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I wiped my face. We were supposed to be
together.

“And I was waiting for you too. And then suddenly
you weren’t there and I was alone. Terribly alone. I found out that
you were staying in this world. Mostly.”

My stomach tensed. That last word sent a chill
through my body.

“Mostly?” I asked.

“Yeah. You didn’t come back all the way.”

That was true, I hadn’t come back whole. I wasn’t
completely in this world anymore. Not like I used to be.

“You’re an in-betweener,” he said. “That’s what they
call you. Me too, right now anyway. Only from over here, the dead
side.”

So there it was. Jesse was a ghost in my world and I
was one in his, linked by love or friendship or something else,
something deep that connected us through the darkness between the
two sides.

“So, you’re not my imagination,” I said.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “But Dr. Krowe and
your sister won’t believe it. Everyone has been trying to tell you
about me being dead since you woke up in the hospital that night.
But you never believed them, so they’ve been careful around you,
trying to give you room to heal. When you started seeing Dr. Krowe,
they were hoping that you would have some breakthroughs. They
thought that maybe going back to school would help too.”

I thought for a moment.

“But Jesse, seeing you at school and other places
didn’t helped me accept your death,” I said. “I mean, in a way, I
wasn’t wrong. How was I supposed to know you were dead?”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, tugging at his hat. “Sorry.
I just slipped back into our old routine. It was just, I don’t
know, natural I guess.”

“So that’s why you didn’t make the basketball team.
On account of being dead and all,” I said.

He smiled.

“Yeah, that would be why. But I still practice
sometimes with the guys. None of them can see me. Except that
little twerp Phil. He can see me, but I scare him. He doesn’t try
to talk to me or anything, but I catch him staring at me in horror
sometimes.”

Jesse laughed.

“And your dad that time in front of your house? He
didn’t see you in the car, he just saw that I stopped by.”

“Yep,” he said. “He’s so sad all the time. It’s hard
to see him like that. I need your help with him. Please tell him
I’m okay.”

“Of course,” I said. And more and more pieces fit
together about everything that happened this past year. Why his dad
hadn’t fixed the car, why he was gone from school snowboarding all
the time.

Jesse was a ghost.

I heard the car door open behind us and turned to
see Dr. Krowe and Kate making their way over to me.

“Do I tell them?” I asked.

“That’s up to you. But don’t expect too much. Dr.
Krowe is a psychologist, you know. That’s where he’ll look first.
Your head.”

“Yeah, but he’s helped me a lot,” I said. “He helped
me get here.”

“You have some good people around you, Craigers.
You’ll be okay now.”

He took my hand and squeezed it hard. My heart
thundered in my chest.

“You’re staying, right Jesse? Please stay. I can’t
bare it without you. Please don’t go.”

“You don’t really need me anymore. You have
everything now to live a great life. And you will. I know it. And
it’s going to be magnificent.”

He leaned over and kissed me, strong and full of
passion. The kiss I’d been waiting for.

I heard soft footsteps on the gravel behind me. I
turned to say hello and when I turned back, Jesse was gone.

*

Dr. Krowe drove us back to town and nobody said
anything.

When we were standing by the lake, I told them that
I remembered the accident and that Jesse had been killed. I didn’t
mention that I had just spoken with his ghost.

It was emotional. Kate cried hard, told me they had
tried to get me to understand for the first few months, but that I
refused to believe it. I didn’t remember any of that, but I was
pretty sure that those memories would be coming back soon.

As we drove, a strange thought crept in my mind.
Jesse had said that the doctor had saved me, had brought me back to
life. But I didn’t know which Mortimer brother he was talking
about. I knew that Jesse would say it didn’t matter, to let all
that go. But it mattered to me. I needed to know which one I owed
my life to.

Kate still wasn’t speaking to Dr. Mortimer, but he
still emailed me and even once stopped by like he used to and
checked on my progress. I hoped we all could be friends again
someday, that the tension could eventually melt away. I didn’t know
if they would ever get back together, but I knew now that he really
was a good man. Kate was right about that. And she deserved someone
who could make her happy. Maybe with the summer coming. Good things
always happened in the summer.

The sky was bright and cloudless and I imagined it
looked like one of those perfect Bend days that I used to love so
much. Big and blue, with a brilliant sun high and strong in the
sky.

I knew Jesse would be back. And if not, I would go
and find him. Somehow. Some way.

THE END

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