Ghost In Red

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“I’m telling the truth, Sir! Please, you need to listen. Your daughter’s ghost is right here with me, Mr. Hunters. She has been begging me since yesterday to help her tell you that you shouldn’t let her die. Please! You have to believe me. F*ck it! He hung up again.” Sydney kept begging my father and explaining, yet she has been hanged up for the third time now.    

She dialed his number again with her face showing that she was losing her temper; she was worried, panicking, and had many more emotions that I could not point out. I just wish my father could hear me.    

She waited for it to ring while walking back and forth, but then she rubbed the back of her neck and looked at me in horror.    

“What happened, Syd?” I asked her, yet I was afraid to hear what she would say. Could it be some bad news? Well, by that look on her face, it surely is.    

“He blocked my number.” She answered and sighed.    

She looked at me with an apologetic face, and I bit my lower lip, trying not to feel like crying.    

I went to sit on the bench on the sidewalk, not saying anything as I didn’t exactly know what to feel, say, think, and do. I noticed the girl sat beside me on my left and took a deep breath.    

“Now what? I have done what you have told me. And, obviously, nadah! He thought I was crazy and a damn hacker for getting his number even I told him that I got it because of you.” She began while she got her phone in her right hand's hold, and I saw the time was about seven-thirty in the evening.    

I turned my head to look at her, and she showed me a half-smile.    

“I’m so sorry, Oj.” She told me, sounding so sad, and I nodded my head lightly. I heard her sighed again, and I reached to hold her right hand.    

“No, it’s okay, Syd. Thank you. Thank you so much for everything. Well, I guess… I will just spend my remaining days with my family.” I replied and tried to get myself together. Well, I kind of expected that it would go this way.    

“Wait a damn second. Are you trying to say that you are giving up? Are you? Are you really Olivia Jillian Hunters? I don’t think it’s you now. The OJ I knew doesn’t know the meaning of giving up. She would keep finding a way to say something that could defend herself and her point even with the smallest argument, just to prove she was right. Now, you don’t sound like her at all.” Sydney blurted out, making me look at her in a bit of shock as to why she got mad.    

“Umm… Well, it’s… It’s different this time, Syd.” I muttered, and she let out a scuff and stood up. She looked at me and sarcastically laughed.    

“Yes, you are damn right. It’s different. Very! And it needs more of that fighting spirit that you used to have when you were always trying to defy me at school. The one that I get so annoyed and challenged most of the time. Where is that OJ? It’s your f*cking life that we are talking about here. And you need to be the one that should firstly think optimistically about it. We only live once, right? Then make sure you did more than your best with the best things that you could do for yourself to make that life of yours worth it. Life is so precious, and it's a gift. Giving up shouldn't be on your bucket list. Grow some brains, please. Now don’t freaking dare tell me that you are just going to go and disperse like a goddamn loser, weakling. You are always gonna be a loser to me if you won’t fight for your life.” She ranted like a damn dinosaur, and she really looks so angry at me right now.    

I gulped and looked at her, still shocked by her sudden change of mood. Heck, I used to know her as someone who had lots of patience, but now she seemed to lose it all because of me.    

“Yeah, you are right, Sydney. I was thinking that way because… I’m like this--a ghost that nobody else can notice. I can’t seem to do anything with this situation of mine. But I get what you were trying to tell me. Thanks for making me realize it.” I replied, feeling amazed by how she seemed so concerned about me.    

She nodded her head slowly, and she suddenly made an evil-looking face and smirked. What's the matter with her now?    

“Do you want me to go to New York City? Then I would whip your daddy’s ass for not believing me, and I’m going to save you from the evil doctors there. What do you say?” She asked and optimistically suggested, making me let out a soft laugh at her words.    

“You would do that?” I asked her with a smile on my face now, and she nodded her head and answered, “Yeah, of course! It’s your life that we are talking about here. We can’t just give up just like that. Do you know? There are so many other ways. That’s only plan A that has failed. There are twenty-five more other letters in the alphabet. But... Wait, you don’t really have any other plans than that? Now I won’t wonder why you are giving up like a damn fish out of water, biatch. What a damn loser, indeed.”    

I just chuckled hearing her words of insults that she used to tell me, and she playfully sighed in frustration.    

“Now, back to my plan. We really need to do what I have in my head this time because I can’t trust yours. Just so you know, I would never give a damn eulogy at your funeral being the person who hates you, and you hated that then become your ghost’s friend, even if you haunt me in my dreams, darling. So I need you alive. We still have one year in high school to get through before the competition ends. You better prepare. Agree?” She asserted and gave me a heads up, and I bet she would become a great speaker at my funeral for sure. However, I love how she’s so positive about everything. And I admit that I am certainly a loser compared to her. But hey, darling, huh?    

“Okay. Deal. Now, what do you have in mind that we could do so I could get my loser fine ass out of death?” I agreed and asked her for her brilliant plan.    

I never really thought she would offer such help more than what I asked her. I only asked her to help me to tell my father that I didn’t want to die and, if possible, make him cancel my death day. But now, this adorable angel here is the one giving me one hell of a motivation that maybe I still have a chance to live again, and I couldn’t thank her enough.    

“If I go to New York City… Hmm, we aren’t sure if your father would believe me even if I beg him on my knees. Firstly, I am Sydney Roswell. I bet he knows what our history was, doesn't he?" She began and asked me a question that I wouldn't need to think extensively about.    

I nodded my head in response, making her snicker in confidence. Of course, Dad knew. There wasn’t a weekend he couldn’t hear me rant and mention the name Roswell whenever he asked me about how school was this week and such.    

“Cool. Now, what I’m sure is… he might send me behind bars or to a mental institution when we get there if I would make a scene and tell them the whole truth, because… you know that I don’t have any other motives to why would I beg you to be alive. I have no reasons why I would like to keep my former foe breathing, right? So…” She let out as she began to pace back and forth again, and she paused and seemed thinking deep for a better plan.    

“Another is… If I would let your friends talk to your dad about this biggest concern of ours, he might still think that they wouldn’t want you dead because, of course, you are their friend. Everyone wants you to be alive. But then… we have a very small chance he would let lonely teenagers decide what’s best for you. Right? Or if we would team up and steal your body from the hospital… no, I don’t think that would work.”    

She kept trying to analyze our situation and making plans that sometimes appeared silly, but she seemed not to give up anytime soon.    

I just waited for her to continue because I clearly didn’t have anything in mind since what she had been trying to say was true. My father would really think that she’s nuts if she’d be there and protest with my only true friend, Grace.    

“Why don’t we call your mother instead? I’m sure she might consider and listen. Well, I would try to sound more convincing and make her believe that I have your presence here with me. Why didn’t we call her first earlier? That’s so dumb of us. Moms are softer for sure. What do you think? Do you know her number? Tell me.” She continued with a thoughtful idea, but… We have a big BUT here.    

“Yeah, that sounds great, Syd. But… I… I don’t know. Mom… She… I don’t know her number.” I replied, stuttering as I was not sure how am I going to say it, and I flashed her a sad smile.    

If only Mom is here.