Among the Living

Chapter Nine

Someone knocks on the front door. My mother smoothes her hair then heads toward the door short of breath. She smiles and opens the door.

“Hello?”

“Hello we just wanted to get aquatinted with our new neighbors. My name is Sam and this is my daughter Mattie, my girlfriend Janice and her son Jeffery. We just moved into the house next door.”

My mother smiles. “Well, welcome to the neighborhood!”

“Well thank you uh…”

“Regina Winter.” My mother extends her hand for all of them to shake. “George?” my mother calls “Come meet the new neighbors.”

My father goes to the door and I follow. He too shakes their hands. “Hey how ya doin? My name is George.”

The girl suddenly turns and looks at me as if waiting for me to introduce myself as well.

“We have a son but he is over at his friends house studying.” My father says to the new family

“Are you sure? There is a boy next to you right now.”

“Excuse me?” my mother says

“Yeah he is tall, black hair; long, black skinny jeans, black zip-up hoodie, black shoes, and a white t-shirt or tank top. I can’t really tell which it is.”

“Excuse me?"my mother asks angrily

“I think that’s enough talk Mattie.” Sam says “I think it’s best if we leave. I’m sorry to bother you.” He says to my parents

My mother shuts the door angrily. " why were you so worked up when she said that someone was standing next to you in clothes that Alexander would wear? Actually why do you get so worked up at any mention of him?” my father asks

“I get worked up because he was my son and he still is even when he is dead.”

I start to think why did mother get so worked up after the Mattie girl described exactly what I was wearing? Then I realize the clothes that I am wearing were the same ones in the box. But how could that be? I walk into the garage and open the box that had those clothes in it. The clothes were still there. How weird I thought. The clothes were in the box but I was still wearing them. Maybe when you die and become a ghost then you wear the same clothes you died in. This is all so confusing to me. The thing that bugged me the most is that I still haven’t figured out how I died or why I didn’t know I was dead.

I know that the girl could see me but I don’t know if she could hear me. I might as well find out tomorrow. Maybe she could help me sort this mess out. I don’t know if I want to be stuck on earth much longer. It’s getting really boring. Being a ghost I mean. There is no one can see me except for that girl Mattie. No one could hear me. There is definitely no one to talk to. When you don’t have human contact you start to go crazy. I read that in a book once. I can’t remember which one. When I was alive I spent most of my days reading or writing or playing guitar. Now that I’m dead I can’t really do any of that. Well I probably could I just never tried. Maybe if I’m still stuck in this hell hole after I figure things out then I will try. But for now I need to focus on the task at hand. Now-a-days I talk to just myself or my cat. I never would have thought that my cat would understand me. All those books about ghosts and their adventures sound like fun and I use to wish that I could be one just to mess with people. It turns out being a ghost is not what it’s cracked up to be. Once I told my father that I wish I could be a ghost. I was ten at the time. He told me that wishes aren’t real; they are only in your head and its best not to wish just focus on reality. A lot good that got me. When I still believed wishes came true I was a lot happier but ever since my dad told me to get my head out of the clouds and told me to face reality, well reality smacked me in the face and I end up dead. If only I could get revenge on everyone who tormented me in school. Like I said before maybe Mattie could help me. She looks like the type who would be shoved in lockers or made fun of by my brother. Just wait till he gets a load of her. I bet she will be the laughing stalk of the school by first period. But maybe she won’t help me.