The swingset creaked while Allegra rocked back and forth on it. Up, down, back up again. It might have seemed childish to Erik, who merely sat on his next to her, but she loved how she could forget about everything for a moment while the world became disorientated.

Lately she had been avoiding everything. The opera house. Meg. Melody. The truth.

She admitted that they couldn't be together forever. She would continue aging while he stayed the same. Even though her heart only seemed to function right when she was with him, her heart couldn't control time.

Allegra slowed to a halt, staring at her feet. "Erik?" she whispered.

"What?"

"I don't know what's going to happen, but.. promise me you won't leave me like you did before."

He stood up, his back towards her. "I can't," he said quietly, raw emotion evident in just those two syllables.

"Erik, I-"

"Shut up," he ordered. As she was about to protest, he said softer, "Look up." She did exactly that, and began to watch a family passing by. It looked like a stereotypical family of strangers. The dad was holding an infant in pink gently in his arms as they walked, while the mother chased after a giddy toddler in blue overalls and bright orange shirt, a grin plastered on her face.

"I can't give you that. I can't give you a future."

"I know that," Allegra responded quickly. He started to walk away from the swingset. "Erik, wait."

Instead of stopping, he began to run away, still visible to her. At least he was giving her the image of him running away instead of simply vanishing from her life. Only, she wouldn't allow that.

She would run to him and somehow convince him that everything would be okay. She was all he had, no one else would really care if he left. If he felt like it was time, he would leave this world. Could she really allow that to happen and not know if she would see him when she herself woke up after death?

All of this crossed her mind in a matter of seconds. In the next few seconds, she steadily broke out into a run after him. Erik glanced back at her and took a sharp right towards the road.

"Erik!" Allegra called out as a car hurtled towards him. It screeched its tires and honked, but Erik didn't change his pace as he let it pass through him. Right, a phantom.

Allegra paused on the edge of the huge road, looking left and right. There was a gap in traffic, but not for long. She started to run across the street, her heart pounding as the incoming cars honked at her.

She looked to her right at a car coming in ahead only two lanes away. She could make it. She had too in order to catch up to him.

Erik. Her grandfather's violin. Her mom. Meg and Melody. Those feelings of love encouraged her, made her feet pound against the stone faster.

She thought it would be enough. Only it wasn't.

As soon as she realized it she looked at Erik, who had slowed to a walk on the other side.

"I lo-"
The car crashed into her side.

Allegra hit the car's window first with a large crunch resonating like the crash of a timpani, then was thrown into the air spinning. The pain didn't translate into her brain until she hit the ground, her head slamming into the stone. The pain blossoming in her brain, encompassing her thoughts of love and music, was the last thing she felt when it all faded away.

Melody sat on her bed, numb. On the inside she pulled on her hair and threw the vase nearby at the wall just to feel the satisfaction of watching it shatter against the wall. She couldn't do that though, with a phantom staring at her and all.

"Did you know that I had a sister?"

He simply stared at her, still quiet ever since he had told her.

"She.. She was called Jackie.. After the famous cellist. She.. died when I was nine. My mother doesn't like speaking about her, so she tells everyone that I'm an only child." After Erik didn't look up or say anything she resumed speaking. "I hated Allegra's guts at first, because she was the same age Jackie would've been.. And then we started talking, and she seemed nice, and like she needed me, you know? I was afraid of losing someone else again, so I didn't try to talk to her too much... How does it still hurt so much then?"
Erik nodded. Melody wasn't sure if he even bothered listening to her unless it was about bringing Allegra back, so she stopped rambling.

"Look, are you sure about this? I know her death is tough. Hell, it's tough on me too, but what if she isn't there when I try?"

He looked up at her with a look of pain covering his exposed face, mixed with anger. He cursed, slamming his fist against Melody's wall. "If there was the slightest chance you could see your sister again wouldn't you try too?"

Melody crossed her arms, feeling defensive. With Allegra gone she couldn't trust Erik's melodramaticness. "I did try. She was gone. But fine, let's go." Melody went over to her drawer, grabbing some salt and other items.

As she went downstairs she started to ramble off again, just to fill the air. "You know I hate even doing this, right? I'm into the supernatural, but not this kind."

"The real kind?" Erik commented, chuckling at her.

Melody opened the door to the backyard. "No. The dark kind. I like the spooky stuff, the stuff that gives children nightmares, but not the stuff that could kill someone that's untrained."

"Good, now start."

"Do you even care if I die in the process?!"

Erik's eyes flashed crimson. "No. I don't to be honest. I would enjoy watching a demon tear you apart."

"Sheesh," Melody said, looking away as she prepared the circle. "You're a real something without Allegra's good energy around you." He said nothing as she set everything up. "Look, I am somewhat trained. With the things set up here there's only a small chance a demon is powerful enough to manifest. Only a lost spirit would be able to."

She sat down on the grass while Erik began to pace around. "Now what?" he asked.

"Now we wait. There's a reason I brought two boxes of pocky and some oreos."

They ended up waiting for a good portion of the afternoon. Elizabeth came over towards the end, and still refused to leave knowing the girl that had saved her life was gone. When the sky started to turn pink Melody decided the torture of waiting had to come to an end.

"I don't think she's coming, guys. She would have manifested by now."

Elizabeth shook her head, starting to cry for the fifth time. "No, no.. What does this mean? Is she okay?"

"It's good news and bad news.." Melody took in a deep breath. "I think she's moved on."

Everyone went silent, looking at a random object rather than each other.

Erik broke the silence. "I'm going to leave," he announced.

"Leave?" Elizabeth said. "What do you mean by that?"

"There's no point in staying here. I've been hurt enough by this world."

Melody thought of something that would make him stay for at least a week so she could ask him questions and give the information to her group. "Well, I read somewhere that if someone turns into a powerful phantom, like you, it can take up to a week. Usually they return to where they last lived. Here."

Erik narrowed his eyes at Melody, probably analyzing if she was lying or not. Luckily she had had some practice lying to her mom enough to lie convincingly. "Fine. But you won't see me. I want to be alone."

Before Melody could protest, he vanished. Her only shot of learning more about phantoms gone. Elizabeth looked at her like she was going to start crying again. "Is that actually true?"

"Yeah, totally. Why would I lie about something like that?"

"Okay.." Elizabeth tried to regain her composure. "There's still hope then. I'll come back later this week to check up on things. See you later."

"Later," Melody responded. When Elizabeth left she cleaned up the backyard. It wasn't until she slowly went back upstairs to her cave and lit a few candles did she finally ask herself why she had lied to her friends.