Chapter 23: Charades

  “Wake up, please wake up...” Lily begged desperately. At this point, she wasn’t even sure if she was asking Eve to wake up or herself. She wanted so badly for this to be a dream. A nightmare that would eventually end with Lily waking up in her bed, going to the kitchen and finding the usual warm coffee waiting for her. A sign that all was fine and her friend was safe and well.

  Sadly that was the dream and this was reality. Eve’s faint pulse had faded, as she slipped away in Lily’s arms. Now the poor grieving girl was left alone in the desolate construction site with her beloved friend’s body. She held her close, feeling the warmth in her slowly ebbing away in the cold night air.

  “No... you can’t be... Eve please come back.” Tears streamed down Lily’s face as she pleaded as she gently shook Eve, trying to will her friend’s lifeless body back to life. As if that would make any difference at all.

  “Please no... Please no... PLEASE NO!” Lily’s whispered pleas turning gradually to screams echoing in the night as the cold, harsh reality of her closest friend’s death began to break her, before collapsing back to a sorrowful whisper once more. “Please... no...”

  Lily leant forward, trying to give Eve a gentle kiss on the head. She needed this closure, this final goodbye to the one she loved most. Only for Eve’s head to flop to the side out of the way as she tried.

  Lily let loose a hollow, bitter laugh. Of course, typical Eve. Even in death, she was dodging Lily’s affection.

  Maybe if Lily had told Eve about her feeling sooner? Would it have even made a difference? She began to replay the past few days over and over, her mind racing with a million questions.

  What if she’d noticed Eve’s weird behaviour sooner? What if she had stayed home and confronted Eve in the morning instead of coming out here? What if she’d been firmer with Eve about going to the police about that truck. THAT TRUCK!

  In that moment Lily became aware that the truck was still there, looming over them. The low rumble of its engine. Its headlights still illuminating the grim scene. Whoever was inside that thing, Eve’s murderer, was watching them. Probably mocking them. Enoying the pain it had caused...

  Lily turned around, eyes burning with righteous fury. After carefully laying Eve on the ground, she stood up defiantly. She saw her own reflection cast in the truck’s tinted windows, illuminated by it’s headlights.

  The window’s dark tint meant she was unable to see the driver she assumed must be within. The one who was ultimately responsible for Eve’s death.

  “You sick, pathetic bastard,.” Lily spat at the truck looming ominously before her. “My best friend is dead because of you, and you don’t even have the decency to show your face! What do you have to say for yourself? Come on, come out here and face me! Or are you a coward as well as a killer.”

  Her taunts were met with silence, beyond the ever-present quiet rumbling of the engine. The only slight change was a barely perceptible flicker of Wheeler’s headlights which went undetected by Lily.

  Lily grabbed a nearby metal pole, pointing it menacingly towards the truck. “Come out or I’ll drag you out myself.” Lily threatened, her eyes filled with ill intent. Her voice colder than the chill in the night air.

  She’d never been the violent type, but right now, after losing Eve, the normally quiet and meek girl was ready for war. A thousand men could come pouring out that truck and she’d still try to take them on, if it meant she could avenge her fallen friend. Rage had now completely overtaken her reason.

  As she made a move towards the truck, the headlights suddenly cut out, plunging the construction site into darkness. Only for them to flick back on moments later.

  After the light returned, Lily’s vision took a few moments to readjust. She could just about make out a figure standing in the glare of the headlights.

  Lily readied her makeshift weapon, ready to strike down whoever it was, assuming it was the truck driver. Once she saw who it was, however, the stunned Lily immediately dropped the metal pole. Her hands flew to her mouth as she registered who was standing in front of her.

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  “Eve?” Lily gasped in shock and confusion. She turned around to check Eve’s body, which still laid exactly where Lily had left her, then back to this new incarnation of her friend.

  “What’s happening... why was there two Eves? Warily, Lily approached this new Eve, reaching out to touch her, only for Lily’s hand to pass right through. She then reached what to her was the only logical conclusion.

  “Are you a ghost?” Lily asked the apparition of friend.

  After a few silent moments, the spectral Eve gave a solemn nod, her face filled with sadness.

  Lily wasn’t entirely able to believe her eyes, despite wanting so badly to. As far as she knew, ghosts didn’t exist, yet here was Eve, stood directly in front of her while her dead body was mere feet away. “You are Eve... right?” she asked hopefully.

  After another quiet pause, almost as if it was awaiting some unseen instruction, Eve’s ghost nodded again in confirmation.

  “Why won’t you talk to me? Please say something.” Lily begged.

  There was yet another delay, before the phantom Eve tapped its throat while shaking its head.

  Lily quickly understood what these gestures were meant to convey, “You can’t speak, can you?” she asked softly, her voice tinged with disappointment.

  There was a few seconds of silence as Lily awaited for Eve’s ghost to answer

  Little did Lily know, what stood before her wasn’t actually Eve’s ghost. Well, technically it both was and wasn’t. The ghost of Eve was simply a projection, created by Wheeler. It’s movements however were being controlled by Eve.

  This as it turned out, is what Abeona had meant when she had suggested they ‘bring Eve back from the dead’.

  “Lily is standing directly in front of your ‘ghost’, waiting for you to respond.” Wheeler relayed to Eve, who was standing in front of Abeona’s tablet.

  “You know this would be much easier if I could see her” Eve complained to Abeona. As Eve spoke, she shook her head in response to Lily’s question, which caused the illusion projection of Eve to also shake its head.

  Abeona’s tablet was acting as a motion tracker, synchronising the movements of Eve’s illusionary doppelganger, with the real Eve’s movements in the afterlife.

  “Sorry, no can do.” Abeona insisted in response to Eve’s complaint. “Your dead body is still down there and believe me you do NOT want to see that.” The goddess emphasised. “Souls who see their own corpse tend to go into a severe existential crisis state. Even by my standards, it’s way too risky to turn on the visual feed.”

  “I’m sure I can hand...” Eve began to protest, before Abeona quickly interrupted.

  “Wheeler, its all gone quiet down there, what’s Lily doing?”

  “She’s just kind of standing there, I think she’s still processing this whole ghost thing.” Wheeler responded back.

  Eve’s face became clouded with concern. “Lily...” she uttered mournfully.

  Meanwhile, Lily had indeed been simply staring at the ‘ghost’ of Eve. It was a lot to take in, especially after the rollercoaster of emotions this night had subjected her to. Until tonight, Lily hadn’t even really believed in ghosts. Yet, in this moment she wanted to believe in this more than anything.

  As the apparition of Eve silently mouthed her name, Lily made another attempt to communicate with her.

  “Yes Eve, it’s me, Lily, I’m here.” She reassured her deceased friend. “What do you want to tell me?”

  There was so much that Eve wanted to say to Lily. Should she apologise? Offer her friend reassurance that she was ok in the afterlife? Yet Eve also knew Lily wouldn’t be able to hear a single word. Only interpret them via lip reading or...

  That’s when Eve got an idea.

  Eve held up her hand, with three raised fingers. Moments later her holographic duplicate on earth did the same.

  “Three... free?” Lily wondered out loud, attempting to guess Eve’s intended message “You want to be free?”

  After a few seconds, Eve shook her head while continuing to hold up her three fingers, pushing them insistently in what she assumed was the direction Lily was standing.

  “No, not free... three, the number three?” Lily realised, “You mean the number three?”

  Eve gave an enthusiastic thumbs up with her other hand, indicating Lily was on the right track.

  Lily was frantically guessing what Eve was trying to say, “So it’s three... three what? Three strikes, Three stooges?” She began massaging her temples as her brain reached for anything she could associate with the number three.

  “This is like Charades...” Lily muttered under her breath. “WAIT CHARADES! IS THIS CHARADES?” she called out to Eve’s phantom. “Three words?”

  The image of Eve stopped the gesture and began inaudibly clapping in approval, the two friends were finally on the same page.

  Wheeler and Abeona, silently watched the interaction with interest taking a metaphorical backseat. From their perspective, their job was now simply to facilitate Eve and Lily’s final farewell.

  Wheeler made sure to keep the projection of Eve steady, making sure to maintain the illusion that Lily was talking to Eve’s ghost.

  He hoped the spectral recreation that connected Lily and Eve, would grant both of the young women the closure they needed to move on. Lily with her normal life, now without her friend, and Eve into her upcoming adventure filled Isekai life.

  So began this game of supernatural Charades, with Lily and Eve communicating beyond the barrier that normally sat between the living and the dead through this game.