CHAPTER SIX

I thought maybe I just ran away and forgot everything past the point of the chest pain or maybe I am no longer alive and this is the after life, it doesn't make sense that I would just appear, his tone and look take on a more serious air, "I was sitting there reading my book", he says, looking towards his sofa, "when something caught my eye, so I look up from my book and I see this light fading in on my floor", he continues, looking back at me, I scrunch my eyebrows together feeling weird about this situation yet still confused, "and it was as if you just phased in, right in front of me", he finishes, shock ringing clear in his tone, "that doesn't make sense", I say, my eyes wondering down to the floor. An idea struck me suddenly, "may I please borrow your phone, to call my husband" I ask, raising my eyes to his with a pleading look, "of course" he agrees, standing up to retrieve his phone from the coffee table, I too get to my feet, strangely not feeling the least bit wobbly on them, I dust myself off and look up to see him holding his already unlocked phone out to me, "thank you", I say sincerely, as I reach out to grab the phone but as I do my hand passes right through it as though it were a hologram, I stare at my hand perplexed, "what the heck", I thought, Ai Tian's eyes grow wide with a look of fear in them, I then look toward the coffee table, walking slowly up to it and squatting down to get closer to it, waves of nervousness rushing through me, "it can't be", I whisper to myself, reaching a shaky hand out to touch the table.I move my hand down slowly to touch the table and just as I feared my hand passed right through it, I fell backwards, tears in my eyes, my breathing becoming erratic, I look at both my hands and start hyperventilating, "no, this, this can't be", I say out loud, touching my face and breaking into a sob, I look up at Ai Tian and his face bares a mixture of sadness, guilt and fear, what do I do now, what can I do?

Once I had stopped crying and calmed down, I began to figure out if I had options, moving forward, Ai Tian was now sitting back on the sofa with a mug in his hand staring at me wide eyed as if in another world, "I know this is a very strange request", I say, looking back at him, "but will you, call my sister for me?", I ask, not breaking eye contact, he shakes his head and blinks a few times as if bringing himself back to his senses, "okay", he says softy, he puts his mug down and picks up his phone, "what is her number?", he asks, looking up at me, I am slightly taken aback, he is doing this for me no questions asked, maybe I will ask him why he has decided to help a ghost girl later. I begin to tell him her number as he types it in, "six, one, four, eight, eight, five, five, five, seven, seven, seven", I say, I hear the dial tone and stand up walking, toward him, my heart leaps when I hear her voice on the other side, she is the only one I know who will truly believe what's going on, "hello", I hear her say, she sounded as though she were crying, "Kristy" I say, "it's me", "hello", she says again, sounding slightly annoyed, I push back the tears for the time being, "can you ask her if she knows anything about what happened to me", I ask Ai Tian, he clears his throat, "Hello, you don't know me and this is going to sound very strange but are you aware of anything happening to your sister", he pauses and looks to me, "Selly" I say quickly, "Selly", he says, I hear a muffled sniffle, my heart aches as I relize she has been crying, "who is this and why are you asking" she demands, through sniffles, "you can tell her, she will believe you" I say rushed, "listen who I am isn't important, she just asked me to call you, I think- I think her spirit found me" he said gently, there was silence on the other end of the line "tell her this sentence", I say, "blue cucumber sitting on a bicycle seat", I finish and he gives a weird look, I look back at him with a serious look, "trust me, just say it", he sucked in a deep breath, "she told me to tell you", he pauses and looks at me again, "Blue cucumber on a bicycle seat", I hear a choked sobs, "Selly. How? can she hear me" she asks, "yes, you are on speaker phone" he replies "the ambulance just brought you to the hospital, I'm looking at your body right now, I was the first one here besides Adam, he is currently out making calls", she says through sobs, "does that mean I'm still alive", I say out loud, looking at the phone with anticipation, hope slowly rising in my heart, "they say you had a severe heart attack, you're on a life support machine", Kisty continues, I breathe out a happy sigh, that means there is a possibility I can go back to my body and wake up, "can you please take me home, ask Kristy to send money for two plane tickets, tell her I will pay her back when I wake up" I ask, looking at Ai Tian with pleading eyes, he looks at me then back at the phone, "I am going to book the next available flight over to you with Selly, keep her alive for as long as possible and please keep us updated" he says, I look at him with teary eyes, "thank you", I say with a small smile on my face. "Okay, I can do that", she says, "do you need some money for tickets", she asks, "no, I have it covered" he replies, I look at him perplexed, a hint of adoration in my eyes, he was actually doing this for me, "but why", I thought, I am a complete stranger. After saying goodbye and hanging up the phone, he turned his head and his eyes to meet mine as I was about to say something, my word catching in my throat, "he has the most beautiful eyes", I thought, a very dark brown, with the slightest hint of gold, butterflies began to dance around in my stomach and it felt as though my heart skipped a beat, I didn't want to look away. I cleared my throat, "thank you so much", I say, sincerely, "you don't even know me, nor had any obligation to help but you did", I finish, he smiles softy, and nods "no matter what life throws my way, I never turn away from it" he says. "So why exactly are you helping", I ask, curious, "I just felt like..helping you was important", he said after a pause as he tried to find the right words.

We continued to stare at each other for a few moments before I finally say something, "I'm Penelope, but I prefer to go by my middle name, Celeste", I introduce myself, "or you can call me Selly", I say nervously, averting my gaze to the floor then back to him, "I'm Meng Ai Tian, but you can just call me, Tian Tian" he says gently, a soft smile on his lips, "I actually, kind of, already know who you are", I say, shyly, "really, you do", he replies, his voice laced with surprise, clearly he has never met an English speaking fan before, but I guess there is a first for everything.