Roommates -- Part Three

"Okay, watch this." Gilhen lifted the beer to his eye, scrunching the socket close around the cap. He grimaced, set his teeth, and twisted.

When he pulled the bottle away, the cap was still held in his eye.

"Twist off!" He said brightly.

"Owwww....God." Cassie winced. "That looked painful. Jeez, don't do that." She shook her head and picked up her own beer.

Gil laughed and leaned forward, catching the cap as it tumbled from his eye.

"It's just a trick," he said. "A guy taught it to me last year. Looks freaky, right? But I opened the beer in the kitchen, then closed it again. Here. I'll do it again."

It looked just as awful the second time.

"Stop!" Cassie shrieked and tossed a bottle cap across the couch at him. He flinched as it whizzed by his head. "It's so gross!"

"I think your aim is getting better," he said. "Wanna try some bottle caps now?"

"I think I'm ready for it, sure." Cassie eased herself off the couch and onto the floor.

It was Sunday night. Cassie had originally planned on a quiet evening at home, maybe doing some studying. She was both relieved and a little nervous at being alone in her new place for the first time, but she figured it was better sooner than later. She had been reading when Gilhen rang the doorbell, a two-four of beer in hand.

"A little housewarming present," he'd said. "I figured you could use a little break."

And a few beers with a good friend had sounded better than an evening alone. She was just starting her third beer now.

I shouldn't be feeling it this much already. Jesus, but it's been a long time since I've been rip-roaring drunk.
I guess I'm a cheap drunk now. Todd would laugh his ass off.

She giggled, and stretched her legs out to meet Gilhen's, feet almost touching. He was carefully placing a bottle cap on the empty beer in front of him, and looked up.

"What?"

"Just thinking how long it's been since I've done this."

"What, played bottle caps?"

"No," she gestured at the beer. "The whole thing. Drinks with a friend. Parties. That kind of thing."

"You don't get out much back home?" Gil sounded surprised.

Of course he would be. Two years younger and still running with the undergrad crowd. He doesn't understand it's changed back home.

"Nope. No one to go out with. Everybody's gone, or they don't think of me because there was so long when I couldn't go out. And they've got families too. Everybody we went to high school with is married or has kids, or both." She looked up at him. "Don't go home, Gil. Everybody's turning into our parents." She picked up a bottle cap and took aim. "My turn first?"

"Be my guest." He leaned back into the couch. "I'll try to make sure you get out more now that you're here."

"Sure." The cap hit the floor in front of the bottle and she took a swig of her beer.

"Not even close!" Gilhen took aim at her bottle. The cap made a tink! sound as it hit the side of the bottle.

"Drink!" Cassie leaned forward and grabbed her bottle cap. She aimed carefully this time, and the cap flew off over Gilhen's shoulder.

"Okay, so I was wrong about your aim. It's terrible. Pass me my cap?"

"We need more caps! Getting up is slowing the game down!" Cassie giggled.

"If we keep playing like this we'll have more caps pretty quickly." Gil said as he missed again. Cassie reached behind her, grabbed the cap and fired it back.

"Jesus. Does anyone ever hit in this game?"

"I don't think so. That's kind of the point. Damn."

"I thought you said you were good at this. Hey! I got one! What happens now?"

"That means I have to drink." Gil raised his beer.

"That's no fair! I want to be the one drinking!"

"Rules are rules." Gil missed again.

"God, this is a stupid game."

It felt like moments later when Cassie realized her beer was empty.

"I need a refill." She said waggling the bottle at Gil. The room tilted strangely as she got up, then slowly righted itself.

Wow. Okay. Was that my third beer or my fourth?
I had one right when Gil got here. And then a second. Wait, was I drinking my second when we started bottle caps or was that my fourth? Third?

Screw it. One more.

She headed for the fridge. Gilhen followed her into the kitchen. She handed him a beer and got one for herself. She threw the cap into the sink, then swore, fished it out and threw it into the garbage. Then she leaned back against the counter edge.

"I think I'm done with bottle caps for a while."

"Me too," Gilhen agreed. "I'm going to drink this one slower."

"Slower. Good idea. Cheers."

"Cheers." They clinked bottles.

"Of course, he was drunk. I could see that the minute he came in."

"Not you again."

"Sorry, what?" Gilhen looked at her strangely. Cassie's eyes widened. She didn't realize that she'd spoken out loud until he'd responded. She shook her head.

"Sorry. Nothing. Just thinking. I'm going back into the living room." She walked past him, in the opposite direction from the ghost. She could feel it following.

Safely back on the couch, she and Gil could talk about innocuous things.

"I didn't tell you I met one of the guys downstairs. Graham."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. He seemed nice. I think he's the one that helped Nanna with her groceries."

"I think they heard me. One of them looked at me."

"He said he'd give me a tour of the neighbourhood. Maybe he'll be able to show me around the university."

"There were two of them, a man and a woman."

"I can show you around the university too, if you like."

"Gil, you don't know the campus at all."

She's getting closer. She's following me.

"I know where the SUB is." Gilhen looked hurt.

"Even I know where the SUB is! I meant the other buildings. Show me around the library. Good places to eat --"

"I think they heard me."

This is what happens. This is what happens when you talk to them. Stupid...stupid..

"Are you okay?" Gilhen looked concerned.

"What? Oh, I'm fine." It was getting closer, leaning over.

"I think they heard me."

It was between her and Gilhen now. Cassie shifted down on the sofa, trying not to look. Gilhen raised an eyebrow and leaned to the side, following her movement.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I wish I knew what any of this meant. Am I crazy?"

Funny you should mention that. I'm the one who's crazy.
For agreeing to stay here. For thinking I could just live with this.
For thinking she'd disappeared because I hadn't seen her in two days.

"Sorry, what?" Cassie knew Gil had said something but couldn't figure out what.

"Are you okay?" He looked even more concerned.

"Yeah. Positive. You were saying?"

"I wasn't saying anything. You were telling me how you wanted a tour of the campus from the guy downstairs."

"One of them looked at me!" The woman sounded overjoyed. She stepped between Cassie and Gilhen again.

"SHUT UP!" A startled look came across her face and she faded away, leaving Gilhen's face visible behind it.

"Uh...okay," he said quietly.

"Oh, God. I didn't mean you." Cassie put her head in her hands.

Now I've gone and done it.

Gilhen looked around a little hesitantly. "Who...did you mean?"

"No one."

"Cassie..." He shifted forward on the sofa. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Obviously not nothing." When Cassie didn't reply he got up and gently took her beer from her hand and put it on the side table, far out of her reach. She didn't resist. She'd forgotten she was holding it, in fact.

How do I even begin to explain? You'll think I'm crazy. That's what they thought before. Or a reaction to the medication, or some kind of side effect of the car crash.
Yeah, some side effect.

"They said...when you were in the hospital...sometimes you'd talk to people that weren't there."

Who told him that?

"Who told you that?"

Got it in one, got it in one. What do I say?

"Todd. Last time I was home."

"Thanks big brother. I appreciate that."

"They told me it was a side effect, that they changed your medication and everything was fine."

"No. I just learned to stop telling them." Cassie didn't even look at him. She looked off in the distance. She'd curled her feet back up onto the sofa.

See how easy that was? Now it will all come out. Doesn't it feel better now?
Why don't I feel better now?

Gilhen looked like he didn't know what to say, so she continued. "I -- I can see things sometimes. Things other people can't see."

No. Wrong. You sound crazy. Crazy, crazy.
Maybe I am crazy.

"I don't want to see them, but I do. I'm trying to stop." Cassie laughed, briefly. That sounded so absurd.

Like I'm trying to stop drinking.
I'm trying to stop seeing ghosts.
I can stop aaaaaany time I want.

"You -- your medication? Is that what's causing this?" Gilhen offered.

Cassie shook her head. "I'm not on any medication any more other than the occasional painkiller."

More silence.

He's trying to figure out a way not to say you're crazy.
It's nice to have a friend who thinks I'm not crazy.
Or doesn't want to think I'm crazy.

"Look." She sat up straight and turned to face him, feeling suddenly sober. "I'm not crazy. I've been completely fine these past few months. This past year. I'm fine. Heck, I'm normal. Ask anyone."

"But you're just seeing things occasionally?"

He's looking skeptical...

Cassie sighed. "Gil. Do you believe in life after death?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Um...like heaven? I suppose I do...In a way..." He looked at her. "What does that have to do with...?"

"I see ghosts." Cassie said.

"Ghosts?"

"Yes." She leaned forward. "Look, that's why I kept talking to people in the hospital. There are all kinds of people there. Dead people, I mean. And at first I couldn't tell who was real and who wasn't, so they thought I was talking to myself. And then I figured out what was a ghost and what wasn't, so I didn't talk to them anymore. But I still saw them."

Silence.

"Now there's a ghost in this apartment. And that's who I was talking to."

"There's a ghost here now?" Gilhen looked around.

"Not right this second, actually. She disappeared. But she's around. I've seen her a couple times before."

You sound like a complete fucking nut job.

Gilhen looked like he was thinking about this.

That's it then. I can't think of anything else to say that doesn't make me sound crazier.
"I'm not crazy. Please believe me".
Yeah. That'll convince him.

"How do you know they're ghosts?" He asked.

Cassie bit her lip.

"Nanna Curran." she said, quietly. Gil gave her a questioning look, so she continued. "She was a few floors above me in the hospital after my accident. She was dying. But my parents thought I was too sick to know, and I couldn't get out of bed anyway, so they didn't tell me she was there.

"One night I woke up, and she was next to my bed. She looked a bit younger, but I knew it was her. And we talked. I don't think --" Cassie closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "-- that she knew that she'd died. It even took me a while to figure it out. But she knew she was dying, so she came to say goodbye.

"The next day Mom came in and she'd been crying. I made her tell me what had happened. I already knew.

"I didn't get to go the funeral. So I was glad I'd seen her one last time.

"And that's when I knew I wasn't crazy, too. Because before that, I'd wondered. But when stuff you see starts coming true...it gets easier to believe in."

"I know the feeling," said Gilhen.

He's nodding. Why is he nodding?
Does he see ghosts too?

"What do you mean? You don't see...the same things, do you?"

"No," he looked up at her. "But I believe there are things in this world that we can't see. And I think you're seeing some of them."

Relief washed over her.

He doesn't think I'm cra-zy!
He doesn't think I'm cra-zy!

"Oh, God, Gil I'm so glad..."

"Um....Cass? Before we go any further, there's probably something you should know about me."

"Okay...what?"

"I'm pagan."

"You're what?"

"Pagan."

"What in God's name does that mean?"

***

Return to the Echo and Afterimage Main Page