Alisha and her friends stood in front of the modest, two-story house, their knuckles sore from knocking. The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the porch. Diana sighed and turned to Jake with arms crossed.
"Are you sure this is the place?" she asked, again.
Jake nodded, holding up his phone. "Yeah. This is the only Daniel West listed in town records and it says he's deceased. It fits."
"Then why the hell hasn't anyone opened up?" Diana muttered, her frustration rising.
As if on cue, the door creaked open, revealing a blonde girl with piercing blue eyes, probably their age or maybe a little younger. She looked between the three of them, her brows furrowing with curiosity as her hand lingered on the edge of the door.
They immediately straightened, forcing polite smiles that didn't quite reach their eyes.
"Um… hi," Alisha said, stepping forward. "I'm Alisha, and these are my friends, Jake and Diana."
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Okay… what do you want?"
Alisha glanced at Jake, then back at the girl. "Is this the home of… the late Mr. Daniel West?"
A subtle change came over the girl's face, barely noticeable, but her mouth twitched and her posture stiffened. "Why?"
The group exchanged an uneasy look. Suddenly, the reality of what they were doing hit them....showing up at someone's door claiming to have a message from the dead? It would sound ridiculous. Insensitive, even.
"Selena, who's there and what's taking so long?" a woman's voice called from inside, just before a second figure appeared behind the blonde girl. The door opened wider, and Alisha immediately recognized the woman, Hermione. The same woman she'd seen sobbing in the hospital.
"It's you… You're his wife," Alisha blurted out before she could stop herself.
Hermione furrowed her brows. "Whose wife?"
"Mr. Daniel's. I..." Alisha caught herself, realizing how this must sound, "I'm sorry for the outburst. But… I have a message. From your husband."
Hermione blinked, then glanced sideways at Selena. The weight in her stare was impossible to miss.
"Do you kids think this is funny?" she asked tightly. "Because it's not. I just buried my husband. If this is a prank....."
"No," Alisha cut in. "This isn't a joke. I was in the hospital when he died. I saw him… his spirit. He asked me to find you. To give you a message."
For a moment, silence stood between them.
Even Jake and Diana avoided Hermione's eyes. This could go really badly, so badly that if Hermione grabbed a broom or a baseball bat, none of them would blame her.
But instead, to their surprise, she slowly stepped aside and opened the door wider.
"Come in," she said quietly.
They followed her into a tastefully simple living room, soft earth-toned curtains swaying with the breeze. Hermione gestured to the couch. Selena trailed in last, hesitating slightly before sitting on the chair opposite them.
Hermione sat directly across from Alisha. "I hope you're not joking."
"I'm not." Alisha exhaled, her voice steady despite the awkwardness clawing at her chest.
"You're saying… you saw my dead husband's ghost?" Hermione asked, her tone skeptical but curious.
"Yes. I was in a coma. And while I was unconscious, my spirit was... roaming the hospital. I saw everything. The doctors trying to revive him and failing."
Hermione folded her arms. "You don't look crazy....but that doesn't mean I believe you yet. I'm just giving you enough rope to see if you need medical attention."
Jake coughed, stifling a laugh, earning a sharp glance from everyone.
Alisha pressed on. "You have every reason not to believe me. I wouldn't have believed myself. But he was there, standing over you and your son, trying to reach out. He looked devastated. Regretful. He said he wished he listened to you that night....wished he hadn't stormed out of the house."
Hermione froze. Her arms slowly lowered, her features tightening with disbelief.
"He said… you're still young. That he wants you to find love again. That you should live. You're carrying your second child right? How could I have known that if he didn't tell me?"
Hermione's lips trembled, and her hand shot to her mouth. Tears welled up instantly.
"And your son… he turned seven yesterday, didn't he?" Alisha added softly.
Hermione broke. Silent tears ran down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking from the weight of everything she tried to hold in. Selena moved closer, placing a comforting hand on her sister in-law's back.
The silence that followed was reverent.
"Thank you," Hermione whispered at last, her voice raw. "Thank you… Alisha."
The room held its breath. Even Diana, who prided herself on logical thinking, sat stunned. Jake glanced at Alisha, quietly amazed.
The ride home was quiet.
Jake focused on the road, his hands tight around the wheel. Diana sat beside him, arms folded, staring straight ahead. In the backseat, Alisha leaned her head against the window, eyes lost in the blur of the outside world. Her mind raced. She had just done something that would sound insane to anyone else. Delivered a message from a ghost to his grieving family. Helped two people move on: one to the afterlife, the other into a life without him. It didn't feel real.
She glanced at her friends. They weren't saying anything. Were they shocked? Confused? Processing it differently? Or were they just trying to act normal to avoid making her feel like a freak? Either way, she was thankful. Not everyone had friends who stood by you when you started talking to the dead.
When Jake finally reached her house, she stepped out with a quiet "thank you" and walked in just as her mom was heading out for her evening shift.
"Hey, sweetheart," her mother said, adjusting her purse.
"Hi, Mom." They exchanged a brief hug before Alisha made her way upstairs.
She didn't expect what she saw next.
Danny.
Sitting comfortably on her bed, legs crossed like he owned the place. He held her old teddy bear in one hand, twirling it by the ear.
"I kind of prefer wolves," he said, flashing that signature grin....sharp teeth and playful charm. The kind of smile that once made her blush.
Not today.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, dropping her bag on the couch.
"I came to apologize."
"For what?"
"For the secrets. For not telling you what I am sooner," he said, standing now, his voice softer. "There are laws, Alisha. Created by a council, powerful supernatural beings who don't tolerate exposure. I didn't lie to hurt you. I did it to protect you."
Alisha crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing. "Protect me? Is that why you wiped my memory while I was unconscious in the hospital?"
That made him freeze. The air between them grew heavy.
"How did you…?" he started, then sighed. Of course she'd know. She wasn't ordinary, and he had to stop treating her like she was.
"Believe it or not, I did it because I was trying to protect you. You were already dealing with PTSD from before. If you remembered what happened in those woods that night, it could've shattered you."
She scoffed. "So we're going to be one of those couples? Where the guy lies or does something messed up and says, 'I was just trying to protect you'?"
"No," Danny said. "We're not. But that depends on you, too. You're attracting dangerous and powerful things, Alisha. And the longer we stay in the dark about what you are, the more exposed you are."
She turned away from him, her voice low and tired. "I don't want to spend my life constantly worrying about what might come after me. I'm done. I'll figure this out on my own."
There was a pause.
"Please," she added. "Leave. I need to be alone."
Danny didn't argue. He didn't plead. He could feel her aura, and it was closed off, filled with anger. There was nothing he could say that would change how she felt right now.
So he vanished just like that. Like a gust of wind.
Alisha didn't need to look back to know he was gone. The shift in the air told her everything. Her chest tightened as she walked into her bathroom, still trembling from a storm she couldn't yet name.