“I’m a horrible ghost. That’s why they sent me back. They even told me that they would let me stay here if I really wanted. They’re giving me tonight to decide.”
“Wow, you must really suck. I’ve never heard of the spirits offering anyone that before.”
“Yup, an eternity in the spirit world with them or an eternity out here with people. I think the choice is pretty obvious.”
“That’s because you haven’t thought it through,” he said. “It’s going to be strange for you to be back. You’re going to feel like you’re alive. You can taste, you can cry, you can sweat. It will seem just like before. Everything will feel the same except your heart won’t be beating and your lungs won’t be breathing. You have to remember that you are dead, Sadie. Only a medium can hear you, and it will be like that even if you decide to stay.”
We were silent for a moment as I tried to hold back saying something particularly biting to my brother. I looked up, beyond the boardwalk lights. In the countless stars above my head I was able to pick out Cygnus, the swan constellation. When I was little, my dad had used the massive telescope on the back deck to point it out to me.
I always thought Cygnus looked more like a plane crash than a swan: nose pointed downward with two crooked wings. But tonight, I didn’t mind. There are no stars in the afterlife.
“How can I help you?” Paul Michael asked. I jolted out of my thoughts, startled by his soft voice.
“I don’t need help, Paul Michael. I have my mind made up.” Just because he was the oldest and had special gifts, he always thought that the world needed him. Well, sometimes he needed a reminder that he was as insignificant as the rest of us.
“Really? You’ve decided that you want to hang out with me for the rest of my life since I’m the only one who can see you?”