Etched and splintered, sliding my hand across it. Taking my hand away, I rubbed my fingers together. Nothing, no feeling, not even a splinter. The same old wooden frame of the window, tarry was the thought of bitterness on my mind.

And as I sat on the floor watching the world do its half-turn, I asked Sam, “What is the meaning of our existence? I feel nothing and know not of myself, it’s as though I’m being told to fade away. I’m not even sure if I’m real.”

Sam placed a hand on my shoulder. “But you are real, as real as this floor, as real as Phraze here. …Don’t let what Ellie said throw you off.”

Eww, bulging veins. Flicking the hand off, I mumbled, “You’re lucky I can’t feel that.”

“Huh?” Sam asked, while it’s limp arms were played with by Phraze.

“I didn’t say anything,” brushing the topic away from Sam’s arms I continued where we left off. “But you know, that isn’t why I’m down. She might have told Sophie the ghost she sees is only part of her imagination. I just, how do I say it, feel like we are worthless. The loss of memory helps to back my claim.”

Stopping me before I could go on, Sam said, “That’s not true, you’re the only ghost I’ve met that doesn’t have memories of their past.

I looked down at my knees, which I could see the floor through, “If I’m the only one, it means I’m alone.”

“I said you’re the only ghost I’ve met, it doesn’t mean I haven’t heard of it happening before. You’re not the only one Gray, there are rumors of it happening to others.”

Sam piqued my curiosity, “Rumors, you say and where would you have heard these rumors?” So I asked.

Sam slipped its arms away and proceeded to stare out the same window as I. A certain nostalgic aura enveloped the eyeball, as it looked on at the trees and their leafs spotted by droplets of rain.

After what felt like an eternity Sam spoke up, “It wasn’t that long ago, though it feels that way. A time before you arrived here there was another ghost. His name was Oliver, and he was the one who taught me. My friend, my master, and the one who possessed Sophie.”

“W-what!? He hurt Sophie! Why would you let him do that?!” I yelled at Sam. Frustration, the second time it had gushed forth from me.

A single tear fell from the eyeball and I learned ghosts could cry. “That wasn’t how it was meant to be. …The possession changed him. As he left the house through Sophie, he grasped for more and more. Researching and taking what information he could, he helped us both to learn so much about what we could do. But, his personality started to merge with Sophie’s and the best he could do to stop it was to tear himself apart from her. …It lead to his half fading away, right above Sophie and Ellie.”

“I don’t understand, how would it hurt her?”

“The Tunnel of Echoes is how,” Sam’s pupil widened, “ah, I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“Shouldn’t have told me… Why would that hurt her, Sam?!” Now it was just annoying, how much more would this eyeball try to hide from me.

“The Tunnel of Echoes is where souls go to be cleansed. Most never come out of it, forever sleeping, while the few that do… Turn out like you do. Only half of Oliver went there, so the side that stayed here reacts negatively to strong souls. Since me and you are just a soul, we are too strong to touch her. What you saw when she hardly scraped you, well, if prolonged, you wouldn’t want to know.”

“The Tunnel of Echoes,” I mumbled, looking at Sam, “its connected to me too?”

“That it is, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Sam turned and headed for the first floor. Passing by Ellie’s backpack lying beside her door and poking out of it a silver gleam. …What would it echo?

I lifted myself up, contemplating, as I too made my way for the first floor. The metal, so bright, causing me to squint as I went by.