Chapter 4

Kyle called Mom' s cell while she was scrubbing out from the initial examination at the morgue.

I was there, in the cold drawer, waiting.

"Mom?" Kyle' s voice, smooth, concerned. The one he used when he wanted something.

"Kyle, honey! How are the debate finals preparations going?" Her voice instantly warmed, all traces of the grim ME gone.

"They' re okay, Mom. But... Ethan still hasn' t shown up. Or called. I just thought... he' d want to support me. You know?"

That little victim act. He was so good at it.

"Oh, Kyle, don' t you worry about Ethan," Mom said, and I could almost see her shaking her head. "That boy is probably off sulking somewhere, being his usual difficult self. You are our priority, sweetie. You focus on your debate. We' ll deal with Ethan when he decides to grace us with his presence."

Deal with me.

"I' ll drag him to your final if I have to," she promised Kyle. "He needs to learn about responsibility and family."

I wondered if she knew what dragging me would entail now.

Then Noah called. My older brother.

He was in college nearby, sometimes wrote for the local paper.

Noah remembered me from before. He was the only one who seemed to see me, the real me, not the problem child my parents painted.

"Mom? Have you heard from Ethan? I can' t reach him. His phone' s going straight to voicemail." Noah sounded genuinely worried.

"Noah, for heaven' s sake, not you too," Mom sighed, her voice tight with exasperation. "He' s fine. He' s just being Ethan. He' ll turn up when he wants something, or when he' s decided to stop his little protest, whatever it is this time."

"Protest? Mom, what are you talking about? I just have a bad feeling."

"Well, I have a bad feeling about his attitude," Mom snapped. "He missed Kyle' s state tournament, Noah! His own brother! If he misses Kyle' s final, he can find somewhere else to live. I' ve had enough."

She hung up on him.

Noah, who actually cared. Dismissed.

Because I was "being Ethan."

The irony was a bitter taste, even for a ghost.

She was right, though. I wouldn' t be at Kyle' s final.

I wouldn' t be anywhere they could find me, or kick me out of, ever again.