A Tale of Two Ghosts

by Sarah Riad

  Hurry up, Finn! We are going to miss the bloody train,’ India shouted from the car.

  I had decided at the last minute that I should probably bring something to read on the train. Yes, thanks to AB I now read books out of choice. India and I had been accepted into the same university which was where we were heading. We had fallen into a strange friendship that involved spending every day with each other and going out on what seemed like dates. There was the occasional kiss, but none of the official tags had yet been given.

  I didn’t mind, though, as long as I had her company. She understood me in a way that only AB had before. Sometimes I wondered what AB would have thought of India and I being together. Theo hadn’t been too pleased when he found out but once a new girlfriend appeared on the scene for him he got it over quite quickly.

  I missed her AB. We all did. No one ever spoke about it, but I knew it. I couldn’t believe it had been a year since she had gone.

  Maia would still make her a place at the dinner table that no one ever moved. Mitzi was always in the library in the spot where the light always shined through. And even Mum never put back the ornaments AB didn’t like. She also finished the painting of AB and had hung it up in the library.

  The house wasn’t the same without her. It didn’t feel right and so I was glad when the time came around that I could leave and head off to uni.

  ‘Finn Thomas Montgomery! I swear, I will leave without you,’ India shouted again.

  I smiled after having had to wait forty-five minutes for her to finish doing her makeup before we loaded the car.

  I ran up the stairs to my room, looking around for a book I had recently started. Unable to find it, I yelled out to my mum.

  ‘Oh, sorry, honey. I put it away in the library. I figured you weren’t going to take it,’ she said.

  The library.

  I hadn’t been in there since AB had left.

  As I reached the top step, I took a deep breath and clenched my fists before reaching out for the smooth handle.

  The room was filled with an orange haze. Specks of dust danced in the light. I looked around, unable to resist a smile as I remembered her.

  I really did miss her.

  Shaking off the feeling of sadness, I scanned the shelves for my book when a dark blue spine caught my eye. I was sure I had seen it lying around before.

  I pulled it out, blowing away the dust that it had collected and read the title out loud, ‘The Time Machine by HG Wells.’

  It had been one of AB’s favourites.

  I opened it carefully, and a piece of paper fell from the pages.

  Black, cursive writing said my name.

  My heart stopped for a moment.

  I opened it with a slight tremble in my hands, and there in beautiful writing, was a letter from AB.

  I let out a sigh as I slid back against the wall, sitting underneath the window before I began to read the words.

  Hey, friend,

  If you found this then I am guessing you finally got some decent taste in novels. That or your mum found it while dusting or something. Either way, you got it.

  I wonder how long it took? I wonder how old you are now? I wonder if you’ll even remember who I am?

  It’s AB by the way.

  So, I am obviously dead-dead now which is really ironic considering the last few months, I have never felt more alive…

  Anywho, for once, this isn’t about me. It’s about you.

  I am currently writing this from the library. We’re not talking, though I really hope we did before I left. I had planned to have a proper chat with you where I could say a proper goodbye, but when you kept avoiding me, I realised that I would never say in person what I needed to say.

  So, I am going to write it all instead, and prepare yourself because this isn’t going to all mushy and full of happy goodbyes.

  When I first saw you Finn, I thought, ‘what a loser’ but not for the same reason you thought of yourself. I thought you were a loser because despite only being at the beginning of your life, you had already lost. You spent all day cooped up in your bedroom, talking to people who didn’t exist in the real world. You didn’t care that you had no actual friends and please do not get me started on your hair. I was angry with you because of how much time you were wasting. Time I would never have. But the thing is, before you came along, I was content. I was fine with the fact that this had been my fate, and it wouldn’t change, but when I saw how you were choosing to live your life, it made something inside of me come alive. There you were: healthy, able-bodied, and with resources that were ready to be taken advantage. Instead you rotted away in front of the TV and had the cheek to be jealous and mad at your brother because he had a life.

  But something changed as we became friends; I realised there was so much more to you. You were this kind and sweet person that adored his little sister and thought of me enough to go to the library and lend me books. I was desperate for the rest of the world to see the same boy I had seen. I wanted everyone to see that smile and hear your laugh. Even the occasional joke you said was kind of funny.

  With you as a friend, being stuck in the house didn’t feel like a problem anymore which I know makes no sense since I decided to find help on how to leave anyway. Truth is, I did it because after seeing you at your birthday party, I knew I was only making things worse. I don’t know if you remember but later that evening, we ended up in the library where you told me you thought you loved me. I wanted to tell you I felt the same but I couldn’t because it wasn’t right. I was holding you back, and just like Jack had to let me go, I had to let go of you. I stayed by your side for as long I was supposed to.

  So here I am, writing this to you hoping that, wherever you are when you read this, that you’re happy and not playing that stupid football game anymore. I hope you are sharing that smile with someone and letting the world see more of Finn Montgomery.

  I hope you take advantage of the world and the things it can offer you because, eventually, it will all come to an end. We are all in that line where it comes to an end, and though you’ll never know when you’re next, you always know that you have right now, and that’s plenty of time.

  I miss you, Finn…at least I think I do…all depends on where the hell I am, but just know that if there is a way that I can be with you on this other side, I will be at your side every single day.

  Lots of love,

  Aubree Bennett (AB)

  I folded the letter but kept it in my hands as I leaned against the window. I was flooded by the memories we had shared in such a short time. I remembered that before AB left, my mum had come to say something that has stuck with me ever since.

  ‘Before AB came into our lives, you were lost and with her help, you found yourself…’

  She was almost right when she said I was lost except, it wasn’t me who had found myself.

  The whole time that AB was here, I thought it was me trying to find her but actually, I was the one who was lost, and it was her that found me.

  I tucked the letter back into the book and stood up from the dusty floor before taking one last look around.

  I smiled, and with the book in one hand, I slowly closed the door to the library. I was ready to begin the next chapter of my life, but would never forget how it all had started.

  ‘I’ll see you soon, AB.’

  The End.

  About the Author

  A Tale of Two Ghosts is Sarah Riad’s third YA novel after releasing The Sharp Knife of a Short Life in 2017 and 364 Days a Year in 2018. When she isn’t working on her books, Sarah works in the city of London juggling her time as a PA Team Leader and studying part-time for a degree in Psychology.

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  Please enjoy the following excerpt from Sarah Riad’s 364 Days a Year:

  364 Days a Year

  It always starts in the same way.

  On the 29th of March, at 12am, I wake suddenly, gasping for air. No matte
r if it’s the 12th time or the 89th time, I am consistently met with a wave of sickness as the dread settles into the pit of my stomach.

  As I gather myself, I glance around, taking in my surroundings, doing my best to piece together the broken puzzle I’m left with. But that is where the similarities end.

  The next bit is never the same.

  At first, I try to figure out what has happened and where I am in the world. I have woken in the most natural of places and also in some of the strangest but I usually don’t have much time to figure everything out right away, especially if there’s a crowd because I have been in a car accident or supposed to have died in the blazing fire of a burning building. I’ve come to learn how important it is to lose the crowd, dodging any questions I don’t know the answer to but what’s more difficult is when people have seen my new body die. How do you explain yourself out of that one?

  You don’t. You just run.

  Sometimes I wake up in a house but, as the times have changed, it’s become somewhat of a rarity for it to be a pleasant wake-up. Even when it is, there’s no guarantee that it will be a good life.

  Once I’ve hidden myself from prying eyes, I look at my new body, usually beginning with my hands. You can learn so much about a person from their hands. First, do they belong to a male or female? I can usually figure it out by simply looking for the basics, such as nail varnish, jewellery, hair and the shape of the fingers. Once I’ve figured out the gender, I study the skin and nails. Is the skin soft and clean or are the hands tough and covered in dirt? And the nails, are they long and manicured or dirty and chipped? At this point, I can guess how I might be living this new life.

  Not all things are a complete mystery to me when I first wake. I always know of two things: One is that it is always the day of my 17th birthday and another is that I will die, once again, on the day before my 18th birthday.

  I know nothing else about the body I’m in. Not their name or where they’re from. Sometimes, I can figure out how they died, especially if it’s obvious—like a suicide or car accident—but then there are other times where I find myself surrounded by no obvious cause.

  In the beginning, I would do all I could to find out who the body belonged to. I’d get to know their families and friends and sometimes I would find myself getting caught up, living as though the life belonged to me and wouldn’t eventually end, as it always did. Things are different now, I no longer have the energy to care.

  Now, I just wait.

  I exist as quietly as possible until the day comes when it all ends again.

  I can imagine you’re wondering why this happens to me and I wish I had an answer. I used to spend each lifetime trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I’ve researched thousands of books and been quizzed by doctors with a hundred questions, but neither them or I got any of answers that we needed. I’ve grown close to someone and confessed my secret, only to be shunned away as though I was crazy.

  Since the year 1909, I have lived in 108 bodies and I have died 108 times.

  This will be my 109th.

  To read more, click here