SHADOWS OF KAYLA

LETTING IT GO

Festus.

“Van knows where you live. His men have been around your neighborhood for a few weeks now. Please leave with your wife and child to a safe place, and stay away from Rick.

Lots of love,

Well wisher.”

Although, I had no in-depth idea of what was happening in Kayla's home, I figured they might really be in danger. And that was the point where my sympathy for her was bought. She was trying her best, even as not being alive anymore.

Nonetheless, I was still shaken to my bones about the whole situation. ‘Ghosts don't exist’ they said, but I was approached by one in real life. As eager as I was to help her, I couldn't get any closer for the sake of my sanity.

If only I had not said hi. Then she wouldn't have known that I could see her.

The air grew chillier as I neared the premises of the said address, and goosebumps spread across my body as frequently as the cold morning air perched on the hairs of my skin. I wasn't sure if it was specially cold that morning, or it was the bone-chilling vibe that exuded the house a ghost resided in.

For some weird reason, I looked forward to seeing her face again, wondering if it would have been different if I hadn't known she was a ghost. Or if she wasn't dead. I looked around, grabbing the cold thin bars of the iron gates as I peered inside. The house looked deserted and eerie. The only signs of life were the slightly opened curtains of one of the windows above.

The karma around the house burned with a strange silence and sacredness (I felt it), that I couldn't bring myself to making as much as a noise with my knock or a ding on the bell.

My brows flew up optimistically and I made a straight grin on seeing the post box near the wooden fence, just behind the gates. All I would need to do was stretch in my arms through the bars of the gate and drop in the letter. Post boxes were still very much in use in that day, and we had one at my house, my father's house.

Taking one last look at the letter, trying as much as possible to imagine Kayla's face one last time before completely erasing her off my brain for good, I dropped the letter in the box. With a heave and drop of my chest I spun around and jogged as fast as I could away from the area, back to my no-where-near-normal life without someone named Kayla in it.

You've done a good deed, Festus.

Forget any of this ever happened.

I had convinced myself so much that I wasn't going to cross paths with Kayla again and certainly no other ghosts again if they were any more. But somewhere in the corners of my head, I knew it was only a matter of time before she appeared again.

I was right, she was standing in front of me in the pizza shop, making my heart skip in both fear and something near fondness.

The first thing that came to mind was to completely ignore her, pretend like I couldn't see her. And that was exactly what I did. I chided myself and brushed past her, heading outside.

If she was back to thank me for helping her, then I didn't need to be thanked. I didn't want to be thanked, I just didn't want to be involved with her anymore. I had a lot of reasons.

Superstition wasn't my thing, but the mere conception that associating with a ghost was going to bring bad luck to my life was strong in my head. I couldn't be so sure my life wouldn't get any worse. She scared me, and there was no going around it.

Most of all, I feared I would start to get fond of her, she was so pretty. I had even liked her the first day I saw her, and the butterflies certainly didn't vanish completely on her revealing her true self. What if I really ended up liking a ghost? It meant my life was ruined. It would affect my relationship with other people and things I was meant to be focused with. Not to bring up the fact that people will call me crazy if I kept talking with her.

It was basically me pushing my life away like a cart of mangoes down the hill.

Just ignore her, Festus.

I was wrong, she was not there to express her gratitude, but to let me know I had foiled the plan, which even made me more upset with myself. But there was no turning back, I wasn't going to involve myself anymore. Even when she left with sadness on her face, all I could pay was sympathy and nothing more.

“Are you okay?” Gina asked, startling me. I had not seen her approaching where I sat.

“Yeah. Yeah, totally,” I responded, trying to sound as casual as possible with a smile. She smiled back at me and sat close to me. Close enough that her face was only a few inches from the side of mine, that I could feel her warm perfume-lasered breath against my face. Her scent made me flustered with tingles, and my hairs stood straight as she touched my hand.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded, shifting gently away from her warm grip. Gina was too nice and irresistible in her own way, I didn't want to give myself away either, or misunderstand her kindness and fondness for me as something else.

“I'm expecting you tonight, remember?” She said, lowering her face to meet my bent head.

I quickly racked my brain for memories of her inviting me somewhere, but I wasn't fast enough before she spoke again.

“My aunt's birthday is today. Aunt Malie. Don't tell me your forgot?”

“I remember you saying something about her birthday,” I chuckled slightly,

“I didn't know I was invited.”

Gina slapped me playfully on the shoulder, sending my heart skipping playfully again. I held my hand over where she had just hit, smiling.

“What do you mean you don't know you're invited? You're a VIP, ya know? It's not much of a party anyway, just some kind of get together with her and her friends. I'll be having a few friends over for some fun too,” she told me.

“Well, I never say no to free food,” I sang, slowly brightening up from my previous troubles.