Who Killed Sarah Foster?

12. Fine, You Win

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"Alright, come pick her up in the evening." Vanessa said to her daughter of the phone. "See you then. I love you."

She tossed her phone onto the couch and turned to her grandchild. "Your mom and dad left the funeral. They will be over to get you in the evening. They asked you to pack and be ready to leave but take your time darling, I am making dinner and no one's leaving until after it." Vanessa smiled little crooked smile.

Leah chuckled, shaking her head. Her grandmother was one dramatic lady.

"Want help, Nelly?" She hopped off the bed, petting Donut as she did so.

"Yes please. I could use some help with chopping carrots and onions."

Leah nodded and took a few carrots and onions from the pantry. "Will this do?" She held the bowl up. "Add one more medium sized carrot and we are good to go."

Leah did as she was told to do and sat down on the kitchen stool, taking out the cutting board and knife.

"Leah?" Her grandmother called her.

"Yes?"

"Don't you think you should have gone to the funeral?"

Leah shook her head, not having any regret.

"Why is that, love?"

"I have my own reasons." She shrugged.

"And may I know what it is?"

"There is nothing a newly deceased craves more than life. Especially those who took it or had it taken away."

"There is nothing a newly deceased craves more than life." Leah recited the exact words that were told to her. "Especially those who took it or had it taken away."

The grandmother and granddaughter stared at each other, the atmosphere suddenly becoming heavy and gloomy.

Vanessa Claire grinned and then started laughing out loud. "Oh my god, you got me there!"

Leah forced a chuckle and continued peeling the onion.

"I know she was a friend." She continued speaking. "Maybe she wanted you to be there?"

"Nelly please, I don't believe in all this and neither should you!" Leah exclaimed, lying through her teeth. Of course, she believed in all of it, every single one of it. She lived it.

"Alright alright, we will terminate this conversation." Vanessa laughed.

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"Get some rest. And you don't have to go to school tomorrow if you don't want to." George patted his daughter's head while she stared at the stairs.

"What are you looking at honey?" George looked over and saw nothing.

"Nothing." She shook her head and turned to face him, gave him his favorite princess smile.

"There it is!" George exclaimed as he pressed his lips to her forehead, relieved to see it back on her face. Little did he know it was just another façade.

Leah made her way up the stairs after kissing her father goodnight. As she reached the middle of the stairs, she stopped and looked down at him, giving him a tired smile. Michael smiled back, glancing at the door his father had disappeared into before grabbing his sister's arm to pull him up.

"Had fun at Grandma's?" He asked as they made their way up, hand in hand.

"It's Nelly these days. And yes, her pups are the cutest things in the world!" She grinned thinking back to the Husky fam.

"They are almost one. They are not puppies anymore."

Leah stopped and gave him a flat look. "Age doesn't matter. Once a pup, always a pup."

"Fine!" He rolled his eyes as she got into her room, him following behind.

"What's happening?" He asked as he made himself at home in his little sister's bed. Leah turned and gave him a glare before her eyes darted to the empty food bowl.

"Who is going to wash and hide it?" She narrowed her eyes at her stupid brother.

"Um... You?"

"That's it. I am never letting you feed Blacky again!" She stomped over to the bowl to retrieve away and into the bathroom.

"What? Don't you have any love, respect or sympathy for your dead brother?" He asked, using his usual 'I am dead so you should let me be' card.

"Nope. As you might already know, I deal with ghosts every single day and I have come to realise how much of a pain in the ass all you idiots are. And hence I have come to the conclusion that dead people shouldn't be given as much respect as they are given now." She gave her mini speech and she washed the bowl and dried it with a dish cloth she had kept in her medicine cabinet for this sole reason.

"You have three ghosts in your life." He rolled his eyes.

"How many living people do you think I have in my life?" She looked up at her brother who just sighed. "Mom and Dad don't count."

"Fine, you win." He spoke. "I will clean up from now on." He sighed dramatically and turned to leave.

Leah turned back to look at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. She splashed some water onto her face and looked back up again. And it hit her. The deal was that she won't let Michael feed Blacky if he did not clean up again, but he had dodged the warning one more time!

She wanted to scream "MICHAEL!!!!" one more time but she couldn't because her parents were home and they would think that she had crazy from all the stress that she started seeing her dead brother.

Michael had died by hanging as well. So, the sight of Sarah Foster hanging in the tree house broke back those memories, and she was frozen as she relived that night one more time.

She was sorry for the death of Sarah Foster but it was not something she felt personally and being a vessel, she wasn't exactly shocked or horrified by the dead body. Not that she has seen much dead bodies before but vessels came with the ability to be able to deal with death better than others.

Dealing with death is not everyone's cup of tea. But people who deal with the dead every single day of the life doesn't see death as the eternal darkness people believe it to be. Vessels know what happens. They know the process and they know it's far from horrifying so they always see death as a loved one moving to a different place. Because that's what they are doing.

They are moving. To a different life.

Except ghosts. They are stuck here because they didn't get to do the one thing they wanted to do so desperately in their lives. Some of them are lucky enough to meet a vessel or a deity who would help them retrieve their memories and purpose for them and they could fulfil and move on to their next lives, but some are not that lucky so they wander the world for eternity, with no identity or idea of who they are and what happened in their lives, some turns vengeful, some sinister and others mischievous. Some even kind and gentle.

Nobody know what they are fated to. And nobody has any choice but to accept it.

Michael hoped he had it in his fate to be liberated and move on to whatever came next.

And Leah hoped it was fated for all the ghosts she knows to move on, leave the sufferings and the pain of their past lives behind and just live again.

And maybe someday, even she could move on and get a brand new life with no 'ghost-sitting duties'.

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