d e l i c a t e .

“As long as you don’t tell me you love apple juice, we’ll be okay.” Sebastian chuckled. He’d always hated the stuff, prone to picking up a bottle of orange juice or grape anytime he stopped at the store, instead. “I’m like… ninety percent certain that apple juice is exactly what piss would taste like.” It probably wasn’t the kindest equivalent, but the boy simply couldn’t stand it, and never really understood how somebody could choose such a horrible fruit over something as delicious as his precious purple drink. Grabbing her a mini-bottle, he joined her on the small sofa, sinking into the material as he handed off her plastic container, opening his own as he got comfortable. “So, what brings you to my humble abode today, Wren?” He asked curiously, before throwing back a sweet swig of his drink. 

The raven-haired girl sucked in her lips, finding the way Sebastian rambled about apple juice a little too entertaining. He had a point, however; though she enjoyed the taste of the sugary drink, she far preferred drinking orange juice. “Trust me when I say I would prefer if you didn’t give me apple juice,” she teased, dropping her feet down onto the floor, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. Wren took the bottle from him in what felt like a daze, giving him the smallest of smiles as a thank you before training her eyes on him. “Is a girl not allowed to come visit her friend?” she teased, a feigned look of offense all over her face. “I’m hurt, Sebastian. Well and truly hurt that you think I have a motive for visiting.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” Sebastian said simply. “I mean, there’s plenty of shit about me that I’m not rushing to admit to you either. But, whatever happened, that might be your key to like… helping it. Sometimes dealing with your own shit helps spirits go away, too. Makes it harder for them ot latch on if there’s not like… sorrow or guilt of whatever keeping them there.” At the mention of the spirit being a man, Sebastian sat up a little. “Sorry. I just… I’ve always gotten into the habit of saying it instead. I feel like giving them genders or whatever just humanizes them, and after the things I’ve seen, it’s important for me to remember they don’t… get any sympathy from me.”

Lark hadn’t thought about trying to to humanize the spectre that haunted him for so long; but that maybe had more to do with the fact that he had met the man and he wouldn’t say he knew him by any stretch of the imagination.  “Oh; no, that makes sense, especially if you have to see them like… all the time and see the shit they do to people.”  he felt bad, shoulders shooting up to his ears, almost as if he was trying to curl into himself.  “Yeah; maybe I can work on trying to figure out what I can do to get him to move on like you said.”

To say that Sebastian felt guilty wouldn’t even begin to explain how bad he felt fro avoiding the hospital after his friend’s accident. But, he couldn’t bring himself to step foot in that building, certain the smell of disinfectants and the bright white lights would be enough to take him back to that night, making him sick to his stomach, and he wasn’t any good to Jaden like that. He’d been avoiding hospitals like the plague ever since the incident, sitting in an old bedside chair when his mother flatlined, knowing his father had been taken to the morgue the same day. But, upon finding out that the boy was released and staying with his parents, he was eager to see him. It was less scary without the tired wallpaper and the nurses. 

“I come bearing food,” He greeted, knocking on the wall as he stood in the doorway, offering a crooked, uncomfortable grin. “Hope it’s alright I stopped by. I’ve been meaning to stop by but, y’know. I’m… Sorry I never did.” He’d never gone into the gruesome details with Jaden, but anyone that knew him was well aware of his fear for hospitals. “How’re you feelin’ today?” ( @jadenlapointe​ )

“I mean, it’s possible, I guess. I wouldn’t take my word for it, or like… throw away your life trying to find a solution, but helping it find peace could go a long way.” He thought aloud. He wasn’t certain, and with these sorts of things, you never could be. But, it was worth a shot, wasn’t it? “Yeah, ten years isn’t shit. Do you…remember when it showed up? Like, did something happen in your life that could have like… invited it in? Usually stuff like depression or losing a loved one can trigger it.”

Gritting his teeth, Lark let out a quick huff.  “Yeah.  It’s not really something I like talking about, though.  Like, I know I came to you for help and stuff, but I still don’t really know you all that well, I’m not ready to just like spill all my deepest, darkest secrets or whatever.  You can stop calling him it, I know it’s a man.  I don’t think it bugs him, but it’s really okay if you just call him he.”

“I know it’s some horror-movie shit, but I do think we’re capable of helping them. Move on, I mean. But, that also means figuring out why they stick around, and what’s holding them back.” He admitted. “Your’s ever hint at like… what might be the cause?” He wondered, bringing his bottle to his lips once more. “I honestly doubt you have to worry about that, too much. From what I’ve read, it usually takes a shit-ton of time to be able to do that kind of shit, and unless your’s has been around for a long time, it probably won’t master a skill like that in your lifetime.”

Lark made a non committal sound, pressing on anyway.  “So you think if whatever problem is holding him here, if that’s resolved, he’ll move on?”  How Lark was ever going to shake the spirit?  He realized at this rate there truly was no option since he was the whole reason the man even met his untimely death.  “Nah; just ten years.  I guess in ghost years that’s barely anything.”

“Chances are, it already knows what possession is.” He pointed out. “Most people do, and I think most spirits keep their human memories. If they were human, anyways.” Sebastian knew that most people strictly believed that ghosts were the spirits of the dead, but he couldn’t help but think that other things existed as well, especially given the research he’d done on entities that dated back over spans of hundreds of years, or more. “Possession’s a learned skill, like anything else, I think. You can’t just… do it, or else I figure they all would.” He nodded, watching as the boy closed his water bottle, wondering if he knew more than he was letting on, but decided not to push it. “Your whole world changes after that.”

Lark let out a groan, flinging his arm dramatically over his eyes.  “Great.” he drawled, letting out a slow exhale.  “I guess I’ll just have to keep hoping he just wants to make me feel uneasy til the day I die,” He ran his hand through his hair, an unhappy look on his face.  “I guess you do have a point there.  Let’s hope he never learns how to do it.”

“Unless it moves on, yeah. Usually it has nothing to do with you. Unfinished business or whatever, I guess.” He was talking with his hands again, leaning forward a little to peer across at the other boy, his elbows resting on his knees. “Yeah, haven’t you ever seen a possession movie, man? I mean, they get a lot of shit wrong, but the religious aspect is usually pretty close. Most religious figures are hesitant to believe in other-worldly shit, and then there’s the risk of releasing evil into the world if you fuck it up. So, only like… somebody with a blessing can perform an exorcism. Most priests don’t want fuck all to do with that kind of shit. It’s easier to preach without believing there are actual manifestations of evil.” He shrugged. “But, if you ask me, I think they’re just scared. I mean, think about it. You spend your life devoted to the “upmost good” or whatever, and suddenly you’re faced with the idea that something evil can actually walk the streets? That’s fucking terrifying.”

Lark kept quiet - the unfinished business absolutely had to do with him, and he realized one decision had cursed the rest of his life, but he wouldn’t change any of it.  “No; I can watch some horror movies, but possession movies kind of freak me out.  I also didn’t want him getting any ideas, you know?”  He laughed a little, finishing the water and twisting the cap on hard.  “I guess that makes sense though; you hear about evil but how many people actually have to stare it in the face?”

“Not more scared. Just…. wary. Reminding you never to let your guard down.” He answered honestly. He didn’t want the boy living on edge, terrified of whatever was following him, but it was important to remember how dangerous the spirit could truly be. “Do you actually think it’d answer?” He all but snorted, but he knew some spirits could communicate, and he wondered if this one ever had, despite being in the background a majority of the time. “I don’t think you’d be talking to me about it, if you were possessed. And we couldn’t do an exorcism even if we needed to,” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Only a priest can, and there’s a ton of fuckin’ hoops to jump through to get that shit approved.” 

“Fuck,” Lark exhaled slowly, letting his head tilt back.  “Jesus.  I really am just stuck with this fucker for the rest of my life.  I was hoping there’d be an easy way to get him to fuck off, but I guess not,” his gaze roved over to Sebastian.  “You have to jump through hoops to get an exorcism approved?  People can’t just…… do them?”

“Hopefully it stays that way.” He said simply, turning his attention to the drink in his hand for a moment, taking a large swallow of the energy drink. “I just… I’d hate to hear that something bad happened to you, because of something you thought was under control.” He admitted. “Humans make the mistake of disregarding things when they seem dormant or safe, but that’s the thing with spirits that everyone seems to forget. They’ve got all the time in the world, and they still have free thought, or at least, enough to focus on whatever is keeping them around. Even the safe ones are dangerous. Trust me.” He warned, sitting back a little. “I’ve been dealing with this shit forever, and I’ve… seen the worst of it. You’d be surprised what the calm ones are capable of.”

“Are you trying to make me more scared, or what?”  Larks’ body was wracked with a shiver momentarily, and he tried to shake off the feeling of dread and doom.  “So, what am I supposed to do?  Ask him what he wants?”  Of course, Lark already knew why the spirit was haunting him, but it was best to play dumb with strangers.  “It’s not like he’s possessing me, we can’t do an exorcism.”

“That’s… good, though.” Sebastian observed, aloud, sitting up a little only to swipe his hand beneath his nose. It wasn’t running, or even itchy – it was simply a habit he’d picked up over time when he was nervous about something. “Sometimes being scared is what they want you to be. Y’know, looming around all the time, and just feeling threatening, eventually it breaks you down, and that’s when they… get worse.” He explained softly. “It’s important to keep a level head. That’s not to say you should ignore it or act like ti doesn’t bother you either, though, sometimes that like… pisses ‘em off.” 

Sebastian was quiet for a moment. “You feel… safe, though?” There was something in his voice that showed concern, and while he wasn’t exactly looking to tell everyone in town about his own horror stories, it worried him when other people were going through things similar to him. 

“He never does anything though.  He doesn’t try to interact with me or whatever.  He just wants me to know he’s there.  Watching.  And I am very aware, he doesn’t have to try very hard,”  He slumped back in the chair, taking a long drink of his water for a moment.  “Yeah; I know a lot of people have very violent spirits or whatever, but he just kinda chills.  He’s never in my dreams, even when hes’ around me other people just like walk through him and shit.  No one notices.”

“Has it ever like… hurt you at all, or broken anything? Or done something that kind of shows that it’s capable of that sort of stuff? A lot of spirits aren’t able to access the human world entirely, so they’re stuck and they can observe, but they can’t like… touch things, or cause harm.” He explained, talking with his hands as he did so. Sebastian had always had a bad habit of being overly expressive in conversation. “Does it seem… worse sometimes? Like, I know being around something like this for a long time can be draining. Do you ever get like… super tired or just irrationally irritated or angry?” 

Lark shook his head quickly.  “No.  Never in my ten years of being… haunted, I guess, has he ever physically interacted with anything - myself included.  He just makes me feel like I”m being watched all the time.  I’ve been extra paranoid lately since he seems to always be over my shoulder, but I’m not like….. I mean okay I am scared of him but not actively scared, you know?”

Sebastian was quiet for a moment. “You feel... safe, though?” There was something in his voice that showed concern, and while he wasn’t exactly looking to tell everyone in town about his own horror stories, it worried him when other people were going through things similar to him. 

“What do you mean by tormented?” Sebastian questioned, eyebrows reaching for the dip of his nose, pulled together with concern and curiosity. “It’s not… typically a good sign, for things to escalate. Even if it’s just sticking around for longer periods of time. It usually just grows from there.” After all, he would know. He’d watched seemingly innocent spirits develop over time until they were capable of killing his parents. Spirits could be unpredictable, but it was a sure-fire sign that they were getting worse when patterns began to break. “I can’t see it, right now, because I don’t want to. But, I can feel it, too.” He admitted quietly.

“Well, he’s never really been a welcome presence,” Lark started.  “It’s not like anyone likes the feeling of being watched, or the looming feeling of something just beyond your peripheral.  Not real tormenting, just shit like that.”  He cast a glance over his shoulder, hair standing up on the back of his neck and arms.  “No; I can’t see him right now either, but I can feel his eyes on me.  That’s pretty common.  He never gets any closer, though.  He’s always like three feet behind me.”

Sebastian had an entire lifetime of history with seeing things he hadn’t wanted to. He’d seen what they were capable of, and honestly, they terrified him. But, it was even scarier to think about what ignoring them might cause, and that was half of the reason he was so interested in Lark’s shadow. Something just felt different about it, and he couldn’t quite read if it was dangerous. One thing was certain though – it was never good with something latched to a human. “It’s not like I’m going to bother it.” He assured him, unsure of what else to say. “I just… can see it, and it… confuses me, really.” He shrugged. “Normally, it’s pretty easy to tell if something’s malicious or dangerous, and I can’t tell with this one.”

“Wren sort of had the same reaction,” He sighed.  “It’s easy to tell he’s not happy.  He’s tormented me sporadically over the years.  He never does anything, just kind of….. makes me feel like I’m being watched.  Normally, he crops up like once a year for a week or so and I forget about him, but….” Lark trailed off, taking another sip of his water.  “Something’s different.  He’s been around for like a month now, and I can’t always see him, but I can always feel him watching me.”

It was easy to see that Lark wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of sharing the things he could see, or even being friends. If that’s what they were, Sebastian wasn’t quite sure. Sometimes he felt like a science experiment when Lark was around, as though the other boy merely wanted to pick apart his brain and the things he could detect. 

He’d grabbed a water bottle for the boy, toting both it and the blue gatorade in his hand back to the living room area, dropping down against the couch before tossing the bottle over flippantly. “Most of the time.” He corrected. “I’ve… I’ve been able to see them since I was a kid, so I’ve had plenty of time to figure out how to like… turn it off when I want to. Same way I can kind of turn it back on, too. But, ghosts are tricky. Some of ‘em want to be seen, and some don’t.”

He didn’t know how he felt about Sebastian, and he was sure that came off wrong, but only Wren thus far had been able to see his unwanted company, and he trusted her a lot.  Seb, he barely knew.  “I don’t think mine ever has; you’re the second person in my entire life who’s even commented on it, you know,” he took the water, taking a sip of it.  “So, it’s just really….. unnerving.  Two people in ten years.  You can see why I’m sort of skeptical about it all.”