Ghost Story

An exercise from a fiction workshop I took last year. (The prompt was to write from the perspective of a ghost/deceased person)

The feeling you get when you realize you are dead is a lot like the feeling you get when you break up with the first girl you ever fall in love with. She calls you on the phone and the first thing she says is something like “We have to talk,” or “I have something to tell you.” Then you feel your ribcage hug your lungs and your stomach doing gymnastics in your abdomen. You get over being dead much easier though.

 

I wasn’t really sure what to do after I realized I was dead. I thought if anything I would be sucked into to some kind of inter-dimensional vortex leading to heaven or hell or my next life or something. I walked/haunted around aimlessly for a few days after I died, trying to find other ghosts to talk to. Only ghosts can hear other ghosts talk, I soon discovered so I ended up calling out like an idiot on busy streets just to see if anyone turned their head. I finally found a couple of real basket cases wandering around the graveyard looking at where their bodies were buried. They didn’t want to go anywhere with me when I asked them to, I guess they hadn’t gotten over being dead yet.

 

One cool thing about death is going to your own funeral, that’s pretty sweet. Seeing your family and friends and ex girlfriends all weeping because they never realized how much they loved you until you were gone is a once in a lifetime experience. I felt bad for my parents though; parents shouldn’t have to bury their children. But hey, accidents happen. I was 27 after all, and starting to feel old. Maybe I wasn’t the best judge of what old was, but what was done was done.

 

After the funeral was over (it was disappointingly sunny out) I haunted around the graveyard for a while, listening to my family console each other. There were a lot of “He was such a nice boy’s,” and “We’re so sorry’s.” I was a little disappointed really, so I wandered off to find some ghost friends.

 

On the other side of the park they were burying somebody else. A priest was giving a sermon to a crowd of some twenty people. “Who died?” I asked aloud.

 

“Me.”

 

I looked over and was surprised to see a young woman leaning against a tree; quite young actually, she looked like she’d only just finished college.

 

“My sympathies,” I said, “What was it?”

 

“I slit my wrists,” she said.

 

“Oh.”  I shuffled my feet a little. There was a long silence. “Did it hurt?”

 

She looked at me and smiled sardonically.

 

“Yeah it f*****g hurt, haven’t you ever been cut before a*****e?”

 

“Jesus I was just making conversation. I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s okay,” she said, “I’m Kate by the way.”

 

“I’m Julian,” I said, extending my hand. Kate laughed at me.

 

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

 

“We can’t touch each other you know, we’re ghosts.”

 

“Humor me,” I said. She looked up at me through her hair before extending her hand. Our “hands” met and passed through each other. Her ghost-flesh felt like lukewarm water. She laughed again. “Nice to meet you Julian.”

 

“Can I ask you something personal?” I said, retracting my hand. She sighed and turned away.

 

“I did it because I was bored,” she said.

 

“What?”

 

“I killed myself because I was bored of life. That’s what you were going to ask isn’t it? Why a pretty little girl like myself would ever possibly think about suicide?”

 

“Oh I was going to ask you how old you were.” I said. “But thanks for sharing anyway.” She started laughing. I started laughing too. “Sorry.”

 

“I’m 23.” She said. “Or I was anyway. Hey do you know if we’re stuck like this forever?”

 

“You mean like, stuck here on earth, stuck in these ghost-bodies…?”

 

“Both” She said.

 

“I don’t think I’ve been dead any longer than you have. Though if we’re stuck looking like this for eternity I don’t think I mind that much.”

 

“Forever young, right?” Said Kate.

 

“Forever young.” I said.

 

“What happens when the world ends?” said Kate.

 

“I don’t know, maybe we get reborn or something? Like, everything starts over again? Maybe we just stay this way forever, even when the whole universe is frozen we keep haunting the s**t out of it.”

 

“I like that idea,” she said turning back to me. “I used to dream about being the last human being alive on earth and just exploring, watching the buildings get taken over by nature and stuff.”

 

“You wouldn’t get lonely?” I asked.

 

“Nah,” she said looking at the ground. “I’m not a big fan of people anyway.”

 

“Oh.” I said. We watched the rest of her funeral in silence. Her family left and we were standing alone. I read the epitaph on her headstone. I looked over at her. She looked up at me.

 

“Well I guess I’ll see you around.” She said.

 

“Yeah.” I said. And we walked away together.