Time To Go...

Everyone has embarrassing coming of age stories. Starting your period when you weren't expecting to and bleeding through your outfit. Having a random erection right as you needed to stand up and walk to the chalk board. Having your voice crack in the middle of presentation. A giant zit blooming on the tip of your nose just in time for class pictures. 

She had a few of those and also the bonus stories that only other necromancers understood.

Hers were, luckily, much tamer than some of her cousins' stories. She got the spirit portion instead of the physical portion. No dead pets sitting at her bedside after digging themselves out of the back yard grave. That was how her mother started. It's actually so common that she wondered why any necromancy family would have a pet. 

But it was typical for necromancy powers to come to full bloom during puberty. The surge of hormones seemed to flip the switch from, well, dead to Dead. 

Her first few encounters were with older spirits. Ones who had made their peace with staying in this realm for a little, or a lot longer. They were the ones who enjoyed watching humanity pass through the ages. The ones who didn't feel a need to see what was the next life as they liked it where they were. And they really liked to chat. Among her normie friends she was the only one to start having invisible friends at age 13 instead of 5. 

And she really didn't count it as cheating when they helped her on her history exams, just for the record. 

She was grateful for those easy encounters and their stories when she had her first traumatic experience. Not traumatic for her, though some of them were, but meeting up with the spirit of someone who died traumatically and suddenly and hadn't really been prepared. Sometimes a sudden death is met with quick understanding, sometimes it's met with just terrified confusion. 

She was 16 and at a slumber party. They were telling ghost stories and trying to scare each other when she saw him. The 19 year old brother of her host. Who was away at college so couldn't possibly be standing in the hallway. He was standing with his back to them, not moving. She got up mumbling something about using the restroom and went to talk to him. As she approached he turned toward her and she could see the damage. His face was a bloody mess. Part of his scalp had be severed and was hanging loosely over the opposite ear. He was staring at his hands which were covered in blood as well. His or someone else's she couldn't tell. 

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"I'm Sherri. I'm a friend of your sister's and there's a slumber party happening. Can you tell me what happened?"

He blinked slowly. Blood flicking off his eyelashes as he did. She tried not to flinch away.

"I don't know. I mean, the last thing I remember was Pete and I were headed to the movies. I... PETE? WHERE'S PETE?"

She reached out and put a hand on his arm. Or technically she reached out and put a hand where his arm appeared to be. There was nothing physical there to touch. Just an image she could see, and an energy he could feel. "Pete isn't here with you. I don't know where he is."

"We were in the car. We were...oh god...the light. The truck wasn't going to stop. We could see him coming but it was too late. He wasn't stopping...he..."

"He hit you."

"I don't remember. I don't know. I didn't feel it. But, look at me. And how did I get here? I couldn't have driven here. Or flown like this, they wouldn't have let me on a plane like this right?"

"I'm sorry. I really am sorry." She ran her hand up and down his arm. Sending as much soothing energy toward him as she could. 

His breathing slowed. The panic in his eyes started to recede. "I'm, I'm dead, right?"

"Yeah, you're dead." She didn't know how to put it more gently, or even if she should.

"So why am I here?" She watched as the wounds on his face healed. The blood on his hands started to disappear. He now looked almost exactly like the senior picture that was hanging on the wall behind him. His face a little more mature, but not much. 

"You didn't know where else to go. This place, this is home. You knew you'd be safe here."

"Now what? What's next?"

"That's up to you. You get to decide. Do you want to stay around here, watch your family, your friends? Do you want to travel this world and see anything? Or do you want to let go, move on, leave?"

"If I leave where do I go?"

"I don't know. I only know that some people leave and some people don't. But if you want to leave I can help. And if you decide to stay you can always find me later if you change your mind."

The phone started to ring. 

"I don't want to rush you but I have a feeling that phone call is going to mean the end of this slumber party so I'm going to be going home soon. You can find me there, or I'll be around here sometimes as well, checking on your sister."

"No. I mean, no, don't go yet. Do you have time to help me? Now? I mean, I don't want to stay. I want to go."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn't need to close her eyes, but she didn't like watching when they left. "Okay, put your hands in mine, hold them tightly for a few seconds, and then just let go."

She felt him leave. It was like a breeze against her face. 

"Oh well done!"

"Graciella, I didn't know you were here."

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd pop in just incase you needed a little help. These cases can be a little different than the old souls you've helped in the past. Sometimes they get a little belligerent. Helps to have someone who really understands to talk them down if they get difficult."

"He wasn't difficult. Just confused."

"And you handled it all brilliantly."

The sounds of sobbing reached them. "Oh dear. I always hate this part. I'll see you around, sweetie. You did good, know that."

And with that Graciella was gone. 

She soon wished she could go too.

It was easier to help the dead stop living than to help the living deal with death.