Ghosts

Death and Cassie

*Up da stairs.*

Trevor was concentrating on knocking the vase over once Cassie had left the hallway. Pete walked over to him and asked, "Trevor?" This spooked Trevor, causing him to lose focus once again. "What- What are you doing? The livings aren't even here." Pete pressed.

"No, I know, I know, this isn't for them. This is between T-Money and the Vahse. It's personal."

"I've always said vase."

"Can you please -"

"Sorry, sorry." Pete apologised. Meanwhile, Jay was checking the temperature of the shower to find that it was still cold. He turned the shower off and headed towards Sam, who was typing on her laptop, which was perched a set of ladders in what they had been using as their room. Cassie sat on a lounge chair in the room behind the ghosts, but too her parents just looked as though it was only her on the chair. "Still freezing!" Jay complained, causing Sam to look up from her laptop.

"Okay, well, the good news is we're going back to New York this afternoon anyway, so we can just fix it when we come back." Sam smiled.

"If we come back." Jay emphasised.

"Okay, we're having this conversation." Sam said, turning completely in order to face her husband.

"Sam, um... I'm just gonna come out and say it. K?" Jay surrendered, mumbling what he wanted to say about the house.

"Pardon?"

"Dad, use your words." Cassie instructed from the lounge chair. Jay then murmured again, only a fraction louder this time.

"I can't hear you." Sam said.

"I don't want to move here." Jay admitted. The ghosts around Cassie (Thor, Isacc, Hetty, and the Lenape) gasped at this revelation. "Well, this just got interesting." Isacc announced.

"Very interesting." Hetty agreed.

"Like finding new type of cod interesting." Thor inputed, causing the other ghosts to tilt their heads in confusion before soon turning back to the argument at hand. Whilst the others were listening to the discussion, Trevor and Pete still stood in the hallway, awaiting Trevor to knock over the vase. Pete had his hands on Trevor's shoulder, speaking words of encouragement but backed off when Trevor said, "OK, a little too close." Trevor tried to move the vase again, but his finger phased through. "Oh! I was gonna - That was gonna be it. That was gonna be it! That was so close!"

"I came up here with an open mind for sure. But this whole bed and breakfast idea, I mean come on. Do we really want to leave New York?"

"Jay, I love you, but you know you get a bit scared of change. But it's okay to try something different."

"Yeah, I agree, and I'm willing to try something different, below 14th Street."

Isacc giggled. "He's cute, funny!"

"I don't know what it is, but I feel a connection to this place." Sam said, making Hetty stand up straighter and prouder. "I could see a future here. This family."

"I want all that, babe, but we're way in over our heads. But this place is falling apart."

"It is kind of a dump." The Lenape admitted, being greeted by a kick from Cassie and Hetty scolding him, "Oh shut up!"

Outside, Trevor had finally succeeded in knocking over the vase and celebrated with Pete as they started jumping around, hugging, blissfully unaware of what would come next.

"So that's it then? We just do what you want?" Sam questioned, getting agitated.

"If we're both going to make some big crazy move, then we should at least both be able to agree on it."

"Fine! But you know what, Jay?! Sometimes, you just gotta do something a little bold, y'know! Put some canary yellow and get out of your neutral palette mindset!" Sam yelled, storming out of the room.

"What- What are you? Neutrals go with everything! Haven't you learned anything from Love it or List it?! You agree, Cass?" Cassie walked out of the room, too, with a scowl.

"I don't know what any of those words mean, but I know her won't be laying with her for several moons!" Thor laughed.

"That was amazing! You're incredible!" Pete complimented Trevor. Sam, still mad and not paying attention, tripped over the fallen vase and tumbled down the stairs. "MOM!" Cassie screamed as she saw her fall. "DAD, HELP!" Jay came running at the sound of his daughter screaming and saw his wife falling down and hitting her head several times. "Crap! Phone an ambulance now!" He instructed. Cassie, with tears now in her eyes, nodded and pulled out her phone, quickly calling the ambulance. Jay chased after Sam, who was now laid at the bottom of the stairs, moving in and out of consciousness. "Bro, that's not good." Trevor said.

"Oh my God! OH MY GOD! SAM!? SAM HEY!? SAM, SAM, SAM?!" Jay called, trying to keep her focus on him. Jay's yelling was quieting and becoming disoriented when Sam's eyes stared at Trevor and Pete before closing. "Did she just -"

"CASSIE!"

"Yeah, she hit her head several t-t-times. Please h-hurry!" Cassie cried as she finished the call. Jay rushed up to her and held her tightly, telling her to stay beside Sam whilst he got ready to go with Sam in the ambulance. "Got it?" Cassie was to worked up to talk, so she merely nodded as her dad kissed her head before quickly leaving, and she ran to be beside her mother. "Mom? Mom, please don't do this!" She begged, holding onto her mother tightly and sobbing. Trevor, overcome with guilt, walked down the stairs and placed a hand on Cassie's shoulder, only for her to swat it off. "Cassie, I'm - "

" Don't!" She warned before standing up, grabbing his collar and slamming him against a wall, which he didn't phase through due to Cassie's grip on him. "You couldn't just leave that vase alone, could you!?" She cried before slapping him across the face. "Now look what you've done!" She knelt down to her mother and sobbed even harder. Trevor, wanting to offer some consolidation, knelt down to the same level as the young girl before bringing her into a side hug, surprised when she didn't pull away. "I'm sorry." She sobbed

***********

Shortly after, the ambulance had arrived and was loading Sam into the back whilst Jay stood to the side, concerned about what was going to happen. Cassie, having been instructed to stay inside until Jay phoned to say everything was ok, sat in a window on the second floor with hardly any emotion as she watched the ambulance pull away. The only indication that she had been crying was her red,puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Hetty, who stood by the girl, watched the ambulance and peered at Cassie. Seeing her solemn face, Hetty's anger roared, and she turned to the one responsible. "M**derer!" She called Trevor.

"Okay, again. I didn't mean for her to trip and fall! You have to believe me. I would never intentionally hurt anyone that hot."

"Husband guy looked so sad." Thor commented, adding to Trevor's guilt.

"I remember when I died, Ira looked so scared. Because he didn't want to lose me." Flower spoke, placing a reassuring hand on Cassie's shoulder. "And also because he was trying to get away from the bear."

"Could you imagine if she doesn't make it? What a terrible last memory for him. Ending things in an argument."

"Thanks for the optimism, Isacc." Cassie said sarcastically.

"Carol and I argued the last time we spoke." Pete said from his spot across the room, catching the attention of Cassie and the ghosts. "It's funny it felt like such a big deal at the time, but now I can't even tell you what is was we were arguing about. You never think when you close that door behind you that that will be the last time you walk through that door. But then I had my accident and I realised I'm never gonna see my wife again. I'm never gonna get to speak to her, hold her, tell her how much I love her." Pete's speech brought Cassie to tears, only being able to imagine the worry her father was going through at that hospital right now. Even the ghosts bowed their head in sorrow, remembering all the ones they left behind when they died. "Oh wait! I remember what we were fighting about! Pete exclaimed, standing up from his spot. "She ate all the doughnut holes! And she doesn't even like doughnut holes! It was just to spite me, which was just like her! Selfish so and so!" The nickname caused all the other ghosts to gasp whilst Hetty scolded him as she realised that Cassie was ready for crying again as her mind raced with the possibilities of what would happen if this incident occurred again. If Pete could argue about doughnut holes, what could her own parents argue about? "Peter!" Hetty indicated to Cassie. Pete, seeing the girl distressed, calmed her and said, "But that won't happen to your parents. The point is, life is precious."

"What is doughnut hole?" Thorfinn asked.

"It's just a round doughnut. It's what's miss - it doesn't matter." Pete waved off. Trevor, meanwhile, noticed Cassie's quietness and asked her in a brotherly tone, "You OK, Cass?"

"Yeah. I think. I mean, how are you supposed to feel when your Mom is at death's door?" Cassie replied, dejected. "God, the last time I saw my Dad that scared was when I was in the hospital, and the doctors had just basically brought me back from death."

"What do you mean?" Isacc interrogated.

Cassie sighed and began to talk. "I was hoping to do this later, but oh well. When I was 6, my friends and I went to this little park that no one else really went to during winter. It was just behind my best friend's house. Anyway, I was meant to be staying at his house for a sleepover, as well as our other friend, and because it was snowing and the pond, which weirdly had no fish, had been frozen over, we decided to go ice skating on the pond, not really thinking of any harm that could be caused. Turns out, we were really wrong." Cassie turned to stare out the window whilst continuing. "We were skating for a while on the part with the most ice. We took it in turns for a mini competition, showing different techniques and skills. When it was my turn, I was so driven to win at everything when I was little, and so, I skated on the thin part of the pond. None of us realised just how thin it actually was. It was that thin that the incredibly skinny little child I used to be broke through the ice after a few spins. I tried so hard to get back to the surface, but I wasn't a strong swimmer, and between the cold, the dark, and the huge amount of water I took in, I just gave up and everything turned dark. When I fully woke up, I was in the hospital, and I could see ghosts. There were a lot of them, but my parents, nor anyone else, could see them. Mom and Dad were told that the cold may have been the cause. It soon was labelled my 'wild imagination' . When I got out, I was told my best friend was the one who pulled me out while our other friend ran back to get help. The three of us protected each other until 4 months ago. I lost them both. I couldn't protect my bestie, and our other friend had to leave just cos he hated being there without him. I couldn't keep us together like them two did all those years ago. They were the only ones who supported me with the entire ghost thing, and I basically repaid them by allowing us to be torn apart."

"Cass, you can't blame yourself, sweetheart." Alberta comforted, to which Cassie only nodded.

Then her phone rang containing the good or bad news.