Chapter 3: Meeting the Dead Man’s Family.

(MEREDITH)

“Do you think he will agree?” I whispered to Tristan.

“Of course, he will,” he assured, “Just act normal.”

Tristan and I were peeking at Dad as he was cooking for our dinner since Mom is coming home late. It was Friday night and tomorrow I have to go at Orlakes to visit Tristan’s family. I know it will be weird to pop out there since they didn’t know me at all.

“Go!” he supported as he tried to push me but his hand just passed through me.

I walked towards the kitchen and sat on the stool next to the kitchen counter, “Dad?”

He turned while holding a spatula, he even wore an apron, “Yes?” he asked.

“I have to go to Orlakes tomorrow, I need to do a research,” I informed him.

“That’s like three hours away from here,” he said.

“Yeah,” I nodded. Please don’t ask more questions.

“Is Iris going to come with you?” he asked again.

“Uh, No, she has another business to do,” I just hope that he will not ask Iris about this.

“Oh well, okay then,” he agreed easily.

I smiled, “Thank you and please do tell to Mom.”

“No worries,” he grinned then went back to cooking, “By the way, I read Iris’ article on the newspaper. She was very brave to do that.”

“Yeah, you know her,” I shrugged.

“This will be done in any minute. Your Mom said that we can eat first since her meeting still ongoing. Call your brother upstairs,” he instructed.

“Sure,” I stood up and walked upstairs towards Felix’s room.

“Your Dad is so chill,” Tristan amused.

“He has a tendency to be easily persuaded, Mom is the difficult one,” I said.

Before I went inside the room of Felix, I knocked on the door first. He’s taking a nap peacefully on his bed as books scattered everywhere beside him. I think I saw more books on his room than toys.

“I’m really amazed at Felix,” Tristan shared.

I smiled as I looked at brother, “Me too, he’s adorable.” I don’t care if people say that I have brother complex but I really adored my brother.

Tristan sighed, “I miss my brother.”

“You have a brother?” I asked surprisingly.

“Yeah, Timothy is my older brother. He works as an engineer at Orlakes,” he answered, “I’m sad that I’m already dead but I’m still glad that my mother still has a child to care of. At least she will not be too sad that I’m gone.”

“But still, part of her was gone. It must be very painful to your Mom,” I muttered.

He was silent.

Felix suddenly stirred and slowly opened his eyes.

“Hey sleepyhead,” I greeted him as I sat beside him. “Get up now, Dad’s waiting downstairs to eat dinner,” I ruffled his hair.

“Who are you talking to?” he croaked as he adorably rubbed his eyes.

I glanced at Tristan alarmingly then nervously chuckled, “Just myself. Stand up now!” I stood up and waited for him.

He stared at me for awhile then nodded as he got up from his bed.

I don’t know but sometimes I think that Felix can sense me lying or hiding something. The way he looks at me or the way he makes me feel alarmed. However, he doesn’t bother to push it further more because he maybe doesn’t want me to feel nervous or uncomfortable or he just doesn’t care. Whatever it is, I still love my cute and adorable younger brother.

***

The travel towards Tristan’s apartment was not really that far. He lives on a building located at the centre of the city. It’s not that extravagant but it’s a good place to stay for one person.

I parked at the designated parking lot of their building and asked him, “What if someone already lives there?”

“See that sign over there,” he pointed a large sign that on the front of the building. It says, Apartment for Rent. Please inquire inside. “They’re still looking for a tenant besides they still need to renovate the place,” he answered.

“How am I supposed to enter your apartment?” I scanned at the place and noticed the security guard at the entrance of the building.

“Pretend that you are looking for an apartment,” he replied.

I nodded and walked out of the car then went towards the building. The security guard greeted me and I inquired, “Hello, I saw the sign outside and I wanted to inquire on the apartment that you’re renting?”

“I’ll just call someone from the admin, Ma’am,” he replied as he called someone on his radio. Then a woman in her early 50’s entered the room with a smile on her face.

“Good morning,” she beamed, “Are you the one who wanted to see the apartment?” she asked.

“Yes, Ma’am,” I smiled back.

“Can I ask for any valid ID?” she asked.

“Sure,” I rummaged my bag to look for my school ID then gave it to her.

She looked at it and said, “Meredith Smith from Queen’s University.”

“Yes, that’s me.”

She looked at me with sad smiled, “The last tenant of the vacant apartment was also a Smythe and he was also a student of Queen’s University.”

I gave her a small smile because I don’t know what to do since the last tenant she was talking about was beside me in a ghost form.

She suddenly clapped to send out the bad vibes, “Okay! I’m Georgia and let’s go upstairs?”

I followed her as she explained some stuffs about the place. I just nodded and went to the flow because I don’t really have any intention to rent this place. When we arrived, she opened the door and we entered the room.

The place was empty, a few trashes were on the floor but it has no furniture on it, so the place seems big.

“It still not done yet but we are still on the process of renovating the place. If you wanted to move here, you can give your preferences so that we can change the place to your liking,” she shared then she again started to give a tour around the place.

“You have to get rid of Georgia for a while,” Tristan said.

“Georgia?” I interrupted her, “Can I have a time alone? I just need to call my parents to inform them about this place.”

“Okay, no worries,” she nodded, “I’ll be back after a few minutes, please take your time.” She then went out of the room.

When the coast is clear I spoke to Tristan, “So what now? The place is so empty I don’t think you left something here.”

“Yeah, I never thought that my family will bring everything out,” he said as he looked around his bedroom.

“So we’ll now go to Orlakes?” I suggested.

“Okay, I think that’s better,” he agreed, “I miss this place, I never thought that this could be this empty. It feels a different place now,” he reminisced.

Suddenly, a there’s a loud sound coming from the doorway. “What was that?” I startled as I looked at him, “Georgia?” I called not moving out of the bedroom.

No one replied but there’s a whining sounds that echoes around the empty place.

“What’s that?” I whispered nervously, “Don’t tell me there’s ghost in here,” I said frantically.

“That’s absurd, I’ve never encounter horrifying experience in here,” he denied.

“Go there and see!” I demanded him.

“What?! Why me?” he backed away.

“Because you’re a soul!” I exasperated, “If there’s a person no one will noticed you and if it is another ghost then just deal with it!”

“Hey! Hey!” he waved both of his hands, “I never have been encountered one and I don’t know how to fight them. I don’t think that we can fight on fists.”

I suddenly jumped on my spot when we heard another loud bark. My whole body started to tremble, I don’t want to see another ghosts again! This will really give me nightmares!

I ran towards the wall besides the door that separated the bedroom and the living room. I leaned there to hide from whatever creature was on the other side. Tristan stood behind me. I saw a shadow on the opposite wall that I was facing, it was really a weird shadow and it’s making its way towards the room. “It’s coming, it’s coming,” I breathed.

It slowly went towards us and when I saw the glimpse of its head I screamed. Because of my loud scream it was startled and began to back down.

“Loki?!” Tristan suddenly cried.

In front of us, who looks like he was frightened, was a fully grown Golden Retriever. Where does he come from?!

“Why is there a dog in here?” I asked then I sighed in relief. I’m becoming more paranoid because of Tristan.

“Why are you here, Loki?” he asked as he went towards the dog and bent down on his knees to look at him at his face, “It’s impossible for my family to forget you.”

It seems that Loki can sense Tristan as he wagged his tail excitedly and stayed on his place. “He’s your dog?” I asked as I also bent down to pat Loki.

“Yeah, he lives with me but I can’t believe he is here. He should be at Orlakes together with my family,” he answered, “I think he can feel me.” He tried to pat him also on his head but his hand just passed through.

“Is he trained?” I wondered.

Tristan nodded, “He’s a good boy.”

I heard some footsteps and Georgia went inside worriedly, “I heard a scream, are you okay?” she asked then she assessed the situation.

“Loki,” she recognized the dog, “You’re here?”

“You know him?” I inquired, “I was surprised when he suddenly barged into the room.”

“He was the pet dog of the previous owner of this place. Unfortunately the owner died and Loki left alone in this place. When Tristan’s family, the previous owner, went here to get his belongings I think Loki was very confused on what’s happening because he didn’t saw Tristan and they suddenly started to pack up. He ran away from them, they tried to look for him but they couldn’t find him. I guessed he sometimes visited this place to see if Tristan was here to fetch him and when the door was suddenly not locked he thought that he was here,” she explained.

“Poor dog,” I commented and rubbed Loki’s chin. He must be very close to Tristan to be this loyal on waiting for him. It’s like the movie I saw about the dog named Hachiko, that was really a tear jerker movie.

“You don’t have to worry,” she assured, “I’ll let the family know or if the family can’t take him, I’ll send him to the pound to find a new owner.”

“No!” Tristan strongly protested, “Mary, you have to take him!” he pleaded.

“Um, can I do that?” I volunteered, “I took a liking to him and if the family doesn’t want him I can take good care of him.”

She looked hesitant. “I don’t know he was very close to his owner.”

“I assure you I can take good care of him and I will not adopt him without his previous owner’s family consent,” I persuaded. Well, I already got his owner’s soul consent.

“I guess, it is okay,” she finally agreed, “Just make sure you take good care of him. He’s a good boy.”

“Of course.”

***

Tristan, Loki and I were driving at Orlakes. It’s a long travel so we bought a lots of snacks, well, mostly it’s all for me and Loki. We decide to take Loki with us so that we can send him back to Tristan’s family. We also bought a gift for Tristan’s mother since it her birthday, I bought her a bouquet of flowers as Tristan’s suggested.

I’m actually nervous to meet his family because it’s my first time to meet them and the only connection that I have with them was already dead. Besides, Tristan and I were not considered as friends when he was alive but I think it’s safe to call that we are friends now that he’s dead.

“So tell me about your family,” I said to him.

“Orlakes is the Smythe’s hometown so mostly my relatives live there, we love to stay together. My father’s name is Christopher, he’s a carpenter. My brother and I look up to him that’s why both of us studied Engineering. As you’ve already known my older brother is Timothy and my mother’s name is Melanie, she’s a housewife. My grandfather and grandmother are still alive and they live with us, their names are Felipe and Elaine Smythe. My father has three brothers and one sister, they all live at Orlakes too, together with their families. My mother has a sister but she lives with her family at Europe,” he said.

“Wow, you really do have a big family,” I amazed.

“You don’t know,” he chuckled, “It’s loud and noisy and we always gather together when there’s an event which brings us closer. What about you and your family?”

“We don’t really do that, my mom is the only child and both of her parents were already dead. My father has a younger sister and she lives few towns away from Queen City, my grandmother lives with her while my grandfather already passed away,” I explained, “We sometimes visit their place or they visit us but on very rare occasions. Good thing there’s internet so that we could still talk to each other even if we’re far away,” I added.

After a few minutes we have arrived at the Orlakes. It’s my first time in here and all I can say is that it’s a small and peaceful town. If you really like to live in a place that’s close to nature, it’s a perfect place to stay.

Tristan gave instructions on where he lives, as we got there, I suddenly got nervous when I got a glimpse of people inside. There’s a small Smythe’s sign by the door, it’s the first time I saw the spelling of his surname. I knew that we have the same surname but a different spelling.

“Don’t be nervous, they’re friendly,” he assured as he felt my nervousness.

I nodded, grabbed the flowers and walked out of the car. I opened the backseat door and called for Loki which he obliged excitedly. During the travel, Loki behaved really well. It’s the first time he met me and he already doesn’t treat me as a stranger, or maybe because he can also see Tristan that’s why he felt at ease.

I walked towards the house and Loki followed me obediently, he doesn’t even wear a leash. I rang the doorbell and deeply sighed. I can do this!

I heard some footsteps and a tall buff man opened the door, “Yes, may I help you?” he asked.

“That’s Uncle Herman,” Tristan informed.

“Good morning,” I greeted, “Um, I’m Meredith Smith and I’m a friend and schoolmate of Tristan,” I introduced.

“Oh, Tristan?” he smiled sadly, “Come in, come in,” he opened the door and let me and Loki in.

“Thank you,” I said.

“I’m his Uncle Herman by the way,” he introduced as he shook my hands, “Actually, today is Tristan’s mother’s birthday so the whole family is here.”

“Herman, Who is she?” a woman asked as she walked towards us.

“She’s Meredith, a friend of Tristan,” he replied.

“Hello, dear,” she smiled, “I’m Elisse, Tristan’s Aunt.”

“Hello,” I greeted back, “Actually I’m here to bring Tristan’s dog, Loki and also to visit his Mom,” I said.

“This is Loki?” Elisse was surprised, “I thought he was missing.”

“I’ll call Chris,” Herman volunteered and walked away.

Elisse patted Loki and she saw the necklace that Loki’s wearing. “Why don’t you come and celebrate with us?” she invited me warmly.

I glanced at Tristan, who gave me an encouraging smile. This will be very difficult.

***

Beware: Grammar maybe bad.

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