Ghost In Red

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“They got into a car accident at the same highway crossing you had, Oj. No one knew it would happen because it was an accident, of course. Dad died on the spot, while Mom… She was rushed to the hospital. I still got a chance to see her and talk to her.” Sydney began after saying hi to her parents and introducing me to them. Then she sat, crossing her legs, in front of their tombstone, and I looked at her face.    

I saw how a warm smile crept on her face, and she continued, “She told me not to be sad, that I shouldn’t cry, and I need to be strong even if both of them will leave me behind. But I did cry, I felt sad, and I became vulnerable. I’m just human. But what I had put in my mind that Mom had told me before her final breath was… I should live my life doing the things that could make me happy, satisfied and could make me say that I never regretted anything that I had done or didn’t. However… Right now, I feel a lot of regrets.”    

I sat about a foot away from her on her left and heard her let out a deep sigh.    

Though I am curious as to what could be the things that she had regretted, I remained silent and waited for her to be the one to tell me what those were.    

“Yet some of those could still be fixed. It includes you, by the way. I’m still alive. So I still have chances to make things right. And you… You… hmm…” She uttered and turned to me, looking so thoughtful, and I asked her, “What me? Dead? Pretty much.”    

“No! Don’t say that. Never say such a thing! Why are you always a negative thinker?” She exclaimed, sounding a bit mad about my reply, and I made a thinking pose, tapping my right index finger on my chin.    

I looked at her face intently, and she held eye contact with me while not planning on looking away any time soon, making me quite scared at the aura she has right now. And the light from the candles that only touches the right side of her face made her look more spooky.    

“Well… I think that way because… I… Uh… Well, you do know that negative is attracted to positive, right? Opposites attract. So, yeah, I’m thinking negatively because you are the positive one. Doesn’t that make us a good pair?” I reasoned out, smiling so wide, and it kind of sounds like an epic move.    

Sydney just rolled her eyes at me and stood up. What? Didn’t she like that answer?    

“Hey! Where are you going, Syd? I’m just kidding! Why are you always so fussy? Wait for me!” I called her out when she briskly walked and did not bother to stop even for a second.    

I had finally caught up with her, and I noticed that we seemed to be not going back to where we had left her motorbike.    

“Where are we going?” I asked her since she kind of did not want to talk to me anymore, and she slipped both her hands into her jacket pockets.    

She didn't answer and just kept on walking.    

Okay. Now, she wants to ignore me. Nice.    

I stayed quiet while following behind her, walking on the pathway, and I wondered why there was a sudden light that lit up the surroundings. I lifted my gaze to the sky and noticed the partly round moon had shown up from being covered by clouds.    

I kept staring at the beautiful heavenly object, adoring its majestic beauty, and I didn’t notice that my companion had stopped walking when I had walked past her body, making me feel all weird.    

“What the hell, Hunters?” She cursed, and I laughed sheepishly, showing her two peace signs. “Sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose.”    

Is she going to get madder at me now? Hmm?    

When she didn’t say anything, I looked at where we were and saw that we were standing in the middle of a bridge.    

“Hey, don’t!” I gasped when Sydney climbed up on the railing of the bridge, and I tried to hold her but couldn't.    

“Why are you gonna kill yourself? Get back down here, Syd!” I yelled, worried about her, and I heard her laugh.    

“What is so funny?” I asked, and my eyebrows furrowed in unrest while she just kept chuckling.    

She sat there and looked down on the stream below, and I flinched.    

“Syd, please, get back down here! That’s dangerous.” I told her, making her shift her gaze to me, and I kept a stern manner. I don’t know why she would be playing with her safety. One wrong move and she might fall.    

“Are you afraid of heights?” She asked me, and I shook my head in response.    

“No, not really. But I’m scared for you. You might fall.” I answered and heard her taunt in reply, “Aw, that’s so sweet of you, Oj. Don’t worry. If I fall, at least I am going down. You better catch me.”    

I crossed my arms on my chest, looking sharply at her, and she just wiggled her eyebrows at me while smiling a cheeky one. Really? Does that statement have double meanings in it? I would love to catch her if it's the other way, which I have in mind now. Mhmm.    

“Anyway, I always sit here whenever I visit this place. Come here. I bet you are going to like this.” She uttered and gestured to me to come where she sat, and I didn’t think twice not to disagree. Well, I am curious to see what she wanted to show me.    

“Wow, that’s… It’s beautiful, Syd.” I let out in awe, seeing the sky’s reflection on the steady water below us. The moon and the stars indeed are so beautiful to look at from here while there were lilies and other water plants on the water.    

“Yeah, it is.” She said, and I turned my head to her and saw she had been staring at me with a lovely smile on her face. Oh, she certainly looks so beautiful right now.    

I didn’t notice that I had been gaping too much at her that it made her avert her gaze to the magnificent view at the stream, and I softly chuckled.    

“You look so beautiful, Syd. I hate it.” I let out, making her snap her head to me while her face paints an unpaintable look. Her eyebrows weren’t aligned, her nose scrunched up left, and she got a partly opened mouth, letting out a scoff.    

“I hate it that I may not have a chance to do what I want to do with you,” I told her, sadly looking at the water, and she snickered, making me look back at her face.    

“Why? What are you going to do to me?” She asked dubiously, and I gave her a pretty surprised face.    

“I said “do with you”, not “do to you”, silly. But if you ask me as such, then I am going to… no, you don’t want to know, Roswell.” I replied, a smirk forming on my lips, and I thought she would insist on knowing what it could be. Instead, she only let out a deep, sad sigh.    

She doesn't seem to want to make silly conversations with me now. What's wrong?    

“Do you think your father told your mom about you? Your condition? I mean, she has the right to know, right?” She asked, changing the topic into a heavy, serious one, and I shrugged my shoulders in response.    

“I don’t know, Syd. Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t even think that she still cared about me. She could have visited me just once or even just tried to see how I was growing up without her. That was eleven long years of nothing. Well, I don’t even know if she’s still alive.” I answered, trying to reminisce about the thought of her when we were still together, the pain when she had left me, and the longing that my mother made me feel through the decade of her absence in my life. And I felt something warm on my left hand, and I looked at it only to see that Sydney tried to hold it.    

“Perhaps there are things keeping her away from doing those, Oj. We don’t know. Maybe she always thinks about you, wishing that one day she could see you again and be with you again. Mothers always have that special bond with their kids, you know? They carried us for nine months and gave birth to us to make us see the beauty of life and experience how it was living in the world. I'm sure she cared about you. We just don't know what the hindrances are that keep you both away from each other. Or the thing that keeps her away from being with you." She said, and it made me smile, hearing such wonderful words from her. She really is this positive thinker. Now, I do believe that she truly never did hate me back then. And I don't think she ever hated someone in her life because she weighs things and situations very carefully. She is indeed so amazing.    

"I hope you are right, Syd. If so... If Mom knew about my situation, she could have done something to keep me alive, to keep hoping that I would wake up again one day. Yeah. If only she's here." I replied and looked at the stars to look for a shooting star so that I could wish I could still see my mother before I wither from this world.    

"Why don't we go and find her? I'm sure she's the only one who could do something about this problem that we are facing. She could stop your dad. She had the right to do so. What do you say?" Sydney suggested, and I slowly looked at her face as I was not sure I was hearing it all correctly. Did she say we are going to find my mother? Would she help me find her?    

"Uh... Well, yeah, she can. But... you would help me? Like, seriously, Sydney?" I answered and asked to confirm it with her, and she nodded her head.    

"Yeah, of course! I will help you. So I won't have regrets by the end. I have to make up a lot of things with you and do lots of things with you once you would finally get back on your feet. Alive, Oj. We still have a chance. A big one, actually. You still have nine days, right? I guess that's enough time." She affirmed, sounding so optimistic, and I nodded my head. I am sure I would be crying right now. She would still help me! She's an angel for sure. No one can convince me otherwise.    

"Oh, Sydney! I don't know what to say but thank you so much. Yeah, I believe I needed to find her. But... Where? Chicago? That's... I really have no idea where she is now." I replied, feeling so grateful to my former sweet foe, and she seemed to be thinking something deeply.    

"Hmm, yeah. I suppose we do need to find hints to know where she really is right now. Do you have pictures of her? It would be easier to identify her. We could search anywhere online or ask the authorities. Do you?" She answered and asked, and I nodded my head in response.    

"Yeah, I do. But... It's in the house. How am I going to get them?" I muttered and looked at both my hands as I realized that I couldn't touch anything.    

"Not you, Oj. The question is... How am I going to get them?" She corrected me, and I smiled at her.    

"You will break into our house?" I asked her, and she shook-nodded her head in reply. "I believe it's a must. And I don't think your homies would give such things to me if I ask them nicely to hand them to me because OJ Hunters' ghost requested so. No one with a sane mind would believe what I say, remember? So, yeah, I will break into your mansion."    

"You got the point, Syd. But damn, that sounds so exciting. Now, when are we going to execute that plan?"    

"Now. The earlier, the better. Or maybe later, where the people there would be deep in their sleep? What do you think?" She answered enthusiastically, and I chuckled at her adorableness. She seems so serious about this agenda.    

"Maybe later. There were only a few of them home, so maybe we can easily get in without getting noticed. You, I mean. You could easily break in." I replied and saw she nodded her head lightly.    

"Yeah. We would go there if the clock struck… ten. Before curfew hours. It's a plan then." She asserted, and I just agreed with her.    

We are going to break into our house. She. And I hope everything goes well with this new plan that Sydney had thought about recently.