"Yes, you did" I say blankly. I feel sorry for her, but she can't stay here, she no longer belongs to this place.
"NO! I'm imagining things!! Mom! I need to find my mom!" she stomps the floor and cries louder while her body still changes, part of the skin of her legs falls off leaving raw bloody meat behind.
I'm so used to seeing this I'm not even disgusted, one of the messed-up perks of seeing ghosts.
She notices what's happening to her body and freaks out "What is happening to me!? Why are you only standing there!? Help me!".
"I can't" that's my only answer, that's the only thing I can tell her.
She cries and tries to stop the blood coming out of her but she can't, it's obvious why though, you can't heal a ghost, those are the injuries that killed her.
"Mommy…" she sobs quietly.
I look around but I see no other ghosts, had her mother died today, her ghost would be next to her daughter, normally a mom never leaves her child alone, even in death.
That can only mean her mother survived or she didn't care about her daughter, I hope is the first option though if that's the case I don't know if I should be happy for her, a mother losing her child, I can't even imagine the pain she will feel.
"Your name?" I want to know what to call her.
"…Sophie" she keeps sobbing but she answers, I guess she's starting to accept she's no longer alive.
"Sophie, you can't stay here anymore" I say soothingly this time.
"I don't want to go… I'm scared" she says sadly.
"I know, but I will stay here until you do, I'll not let you pass alone" It must be scary to go to a strange place, specially alone, so I will stay here until she feels braver.
I know it will not take her long, I've done this a fair number of times and I now when a ghost will take a long time to pass, and she will not be one of those.
I sit on the floor, I don't care if I end up dirtying my jeans a little, I can always wash them. I look at her and she sits next to me, the blood on her dress stains my t-shirt but I know the stains will disappear once she leaves.
She lays on the floor and rests her head on my lap. I pat her head slowly and tenderly.
"I will miss my mommy…" she says after a couple minutes of silence "do you think she will miss me too?"
"I don't know if she will" how could I know? I don't know her mom.
She looks at me with a pout, I can't help to giggle, even when her face is full of blood, burn skin and missing an eye, she looks adorable.
"Can you tell her I love her? and that it wasn't her fault?" she asks, and I sighed.
'Well, I can't deny the last wish of a little girl'.
"If I meet her, I will tell her. What's her name? How does she look?" I ask, I need a description to know who I'm going to be talking with.
"Her name's Katherine and she has cute hair like mine! And…. And… she has blue eyes like the ocean!" she says, her remaining eye sparkling with adoration.
"Last name?" I interrupt her, there are a lot of Katherines is the world, I don't want to talk about a death daughter with the incorrect person.
"Rogers!" she giggles.
"Alright, If I meet her, I will tell her. I promise" I say while still patting her head.
"Thank you" she says tenderly, and her body slowly starts to fade away until nothing is left, almost as if she was never there.
"Sweet dreams Sophie" I say to the air while a single tear runs down my face "I hope your next life is kinder to you".
I got up from the floor, dust off my pants and start walking towards the car.
"Hey Allie!" My dad greets me happily "That was one of the longest piss you've ever taken, be honest, were you doing a number two?"
I smile and raise my eyebrow "Maybe".
"Well, the officer says we can keep on going so, are you ready?" he asks while laughing.
"Yes, let's go" and with that, our conversation is over.
The drives continues and I'm struggling to stay awake. After 2 more hours I finally crack and fall sleep.
"Allie… Allie!" my dad whispers yells.
"mmmh… five more minutes, please" I don't even bother to open my eyes, the passenger seat has never felt more comfortable.
"Allie, we still have a couple more hours before we arrive, you have to eat now or you will need to wait until we arrive" my dad urges me to wake up.
I groan, I have to decide what's more important eat or sleep, after pondering for a couple seconds, I decide eating is more important and I get up.
We enter the dinner, it's late at night, around 11:00 p.m. but this place is still open selling food for the tired workers.
"What are you gonna order?" an annoyed waiter asks us; he looks just as tired as me, so I know this has been a long tiring day for him.
"mmmm, well… what do you recommend?" my dad asks enthusiastically and the waiter groans.
'Yeah, I hate when people asks that too, I get you unknown waiter' I think amusedly until I see the figure next to him and I flinch.
It's a tall skinny lady, not the 'healthy' kind of skinny but the 'I can almost see your bones' kind of skinny, she has black circles under her eyes and her wrists are bleeding.
She's mumbling something but I can't understand her.
I focus and try to listen again until my dad calls me "Allie!".
"mm? sorry?" I don't have any idea of what they were saying.