, and why I only have them for a short time. I voiced this to Suze, and Jesse, who I'm sure was listening as well.

"I'm not the one you should be asking, Doc. I gave up trying to figure out why some people have mediator powers and some don't years ago," Suze replied, looking resigned.

Then she paused, as if listening to something. "Jesse says maybe you were given the ability temporarily so that you could help us with what happened today…but I think that's a bit far-fetched, sorry, Jesse. Seriously, I don't get how you can get the ability and then lose them in a matter of days. It's really whacked."

I was feeling a torrent of emotions; shock, disappointment, confusion and a whole bunch of others, all mixed up inside of me. Maybe Jesse was right, but…

I just didn't know what to think. Never before I had any problems formulating a coherent thought, but now my mind was just a blank slate.

"Oh, look. The sun's come up," Suze suddenly said, as if trying to change the topic.

I glanced at her, then out the window and saw that the sun was shining brightly, the black dot of the moon nowhere to be seen. And that was when the most incredible thought came into my mind, impossible yet somehow…probable.

"I think my ability is related to the eclipse!"

Suze looked at me like I had lost my mind, but I ploughed on. "I accidentally looked at the eclipsed sun yesterday, and after that I discovered that I had the ability to see ghosts. But even though the eclipse ended after a few hours yesterday, in truth, eclipses last for a few days at a specific spot even though it cannot be seen by the naked eye. I had read the schedule for the solar eclipse in Carmel yesterday, and it was supposed to technically end by noon on Sunday. Today. And now it's," I glanced at my watch, "2.16pm. The eclipse has ended."

Suze frowned as she thought about what I just said. "But didn't we discuss this before? If it was the eclipse, how come you were the only one affected? Why not the whole of Carmel?"

I shrugged. "Perhaps I was the only one who was stupid enough to make the mistake of looking at the sun without the filter."

"I don't know…" Suze didn't look convinced. "It's all sort of very sci-fi, you know?"

"Yeah…but that's the only explanation I could come up with…" I sighed, my excitement declining when I remembered that whatever the explanation was, I was no longer someone with the ability to see ghosts.

I had to admit, after my experience this weekend, being a mediator wasn't such a terrible fate. Of course, according to Suze, that was only because I didn't meet any violent ghosts.

"Jesse said that sometimes things happen for reason we can't explain. And he said that it doesn't matter how you got the powers because he thinks you got it to save me, and you did. So that's all that matters," Suze said, smiling a little.

Then she rolled her eyes and looked at the supposedly empty window seat, "Yeah, I know that's not exactly what you said, but I'm paraphrasing. Freedom of speech and all that."

I didn't know why, but all of a sudden I felt sad. It surprised me. When I first found out that I had the power, all I could think about was how to prove it to others and how to create experiments that would allow me to understand the spirit world better. And with Sean and the bomb issues keeping me occupied, I didn't get the chance to achieve my objectives.

But that wasn't the reason why I felt sad, which is why it surprised me.

I felt sad because I could no longer help Suze deal with her mediation, and I could no longer talk to Jesse without Suze acting as a middle person.

Never did I imagine that I would have an emotional attachment to a ghost, but that was exactly what had happened to me. It sounded foolish, but in the two days that I'd known Jesse, I had seen him as the brother I never had. One who was impressed with my long speeches, instead of making fun of them. One who listened to me without prejudice, instead of ignoring my opinions. One who I felt safe around, because I knew that he would take care of me, the way he takes care of Suze.

But I didn't say any of this.

"Jesse's sad, according to him. He said you were a pleasure to talk to," Suze said, smirking. "Who knows, maybe next time there's another eclipse and you get another dose of mediator power, you guys can chat about the latest show on Discovery Channel or something equally boring."

I didn't have the heart to tell her that even though total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth roughly every 18 months, the estimation is that they reappear at any specific place only once every 370 years. But in spite of my glum, I smiled. "I feel the same way. And Suze, I'm sorry I can't help you with your mediation anymore."

She waved it off. "Don't worry about it. Don't you know? To be a mediator, is to be alone."

I laughed a little at her Galadriel impersonation, and shrugged. "Maybe you're right. But well, it was fun while my powers lasted. I had an absolute adventure anyway."

And despite my initial disappointment, I knew I was right. I could always remember this weekend in a positive, enlightening way, because as much as I didn't accomplish anything I originally wanted to, I managed to accomplish other things. It's true what people say, sometimes the things that you least expect, are the ones that satisfy you the most.

I stood up and told Suze that I was leaving, off to contemplate on my fate as a normal person.

But Suze wasn't paying attention to me, her gaze directed to my left.

I turned, just in time to see a piece of paper floating towards me. To say I was surprised was an understatement of the year. Cautiously, I took the paper, feeling apprehensive yet delighted.

On the paper was a single sentence with a few extra words written in an old-fashioned writing that contrasted strangely with the blue ballpoint ink, as if the note should have been written with quills dipped in black ink instead.

I read the note once, then reread it again, the heavy burden in my heart gradually lifting and leaving me as I realized that the greatest gift my temporary powers had given me were neither the fame of capturing a criminal nor the satisfaction of helping a ghost to move on.

No, it was the knowledge that despite not knowing everything there was to know about the spirits that are haunting this earth, I had no reason to be afraid of them anymore.

Dear David,

When you see a glow in your dreams, remember me.

Your friend, Jesse

End of Eclipse

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