Ghost - in the arms of Death

Chapter 7

“Remind me to never go out with you again,” Alessandro groans, holding his head as he enters the kitchen. With a matching headache, I hush him. His voice sounded too loud in the quiet morning. Or is it noon already?

We both feel like crap, but I don’t regret going out with him. We bonded over several drinks. He talked about his mom and how he had to deal with the anger he felt for losing her. How he found a way to soothe the pain and cherish her memory.

He made it sound so easy. I don’t know if I can do the same, but maybe with time I can.

“Should I make breakfast?” I ask and he groans again.

“We should eat something. I think,” I mutter and he shakes his head, sitting down at the kitchen counter.

My stomach protests at the thought of food too. Leo always said food is the only cure for a hangover. He forced me to eat something salty and drink a soda. It helped, but he practically had to force it down my throat.

“I think we shouldn’t move at all,” Lex says and a soft laugh escapes his lips, “I haven’t been this wasted in a long time.”

“It was fun though,” I chuckle and he smiles at me, “thanks for that.”

“Don’t mention it. It was. This-,” he points at him in his miserable state, “-isn’t though.”

“Let’s go for a walk,” I suggest.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he groans, “first food, now walking?”

“Come on, it’ll help!” I stand up and grab his arm to drag him out of his apartment.

I link my arm through his and take a deep breath. I wish I could say it’s fresh, but it’s just the regular polluted city air. I like it though. I honestly don’t know anything else and as a city girl, I love it. It smells of asphalt, exhaust fumes, food of every kind, and home.

It’s a nice day. And the further we walk the better I feel. I can tell that Lex is doing better too. We grab some greasy breakfast and sit down on a bench, looking over a tiny park. I love these little green spots within the city. Out of place, yet beautiful.

“I don’t think his death was an accident,” I suddenly say, staring out into the distance.

“What?” Lex turns to me, his eyes wide.

“Leo wouldn’t get into a random fist fight with some idiots on the street. He knew better. And even if he had to defend himself against them, he would have won unless they had any kind of weapon. But he died from head trauma. It just doesn’t make any sense and you know it just as well as I do.”

“So you think he was involved with some gang, and they killed him? How? Fighting?”

“It happens,” I shrug, “if someone knocked him out or fought dirty.”

“There is no way to prove that.”

“Unless-,” I say meaningfully.

“Unless we find you mysterious fight club? It’s a long shot, Liah. What if it doesn’t exist? Will you accept it and move on?”

“I can try,” I say hesitantly.

“No, Liah, no more trying. I’ll help you, but if I can’t find anything about this, you will drop it!”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Yes, it is! You can’t chase some wild story about Leo. It won’t bring him back and it certainly won’t make you feel better if you keep making excuses to stay miserable-,”

“That’s not what I am doing!” I protest, but a part of me knows he might be right. The natural reaction is to direct my anger at him for pointing it out, but what’s the use?

“I need to find answers. Then I move on!” I say with a resigning sigh.

“And if we can’t find those answers?”

“I... I don’t know, Lex. I am trying!”

“Okay,” he says, “but I won’t beg off! I will get you through this, even if you’ll hate me in the end.”

A small smile tug on my lips, “you realize I can easily beat you up if you annoy me, right?”

“But you won’t, because that’ll be just wrong!”

I laugh and nod in agreement. I would never hurt him. He means well, it’s just very hard for me to accept, because moving on feels like betraying my brother. Like I am bound to forget him and that’s the last thing I want to do. Parts of him are already slipping away. Like the sound of his voice or his scent.

“You’ll be okay,” Lex says softly and puts his arm over my shoulder.

“I’m not so sure,” I whisper and lean my head on his shoulder, seeking some kind of comfort from my stepbrother.

We sit like that for a while in comfortable silence until we decide to head back to his apartment. I stay for another hour or two before I head back home.

Lex offers to drive me, but I prefer the subway to people-watch. It’s tranquilizing to watch them rush by. Most of them were engrossed in their phones. I can’t imagine what’s on there that is more mesmerizing than reality.

My highlight today was a man in a bright pink spandex suit and yellow boots. He doesn’t even have the body to pull such a look off, yet he stands there confidently. Not bothered by the looks and the snickering around him. I admire his confidence. Honestly. People are amazing. Most of the time.

I get off the train and instead of going home, I head to Vincent's gym. I don’t feel like working out today, but Leo and I always liked to hang out at the place. Maybe I should start doing that again to get back a piece of normality.

Vincent is standing by the boxing ring, shouting at the guys fighting. I can tell they are amateurs and as usual, Vincent gets impatient with them. They make the usual mistakes: dropping their non-punching hand or crossing their legs as they move around. Vincent hates when they do that.

I smile and lean against the ring next to him. He glances at me, smiles, and yells at his students to take a break and think about their mistakes.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asks, hugging me tightly.

“I’m hungover,” I tell him with a little shrug, “Lex and I got drunk last night.”

“He’s a lightweight,” he chuckles, “how is Spencer?”

“He’ll be fine.”

“That’s good to hear,” he says, “and what about you?”

“I have a headache, but other than that I’m okay.”

He gives me scrutinizing, long look. Before he can say anything, I say, “I was wondering if you kept my locker too and if there’s room for me to come back?!”

And with that I have him successfully distracted, “you want to come back?” he asks hopefully.

“I think so. I have been working out, but I think I want you to train me again.”

“Yes,” he grins, “of course! About damn time! I’ve been waiting for you to come around so I could ask you if you’d like to teach a couple of beginners. Kids. I always thought it would be perfect for you, but then Leo-,” he stops himself and shakes his head sadly, “what do you think?”

“I have work,” I say hesitantly, “but I could do it on the weekends?!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a familiar face. I almost forgot about Josh. He was there with me when I found the black business card in Leo’s locker, and he acted very suspiciously. The more time I’ll spend here, around fighters, the closer I might get to information on the Milites Mortes.

He glances at me, but quickly turns and hurries away. Yeah, he definitely knows something and I am going to find out what it is.

“You know what,” I say standing a little straighter, “I’ll do it!”