Connection - 33

~1013

To Kerra’s dismay, the vision began to fade. Shandi said, Talk to you soon. Listen for me, and she turned and walked back into the blue haze. The second figure joined her, and soon they had disappeared. Kerra was left in the darkness of her own closed eyes.

Her sister had talked to her. Her sister who was dead had talked with her. How was it possible? Very few people in Abyssia were religious anymore. Kerra herself had never quite cared enough to think about any kind of god or what might happen after death. She just figured she’d find out when she got there, and if she lived her best life, she should be fine. But now she was seeing ghosts, and that caused her to wonder. If Shandi was speaking to her from beyond the grave, then there must be some kind of afterlife.

Or maybe Kerra had just lost her mind. She sighed and pushed her hand against her forehead, hoping that the prickles of pain that blossomed from the touch would snap her out of whatever dream she was currently in. She stared at the green couch and wondered how she would know if she was going insane.

She shrugged at the couch, as if it had asked her that. People seeing dead people were probably high on the list of candidates for crazy-town. She shook her head. She needed to talk to someone about this, but Everen had her own stuff to deal with. Kerra grabbed her hat and coat and slipped out the door. It was time to stop by Dark Lake Books.

---

She pushed open the door to the bookshop and the little bell chimed. She smiled gently at it. Drigg was perched on the top of a ladder, a pile of books in his arm. He glanced down and after seeing Kerra, the ladder began to topple backwards.

“Careful!” Kerra cried, her heart thudding.

He leaned forward again, hard, and the ladder righted itself. They both let out a relieved breath. Drigg took a moment to finish shelving the books before he scampered down the ladder. “Didn’t expect to see you here, Kerr-Bear,” he said with a sheepish smile.

“You really scared me there for a minute,” Kerra said, ignoring the nickname. “I’m glad you aren’t a Drigg pancake.”

“You are?” Maru came rocketing into the room on her motorized wheelchair. “I’m not. Maybe if he’d been flattened he’d learn to clip the ladder into place so things like that don’t happen.” She squinted hard at Drigg who was blushing even harder now.

“What can we do you for?” he asked, rubbing the back of his head. “We just got a rare copy of The Art of War. Really old one too.”

Kerra was tempted, but she shook her head. “I mostly just came to talk, if that’s okay.” Her voice shook a little, remembering what she had seen. She was amazed she’d held it together this long, and she was determined not to start sobbing or screaming or anything embarrassing now.

Maru wheeled closer and peered into Kerra’s face. “Hold on a minute child, you’re not looking too well. You’re not going to faint again, are you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

A reflexive bubble of nervous laugher spilled out of her. “I have.”

Maru’s gray eyebrows shot up, scoring the wrinkles in her forehead even deeper. “Oh? Tell me, child. I have an interest in ghosts, you know.”

“It was Shandi.”

Drigg, who had been rolling his eyes when he thought Kerra couldn’t see him suddenly straightened his posture and looked serious. “Are you okay, Kerra?”

“I don’t know,” she answered simply.

“This is no place for such a discussion,” Maru said, going to the door and flipping the sign to say they’d be back in fifteen minutes. She made shooing motions at Kerra and Drigg to go toward the elevator in the center of the room. “Go, go. To the kitchen. Drigg can brew us all up a nice pot of tea.”

By the time the kettle’s indicator light went on, Kerra had told them everything about Shandi’s appearance to her. It hadn’t taken very long: Maru’s kettle made perfect tea within a minute or two.

As Drigg poured everyone a cup, Kerra asked, “So? What do you guys think?”

“I don’t know of any religion whose afterlife sounds quite like that,” Maru mused. Her eyes were unfocused, as if staring at something in the distance.

Kerra hid her face in her hands and said, “I’m certifiable, aren’t I?” The scent of the tea, floral and slightly bitter, drifted up to her.

“I don’t know about that,” came Drigg’s kind voice. Kerra lifted her head and saw him giving her an odd look. “Look, you can talk to Everen even though she’s impossibly far away. You can hear her voice in your head. You can hear voices!” Drigg shook his arms in the air for emphasis. “For other people, what would be marks of insanity, but for you, it’s your normal. Perhaps this whole thing is just another part of your anomaly. You’ve maintained this bond even after death.”

Kerra stared down at her reflection in the amber liquid. Without the glowing circuits, she could almost imagine it was Shandi’s face looking back at her again. Her sister had looked so tired. “Maybe you’re right,” she murmured.

“If she actually saw the real afterlife though,” said Maru, “why don’t religions focus on how blue and hazy it is there?” She shook her head. “It seems mighty strange.”

“It’s certainly out of the ordinary,” Drigg agreed. “You might just have to wait to see if it happens again. She did leave you with instructions to listen for her, right?”

“Yeah. You’re probably right.” She looked Drigg in the eye. “Thank you for figuring this stuff out for me. And for being there for me. I… can’t tell you how much it means to me, having a friend like you.”

Drigg’s smile was huge. “Any time Kerra. We’re here for you.”