Story | Ghost

The music coming through my headphones usually calmed me down. Anxiously, I kept looking at my phone. It’s been thirty minutes since he last texted me. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent that last message.
My frantic thoughts were interrupted by the noise of a motorcycle. I looked outside. There he was at last. He waved at my window as he drove past, with a mischievous grin. A sudden adrenaline rush surged through me, leaving my limbs paralyzed with excitement and fear. I raced down to meet him, but a terrifying crash echoed through the air before I could reach him. When I ran outside there were only fumes and crushed steel. Crimson blood leaked from his helmet. This couldn’t be. My legs suddenly lost all sensation. Dozens of neighbors gathered out of nowhere, some clutching their loved ones tighter while others grabbed their phones. Wanting to be a part of his glory even now. “It’s Caleb!” They screamed.

My phone buzzed with a belated notification. The one he had sent me while riding.

I told him never to text and ride. For once, I wish he had listened. 

The following week seemed like a fever dream. People wondered why he had been there, in that part of the town. His ex-girlfriend Lexi was making sure to set the rules of mourning for everyone. Feeling like a mere shell of who I once was, I drifted through the halls.
There's a framed picture of him in the hallway complete with a small shrine; candles, letters, and stuffed animals. He would've hated this, he hated his varsity picture. Lexi, of course, loved it. It showed he was somebody in this small town and that in turn, made her loss even worse. 
His eyes in the picture are determined and strong and it takes me back to the way he used to stare at me whenever I was explaining something to him.

'What's wrong with you freak? Sad you can’t stalk him anymore?' Lexi said.

I noticed then the moisture resting on my cheeks.

'Yeah, you didn't even know him.' Lisa said. 

I stifled the rest of my emotions and walked away. If only they knew how much I knew him. More than they ever could. As soon as I am alone I grab my phone and slump against a locker. My body trembles with sorrow as I reread his final message over and over, each word breaking my heart anew.

'You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear these words. I love you too. I have for a while. I’m on my way to you right now x. Caleb'
Not one of them knew.  How unfair it was for this to end before it could properly begin. They would never know how much I hurt. Mourning was, after all, for the living and I was only in the memory of the dead.

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