Andy

After I was free of history, Andy walked faithfully by my side in his new treads, coming off slightly as a loyal dog.

"Where do you keep getting your clothes?" I whispered to him, since I couldn't talk to him as I pleased.

He half grinned, and put his sunglasses back in his pocket. "The death gods have blessed me with them." He smirked, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one up. I could clearly see the smoke and wondered if everyone else could.

He waved his hands in defence, "Anything 'ghostly' happening in the immediate vicinity around me, stays around me. Which means, if I don't want any of these fuckers to see my damn smoke, then they can't."

He blew a gust of grey smoke out from between clentched teeth. "To answer your earlier question, these are just things I had from when I was alive, at my house. Like writing letters or picking up the photos last night, if real items enter my 'bubble', they instantly become invisable to everyone else, and become ghost items too, until I put them down. So specifically speaking, your eyeliner on my face, is now a ghost."

I gasped in surprise. "You're already wearing my damn makeup?" I hissed under my breath, he laughed. "I ran out a while ago, and I don't want to be suspicious stealing from other people, so I'm stealing from you."

"Wow, thanks." I muttered in annoyance.

"You're welcome." He replied.

He sat on some jock's desk during biology, since Mark had taken the empty seat beside me.

I watched him in a fit of restrained laughter while he was sticking it tongue out in his face, walking in circles around him, and singing Boston's More Than a Feeling in a high pitched scream without being noticed.

"Hey Ash, I have more ghostly business to do. I'll be back before you get out of school!" He called, heading to the classroom door before the teacher entered. I nodded, realizing I had opened my mouth and was about to reply. I tended to get caught up believing Andy was just as real to everyone else as he was to me, and I was beginning to wish that he was.

~~~

I was greatful when school was out for the day. I wasn't sure how much more of this repetitive shit I could put up with, even if Andy had brightened my otherwise boring days considerably.

When I walked outside, the skies were rolling grey, still sunny, not quite raining yet. I saw Andy, walking, and balancing on the bike bar, where a few twelve speed were chained up.

"Ash!" He waved to me, and jumped down from the bar, and jogged towards me. "What are you doing now?"

I thought about it for a moment, and had an idea. "Actually, I have something to show you now... It only works when it rains, so..."

"Yeah, of course. I'm down with that." He nodded cooly, up for anything.

I nodded, and placed my headphones in my ears to keep up the normal appearance as I boarded the bus home. Andy sat beside me, and shared one headphone, and scrolled through the songs on my phone, looking for bands he was familiar with.

When we got off in front of my house, I headed inside to greet my mom and tell her where I was going before ditching the textbooks from my backpack, and replacing them with classic novels, bottled water and soda. I switched out of my nice denim school jacket, into an old Blink-182 hoodie, and went outside to meet Andy, right where I'd left him on the curb.

"So... Where are we going?" He wondered in confusion when I started walking west along the sidewalk. I lived just on the outskirts of Pendant, so not far from the wide open forests and prairie areas.

"You'll see." I grinned, pulling my headphones out of their jack so I could share my music with him.

"I really love this song." I sighed as we walked up a hill and the sidewalk began to thin into a dirt trail along the road. "The singer, it's about his brother, Mikey Way. He was suicidal back in the early days of their band, and even after they broke up, things went sour between all the members, so it also talks about, essentially, having to live without his brother for the first time in his life." I said with a nonchalant shrug, listening to the song coming from my phone's speakers, the volume up so loud it started to sound static.

Andy's brow furrowed as he listened to me without interrupting.

"Does anyone have the guts to shut me up? Cause I believe, that every night, there's a chance we can walk away," I sang up to the sky, the blue and white clouds were losing dominance against the storm clouds building up behind us.

"Faces I don't know, I am tired of the freezing club, keep me breathing, oh, don't make the lights come back, can you take me home? We all need this, when we live alone."

I played out the small break solo on my personal air piano, and went into the next verse. For once, Andy wasn't grinning. He just looked thoughtful for a bit, the wind tossed his hair back, and the sun bleached it a dark brown color.

"What is that song even called?" He chuckled while I searched through my playlist for the next song I wanted to show him.

"It's called 'Brother', hence the long story I told you." I smiled, and turned on a Panic! At the Disco song, and turned off my phone to save battery.

He nodded and listened to my next song of choice. I noticed he was being pretty quiet, or just observant, I couldn't tell.

"What other kinds of music do you like?" I asked him, deciding not to hoard the DJ position. He shrugged, "Different kinds." He replied, seeming kind of distant.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah... I'm just thinking... About tomorrow."

He pushed his black half mohawk back off his forehead in frustration. "I don't know what's going to happen after they put my body in the ground... Will I still be able to stay here? Or will I finally go to heaven or hell?"

I thought about that for a while. I was worried, too. I had only really known Andy for twenty four hours, but it felt like a life time. I'd learned a lot about him, and his sudden absence would feel strange.

"Well, do you want an afterlife, first of all?"

He didn't answer at first, he looked down at the ground in thought. "I thought I did." He finally admitted. "But now I've realized that I just want more time on earth."

"More time?... How?"

"Dead or alive. Preferably alive, but at this point, I'll take what I can get. From what I've seen, heaven and hell are just checkpoints, there's nothing special about them. They're worse than life, actually, because no one you know is there. No one you cared about... And all this time, this week, I've been thinking, maybe I could reconnect with Ashley somewhere... But then I remember what death was like the first time, and I'm questioning if it's even possible for me to find him."

"I believe in Christ," I began with a sigh, "But I've never had the experiences you've had, so I can't dip my hand in as to rather or not he is real, or if heaven and hell are as extravagant as they make it out to be... I don't have any true advice, but as a friend, try to do what's best for you. If you want to stay on earth, try to make it happen, if it doesn't work, and you end up crossing over, anyways, at least you tried, right?"

"Would you want me to stay?" He asked, he was being sincere, and non-joking.

"Of course." I replied without really thinking about it, "I consider you a close friend already."

He nodded to himself, "I have a lot to think about, I guess."

"Yes, you do. But not right now, look!" I pointed ahead, at the top of a hill to our left. An old, hollowed out homestead, nearly reclaimed by nature. "I like to come here sometimes when it rains. It just looks beautiful."

I tugged on his hand, and he followed me up the hill, to the small home at the top. It had long since burned out and retired to nature, but a few walls still stood, and there was a tin roof.

"That's cool." He said as we approached it, and took in the structure covered in vines and climbing flowers.

"I like to sit in here," I showed him through the side wall of the house, into what used to be a family room. Half the walls were just structure beams now, but some old furniture remained. I looked out the collapsed wall at the countryside as the rain began to come down.

"I don't have to be anything else here..." I murmured to myself, watching the rain drip off the leaves hanging from the wooden beams above me. "Anyone or anything."

"Dead or alive" He added on with a sigh.

I nodded, and looked out at the open field down the hill as it became drenched with another round of spring rain.

"Here, check this out..." I said after a few silent moments of watching the rain. I grabbed my backpack off the buckled wood floors, where patches of grass were coming up between the boards. I pulled a wooden crate over and sat down on it, leaning back against the wall, digging through my backpack for my journal.

Andy leaned forward on his own crate, clasping his hands together patiently, waiting for me to pull out the item I was looking for.

"I, uh, don't know if I ever told you, but I, I write songs." I said, brushing a strand of emerald green hair back and tucking it behind my ear.

"Really? What kind?"

I shrugged, to embarrassed to look at him, so I looked down at the leather cover of my journal. "Different kinds. They change according to how I feel."

"Sing me some." He encouraged.

"No no no... I'm not singing." I shook my head, "But I'll read them to you, if you want."

He nodded, and waited. I looked up finally at his insanely blue eyes to be sure he was even interested, and then back down at the withered paper in front of me.

"Just a little forewarning, this one is dark..."

He nodded again, moving his clasped together hands up to rest his elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands while he waited for me to begin.

"I was born of dark and light,
The Lord gave me my life,
Trusted I could keep it safe,
I'm sorry, but I've been replaced.

I failed many times,
Suceeded less
Life gets hard,
And it's time to give it a rest.

It gets harder to love yourself,
When you don't love who you are.
Maybe tears run down your face,
And you fear you've been replaced,
You've been replaced."

I stopped reading then and sighed, stretching out my arms awkwardly. "I haven't really decided on a chorus yet, but I think I'm getting there. Just finding something powerful enough to say is the hard part."

"I thought it was good." Andy said, leaning back, "Could use a tune to go with it, though." He grinned. "What else do you have?"

"Do you really want to hear another one?" I wondered skeptically.

"Yeah, but sing it this time." He crossed his arms and waited. I looked at him and sighed, flipping through the many pages to find the next one, and the one I felt most comfortable with sharing to an audience.

Taking a deep, hesitant, and slightly reluctant breath, I sighed and began again, singing the words this time.

"I know of a place, hidden away
Darkness cannot join,
In the sun we can stay. We can talk, and we can smile,
You won't disappear,
And we'll walk for a while.
The darkness that is out there, cannot find us here.
We are safe, here, on the otherside.

Do not grieve for I am gone.
I have found my place with the Lord,
He will keep me safe,
And life was just a game. A test for the final judgment.
Do not cry that I am gone,
Smile because I am still here.
I've never left, and never will.
I'm always here.
In the End. "

"Can I ask a favor?" Andy asked afterwards, leaning forward again, looking down at his hands while he thought.

"What's that?"

"Do you think... That maybe, you could sing that at the funeral tomorrow? I'd really appreciate it."

"Uh, I don't know..." I wrung my hands together uncomfortably. "I almost couldn't sing it for you just now..."

"But," He raised a hand, "You sung Brother like a lunatic on the way up here. What's the difference between singing that, and singing this?"

"The difference is, that I wrote this. Part of my heart is somewhere in the lyrics. It's just very personal to me..."

He gave me puppy eyes, and I glared at him. "Don't you do that..." I grumbled, and he began to grin. "Come on, please? I'm not the only one who would appreciate it, I think my Mom would find comfort in it, actually. But if you feel uncomfortable about singing it in front of a big crowd, just imagine you're singing with me. Hell, I'll go up there and sing it with you if you want."

"Please?" He asked again when I didn't answer.

I sighed, "That's it? You just want me to sing? According to your whole family, my family, and both of our friend groups, niether of us even met, and I'm only supposed to be going because your aunt and uncle are my neighbors."

"Just say that you want to, they'll understand."

I looked at his eyes again, they were such a pure, crystal shade of blue it almost looked unnatural. "Fine." I agreed at last, reluctantly. "I'll do it. Partially because you asked me, and partially because, I consider you a close friend."

He pursed his lips and nodded, "Thank you." He murmured as he leaned forward and embraced me in a hug. It was the weirdest hug ever, though. Hugs are supposed to be warm, he was like hugging an ice sculpture. I accepted it nevertheless, and returned the gesture.

"You're welcome." I smiled into his shoulder. Glad that I could at least make tomorrow that much less dreadful for him to go through.

"Alright, enough of the heavy. Thirsty?"

"Well, it's not something I feel anymore, but sure."

I tossed him a Pepsi and grabbed a bottle of water from my backpack, and pulled out my stack of classic books, and set them on the water damaged end table.

"It's really cool out here, actually." Andy commented after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, it is... My Dad actually used to take me back here on his days off. But since he signed up with a bigger cooperation, he doesn't have so much time off anymore, so I just made it my own thing to come here. I usually come out when it's raining, though, hence today. I just love how the countryside looks in a storm. You can't see that from my house."

I sighed and thought for a while. "I almost had a younger brother or sister once."

"Huh?"

"It was a couple years back. My Mom was pregnant, everything was fine until one day... Everything just... Wasn't. She lost it before the fourth month. Put her into a depressed state. That's why she fusses over me so much, to make up for the child she never had." I shrugged a little.

"Being an only child also generates negative things, such as not being allowed to do certain things, like go to concerts and all that crap. It's the number one thing on my bucket list to go to a concert and my parents won't let me." I laughed.

"Hey, I can make myself visible every now and again. I could help you get to the venue. I couldn't physically be there for the whole thing, but I could get you through gates. Plus, I can drive." He winked, seeming overjoyed with the idea of breaking my parents firm rules again.

"You just can't wait to get me grounded, can you?" I asked sarcastically, laughing.

"Yep." He laughed, nodding, pulling his infamous sunglasses from his pocket and putting them on for effect.

I hugged my knees and looked out at the storm. "Looks like the rain is stopping... We should probably head back soon."

He nodded, "Did I ever tell you I love the rain?" He asked off topic.

"Really?" I asked in surprise, "I love the rain. It was raining on that day... Last Sunday. Church had just gotten out, and I stood in front of the chapel, arms out, getting drenched."

He laughed, "Seriously? Are you sure I'm the fucked up one between us?"

"Shut up." I snickered, shovive his shoulder. "I dunno about you, but I'm heading back."

I stood up and stretched, and packed my things back up, and looked around to sure I'd gotten everything, when a thought crossed my mind. In theory, I was actually alone right now, talking to no one. I wonder if this is what 'insane' people go through? Maybe they're perfectly sane, having a normal conversation with a spirit, and people think they need to be tossed in an asylum.

We stepped out from under the slanted tin roof on what used to be the front porch. I watched a rainbow seep through the ash grey clouds, and watched it until it faded, then I began to cross the field, the tall, wet grass staining the legs of my jeans with water droplets. I'd be happy to get home and get some dry socks.

Andy sang a Kiss song I'd never heard before on the way back, this time in his normal voice, instead of amping it up with the high pitched squeal he normally used as his singing voice.

As I walked through the front door, my Dad was home, heading for the kitchen.

"Hey Ash! How was school."

"Good, I guess. Kinda boring." I shrugged, dropping my backpack into a chair near the door.

I looked back at Andy "You're welcome to anything, unless you have some ghost business to take care of?"

"Actually, yes. I'll be back later." He waved as he disappeared through the front door again.

"Alright..." I sighed, clapping my hands against my legs, "Time to act like I spent all day with humans."

Notes

Alright, the song Ash is singing on the way to the meadow house is Brother by Gerard Way.
The two other songs are ones I came up with exclusively for this story. Thank you for readin'!
The chapter itself is partially inspired by 7 Years by Lukas Graham.
Also! Ash looks like this :D She has green hair because she dislikes the color black (Her natural hair color, as mentioned in chapter one)