6:15. I grabbed my phone and began to come downstairs.

I've been in this house for long enough to know which stairs are creaky, but I've never bothered to actually mark them in my mind. I knew some were creaky and some weren't.

So when the stair creaked I frozed while cursing myself for not thinking ahead. I had never needed to learn which stairs were creaky. I wasn't afraid of my mom, she didn't give out hard punishments. But I just never had a reason to sneak out. 

Nobody came and I heard no noises. It took forever to get down the stiars because I was testing each step with one toe before putting my whole foot on it, never for more than a half second. I came to the second floor, where all the adults slept. Mom and my aunt and uncle. And a bathroom. We didn't have a bathroom in the loft, so we had to go downstairs. Carefully, I descended down the second staircase to get to the first floor. My whole body relaxed.

I grabbed my coat and shoes and opened the door slowly. Outside I opened my phone. I messaged Lily 'I'm outside' and waited. The air was brisk and moist. It was fall in San Francisco, so this cold, windy day will probably turn to 80°. Sometimes I hate where I live. 

Lily shows up around 6:35. She's wearing a puffy jacket and sweatpants. Her hair was pulled in a ponytail, and her nose and cheeks were pink from the cold. Relief crosses her face. She walks past me and motions for me to follow her.

As soon as I catch up I go off on her. I tell her how worried I was, because I was worried. I was terrified. Then I demand an explanation and shut up.

She lets me yell at her, which was infuriating. Once I quiet, she turns to me and says, "I'm sorry, but I needed to talk to you."

"What's happening?"

She looks at he sky and breaths in. I breath in too. The air is fresh and clear. I always liked the smell. Lily asks me if I believed in astrology. 

I wondered what it had to do with anything, but I said maybe. I wasn't that familiar with it.

"What's if it's real?" She whispered. I could barely hear her. 

"I don't know." I'm confused. "Why?"

Lily looks at me again. She meets my gaze. Her eyes were a light, pale green. A light caramel brown was mixed in near the pupil. I had never noticed them before. Suddenly the eye contact made me feel uncomfortable, and I looked away. She did too.

"I see them too." Her voice grew airy and far-away.

"Who?" Every word was puzzling me more. This wasn't the Lily I knew. The regular Lily was chatty and giggly and not this spacey, bewildering person in front of me. 

The air around Lily became more grounded and I realized some part of her had come back.

"Ghosts Odila! Who else? Why do you think I'm talking to you at 6:30?"

I stopped walking.

So Rory was real. They weren't a hallusination. And other people could see people like him too.

The worst part was that Rory lived with me knowing that I thought they weren't real. I never fully accepted that I was seeing a ghost. I clung to the idea that reality exsisted and the movies I watched were indeed fiction. 

And now they were gone.

I swore. Which surprised Lily. I don't think she's ever heard me swear. 

"Explain." I said. "Now. You woke me up at five and told me you can see ghosts so this better be good."

And Lily explained.

She told me about an old man she met at the bus stop. She described him as having long, Dumbledore-esk hair and wore overalls. They talked for a few weeks, but one day he wasn't there. A week later, she saw him again, but he was blue. The old man followed Lily on the bus to her house (I thought it was creepy but Lily disagreed), and when she got there the old man told her that he died. Lily's reaction had been different than mine. She accepted it. I never did, up until now. 

I told her about Rory. She nods because she knew them, just a little bit. She was sad when they died. 

"Is everyone a ghost?"

"I don't know. I'm as new to this as you are."

"How did you know I saw them?"

Lily looked at me, confused. Then she laughed. It sounded soft and empty. "That's easy. The ghosts told me."

I noticed the plural. "You see more?"

"Sometimes."

"Why did you come over at six to tell me this?"

Her eyes were deadpan. Lily loved to joke around, to lighten the mood. So this was scary.

"Because they're disappearing."

Potato here!

Chapter a little longer this time

Didn't really mean to do that heh

Idk where this book is going, but I hope you guys like it!

yo i don't know what's going on with the color of the text srry