Chapter 15: Guardian Angel

Casper's sister- I mean Max's sister looked gorgeous in her wedding dress. She was wearing a strapless white gown with sweetheart neckline. The dress was embellished in lace with the bottom part flowing in mermaid style. The wedding was beautiful. You could feel the love they felt for each other in the air. The chubby man who according to Max was his Uncle Sherman walked her to the aisle. The whole way the groom and bride were locked in a perpetual eye contact and grinning at each other. Rings were exchanged and finally the vows after that the groom swapped her in a kiss and people started cheering for them which I also gladly joined.

All through the ceremony Max had a wide smile plastered over his face. He was randomly filling me in about little things about his sister. I could guess they were pretty close from the way he had a sudden reminiscent glow to his demeanor.

"She is so clumsy, I am surprised she didn't trip walking down the aisle"

"White roses are her favorite"

"Mia can pick the hottest bridesmaids."

Of Course I had to roll my eyes on that.

After the wedding ceremony ended, people commenced to the buffet while some people were congratulating the married couple. Max looked towards me with his glassy green eyes and said, "You know what to do"

"Yeah" I nodded with a small reassuring smile.

I decided to approach her after the thong of crowd started to disperse to the buffet table. The groom whose name must be John was attending other guests so I had Mia alone.

"Uh- Hi. Congratulations"

"Thank you!" she replied warmly with a smile. Max's sister was beautiful and they were different looking seeing that she was adopted. Mia's Asian features were prominent in her heart-shaped face which framed her full lips and a tear drop eyes. Her jet black hair was in a bun and her dark brown eyes twinkled in the warm sunlight.

"Are you from John's side? We haven't met have we?" she asked letting out a small laugh. Without much ado, I gingerly took out the blue bundle from my clutch.

"I am here to give you this". With that I warily handed her the blue nylon bag.

She took it from me and opened it. The exposed necklace shined under the sun. She looked at in awe, widening her eyes.

"Where did you get this?"

"Uhh"-I looked at Max who was standing in front of us. He nodded in approval.-"I just moved to the apartment where you used to live in. I got it from there"

"Your brother gave it to me"

She looked up at me with a bewildered expression on her face, as if she couldn't believe what I had just said. "Are you- Are you a medium?"

"No my sister is and some of her powers were transferred to me. Till now your brother is the only ghost I can see ." I replied solemnly. It took her a minute to grasp the information.

"How is he? I tried to communicate to him- everyone through uncle Joe but I wasn't successful. I thought they are all gone- Leaving me alone in this world" . She was sobbing now tears were tricking down her cheeks. Her eyes reflected all the sadness she had caged up for years- the love for her family, the yearning and off course the loss she suffered.

I silently patted her hand while she wept. I was never good at consoling; so I stood there lamely while the bride wept but completely relating to her feeling of sorrow. I saw Max's eyes harden seeing Mia cry but there was little he cloud do. So us three stood and I understood their pain as I had lost both of my parents too.

It must have been hard for her. After all she lost all her family members then.

She wiped the tears with the back of her free hand surprisingly not completely ruining her makeup. "Is he here?" Her voice trembled from all the crying.

I nodded at her looking towards Max. He was staring at her. His expression looked like he is going to break down crying anytime. He approached her and tried to pat her back but his hand just penetrated her while Mia continued wiping her cheeks; not aware of everything. He couldn't even console her baby sister.

"Tell her I am sorry" He said in a hoarse voice.

"He says he's sorry" I told her.

She looked up. "What for?"

"For not communicating with you all these years and making you crying on your wedding day and ruining your makeup" he said.

"He's sorry for not communicating all these years and making you cry- And for ruining your makeup"

Mia chuckled between her cries. "My brother never fails to crack me up, even when he's dead". I joined in her laughter.

"You didn't communicate with me all these years but I know- Max that you were there for me. You knew I had a bad habit of throwing my covers away in my sleep and often I used to find myself covered in a blanket whenever I woke up. I would find my broken things fixed or sometimes my forgotten unattended things done. I was a clumsy kid- perhaps still am but surprisingly I would find myself making ends meet. Even in times of danger I would be out of a trouble in no time. I thought I had a guardian angel or a fairy godmother with me. But no"-she looked in front of her smiling, I assumed the smile was meant for Max-" Max you were my guardian angel"

"You knew?" he asked.

I interpreted his question to Mia.

"Of course! No fairy godmother can hang my classmates upside down after getting bullied by them!" she replied, incredulously.

"Those rascals deserved it!" he said, grimly.

"Max-I had a feeling you were there- protecting me, taking care of me. But you never tried to communicate with me to confirm my gut feeling. Why?" she asked looking disoriented and gloomy at the same time.

Max just stood there staring dumbly at her, unable to answer to question. He looked at me with his green eyes which seemed to become darker now. "I can't answer that" he answered pursing his lips, with that he disappeared into thin air.

"He's gone", I said to Mia, my vision transfixed on the same spot where Max was.

Mia looked at me with a bewildered expression on her face and perhaps a little hurt too but she quickly recovered. "Ohh-But he's going to come back right?" she asked with anticipation.

Judging by Max's expression, I can assume that he wasn't coming back anytime soon. He didn't want to answer that question which he had made quite obvious.

"Yes sure he will- but not now.. Maybe later" I answered her with a small reassuring smile.

"Promise me you will bring him to me- After all you are the only way he communicates with me"

I couldn't promise her that. Max will soon be leaving this world but I couldn't tell that to Mia. She had just discovered the fact that her brother's ghost is still here. I just can't tell her that it's time for her brother to leave- not yet.

"I promise". It wasn't an empty promise. Max will at least visit his sister before leaving. Right?

"So you are staying at our old place?" Mia questioned as she started walking towards the buffet table, I decided to follow her.

"Yeah"

"How did you meet my brother?" I was hoping to ignore that question. What do I tell her? That I caught your brother gulping down my food after I recently discovered that my best friend and boyfriend were cheating on me. And after that her brother made it pretty clear that he could kick my sorry ass out of the house. Nope. No thanks.

"Max was looking for your Uncle Joe. By any chance do you know where he is?" I asked her hoping to skip the previous topic.

"Why was he looking for Uncle Joe?" she asked stopping in front of one of the buffet tables, grabbing two plates she handed me one. After that she gestured me to stand in queue for the food. There weren't many people here as I presume most of them were on the table helping themselves to second servings. I complied and stood behind her.

"Uhh- I don't know. He just wanted to meet him" I shrugged. I possibly couldn't tell her the reason. If anyone should tell about Max leaving, it should be Max himself. Suddenly, I felt terrible for wanting to let Max go to the afterlife.

"It has been ages I have talked to Uncle Joe. He's like a nomad. He doesn't stay in one place for too long". We moved forward with the queue. Mia helped herself to small portions of everything while I took a chunk of garden salad and some honey glazed chicken breasts. I couldn't let myself get any chubbier but I silently promised myself to keep room for those slices of meringue pies. One slice of pie isn't harming anyone.

We got out of the line and stood a few feet away from the buffet, still holding our plates in our hands.

"Why does he do that? Keep moving I mean."

"You know how ghosts approach mediums for help? Well- Let's just say he got on the bad side of a ghost and now he's after him. He won't rest until he gets his revenge on Uncle Joe"

I looked down at my plate and suddenly the honey glazed chicken didn't look appetizing anymore. Audrey is a medium too. That means- if something goes wrong with a ghost, she has to face consequences too.

"Hey, anything wrong?" I looked up to see Mia studying me, a worried look plastered over her face.

"It's nothing" I brushed it off but looking at Mia she wasn't convinced. "It's just that- my sister Audrey is a medium too- will she be able to face such menace?"

" I can totally relate with you. My brother Marco was a medium too- we were always a little apprehensive about him. " She brushed the back of her hand to my arm which was holding the blue necklace. "Don't worry-I am pretty sure Audrey is sensible like her sister. She will do fine". She smiled at me.

I returned her smile by tugging my lips up towards her. In the short time I have known Mia she seemed like a very amiable person. She's like a little ray of sunshine. She also has a good heart a kind and caring one. You know in some ways Max's like that too. Yeah I know- I am surprised at myself too. After all he took care of his baby sister for all these years regardless of his juvenile acts.

I never knew this side of ghost boy existed. I mean Max.

...................

So as you have noticed I changed the the title to "The Troublemaker's Ghost". I hope you guys are not confused. 

An extra big chapter for making this story reach over 5K reads! 

Thank you!