Astrid had realized a year before meeting Jeremy, that she had an affinity for dark and mysterious things.

Perhaps it was because of her friendship with 'B.' Or maybe she was more like her mother than she'd like to admit. She was beginning to dislike the popularity that her mama's show possessed, as more and more people knew that Astrid's mama was a "medium."

And the more Astrid thought about it, the more she doubted the validity of it.

She understood now, what death was. And in a way, was perhaps attracted to it in some forms.

But anyway, Astrid realized that she might like the more…morbid things that existed.

Perhaps this was why when she saw children avoiding a certain house a year later when she was twelve, the house being on 125 Jefferson Street, she had gone closer, curious as to what the fuss was all about.

And that was when she saw the boy there. A boy visibly older than her. Probably fifteen or something.

He had somewhat curly, short black hair, was white, had a thin face, a nice smile and dark brown eyes.

She looked at him as he smiled at her and she raised her right hand cautiously and waved.

She watched as surprise crossed his face, then his smile widened.

"Hi," he said, "Not many people come by this house."

Astrid lowered her hand. "Why?" She asked.

The boy shrugged. "Eh," he mumbled, "My dad's a drunk and stays at home all the time, yells at the kids, too. You do not wanna see what he's like on Halloween."

Astrid smiled sadly. She'd seen and heard about a lot of bad parents like that. 'B' had told her that there were a lot of bad parents like that, too.

She didn't get it, honestly. Why even have children if you were going to treat them like that?

She had her complaints with her parents sometimes; her dad and mama being too protective of her and the things she did, her grandmama being fussy about all her art pieces and never being satisfied with them, her granddaddy being much the same with his real estate escapades. And her godmother, Barbara always being motherly over both Astrid and her mama, Lydia. And Adam being overly concerned for both of them as well, always making sure that they were happy and taken care of.

Astrid knew that she could have it a lot worse, though.

She had begun to wonder, however, why her godparents lived in her grandparents' house. She had used to see that as normal. But the older she got and the more she learned from other kids, the more she realized that it was unusual for her godparents to live in her grandparents' house.

She would ask them about that later.

The boy on the stairs of the house nodded to the backyard as he said, "I got a treehouse in the backyard. Wanna go see it?"

Astrid debated potentially not taking him up on the invite.

She didn't know this boy. And even if he didn't intend to hurt her, what if his parents found them in the backyard and the father got angry?

She wasn't worried about herself, but she was worried about this boy getting into trouble.

Still, the boy looked lonely.

Astrid knew how that felt, since 'B' couldn't be around all the time.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Jeremy," he said, smiling again, "What's yours?"

Astrid figured it was only right he know her first name, at least, since she knew his first name. "Astrid," she answered.

Jeremy nodded as he said, getting up from his sitting position, "Hope you're not disappointed. I have boring novels up there, instead of boardgames or comics."

Astrid chuckled, "That's okay."

And really, it was. Despite her age, Astrid had read a lot of large books-what were considered "high-brow" reading.

"What do you have up there?" She asked, curious.

The boy shrugged. "Eh," he mumbled, "Crime and Punishment. The Divine Comedy."

He said this, indicating that he was certain that she'd find this to be either unfamiliar or deeply boring.

But he received the opposite reaction.

"You have both of them up there?" Astrid asked, a slight smile reaching her lips, "I mean, I certainly wouldn't mind that."

The boy grinned and led her back to the treehouse.

Astrid had climbed trees before. Even without 'B' here to guard her, she wasn't afraid.

The treehouse was spacious and nice looking. And indeed, Jeremy had both The Divine Comedy and Crime and Punishment in his treehouse, with many bookmarks slotted into the pages.

Astrid, given that her dad always understood that the world could be dark and needed social change for the better, knew it was best to expose his daughter to the more realistic things in life, and her mom had always been interested and drawn to the grittier types of things, had been allowed access to many books that were considered "too mature" for her reading age.

Anything that was sexually explicit, they were more careful about her reading, but they knew it was important that she understand that death was inevitable, and that death was just a part of life.

So, soon, Astrid and Jeremy were talking about the two books, even quoting a few of the sentences and joking about them.

Astrid hadn't had many close friends, outside of her family, besides 'B.'

She found this nice.

Jeremy asked her how much longer she was going to be staying here, since she had mentioned that she and her family were just visiting Astrid's grandparents for now.

Astrid had said that they'd be here for another two days.

Jeremy asked then if Astrid wanted to meet up the next day and have snacks together and just watch stuff in his room.

Jeremy then added, smiling, "I swear, I'd never try anything. Just wanna be your friend."

Astrid again felt she should be cautious. For all his callousness and edgy behavior, even 'B' had warned her to be careful around strangers. Especially men and older boys.

Still, she reasoned that if this boy tried anything, she could always sic 'B' on them.

So, she agreed.

The next day, she had mentioned her "playdate" to her parents, and they had been okay with it, as long as they picked her up before eleven, and no later, and if Jeremy tried anything at all, they wouldn't hesitate to call the police.

Astrid had rolled her eyes and had agreed.

She had not mentioned that Jeremy's dad got drunk sometimes and yelled a lot. She was going to neglect to mention that part.

Her parents had driven her up to the house and let her out. Astrid had brought some chips and her mom had waved at Jeremy, who was peering out at them through the window, smiling.

Astrid said that they didn't need to come in and greet Jeremy's parents. So, she got out and Jeremy greeted her at the door as Astrid's parents drove away.

If anything happened at all, Astrid had her cell phone on her.

Astrid got up to Jeremy's room, walking from where Jeremy's father was seated, facing the TV, his back to Astrid and Jeremy, and going past the kitchen, where Jeremy's mother was baking, her back to both Jeremy and Astrid, as well, as Astrid and her new friend went up the stairs.

They got to Jeremy's room and Astrid peered around the room.

She found a large book seated on a table by Jeremy's window. The book's cover was smooth and light brown, and it had the title, "Handbook for the Recently Deceased."

"Oh, that?" Jeremy asked, snickering, "That's just something I found at a yard sale, don't know what that's about."

Astrid shrugged as she put it down. It sounded like something her mom would write to up her sales.

She said, pulling out some of the chips she'd gotten, "So, do you want to watch some horror movies or dramas or-" her back had been turned to Jeremy while she was getting the chips out of the plastic bag she'd been carting around, but when she got the bags of chips out, she turned back to him, only to gasp and step back when she saw what he was doing.

He was in the air, several feet off of the floor, just below the ceiling, smirking at her.

He was levitating.

"Wh-what?" She mumbled, dropping the bags of chips to the floor.

Jeremy said, "Surprise."

"What are you?" Astrid asked quietly, feeling blood drain from her face, feeling her heart pound.

"Don't you know?" Jeremy asked, sounding perplexed as he lowered himself to the floor of the room, "I mean, you told me back at the treehouse that your mom is Lydia Deetz, right? So, shouldn't you know all about this stuff?"

Astrid stared at him, shocked. Yes, during her time at the treehouse, talking to Jeremy, she had mentioned her parents' names, so, Jeremy knew that her mother was Lydia Deetz, famed "medium" that could speak to ghosts.

"You're…," Astrid instantly felt her mental defenses coming forward, hitting the front of her brain, insisting, "no, no, no, this isn't real."

Jeremy didn't seem to sense her distress as he said, reaching past Astrid and picking up the brown book that was on the table, holding it up, "I got this as soon as I died. I was hanging out in the treehouse, then I was climbing down, I slipped and broke my neck. My parents can't see me. And I can't go further than the property. And no one has been able to see me. Until you."

Astrid's eyes widened. That was why Jeremy had seemed surprised when she had greeted him.

Jeremy said, "But I think there's a way that I can become a living person again. With your help."

Astrid was about to refuse, when Jeremy reached down and grabbed a piece of chalk from the table, and began drawing the outline of a door on the wall beside him.

Her heart pounded again.

This was looking very familiar to her.

And she gasped when Jeremy knocked three times against the wall.

The "haunted house" that 'B' tended to take her into-Jeremy had access to it, too?

That was when the door opened and Jeremy opened up the book to a certain place and handed the book to Astrid as he said, "You can help me by reading this part. See, here?" He pointed to a section that Astrid was going to assume was Latin.

Astrid considered refusing, but then really thought about this. This wasn't real. She didn't know how Jeremy had levitated just now, but there had to be a trick to it. This was all a game.

The haunted house that 'B' took her to all those times before? There was no danger there. So, this was all a game.

Astrid chuckled and shrugged as she began reading the Latin.

Miles from the house that was 125 on Jefferson Street, a figure in a striped suit kept himself out of eyesight as he watched the family within the house that he knew so well.

He had stayed out of that model that was in the attic of the house, not wanting Babs or Adam to see him.

The last thing he needed was them knowing he was watching.

Fuck, maybe Babs would come at him again with a sandworm.

There was a little unknown secret here-no one had managed to say his name a third time, when had tried to force Lydia to marry him all those years ago. Yeah, Babs had said his name twice, but no one had succeeded in saying his name a third time, so, he had free reign to go where he wanted.

And he chose to follow her, wherever she went.

He knew she was in that house, the woman he'd fallen in love with against his better judgment.

Lydia.

He had kept watch on her all this time, and looking out for her brat.

Astrid was Lydia's kid, so automatically that meant that he needed to keep watch of her.

He watched through the window, eyes observing Lydia seated next to her husband, Babs and Adam both next to Lydia, smiling at her softly and Charles and Delia across from them, talking.

He wasn't jealous of Lydia having married another man. It wasn't like he gave her the best firs impression, right?

Besides, he was willing to share, hoping that Lydia had room for more than one man in her life, in her bed.

He then stiffened, feeling a sharp cracking feeling in his spine.

Someone nearby had opened up a door to "the other side."

He saw it in the way that Adam and Babs stiffened that they sensed it to, though they probably didn't understand what they were sensing.

He turned to where he could sense the door opening.

It was coming from the direction where Lydia and her husband, Richard, had just driven back from.

After dropping Astrid off somewhere…

He moved quickly, evaporating from the trees and following where he sensed the door opening.

And just as he thought.

It was coming from the house where Astrid had been dropped off at.

He grumbled, "Who's knockin' at death's door today?"

Theoretically, whoever was knocking was far past "death's door," but it was a metaphor.

He went into the house, not entirely surprised to find that the first two occupants he found were ghosts, both of them with interesting apparatuses sticking out of their heads.

He noticed a picture of the two ghosts and a young man between them-most likely the dead couple's son.

"Your kid do that to yah?" He asked, recalling stories a few back of a couple of murders that happened here.

It was unlikely that Lydia and her family hadn't heard about it, but in this sort of town? People like to keep that shit quiet.

And the realtor and her kid, definitely wouldn't have talked about it.

He sensed what was going on upstairs, and rushed upstairs.

But he got there too late.

Astrid had walked through the door.

With the young man that was most likely a murderer.

"Shit!" He yelled, flinging himself at the door.

Too late, though.

The door closed up before he could get to it.

He cursed again, grabbing the chalk off of the table and started to draw a new door.

Entering would be easy enough for him.

He then looked down at where the book was, looking at the section that had just been used and he growled, rage flooding him.

This was real fucking bad.

Astrid, if she was the one that had spoken this incantation? Had just unwittingly "agreed" to switch her life with the ghost that she had gone through this doorway with.

He grabbed the book, knocked three times against the wall, and watched as the door opened up, and rushed through.

Of course, Astrid would have gone with her "new friend." Because Astrid was already familiar with the "haunted house," because of Astrid's other friend, "B."

He cursed his own stupidity.

He should have checked this house out before. Should have seen if the "murder house" had a killer ghost there.

One way or another, he was getting Astrid back.