I read this out loud before turning my body completely to him.
“Do you believe in spirits or ghosts?”
“My great-grandmother did. She would always go on and on about living in people’s memories. Then again, she was ninety-one and batshit crazy. Why do you ask?”
“Why do you assume she was crazy?” I hiss.
“One time at a family gathering at a restaurant… I think I was about eleven? She randomly started chanting the same things over and over again like something possessed her in the middle of a conversation with my tio.”
“Well—” It feels like the energy around us has stopped. We remain perfectly still as the necklace gravitates from his hand to his neck. Without any effort on his part, the stone blasts a blinding shade of blue.
“Did you know that was going to happen?”
I shake my head no.
Ben leans in and whispers, “This is my bisavó’s necklace, isn’t it?”
I don’t answer. His head shifts away from me as his attention is sucked into something I can’t see, fixated on something that has left him catatonic and lifeless.
I wave my hand in front of his face, but he doesn’t react. I pinch him, but he doesn’t move. Skye is no longer in the corner watching us. All I can do is wait for him to come back to me.
Wait for his slip back in time to end.
“Thank you. Uhh…” His eyes are glazed over, only looking at the photo propped up on stage of Skye in a wild field, frolicking. Was he talking to me, or…? I take the leap, feeling impatient from his lack of response.
Naturally, filing in the blank, I say, “Charlotte. My name is Charlotte.”
“Charlotte, thank you for this. Thank you for giving me my last goodb—” He stops himself before finishing “goodbye,” letting the tears fall off him on purpose.
He doesn’t explain what he just saw. Instead, tugs the necklace, finally able to disconnect the chain from his neck. The pendant’s glow is dying down as soon as he leaves it in the palm of my hands.
“She told me to give it back to you.” A slight grin displays on his face as he takes the largest inhale. His eyes still haven’t strayed from her photo.
“Did she say why?”
“Just that it’s meant to stay with anyone with unfinished business.”
A slight smirk creeps onto my face as I happily take it back in my hand. My feet are digging into the ground.
If his vision was anything like mine, it would stick with him. For days, weeks, years—holding on to his last moment with her.
“So I guess you believe in ghosts now, right?” A nervous laugh falls out of me.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He laughs, and all I can do is match the similarities of the two of them in my head. A calming presence washes over me as soon as I clasp the chain back around my neck.
I still have a little more time.
Chapter thirty-four
Podcast Day
It’s funny… After everything, I am still in limbo.
Wondering when Skye will show up.
If a text from Holden will grace my phone.
An endless loop of waiting that has me perched on my bed, wrapped up from head to toe in a force field of blankets.
