I couldn't bear to look at the horrific sight in front of me. I opened my eyes to see blood everywhere. The bullet from Joe's gun hit the mirror behind me shattering it into a million pieces.

If the bullet didn't hit the mirror then where did all the blood come from.

I heard Joe's cry of pain and looked up to find him clutching his chest and behind him Max holding a gun.

Max had shot him in the chest dodging his aim.

I ran towards Audrey, hugging her tightly,"I thought I lost you today. I am so sorry you had to go through this", I sobbed holding her tightly against me. 

"I am alright Grace. I am glad we are both safe", she said reassuringly.

We broke apart after I saw a ray of light behind me. Joe's dead body disappeared in thin air, leaving no traces behind except for blood.

Max dropped the gun to the floor, falling to the ground,"What just happened?"

"He is dead. He just lost his supernatural powers meaning his existence has been completely wiped off of this world. That's how mediums die", he said.

"How did you get to know we were here?" I asked him.

"Audrey summoned me. She used her powers as a medium", Max said looking at Audrey,"I am glad you called me or else...", he had tears in his eyes,"Audrey, I am so sorry", his mumbled through the tears.

"It's not your fault Max. You saved us", I said hugging him. In that moment I seem to feel a lot better, even if there was no warmth; no feeling but Max's presence made everything better. He looked surprised by the gesture. He looked at me, with guilt in his eyes and planted a kiss on my forehead. The next thing I knew he vanished into thin air.

After we got back home the first thing I did was check up on Audrey after cleaning her up,"Are you hurt?" I inquired inspecting her hands and knees for injuries.

"It's alright Gracie, I just hurt my knee a little", I took out the antiseptic from the cupboard and soaked a cotton in it. I pressed the cotton against her wound.

"It hurts", she said moaning from the pain.

"It's going to be alright", I said taking the cotton off her bruise then wrapping a gauge on her knee.

"Nothing's going to be alright", she said, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh Audrey, what happened? Does this hurt a lot?" 

"I miss Max. Why did he go away?" She sobbed.

"I am sure he will be back. Maybe he will be able to take over his body and come back to life", I said the words to console Audrey and myself.

With the help of an ambulance we managed to move Max' s body to our home. According to the doctor, he is in a coma but his vitals are healthy. In fact he had been in a coma for the past ten years.

The doctor suggested that we move him to my house where he has been staying. I had to lie to the doctor and say how he has been staying in that house for a long time and we just needed an ambulance to move him. When he asked for Max's medical report I had to cook up another lie. I had to take money out of my college fund to pay for the hospital bills and with such little money left I would have to take up two more jobs.

I was able to put Audrey to sleep after she had her dinner. I needed a shower. After Max left I had cleaned the garage to remove any traces of blood. I scrubbed myself until my skin started to hurt, washing away today's memory.  I got out of the shower to see Max' s lifeless body lying on my bed. It was the Max in flesh but he was so unfamiliar to me. He felt like a stranger. I touched his forehead and the feeling was different. Unlike Max's soul I could actually feel the warmth of his body and the feel of his skin under my touch. I wanted to hear his witty remarks. I missed him, I wish he would come back.

In the next few days I got in touch with Mia to find out if she was safe or not. Turns out she was, and she couldn't wait to meet up with us. She was traumatised to hear about Joe, it was so bad that she had a panic attack. So the next day she visited us after I texted the address to my house to her.

She was sitting on the couch with a warm cup of coffee in her hand that I just served her. She still seemed perturbed with everything I had told her.

"Are you....".

"Yes I am expecting. It's been four months", she said smiling at me.

"Congratulations!" I said getting up from the couch to hug her. I wish Max was here to celebrate the fact that he is going to be an uncle.

"Where is Max? Can I speak to him through you?" She asked looking at me expectantly. I was dreading the question. It has been two days, there has been no sign of Max. In fact Audrey tried to use her powers to contact him but it was of no use.

"Max is.... He's been gone. We can't find him", I said looking at her ruefully.

"Is he safe? Where would he go?" She asked shocked by this. I hope all these information isn't too much for her and it doesn't affect her in anyway as she is pregnant.

"Please don't worry. It might effect the baby", I said softly.

"I am not worried about that. I think I can handle it. I just need to know everything".

"I need to show you something...", I took her to my room.

We both entered the room. Mia was behind me, she was trying to get a good look at who was lying on the bed. Once Max' s face came in view she stopped in her tracks. "What.... what happened? How?"

And so I explained everything to her, starting from how Max was murdered by her own uncle to Max' s disappearance.

"Why would he disappear like that?"

"Because", I sighed," He is guilty that he put our life in danger".

"Oh Max", she sat down hopelessly looking at the lifeless body of her elder brother.

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

"Aren't you going to school today?" Audrey asked eating her breakfast.

"I don't think so. I am dropping out of college". I decided that college isn't for me. I could save up this money for Audrey's future and use my time to work and save up for Max's medical bills . 

"Why would you do that? If I go to school, you do too!" She was pouting.

"It doesn't work like that. Now finish your breakfast and go to school". The bell rang, I open the front door to see Gary and Jeremy here to pick up Audrey.

Jeremy immediately ran to Audrey. "Hi Grace", Gary said stepping inside my house. We both took a seat on the couch.

"Would you like some breakfast? I made pancakes", I asked.

"Yes please. Your pancakes are the best",Gary said excitedly. I got him a plate of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup. Nowadays Gary would stop by my place often to pick up Audrey for school and it has become my ritual to serve him breakfast so I always make extra for him and Jeremy.

"I would like to confess something..".

"What?"

"Jeremy and I don't have breakfast at our place hoping we would get to have your delicious food here. And till now we weren't disappointed".

I laughed,"I don't mind either. You are always welcome to join us for breakfast".

"Gary let's go! We are done!" Jeremy screamed with Audrey closely behind him.

"Why don't you guys wait for me downstairs? I will come down when I am done with my breakfast", Gary said holding his empty plate.

"Okay", they both rushed downstairs after bidding me goodbye.

He got up and took his plate to the kitchen,"You know I could have done that", I said after he came back.

"No it's alright", he smiled at me. "Hey Grace I was wondering....", he ran his fingers through his hair,"Are you free this week? Maybe we could go out for coffee sometime?"

"I am sorry. I can't. I am sorta-", I didn't know what to say. In love with a ghost whose lifeless body is lying in my bedroom?

"Uhh I get it", he let out an airy laugh. "I will see you then", before he could give a chance to say something he was already out of the house.

I closed the door behind me. Gary is a nice guy, in fact he is been one of the few people who has been a big help after I got back from New York.

I got to my room to see if Max needed anything, it has been a month since I have seen his entity. I am hoping he will come around and maybe transfer his soul to his body and he can become a normal person again.

"You still take care of me?", said a surprised voice behind me.

I turned around so quickly that I hurt my neck. It was Max sitting in front of his own lifeless body.

"Max", I cried out scooting closer to him to hug him. I was crying now, it feels so good to have him back. "Where have you been? We missed you so much", I sobbed into his chest.

"I missed you guys too. I am sorry I left you guys. But I felt so guilty, Audrey almost got killed by my uncle. I realized if it wasn't for me this wouldn't have happened in the first place. I am so sorry", he said softly kissing my forehead.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't know your uncle was such a horrible man. Never say that. We are glad that you came to our life. In fact you are the best thing that happened to us. I love you Max. Please don't ever leave us".

"I love you too Gracie. I have loved you since I saw you in those cute hello kitty pajamas", he teased. He kissed me softly on the lips making my heart heart beat faster against my chest. God I missed him so much. It was good to have him back. After a long time we broke apart, this was perhaps the best kiss I ever had.

"Can't you take over your body? I mean you are not a ghost, you are just a soul lurking around", I reasoned.

"I couldn't since Joe was the one who extracted my soul from my body. I need another medium as strong as him to bring me back to live. And Audrey isn't strong enough, I mean she is just a kid".

"Then what do we do?"

"I was away all this time to search for mediums. I knew there were other mediums out there but our family never bothered finding them. Then I came across David. He was able to see me amidst all those people in the crowd, in fact he tried to contact me. I told him about my problem and he decided to help me".

"That's great. Where is he?"

"He is in the living room waiting for us", he said," David", he called out.

A man in his early thirties entered the room. He had jet black hair and a beard framed his face. "Hi I am David", he said smiling at me.

"You are a medium too? The special kind?" I asked.

"Yes. In fact my son is one too but not the special kind. He doesn't possess as much power as me. But I am glad because being a mediator is hard".

"My sister is one too. She is seven. She is too young to do anything".

"But your sister summoned Max when you were in danger. I think that's quite commendable. Max told me everything about you guys. After hearing your story, I couldn't wait to help him".

"After sometime, Max's soul was surrounded by a ring of blessed salt and David had his hand placed on Max's arm".

"This can go badly too. But I will try my best to make it successful".

He uttered a bunch of charms later there was a white light emitting from Max's body, there was wind everywhere. I tried my best to keep myself steady. After a long excruciating hour the light was gone and everything was back to what it was. Max's soul was nowhere to be seen. We both were looking at Max' s body waiting for some kind of indication that the spell worked. Then after sometime I see his index finger move.