Liam sat quietly on Lisa's couch, his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his borrowed shirt. Lisa brought him a glass of water, and he looked down at it with the same puzzled expression he'd had since she'd brought him inside. She could almost see his mind working, trying to piece together fragments of a life he barely remembered.
After a long pause, he took a sip, then looked at her, his gaze intense. "Lisa," he began, his voice careful, as if testing each word. "How… how am I here?"
Lisa's stomach twisted. She forced a smile, attempting to look casual, but she could feel the weight of his stare. "You're here now," she replied, shrugging. "Doesn't that… doesn't that matter more?"
Liam looked down, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "But… I remember something. I was…" He trailed off, his voice hushed, as if afraid to say the words. "I was gone. And now I'm back, and… I don't understand why."
Lisa felt the panic rising in her throat, but she swallowed it down, keeping her expression neutral. "Maybe it's better not to think about it too hard," she said, trying to sound lighthearted. "I mean, it's a miracle, right?"
He studied her, and for a moment she worried he could see right through her thin facade. But he just sighed, looking defeated. "I guess. It just… it doesn't make sense. One minute I was—" He stopped, closing his eyes as if searching his mind for a memory that kept slipping away. "I was somewhere cold… dark. And then… nothing. Until I saw you."
His words sent a chill down her spine. She wanted to look away, to run from the implications of what she'd done. But instead, she forced herself to reach over and squeeze his hand, even as guilt gnawed at her. "You're here now," she repeated, trying to steady her voice. "That's what matters."
Liam's eyes flickered with frustration. "But how, Lisa?" he pressed, his tone sharper. "How did I get back here? And why… why is everything so blurry? I feel like I'm missing pieces of myself. Important pieces."
Lisa swallowed hard, her pulse quickening. She hadn't expected him to remember anything, let alone start piecing things together so quickly. She felt a mix of dread and admiration for him; even as a corpse, he was still clever, still determined. She tried to think of a response that wouldn't give away too much.
"Maybe it's… like one of those amnesia cases," she offered, hoping it sounded plausible. "You've been through… well, a lot. Maybe it'll take time for your memories to come back."
He nodded slowly, but his gaze remained skeptical. "And you? You've just been… waiting for me?" He looked at her with a mixture of tenderness and confusion. "I mean, how long has it been?"
Lisa hesitated, feeling trapped between the truth and a lie. "It… it hasn't been too long," she said, her voice quiet.
Liam looked at her, and she saw the vulnerability in his eyes, the confusion and fear he was trying to keep hidden. "Lisa… I need to know. Why did you… why did you do this? Bring me back?"
Her heart sank, and she struggled to find an answer that wouldn't betray her desperation, the long nights spent researching, the rituals she'd gone through, her obsession. She forced a small smile, trying to keep the mood light. "Maybe I just… couldn't let you go."
He seemed to consider this, his gaze softening slightly. "You're the only thing that feels real right now, you know that?"
Her cheeks burned, but she managed to hold his gaze. "I guess that makes us even," she murmured, a small laugh escaping her. "I mean, it's not every day you get to bring your best friend back to life."
Liam laughed too, though there was still a lingering sadness in his expression. He stared down at his hands, flexing his fingers as if testing their movement, as if he wasn't fully convinced they were his. "It's just… weird," he said after a long pause. "I feel like I'm here, but not… all here. Like part of me is still… somewhere else."
A shiver ran through her. His words felt too close to the truth she was trying so hard to hide. "Well… maybe you're just jet-lagged from the afterlife," she joked, hoping to deflect the tension.
He chuckled softly, though his expression remained serious. "Lisa… are you sure there isn't more you're not telling me?"
Her heart skipped a beat. She felt as if she were standing at the edge of a cliff, and one wrong step would send her plummeting. "I've told you everything I know," she said, her voice steady. "Maybe we just need time. You'll remember more. Things will… make sense."
He nodded, though he still looked troubled. "I guess… you're right. It's just strange, you know? Being alive but… not really feeling alive."
She felt a pang of guilt but forced herself to keep her composure. "Maybe a little pizza will help," she suggested, trying to steer them back to safer ground. "Food works miracles, you know."
He laughed again, the sound lifting some of the tension between them. "Yeah. Maybe I just need a lot of pizza and a few more nights of sleep."
"Exactly," she agreed, smiling as if everything were normal.
But as they sat there, a heavy silence settled over them. Liam still looked haunted, and Lisa's heart ached with the weight of her secret. She knew she couldn't hide it forever. But for now, she could only hope he'd keep searching for answers just out of reach—long enough for her to figure out what to do next.
And in the back of her mind, she couldn't shake the feeling that something else was watching, waiting, as if she'd disturbed something dark and ancient that wouldn't stay hidden for long.