Gwen

I was walking back home, since the Taxi I had taken had broken down on the way and I wasn't far from my house so I decided to walk. I gazed up at the sky. It looked like it was going to rain heavily. I sighed at the dull sight and muttered," When will spring come?" and suddenly a droplet fell on my cheek," Shit. I don't want to get soaked."

I focused my sight back on the road ahead of me, walking faster than my zombie walk earlier as more drops started shooting down from the sky.

Just a little more.

I started running, grasping the straps of my school-bag tightly. The breeze felt cold on my face and my knees and feet felt sore. It had been long since I'd exercised. On top of that, my thick clothing restricted my movements and made me breathless. I could see my house in front of me and ran even faster but I immediately stopped as someone was waiting outside my house, at the porch.

Rain started pouring and doused me completely but I didn't move an inch as the guy approached me. I could feel he was quite or...very angry by the way he stomped towards me. I couldn't see his face under the hood but he suddenly grabbed my sweater, pulling me closer to his face.

"Tyler?!" I shouted the moment I saw his face. His lower lip was bleeding and there was a visible cut. He stared at me murderously as he spoke," You fucking bitch."

"What the hell? Take your hands off me!" I yelled and pushed him away. He was grabbing my clothes like he wanted to rip them off me.

"What were you doing outside my house and how did you even get here?" I questioned.

"How innocent." He chuckled," You're the reason for all of this!"

The raindrops blurred my vision.

"You shouldn't have done that in class earlier." I said.

"Oh, and that's why you asked your boyfriend to beat me up like this?" He asked.

"I didn't! He said he'd 'talk to you' about it. I didn't know this would happen." I explained.

Of course I knew this would happen you rat.

"I won't fall for your fake ass." He shouted and pushed me back but I twisted my ankle as my foot slipped on the wet road and I fell on the ground.

"You're going to pay for this." He scowled as he towered over me.

"No, you're going to pay for this. If Edwin knows-" I threatened him with something even I was unsure of. Since Edwin was just toying with me, I didn't expect him to care even a bit if I died that night, but the fact that he beat Tyler up for me gave me a little confidence to say those words.

"I'll get beaten up happily after I break a few of your bones." He laughed and grabbed my arm to pull me up but I resisted and pulled him down too.

"Fuck!" He shouted as he fell face first on the wet road and I had my chance to run inside my house. I stood up and limped towards my house which was just 30 steps away. I momentarily turned back to see him already standing and ambling towards me in a fast pace.

I reached the porch and rummaged my bag to find the keys when he pulled my arm, swiveling me around and slapped me across the face.

"Stop it!" I yelled. His hand was heavier than I thought. My jaw was paining and I felt a cool sensation on my cheek. I knew it was going to swell up.

"I'm not letting this go easily so you better cooperate and come with me." He ordered.

"You're at fault you know that? How can you blame it on me? You got what you deserved!" I pushed him away and pulled the key out but he immediately recovered and started snatching the keys out of my hand.

Ethan spoke from behind me but since Tyler was there, I couldn't reply to Ethan. I didn't know what he was going to do once I stepped back and I didn't want it to happen.

"Don't make this more complicated for yourself Tyler!" I warned him.

"Really? Bitch you think I'm going to let you destroy me without doing any harm to you? Go and report it to the Dean tomorrow. I'm switching schools anyway." He said.

"I'm warning you one...last time." I said.

Ethan yelled and I let go of the keys, stepping away from Tyler, covering my eyes with my hands and suddenly, a flower pot fell right on Tyler's head from my room's window.

I flinched as the pot broke on his head and he fell down unconscious. The mud was all over his hair and face and I couldn't see if he was bleeding.

"Is- Is he d-dead?!" I shouted.

I shivered as I pulled the keys out of his grasp and his fingers moved, so I knew he was alive. I hurriedly unlocked the door and went inside.

Ethan said as I stood with my back against the main door, panting heavily. He seemed to be facing me, standing just a few steps away.

"I'm fine." I replied but suddenly the small bottle of my anxiety pills rolled towards me and stopped at the tip of my shoes.

"How..." I uttered as I picked up the bottle," How did you do this? How could you touch and move objects?"

"You're really getting stronger." I said.

"But what if he creates a scene after he wakes up?" I asked.

I nodded with uncertainty and stepped aside and walked inside, instead of just passing through the space he was standing in.

.

Tyler seems to have left.

I thought as I relaxed in the bath-tub. My mind went back to thinking how all that had happened. Just how Elijah had said, Ethan was slowly getting all the powers but I didn't expect him to progress so much in just a day. I also pondered whether I should tell Edwin or spare Tyler's life by not doing so. But I couldn't believe Tyler's guts for doing that after being warned by Edwin Miler.

After I finished showering, I plopped on the bed and just sighed for about a minute. The right side of my face and jaw were paining and I could feel my face was swollen like a pig's, but I wasn't in the mood of anything, so I didn't bother to apply ice on it,

"Oh my god!" I jumped out of my skin as I was startled when Ethan spoke.

"No I'm...I'm good." I answered as I sat up.

"I'm just tired. And after getting slapped so hard on the face, I'm not in the mood." I said.

I was about to answer when I felt a chilly sensation on my swollen cheek, almost as if someone touched it. I backed away from my spot, pressing my palm on my cheek.

"N-Nothing. It's nothing." I lied and folded my knees closer to my chest. I wasn't going to tell him I felt something, because I, Gwen Smith, didn't want to make a fool of myself by asking whether he, Ethan Miler had just touched my face! It was too too too good to be true.

The next few minutes, I met with silence and I thought he'd left so I was about to lay back down when he spoke again,

"H-huh?! Oh- well w- um that was because..." I stuttered like a 4 year old as my face felt warm because I was surely shining like a bright red tomato.

That's when I heard him laugh.

My heart sank so deep that I knew it would never surface again.

He laughed. I could almost imagine his face when he used to laugh so brightly. What happened to him all of a sudden? Why was he covered in blood, lying lifeless on the floor all of a sudden? What went wrong and where and why?

"Your laugh...I missed it so much." I uttered without even thinking.

"WHAT?! NO! I MEANT-" I tried to explain but he cut me off,

"Yes, just that." I nodded.

"That day...was your birthday. I just wanted to wish you." I answered.

"N-not at all- I mean, yes? I don't know- I just texted because my friend dared me." I lied.

"It's really the truth." I said," I did it because I knew you'd never reply to just a nobody but I didn't know that would happen..."

I turned pale," How did you know about the gift?!"

"I- I see." I felt myself shrink to the size of a peanut. For a moment, I thought he knew me too, but it was just from rumors.

"Come on! I'm sure you received loads of them from strangers-" I said.

"I'm- I'm getting flustered now." I said and hid under the duvet, to which he giggled and I bit my lip nervously, shutting my eyes tightly. Was I finally something to him? Did he consider me as his friend? I didn't know why I was getting so anxious and excited at the same time. But I was definitely proud of myself for making a spirit laugh and giggle.

He asked and I slowly stuck my head out of the duvet. He sounded sad suddenly. He wanted to see the gift that he never received when he was alive. I didn't know whether a black tie was worth a gift or not, but I made no excuses or delayed and immediately took out the gift box that I had left intact under my clothes in the wardrobe.

"I thought I'd never open it anymore." I said as I took off the ribbon and removed the wrapping paper gently, revealing a navy-blue box. I opened the box and smiled at the perfect black tie placed safely in it's plastic case.

"You- you do?" I asked, getting flustered again.

What's the point when I can't even see you wear it...?

"You're welcome." I said, closing the box and kept it back safely where it was before.

When he was alive, he seemed like a fantasy and when he died, he actually became a fantasy.

3rd December

Dean's Office-

"Would you take off your cap please?" The Dean asked me as I stood next to Tyler, glaring at me like an Eagle. I had come to school with a swollen face just to report that jerk's actions. And I didn't really look dumb wearing a cap compared to him coming to school with his head covered with bandages like he was some Mummy.

I took off my cap as the Dean asked me to and showed him my swollen face.

"There's some serious problem with both of you." He sighed, looking at both of us.

"He needs to leave the school, sir." I demanded.

"Then she should too, sir!" Tyler said," Look at my head!"

"I can see both your head and her cheek. Now tell me the story behind this situation or I'll have both of you expelled." The Dean said.

"Yesterday in-" I started off but Tyler cut me off." She didn't submit the assignment-"

"Shut up!" I retorted," Yesterday wasn't the due-"

"She's lying!" Tyler yelled.

"You can ask the Biology teacher-" I suggested.

"Shut your mouth Gwen. Yesterday was the due date and you didn't submit the assignment and had your boyfriend beat me up." Tyler said.

"This isn't helping in any way. Shut up, both of you." The Dean ordered.

"Sir she-" Tyler said and made the Dean only angrier.

"You seem to have a lot to say." Dean told him," Gwen, tell me what happened."

"Yesterday, he asked me to hand in the assignment but I was going to submit it today, since today was the original due date, but he said he would degrade me if I didn't hand it yesterday and get me expelled. I just told my...friend Edwin Miler about it and I have no idea what happened between them. Tyler was later standing outside my house when I returned from somewhere. He said I was responsible for the fact that Edwin beat him up and he wanted to take me somewhere and hit me in return. He pulled my arm, pushed me on the ground and even slapped me when I resisted. Then...out of nowhere, a flower pot fell on his head and he was knocked out." I explained and almost laughed when I said the last sentence.

"Edwin and Tyler fighting outside the campus is none of my concern, nor can I take actions against it." The Dean said," Tyler, about the submission, you were wrong and will be punished. Tell me your story now."

"Fine, I did wrong. Everything was my fault except the part that the flower pot fell 'out of nowhere.'" Tyler said.

"What are you trying to say? I did it? Or someone in my house did it? My parents are out for another 18 days and there was not a single soul in my house at that time." I said.

"Did you probably hurt your head?" Dean asked him.

"I heard her talk to air! She said 'Is he dead?' like she was asking someone. There was surely someone there!" Tyler said as he got furious.

"Yeah? You don't talk to yourself sometimes or at least when you're nervous?" I mocked him.

"You bi-"

"I've wasted enough time here and Tyler you're the only one who's guilty. How dare you hit a girl because her friend did something? I want to see your parents right away!" Dean scolded him and sent me back to my classroom nicely.

.

"We did it." I said, pressing my phone next to my ear and talking to Ethan to avoid suspicion.

"Are you going somewhere?" I asked.

"Wh- Why? Where are you going?"

"Then, take care of yourself." I said.

Don't leave me alone.

"Take your time. I'll be fine." I said.

Come back soon.

I'll miss you. Please don't go.

"Bye." I said and kept my phone into my side pocket.

Why did he make up his mind suddenly? I wasn't even prepared for this.

5th December

Home-

It had been two days since Ethan had left. I had been gloomy as ever, not taking interest in anything. With every little breeze, I would call his name thinking he had probably returned, but he never replied or started a conversation by saying 'Gwen' in his usual tone.

Every sentence he spoke circulated in my head thousand times and made me miss him even more.

I had told Elijah everything about Ethan being able to lift and move things and he was quite impressed like myself. He wanted to see me but I declined every time saying I wasn't feeling right. But knowing that without me progressing in the relationship with Edwin, the investigation had come to a halt, I agreed to going on another date with Edwin even after the spine-tingling warning he'd given me.

My phone tinged at a new notification and it was a text from Elijah asking about my health.

Elijah: Are you feeling good now?

Elijah: Should I come visit you?

Elijah: Is your face still swollen?

I sighed and just told him about the date because that was all that mattered.

Me: I'm going on a date with Edwin. Maybe the date after this, I will be able to go to his house.

Elijah: I didn't ask about that.

Elijah: How are you feeling?

Me: I'll be honest. I miss him.

Elijah

Gwen: I'll be honest. I miss him.

I fell back in my chair and stretched my arms," She's in love."

"What?" Dad asked with an awkward look on his face.

"You didn't hear anything." I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, being in love with a spirit is the last thing I'd like to hear." He murmured, digging his eyes into his book.

"Dad, can I not just run into the mansion, steal the key and run out of the mansion?" I asked.

"I have many sons. Go ahead." He said sarcastically.

"The Smiths only have one daughter though." I said.

"How about you seduce that stud and date him instead of her then?" He asked and I burst out laughing.

"I'm serious. He'd be head over heels for you. You'll do a better job." He said," You can even seduce Howard Miler with that face of yours."

"I'm noticing you've been praising me too much since the day you met Howard Miler." I said.

"I just realized something after meeting that dog." He said and the tone of his voice suggested he wasn't going to continue speaking and tell me what exactly he had 'realized'.

"Anyway, how long are we going to keep Ethan's body? Isn't it disrespectful towards him to not have his cremation?" I asked.

"I want to lay him in the best place, inside a beautiful casket in front of only those people who actually feel sorry for him. But the right time for that is only when the sinner would be behind the bars." He said.