Chapter five

Dragging my feet on the ground, I finally get to my room and shut the door. Grabbing my books and placing them above my drawer. I check to see if I had completed answering all the questions for my assignment, putting it into a folder and into my bag.

" Is this true? " I fall onto my bed and let out a deep sigh

" Did you purposely take your life without considering the consequences that it has on everyone else?" - I ask

" You know, if I had met you. I don't think I would've been wasting my time in a comic store on a Friday " sounding rather sarcastic

" You didn't answer my question " I shouted loud and angrily

" What does it have to do with you " - he shouted back

" Everything, why the hell are you here? Is this what happens to people who commit suicide? Do they never find peace, do they suffer for all eternity "- I ask, now with my hands tightly around my hair as I rest my head against the wall. I'm no longer thinking about Matteo, I could only think about my sister

Does this mean that she has been between realms too? She never got to find peace, can she see me? What if she's been watching over our family all these years or has it been a kind of hell. My eyes mist over at the memory of my sister.

" I didn't kill myself Peters " he said in a low pitch truthful tone

" But why do I sense that this isn't about me anymore ? "- he curiously asked

My words broke up and all that came out were stuttering sounds, as warm tears began to stream down my cheeks.

" Mm- My Sister " - I try to squeeze my eyes shut so that the tears will somehow stop and I'd be able to breath normally again

If Matteo is telling the truth, that he really did not kill himself. It would suggest that Astrid's theory is flawed, which is rarely the case. But if his lying, it could indicate that he had been dealing with something really depressing or traumatic for him to take his own life. A desire to end the misery and a little hope of finding peace, a life of no pain and suffering. Yet after his death, he ends up as a ghost, haunting an innocent college student. Yeah yeah , that might have been too dramatic but I'm glad that he can't read minds or hear the thoughts in my head.

I don't know much about Matteo but the thought that he might have killed himself makes me feel sorry for him. To think about what his life could have been like. I wonder whether or not he still feels pain right now although in a state of a ghost. Is he alone on the other side or is there anyone there?

" I promise"- he confirms

With a little sigh of relief, I pick myself off the bed and I replay our conversation in my head. I don't think I would've been wasting my time in a comic store on a Friday. These words hit me, like a truck on a busy highway and I finally come to the realization.

" The bridge? " I shouted alarmed

" How did you know? " - he asked concerned

My heart now racing as if it were the truck on the bridge. I was there, on the same Street when that happened. I was still at that comic book store. Were we in the store together at any point? Did we cross paths? Could that have been something to do with why his with me after his death? Was I the last person he had seen before the accident. Wait, the driver would have been the last person. This doesn't make any sense, what happened to him?

" I drowned, trying to get out of the way from the truck that was about to hit us" - he explained, answering my exact question although I didn't ask and had just been overthinking what he just said.

I'm now overwhelmed with the realisation that I could have met him and that whoever he is, we were in the same place before he had died.

A tear drop gently dropped down my cheek. Why am I feeling this way?

Astrid has always told me I get attached too quickly and might be too emotional. I've never met him so how could I feel so heart sore.

Sympathetically he asked " what's wrong? "

" Don't cry over a guy you never met" he softly chuckled

Causing a slight smile to break my face.

" I was there " I whispered, trying not to swallow my words

" At the bridge? " - he asked quickly

" At the store" I softly said while my eyes filled with water.

I walked into the store while some random guy was being loud and chatty at the till while paying for something. I had a T-shirt of the Hulk and remember him shouting across the store

" You must be the Hulk, cause baby you're smashing "

I went in the opposite direction of the cashiers and towards the new arrivals. I never saw his face of but I did laugh at his attempt of a pick up line as I carried on strolling through the store. Come to think of it, he always tries to make me laugh with his inappropriate jokes and dark humour. If his doing it as a spirit, he certainly did so as a human.

Were we destined to meet at the comic store? If I had taken a look at him and openly laughed at his joke, would he have approached me? And most importantly, would that have delayed him from leaving the store and having to be on the bridge at the wrong time.