A ghostly existence
Hey I know its been a long time since I posted anything but you'll have teo wait a bit longer for any plot related chapters to come out. I am working on it but it's taking a LOT longer then I had hoped for. Just to get one thing clear this work is entirely NON-CANON and will be very dialog heavy. So I don't want to receive too many comments about the storyline not making sense. I left it out of the main storyline for a reason.
- * * "I mean it's strange. I haven't had these kinds of dreams before," "It's alright Eric, we all have our weird dreams every now and then. Do you want to explain?" Eric heaved a deep sigh as he wrapped his arms around his legs, his head resting on his knees, "They started a few days ago..." he started * * *
Third year of High School â€" August 21 2007 "Hey Eric you going to serve or what?" Chris asked, waving his tennis racquet in the air. "Huh what? Oh right, sorry about that," Eric responded as he tossed the tennis ball into the air and followed through with his swing. He had never been good at tennis in his life and if not for the pressure from his friends he wouldn't be risking embarrassment playing the sport at recess. He watched as Alex deftly returned the ball which bounced into his service square. Readying himself for the return play he was about to return the forehand when a dark figure wielding a black katana materialised before him. It stared at Eric with its red eyes and whispered, "I'm watching you," before disappearing into thin air as quickly as it arrived. Stunned by the sudden appearance, Eric dropped his tennis racquet with a clatter, his breathing becoming quick and ragged, the colour draining from his face. The tennis ball bounced lazily in front of him, drawing a groan from Alex. "Eric how could you miss such an easy shot?" Alex asked as he went to retrieve the ball, oblivious to the trance-like state Eric was in. Chris on the other hand noticed Eric's catatonic state and ran over. Grabbing Eric roughly by the shoulders, he shook the wolf a few times in the hope it would bring him back to the plane of reality. "Hey you alright? You blanked halfway," Chris said aloud as Eric slowly came to his senses. "Uh yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all," he responded. "That was weird," Eric thought to himself as he readied himself for bed that evening. It was the first time that an apparition had appeared before his eyes... but it wouldn't be the last. "You've had an interesting life so far young Eric. Such a shame you won't need it much longer," Eric woke up in the morning with a headache that felt like it was splitting his head in half. It didn't seem to occur to him that something had happened to him the night before. Walking down to the kitchen, Eric was surprised to see that nobody was paying any attention to him whatsoever. He didn't pay it a second thought, putting it down to a test of his own independence. "I guess they've got a good reason for doing so... I wish they'd tell me first though," Eric thought to himself as he sat down to eat. School itself would be a totally different matter altogether and bizarrely enough nobody seemed to notice the pen scribbling away on a sheet of paper. Nor did they notice the calculator which seemed to randomly appear with numbers every few minutes. The real clincher though, was what happened around recess time, something which annoyed him to no end. "I wonder where Eric is... he's never away from school... not even when he's sick," Steve asked. "Perhaps he has chicken pox or something. I definitely know he hasn't had that yet," Alex replied. "Or he could be wagging... you never know," Matthew responded. "Oh come on! Do you honestly think little goody two shoes would skip a day? We had to convince him to leave early on the last day of term 4 last year! The teachers didn't want to see us!" Aaron chortled, rolling his eyes in disgust. Eric was dumbfounded. He was right there standing right next to them! How could they not see him? "Hey guys I'm right here! Can't you see me?" he asked. Chris seemed to be the only one to respond to this and the fox simply stared at Eric for a few seconds before shaking his head in disbelief, obviously thinking that he had been seeing things. "Fine! Be that way... jerks," Eric grumbled as he trudged off to the library. His questions seemed to go unanswered for that day and the next without reason. The main difference was that the day after, all of his friends were notably absent without reason. More than simply miffed that he would be ignored for two days in a row, a disgruntled Eric trudged into school on Friday, determined to get some answers. He would have to wait until recess time for them to be answered however. Finding the group near a couple of classrooms, he decided to eavesdrop a little before revealing himself. "It's quieter here without Eric... eerily quiet," Steve muttered. "This change is permanent though. You'll have to get used to it," Alex responded. "Well we don't have to deal with Mister bossy boots anymore," Anthony laughed. A shocked silence soon followed as everyone turned to the cheetah. Alex quickly responded by slamming a fist into his midsection, causing him to buckle over in pain. "You heartless bastard, you may have had your differences with him but that gives you no reason to say such a thing," the fox snarled, quickly folding his arms across his chest, "I hope he comes to haunt you for saying that," Eric was fuming with rage as he heard all of this. Stomping around the corner, he balled his paws into fists, intent on smashing Anthony's face in. His eyes met Chris's a mere second later and the fox rubbed his own eyes in disbelief, unsure of what he was seeing was real or not. "Eric..." Chris breathed. Everyone followed Chris's gaze but alas they saw nothing, save for a row of trees on the side of the nearby road. "I miss him too Chris but you're just seeing things now. He's gone for good and nothing can bring him back," Matthew muttered. "But... he's right there," Chris cried, gesturing where Eric was standing, a confused look on his face. "No he's not Chris. Eric's gone and you can't do a thing about it," Alex replied. Eric gave him a funny look. Was Chris the only one who could see him? "Chris what the hell is going on here?" Eric demanded. The fox paused, his limbs tensing. "You... you're dead Eric. Nobody but me can see you," Chris whispered. "You're lying! Look I'll show you!" Eric cried as he attempted to punch Anthony only to have his fist pass right through his head. Eric blinked in surprise as he retracted his fist. "Okay... when did this happen?" Eric asked. "You died in your sleep on Tuesday. The cause of your death is still unknown. We all attended your funeral yesterday," Chris morbidly responded, his eyes focused at the ground beneath him. Eric was in shock. He didn't want to believe Chris but all the evidence said otherwise. "Wow... can you prove this?" Eric asked. Chris blinked a couple of times before scratching his elbow. "Come find me after school... I'll show you," Completely overwhelmed, Eric wandered off as he tried to absorb all the information. Although he did trust Chris, he wasn't sure if he wanted to believe this. By fifth session he was waiting at the gate for Chris to appear. Spotting the fox talking to Alex, he approached the pair. "Eric, please come with me," Chris softly told him. Eric nodded his understanding and followed after Chris. "Mum I hate to bother you, but can we stop by Eric's... um... ‘home' for a moment?" the fox asked. "Chris... I guess so," his mother responded. Leading Eric to their car he opened the door for the ghost, who stepped in. Chris's mother noticed this but kept quiet, just in case she upset her son with her words. Half an hour later, they arrived at a quiet little cemetery that few knew about. Getting out of the car, Eric carefully sidestepped a few graves that were lined up neatly in rows. "Here Eric..." Chris whispered, turning away so as to not bring back memories of Eric. Glancing at Chris for a split second, Eric got down on one knee and his face soon contorted into one of shock and horror. The words that were on the tombstone, his tombstone, chilled him to the bone and he read them one after another. In loving memory of Eric Stevenson. Born 17 January 1992 Died 21 August 2007 We will never forget you "No... "Eric gasped, "No! It's not true!" * * *
"And that's when I woke up in a cold sweat. I'd never been so scared in my life," Eric whimpered. "Shh... Eric. Talking about it always help to make things better," "Thanks Chris... I really appreciate this," "Hey that's what friends are for," Chris smiled as he lovingly gave Eric a hug and a kiss on the cheek.