The moment Elise left Julie’s, her own oblivious happiness did the same.

The dread of reality struck her much harder than it had been for the past few hours, she couldn’t exactly explain why. Maybe now she had more to lose, and she’d been subconsciously repressing these emotions for so long. She was bound for a breakdown, and she feared it may be come much sooner than anticipated.

Her heart dropped extra low when her house came into view this time; it was the last place she wanted to be. She was so lonely in these walls, amongst her family she felt so out of place. Elise wished she could hold Julie forever. Was it bad that she was already so clingy? The big house was not exactly what she would call a home, the bougie living room and the plain white walls spotted with stolen platinum records made her sick. Elise could admit to herself that she was a little spoiled, most people would kill to have her life, and she knew she had the tendency to go off with no filter and scare off those who lacked tough skin. Often times in her mind, this made her no better than her sister. Even though, time and time again, she had to remind herself of her own pure intentions.

The harsh lighting only reminded her now of all the things she’d lost: her mom, her relationship with her remaining family members. It made her throat tighten as she stepped through the front doors. She’d always been so good at separating herself from that – commemorating all that was instead of mourning it. But she hadn’t realized how hard that had gotten in such a short time. It made her angry, vengeful.

She’d been ignoring herself for far too long.

Tears pricked at the back of her eyes, and she did not try to stop them. Only one had fallen when she finally entered her room. She could have sworn she was in for an avalanche, but other than the lonesome drop her eyes remained dry.

She took off her sweatshirt and wiggled her feet out of her sneakers, flicking on the lamp on her bedside table before she placed herself on top of the messy sheets.

The guys would be here soon, but for now all she wanted was to rest her eyes. As she was sneaking out of Julie’s yard not an hour ago, Luke appeared in front of her. Instead of giving into his snarky commentary, she’d only said one thing. Get the guys and meet me at my house in one hour. He was confused, as was expected, but agreed, nonetheless.

It was nearing four in the morning, apparently ghosts really didn't sleep. Elise had been surprisingly calm on her way back home. She was too preoccupied by her conflicting emotions to dwell in the dark patches on the sidewalk: both the sheer joy that came with Julie’s affection, and the heart-smashing fear and anxiety with Willie’s warning. The two tugged on either end of her, she felt as if she’d soon be torn in two. Maybe that's how she would go out.

She wasn’t worried about accidentally falling into a dream before the boys arrived, she knew that the rest of the night would be void of much comfort at all. Her room felt to cold, the air stale.

It felt like an hour of staring at the wall, unblinking, had passed when the boys finally made their entrance – dramatic as always. She felt the familiar breeze hit her face first, the shuffling of their feet and the snickering before she actually saw them. It took her a few moments to sit up and face them, but she eventually managed to prop herself up on her hands for enough time to prepare a pillow on her headboard to lean on.

“What’s up, Ellie?” Her face went sour at the nickname, though she had to push to get the emotions to actually display themselves. While the other two were sneering and cracking jokes, already messing with her stuff, Alex’s hands were shoved into his pockets and his eyes flitted around anxiously. His eyebrows were creased and he tapped his left foot without much pattern. His anxiety somehow comforted Elise, they were contrasting the rest in solidarity.

“Is everything alright? This doesn’t seem… normal.” The blonde bit his lip.

“Yeah, peachy keen.” The sarcasm in her voice was unintentional. She inwardly scolded herself: she had to tell them, even though her first response was to go face-first into a pool of denial. She buried her face in her hands for a moment, before using them to brush back her hair. “No, wait. It’s not”

Luke’s own face dropped, his body stilled and he slowly turned it so he was no longer facing Reggie. “Oh, what’s going on?” He stepped closer as if attempting to provide comfort in the least awkward way he could think of.

“Wait, check this out!” Ether Reggie hadn’t grasped the weight of the situation or he was entirely oblivious. He pointed a finger to the clock on the table beside Elise, her face contorted as it began blaring. It fought with the hours of quiet she’d had the luxury of savoring, she brought her hands instinctively to her ears to block out the noise before her mind kicked in and she finally allowed herself to react.

Elise reached forward to shut off the alarm. But, like air, her hand failed to grasp the surface. It floated straight the dresser. Frustration filled her, she groaned loudly and moved to try again, failing once more. One more time, and she still hadn’t gotten it. It was lasting longer than her earlier incident. Much longer.

She didn't dare look at the others, it was only when Luke stepped in to shut the clock off for her that she mustered the courage the tear her eyes from the device. They each shared the same expression; wide eyes, parted lips. Though Alex looked more afraid than the others, as he were about to breakdown with her.

“That,” she sighed. “That’s what going on.”

Luke turned away, as if making sure Elise could no longer see his face. Reggie looked more sad now than anything else. It wasn’t a surprise that Alex was the one to begin raving. His feet moved for him, carrying him back and forth at the foot of her bed.

“Elise- Are you- What happened? No you’re not, you know, right? How did this happen? I’m-“

“Alex!” She shouted it louder than she’d intended, but it felt good to get some of her anger out. She didn’t want to seem angry, but she was. Not at him, at everything else. “Willie said you would understand."

“Willie?” Alex stilled. She looked away and nodded.

“Well I don’t understand. What the hell was that?” Luke practically shouted.

“We’re already ghosts, how are we supposed to know why you’re becoming one?” Elise could see the gears in Reggie’s head turning, until his features dropped entirely. “You’re not a ghost already, are you?”

“No, Reggie. Not yet.”

“Not yet?!” Luke stepped forward almost angrily, hands swinging at his sides.

“And that’s not the only thing. It’s these… jolts.”

All three of their faces went pale. She shut her eyes for a moment, as if trying to convince herself that this was all just a dream.

“It’s Caleb. Covington, I think. I don’t remember exactly what Willie said. But I’m becoming a ghost, and he still doesn’t know how to fix it. But he's working on it.”

“Oh my God.” Alex sighed. His eyes shifted to the ground and he pierced his lips as if to say we should have seen it coming. He was already so anxious, he second guessed everything. Why didn't I trust my instincts?

“Yeah, when I was walking home from out last gig, he stopped me to talk. He grabbed my arm, it all happened so fast. I didn’t realize… After he left, I started getting suspicious about what he’d done. But why would he want me dead? And you guys? What happened to you?”

“I knew he did his evil laugh a little too well.” Reggie said, kicking the floor and crossing his arms in frustration. Luke put a hand on his shoulder and scooted closer to comfort him.

“The night we missed the dance, we went to his club.” She avoided Luke’s eyes as he spoke. Right, Hollywood Ghost Club. “I guess we thought he just wanted us to join his house band. Didn’t know he wanted it that bad.”

“He’s doing this because you didn’t join his band?” Elise’s volume raised with every word, she leaned forward to express the anger further. She was talking much louder than was probably safe, if anyone overheard they would probably think she was having some sort of psychotic episode. “What kind of petty a-!”

“It’s more than that, Elise.” Alex cut her off before she could release her profanities. “He said he’d never encountered another ghost with abilities like him. And us.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s not normal for lifers to be able to see us. Ever. We’re special.” Luke did jazz hands to accompany his last words, spiked with sarcasm that dripped from every letter formed. A sour smile hung loose on his lips.

“So we threaten him, then.” There was a beat of silence, she bit her lip as she tried to get her jumbled thoughts in order. It wasn’t like Elise could do anything significant herself – a second ago she was fumbling with an alarm clock. Why was she a part of this as well? What did she have that Julie didn’t? If Julie was a part of this as well, surely Willie would have warned her. But that didn’t stop her from worrying. What if Caleb went after her next?

Fending off the ‘what ifs’ was an impossible task, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

Exactly how long did Elise have?

She leaned her head back against the wall, shutting her eyes once again and taking a deep inhale. She focused on the breath swirling inside her, reminding herself that was real and – for now – amongst the living.

Elise sat with her head facing the ceiling for a short while, the guys were settled around the room processing the information just as she was. She wished she could take a peek at their thoughts; maybe she would feel better about her own worries if she could somehow ease theirs.

“I can’t…” Elise choked on her own words, saying it out loud had a much different effect than keeping the script inside her mind. “I’m not ready.”

She didn’t care when she saw the other’s faces, the heartbreak shared amongst the three at the way her eyes watered.

One thing was clear to each of them; for the time being, they were lost. And Elise Wilson was not ready to die.

SELFINSERTSELFINSERTSELFINSERTSELFINSERT-