Preview: Phasing Out

Hello, everyone! I'm working on a new story. It was originally intended to be darker fiction about the friendship of a living boy and a dead girl... but it hasn't felt dark at all as I've been writing. I do intend to explore all the possibilities for what "ghosts" and "deities" could really be.... and if they can pretend to be each other. But, hopefully it'll be amusing.  Without further ado, have an excerpt from Mia and Daniel's journey together:

“Holy shit, you’re dead!”

She looked up from her book with a raised eyebrow. “Jesus, Daniel, really? I’ve told you that I was dead like every day since we met.”

“I thought you were just some emo chick trying to be edgy!” I looked down at my hand. It went through her shoulder.

She said nothing in response as she turned the page. “This book sucks. I can’t believe this is the one I died holding.”

“Can you stop complaining about shitty fiction for one moment and just explain why there is a dead girl in my life?”

She looked up at me, staring blankly. “You saw me hanging out in the graveyard that is next door to your home. You thought you would come hit on me. That’s how I ended up in your life.”

“But… you’re dead.”

“Oh my God, how many times are you going to say that?”

“How can I see you?”

“Fuck if I know.”

“Can other people see you?”

“Mostly cats and people with special needs.”

“Am I psychic?”

“I’m not here to answer all of life’s questions, Daniel.”

“But… am I?”

“I don’t know, are you?” She nonchalantly pointed behind me. “You see him?”

I whirled around. I saw nothing but weather-stained gravestones and grass. “No?”

“Then I guess you’re only psychic for me. Like I was only gay for Aly Michalka.”

“Can you stop talking about Phil of the Future and tell me who’s standing behind me?”

“Oh. That’s Jerry.”

“Jerry?”

“Yeah. His wife poured boiling oil on him in his sleep because he fucked her sister. He’s pretty ugly.”

I felt a chill creep up my spine and slowly moved away from where I had been standing. “I don’t want to talk about Jerry anymore.”

“Jerry doesn’t even like talking about Jerry,” she muttered, looking back down at her book.

“Mia… you’re… dead. I mean. Why are you stuck here?”

She sighed. “Don’t you think if I knew that, I would have fixed it by now?”

“I don’t know,” I said defensively. “Maybe you’re avoiding Hell.”

“Wow. How many episodes of Long Island Medium did you have to watch to come up with that answer?”

“Hey, I know a little about this stuff.”

She snorted derisively. “You have a paranormal tumblr account with about 17 followers. Truly, you’re a pioneer of the spirit realm.”

I sat on the cement bench beside her. “Why aren’t you see-through?”

“Why aren’t I what?”

“Ghosts are transparent.”

“I swear to God, Daniel, if you keep asking such stupid questions I will literally put my ghost hand inside your chest and make your heart have brain freeze.”

“Damn, Mia, I kind of like you less now that you’re mean and dead.”

She shrugged. “I don’t like you at all, so I suppose the feeling is mutual.”

“Still… I pity you,” I continued, ignoring her bitchiness. “I want to help you cross over.”

“Mmm,” she said, flipping a page. “You know, I actually thought I was phasing out until you moved in.”

“Phasing out?”

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry. I believe you religious folk call it ‘crossing over.’”

“I’m not religious,” I defended myself. “I’m spiritual.”

Mia laughed bitterly. “Oh God. Let me explain something.”

“Okay.”

“You know how people will have religious arguments, and then when it gets nowhere, they’ll finally say ‘I guess we’ll know the truth when we die’?”

“That’s utter horseshit,” she grunted. “It gets more confusing after death. That’s why you guys annoy us.”

“The dead are annoyed by the living?”

“Fuck yes.”

“Why?”

“Death is another plane of life. Death… it’s the final step into becoming one with the Earth. Your body does first, and then your spirit. But fuck me, is it confusing as hell.”

“How? You just explained clearly what death is.”

“Yeah, but I was a Christian in life… and now I’ve met four deities. None of them were Jesus. I have no idea where that guy is.”

“Wait, so God is real?”

“Gods are, yes,” she sighed. “They’re sentient energies the living create by believing in them. They literally just walk around and do stupid shit.”

“I… don’t think you should talk about them that way,” I mumbled, shifting.

“No, literally. They sit and listen to prayers, but they like to listen to prayers that aren’t for them and impersonate each other.”

I blinked. “What?”

“I’m not joking. Allah likes to answer prayers for the Jews just to see if he can convincingly seem like Yahweh.”

My face fell into my hands. “You can’t be serious.”

“I know, right? And to think you kill each other over them. How embarrassing.”