Davis shoved another fistful of Cheetos in his mouth while aggressively slamming the space key on his keyboard. With the same hand, he sprinkled some Skittles in his mouth; he enjoyed the delinquent taste on his tongue while hearing the muffled yelling from random voices around the world in his sound-trapping headphones.
He was slung in his chair, dual-screens, furiously slamming the same 5 keys and aggressively clicking away and shifting his computer mouse. Davis Schumer was an active gamer – and a good one at that – and normally at the end of a school day he was found locked in his room playing the same first-person shooter game with the same group of guys from different corners of the globe. They would play together on a team and nine times out of ten would defeat their opponents, as they had a whole system down pat. Maybe it was cheating, but they knew other people did it too; when they were randomly faced with that crowd, that’s when the games got really fun. And now that it was summer, these guys found themselves on their screens for most of the day. The weather was beautiful out, and Davis could hear his mother nagging about it, but he didn’t care.
Davis knew he felt most comfortable behind a computer screen. Everything he did was in his room: playing games, typing in code, and even editing images. His father gave him his first computer when he was really young, nearly eight, because he wanted him to get involved in a computer field in the future. What lead to that was an eighteen-year-old boy whose mother found it difficult to pull him from the sunken office chair.
His mother was young for her age; she had Davis when she was merely twenty years old. She wed the man who was the father of their child, and he grew to be wildly successful and was able to provide for his son for the first couple of years. He bought him his first computer, and slowly continued to expand on that collection until he turned about twelve years old. That was when his company really boomed, and that was when he decided his family wasn’t good enough for him anymore. He left the two of them, traveled to Miami, and never returned.
“Davis!” his mother called from the kitchen.
No answer. Davis was too engrossed in his game as he was in the middle of a kill streak.
“Davis!”
His mother figured his monstrous headphones were enclosing his ears, so she trudged up the steps and swung the door open. She knew removing the lock on the door was the best decision she’s made.
Panicked, Davis swiveled toward her and flung the headphones around his neck. “What, Mom?”
“I’ve been trying to call you.”
“You know I can’t hear you when the door’s closed.”
She scoffed. “We could be in the same room but as long as those headphones are on, you wouldn’t even know I was there.”
Davis shook his head, dusting off the comment. “What do you want, anyway?”
“I’m busy cleaning the house right now and Marcy needs to go for a walk.”
“You want me to go? Right now?”
She rolled his eyes, staring at the game continuing without him. “It wouldn’t kill you to get off of that for a couple of hours. The weather has been beautiful all week.”
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. He groaned, “I know that Mom.”
Marcy, their miniature pinscher, scrambled into the room. Davis looked down at her and sighed. How could he say no to her face?
“Okay wonderful!” she squeaked. “I think you should take him down to the park. Let him run for a while?”
Before Davis could counter, she turned around and started skipping back downstairs. She knew if she even gave him the chance to rebuttal, he would.
His blood only slightly boiling, he lazily brought the microphone to his lips and said, “I know we’re in the middle of a match guys but I’m going to have to leave.”
“What?”
“Dude, are you kidding?”
“They’re killing us, you can’t go!”
Trying not to feel the weight in his chest, he left the game before he found a reason to glue himself down any longer. He wasn’t in the mood to get in another fight with his mom today.
Davis got up and called Marcy to follow him. The peewee dog scurried at his heels, while Davis got the leash off the counter and strapped it to his collar. With that, he was out the door.
His mother was right; it was gorgeous outside. There were only a few feathered clouds in the sky, with the sun beaming through the neighborhood trees. There was a faint breeze that tickled the back of his neck and smelled like grass. He smiled faintly.
Davis worked his way down the road. He was a block off from a busy road, but right across the street, there was a big park. He used to come here with his dad a lot when he was younger. Since he left, Davis didn’t find many reasons to go back. He only went when he had to – for Marcy, of course. He followed the dog’s lead, as she knew exactly where to go, the red leash tugging him down the sidewalk. As they crossed the street and they entered the park, Marcy frantically sniffed all the different aromas: the grass, the trees, and everything in between. He let her decide the direction her frantic nose decided to take them. He really just wanted to get this walk over with in the first place.
As they ventured further into the park, they started to come across some stone steps. As Davis looked up, he noticed that Marcy was taking him to a large, circular fountain. It was adorned with surrounding flowers and benches, which made it a serene spot in the middle of the park. He figured it was a good place for him to just sit down while also sitting in his thoughts.
He approached one of the closest benches and sat down. He heard the creek in the wood, as he acknowledged that the bench was relatively old. He stared at the fountain, which also had an older stone shimmer to it as well. The whole area was gorgeous actually; there were trees perfectly placed on the exterior of the fountain that strung like curtains overtop. It created the perfect amount of shade and sun, forming a dismantled puzzle of patterns on the stone ground. The soft sound of water spouting from the top tier of the fountain and falling over into the base was warm. Davis felt warm.
Marcy decided to lie down by his feet. He smirked. However, when he looked up, that was when he saw her.
She had long, brunette hair. She had a slim body and large eyes. She wore a simple pair of blue jeans, a tank top, and a maroon zip-up sweatshirt that hugged her arms. She looked around his age but it was hard to tell from her profile. She walked up to the fountain and stared down into the water. She looked… sad. Davis couldn’t help but notice how lost she looked, how somber her eyes were. She hugged her arms and looked like she was about to cry. He didn’t know what came over him at that moment – whether it was some higher power or just the terrible look in her eyes – but something urged him to call out to her.
“Um… hey!” he shouted at her. He knew it wasn’t the best way to get her attention but, well, he panicked.
She didn’t look up. She was only a few feet from him, and there was no one else around them – did she think he was addressing someone else? He quickly looked down at Marcy, wondering if she thought he was yelling at his dog.
He decided to try again. “Excuse me, ma’am?”
Not even a hesitation. She continued staring down at the water, what now looked like obvious tears streaming down her face.
All right, he sighed to himself, let’s try this once more.
Davis tied Marcy’s leash to the arm of the bench so that she didn’t distract the two of them. He cautiously walked toward the fountain, where the girl continued to stand still and stare down at the water. He awkwardly placed himself next to her, took in a huge breath, and glanced over at her.
“Miss?” he wondered.
Slowly, the girl’s head cocked in his direction. Tears staining her now red cheeks, she looked at him with her mouth slightly agape. Her eyes were streaked like red lightning strikes around her pupils and tears remained on the brims of her eyes. Her lower lip quaked.
Davis, nervous at even how close he was to this stranger, felt a hot flash strike through his body. He said nervously, “Are… are you alright?”
She looked at him up and down before whispering, “What?”
Carnegie stared at the boy in front of her. He had spotty brunette hair and electric blue eyes. And those blue orbs were staring right back at her, as she stood there a sobbing mess. But what she couldn’t understand was, after days of meandering through the city… these were the first set of eyes that looked at her, not through her.
“Are you… talking to me?”
He smirked nervously. She could tell he wasn’t used to confrontation like this before; he had a large t-shirt on and some baggy jeans. His shirt looked worn out and had the Star Wars logo on the front. His hair, while it had a nice cut to it, was messy and not kept well. He took in another breath as if the air would give him the confidence to speak.
“Yeah. I saw you crying. I kept trying to get your attention but… I guess you couldn’t hear me, or something. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Carnegie was confused. Extremely confused.
“Wait… you can see me?” she whispered.
The guy in front of her now raised a brow. “Uh… yes?”
“And… you can hear me?”
“I mean… we’re talking aren’t wait? I just – wait, am I missing something here?”
Carnegie’s eyes widened. She felt a cold shudder rage through her ghostly body. She ran her fingers through her hair as an enormous smile erupted on her pale face. She beamed at the boy in front of her – who looked terribly confused.
“Do you know what this means?” she bellowed.
“…That we’re having a conversation?”
“It means that I do exist!”
She fell back on to the ground, staring up at the bright blue sky with joy emanating from her toes to her fingertips. She felt the world beneath her and the breeze on her skin, and she knew that for some reason, in some way, she wasn’t solely a spirit on this land. She had a piece of her still here. And this random guy was here to see it.
Who was he? Carnegie didn’t even know him. She had never seen him before and had little idea as to how he could’ve found her. Why could he see her? Why could not even her own family see her?
She sat up on the ground, the boy staring at her completely dumbfounded. She giggled a bit to herself, before working her way back up and readjusting her clothes.
“Sorry about that,” she smiled. “I’m just… I’m excited.”
“Can you explain something to me?” he wondered. “I mean… or everything?”
She laughed. “I can. And you probably won’t believe me.” She stuck out her hand. “But first… I’m Carnegie.”
“Carnegie?” he inquired. “That’s a really interesting name. Like… Carnegie Hall?”
She laughed. “Yeah, uh, that’s actually my name. Hall. Carnegie Hall.”
He smiled and reached out to shake her hand. And she looked down in utter shock when she saw that his hand was in hers.
“I like that. Davis.”
She heard him, she did, but all she noticed was the fact that their hands had touched. There she was, shaking this boy’s hand… actually shaking his hand. The past couple of days, bodies just passed through her. Not Davis. Not this hand. She looked up at him, and they let go.
“Your hands are freezing,” he noticed.
“Yeah,” she let out a sigh. “Davis, I need to explain something to you.”
“Please.”
Carnegie stared back into the fountain water. That was all she saw: water.
“Look.” She pointed down. “Look in the fountain.”
He looked at her with a perplexed expression for a second, before adjusting himself back to face the fountain. He peered his head in.
“So?” she wondered. “What do you see?”
“I see me, looking in, and…” Davis’ voice began to trail off. “...Um…”
Carnegie sighed, with a smirk. “What do you see?” she asked again, her voice shaking now.
“I don’t see you,” he said softly. He pondered into the water for several more uncomfortable seconds, before looking back up at her. “Is this… a magic trick or something?”
She couldn’t help but laugh a little louder. “I wish.”
“What’s going on?”
Carnegie took in a deep breath. She looked back briefly into the water, staring at the ripples that creased Davis’s reflection and his reflection only. She looked back up at him and spoke softer than she had their entire conversation.
“Davis, I’m dead.”
ns 15.158.61.8da2
