I couldn’t believe my eyes. Din’s mother was sleeping soundly on the hospital bed, but then there was a ghost that looked exactly like her next to her. There was no way I could be dreaming this. It’s been a few days since I died, but I haven’t felt dazed at all so that couldn’t be it.

Since I was already dead, maybe by touching the body of a dead person, I could see their ghost.

“May I ask who you are?” She asked with a gentle smile on her face.

This time, I kept my hand still on top of her hand. I was flabbergasted, but she waited patiently for me to collect my thoughts.

“I-I’m Lorelei Talus.”

“Nice to meet you, Lorelei. What brings you here today?”

“I was asked to visit you,” I explained. “Your son, Din, is a special friend of mine. Due to certain circumstances, he wasn’t able to come in here himself so he sent me instead.”

“I see. That boy, he’s still looking after me,” She said gleefully.

Aria seemed deep in her thoughts, but I was too curious about this whole situation. Her body on the bed was still breathing, but I could still somehow see her ghost. I tried coming up with some answers to it. Maybe when people are unconscious, their ghosts are visible until they wake up in reality. Maybe she’s a Spirit and her Wish allowed her to have a ghost form as well as a human form.

After thinking for a while, I gave up and just ended up asking, “Mrs. Morrison, are you a ghost?”

She looked at the floor with a sad smile on her face.

“That’s a question I don’t really have an answer to. I’ve thought it over multiple times too. I only have theories for why I’m a ghost, but I can’t really prove it.”

“When did you start being a ghost? Was it after the home invasion?”

Aria held her head as if in pain.

“Ah yes, that did happen, didn’t it? It feels so long ago. I don’t clearly remember what occurred that night. There was a break in, yes, and then my husband went to check on it. I hid with Din under our bed and that was when we got attacked. The only thing I can remember after that is waking up inside the hospital outside of my body. To tell you the truth, I was truly afraid, seeing my own body like that.”

With a sad glance at her body, she continued, “The doctors did everything they could to save me, but even after all this time, I’m still in a coma. One of the theories I came up with is that being in a coma is a state close to death, so during the duration of a coma, I get to live life as a spirit.”

For all we know so far, that does make sense, but just with any other theories, we had no way of proving this one. There was no definite answers, just guesses.

“Can I ask how it is that you can see me?” She asked. “If my eyes aren’t mistaken, you appear to be a spirit as well. Unless if you have some boots that allow you to float off the ground like that.”

I didn’t really know much about my current situation either. One moment I was getting attacked, the next was when I woke up right in front of my own body.

“I died a few days back so I’m an actual ghost. As for how I can see you… it seems when I’m in contact with your real body, I can communicate with you.”

To demonstrate, I removed my hand from her hand, making it so I couldn’t see her anymore.

“Right now, I can’t see you at all. But when I’m touching you…” I held her hand again and she appeared right where she disappeared from. “And now, I can see you clearly.”

For some reason, Aria clapped her hands together, “That’s a wonderful gift you have, Lorelei. Is that how you’ve been communicating with my son as well?”

“With Din… he’s somehow able to see me even without contact. He’s actually the only one that can see me.”

She seemed to have sensed my grief as she came closer to me and pretended to hold me. Of course, she just phased through me, but I could still feel a certain warmth from her hug.

“You’ll be okay. It must be hard to pass away at such a young age, but you have to be strong. You must be brave because even if you’re a ghost, you’re still here in this world. You’re still breathing the same air as anybody else. Even if my son is the only one that can see you, he’ll make sure you’ll never feel lonely. I raised that boy so I know I can trust him on that at least.”

The warmth from a loving mother was powerful.

Suddenly, I felt the need to cry, but managed to hold back. I had never known my parents and had been raised by my aunt my whole life. And even my aunt abandoned me.

This world was too cruel.

So I thought.

But Din’s mother showed me that it could also be beautiful. Having someone that could care for you and having someone that you could care for. That’s all you really needed in life.

So long as I had Din, I would never be truly alone.

There was still meaning to my life.

It wasn’t a thought that occurred to me in these past few days, but I definitely felt like a lot of weight had been dropped from my shoulders.

Even Aria seemed to have sensed that as she gave me a motherly smile. I genuinely smiled back and thanked her.

“It’s nothing, Lorelei. I’m just glad I could talk with someone after so long,” she giggled. “You don’t know how boring it is to be in this room all by myself. Although they did move me just recently so at least I got a new room.”

I realized that she most likely didn’t know anything about what had happened in the past few days, what happened during the ceremony.

I explained, “During the last moon shift, the phase shifted from crystal to blue.” I saw the look of worry on her face, but I continued, “At the same time, I awakened to these eyes. There were many others that day that also received these same eyes. One of them being Katherine.”

“Katherine has those too? I was planning on asking you about those eyes, but I didn’t want to pry if you weren’t going to share it yourself. So on that day, your eyes just turned black?”

I nodded. “It was sudden and even now, I don’t know why. But because of these eyes, I was killed and Katherine was chased off by Ace knights. Din is also a wanted criminal now because he tried protecting me.”

It took a bit for her to process all the information. She suddenly held her head and screamed, “Ahh why am I stuck in this room while my children are in danger out there?!”

I was taken aback by the sudden outburst from the calm personality she had shown before.

“Lorelei, sweety, I hope this isn’t asking too much, but would it be alright if I left my son in your care?” She pleaded. “He’s brave, far braver than most, but that’s also where his downfall lies. He’s too brave! Some would say stupid, but that’s just plain wrong. Din thinks through things, but the things he decides to do is usually very dangerous. It’s like he only sees the results and doesn’t care what’s in his way to achieve that result.”

“I totally understand. I’ll do my best, Mrs. Morrison.”

A sigh of relief left her.

“I wish I could be with you two, but for some reason, I can’t go too far away from my body before I start feeling weak. I’ll stay here and pray for your safe journey. I’m counting on you, sweety.”

I nodded with confidence, “You don’t need to worry. I’ll make sure to keep your son in check.”