ghost

[shesepankh]

Kindergarten teacher Renée Higgenbotham Swan (36) was killed in a car crash one mile from her residence in Phoenix, AZ, January 9, 2005. She is survived by her daughter Isabella (16). Her service will be held at -

Bella has the entire obituary pasted into a page of one of her compilation notebooks but tends not to re-read past the first lines. It's repellent. The concept of obituaries is repellent. The funeral is over. Renée's vibrant brief life has been summed up over the course of a paragraph, and is also over.

Bella pretends to sleep on the plane. Her neighbor is talkative and she doesn't want to say shut up, my mom just died, because - what if it doesn't work? What if this news doesn't have the power to bludgeon everyone else into stunned silence the way it does Bella?

Charlie collects her. Charlie hugs her. Charlie doesn't make her talk. Good wonderful understanding quiet Charlie does not say a word. He takes her home. Her room's where she left it last August.

It's raining.

Bella stays home, moving in, moping, for a day, and then she shows up at school, gray-faced and withdrawn. First class is English. Okay, whatever.

The teacher wants her to introduce herself. Bella wants to yank on the skinny end of his tie until he regrets making her.

She stands at the front of the room and says that her name is Bella Swan and she's moved here to live with her dad. The teacher makes an impatient go on gesture and she stands there for a moment before robotically saying the same thing she produced at the beginning of the year in her old school in Phoenix when they were doing go-around-the-room-and-share-facts. "I'm one of those people who actually likes Shakespeare."

He lets her sit down.

She sits.

Comments

[castmyown]

"My heart, it leaps."

[shesepankh]

Hee hee hee.

[castmyown]

"I will need a hat to match. And someone will need to do my hair," says Darren, in a deadpan. "Bella, do you know anyone who can do something to match a frilly dress with short hair?"

[shesepankh]

"I don't have a lot of hair accessories. I might be able to dig up some barrettes."

[castmyown]

"That will have to do," he says gravely. "If I am doomed to wear a pretty dress, I must pull it off extremely well."

[morethanimaginary]

Don't mind Savannah, she'll just be over there laughing uncontrollably at the mental visual of her brother in a pretty dress.

[shesepankh]

"I don't have a lot in the way of fancy things to loan you. I'm a jeans and t-shirt person."

[castmyown]

"Ah, a pity. Savannah, this endeavor might be impossible, I need to accessorize."

[morethanimaginary]

This sends his sister into another round of uncontrollable laughter.

[shesepankh]

Heeeeeeee.

[castmyown]

Darren giggles, as well. Then he says, "But seriously, not wearing a dress."

[morethanimaginary]

"Fine," snickers Savannah. "Worth it, just this was -" (Giggle.) "- was funny enough."

[shesepankh]

[castmyown]

"Happy to have made you laugh."

Erase, erase, erase.

[shesepankh]

Erase, erase.

Art class ends, they spray their drawings with fixative and put them into portfolios, and off they go.

[castmyown]

Darren and Savannah have to clean the charcoal off of their faces, but then, off they go.

The next day, the entire school has been informed of Bella's mother - how they act differs, but the twins run interference as promised when anyone gets too intrusive. Of the two, Darren proves to be the most helpful, helping Bella get caught up with any classes she's behind on, including math. Savannah's not exactly unhelpful, but sometimes she doesn't have much tact. It leads to some awkward moments sometimes.

Darren introduces Bella to Angela, after he gently informs Angela that Bella is hurting and she should proceed accordingly. He himself seems happy to have Bella as a friend, and content to not bring up her mom or ask her how she's doing, or anything intrusive. He lets her be, and tries to cheer her up when applicable.

[shesepankh]

Bella and Angela are soon also friends.

Bella doesn't talk about her mom much. (She writes about her, constantly: she was halfway through a fucking crossword puzzle or she was dating that baseball player and maybe they would have been happy or if she were here she'd tell me to cheer up, that it's all part of life. Angela doesn't peek, Darren doesn't; Savannah peeps once and gets a glare and then defends the notebook like it's her own from others' attention.)

She catches up on the schoolwork. She makes dinner for Charlie. She writes and writes and cries sometimes, alone, and writes.

One day she is in the grocery store, dropped off while Charlie gets a haircut, looking for lemons.

And she thinks she sees Renée.

She knows it is not Renée. She knows Renée is dead. The funeral was open casket. She knows there is no reason to follow this person in the long - is that a rain poncho? that'd make sense - just because they walk the same and have the same chin and same height.

She also knows she's not going to get arrested for trying to get a closer look at a person in a grocery store, and that it's going to bother her if she doesn't. The bother will take longer to dig out than the check will take to make. If she circles around the stand with the avocados -

The lady with the poncho drops a necklace. Bella picks it up (it gives her a little static shock); that's a better excuse than she expected to have to get a look at her, convince the animal parts of her brain that it's not Renée. "Ma'am?"

And then the lady rounds the endcap with the Mountain Dew and Bella walks as briskly as she dares and the lady's gone, and Bella's still holding the necklace.

"Ma'am?"

But she's nowhere in the entire store, to collect her necklace or to satisfy Bella's botheredness.

Well, it's not such a huge surprise that someone could outpace Bella, even indoors. She considers giving the necklace to Lost and Found, but - no. She likes the necklace. She's going to keep it.

Charlie picks her up and takes her home.

It's a nice day. They're rare. She goes out, necklace 'round her neck. Finds a clearing in the wood.

And passes out.

[castmyown]

From where he's perched at the window in his house, Darren flinches.

.... What the hell was that?

[morethanimaginary]

His sister is nearby and notices the flinch, and the way he's looking out the window like there's something that could kill him on the other side of it.

"What's that, Darren? Is Timmy stuck in a well?"

[castmyown]

He snorts. "No. But there was a - thing. A magic thing."

[morethanimaginary]

"A magic thing," says Savannah. "Specific."

[castmyown]

"Vana, this is important," sighs Darren. "It came from the woods and I don't know what it is. Help me look for it?"

[morethanimaginary]

"Sure," she shrugs.

They inform their dad, who is confused, but it's not like he can help with it at all, so he wishes them luck, tells them to be safe, and off they go.

After a brief talk, they split up to find it as fast as possible, with cellphones at the ready if something goes wrong. Darren is jittery about staying in fullform while this close to people, but Savannah isn't. She keeps to the skies - it's about the only advantage she gets, since her brother's the one who sensed it.

[castmyown]

Even on foot as a human, though - Darren's the one to find the 'magic thing.'

When he does, he stares.

[shesepankh]

Bella is already awake when he finds her, but hasn't been for long.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" she says, staring at her paws. She cranes her neck around for a look at her wings. "AAAAAAAAAH!" She looks at Darren. "Hi welcome to my freaky transformation dream?" She trips over her tail and goes over like a sack of potatoes. "YIPE!"