All Your Tomorrows

NORA

“Morning,” I said from the doorway between the kitchen and living room.

Kyler lay on the sofa with his hands locked behind his head. “Hey.” He kicked his legs down and sat up. “Your roommate never came home.”

I smiled. “Did you wait up?”

“I don’t exactly sleep,” he explained.

I winced. I may have spoken to spirits, but I’d never spent significant time around them. I guess I never considered what they were doing when I wasn’t around.

“Aren’t you worried about her?” he asked.

“She’s a traveling nurse. She’s gone for a couple of months at a time. This time she’s in California.”

“You could’ve told me that before I paced the floor waiting for her.”

“You did not,” I challenged.

“I did not,” he admitted.

I smiled, realizing he wasn’t just a good-looking guy; he also had a great personality and was fun to be around. “I’m gonna shower and then I’ll be ready to head to your parents’ house. Do we have a plan?”

“You tell me. You do this sort of thing all the time, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but I don’t usually seek people out. They come to me.”

“Oh, right.”

“How about you think about it while I’m in the shower, and then we’ll strategize on our way there?”

“Deal,” he said with a reassuring smile.

“Do you need anything?”

“No. Just some good luck.”

I nodded. “No luck needed. I’ll talk to them.”

* * *

By the time I pulled open my car door, Kyler had already appeared in the passenger seat. I’d never get used to the way spirits traveled. “Tell me about your family,” I said once I’d slipped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“Well, I was their favorite,” he said as I backed out of the driveway.

“Why aren’t I shocked that you think that?” I said.

“What?” He smiled. “I’m serious.”

I drove through town, passing the café and shops, as well as the sidewalks packed with shoppers.

“Okay. Truth?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m an only child. So, I kinda had to be their favorite.”

I laughed until the truth silenced me. These poor people lost their only child. Hopefully, whatever I was able to tell them would bring them some peace. “I’m an only child too,” I admitted.

“Were you spoiled?”

I pursed my lips as I considered it. “A little.”

He laughed. “See? You were your parents’ favorite, too.”

I shrugged, reluctant to unload all my own stuff on him. He was the spirit. My responsibility was to help ~him~.

“So, what’s the plan? Who should I say I am? A friend? Or, do you think being straightforward about what I can do would be better?”

“Oh, definitely say a friend. I’m not so sure they’ll let you inside if you start with the medium stuff.”

“Would you have believed in the medium stuff if you hadn’t experienced it for yourself?”

He paused, his lips twisting in contemplation. “Probably not. It’s tough to be open to stuff you can’t see.”

“Problem is, I’ve always been able to see. Even if it wasn’t with my eyes, I could see in my head. I don’t know what it’s like not to see.”

He reached over and placed his hand on mine.

I pulled mine back as if electrocuted by his touch.

“Jesus! What’s wrong?” he asked.

I swerved my car over to the side of the road and threw it into park. “I felt that.”

“Felt what?”

“Your touch,” I said, my heartbeat thrashing in my chest.

“Is that weird?”

“Extremely. I’ve never felt a spirit before.” I cradled my hand with my other hand, as if it was somehow injured by his touch. “The same way you can just pass through things, my hand passes through spirits.”

“What do you think it means?” he asked.

“I have no freaking clue.” My mind reeled. This wasn’t normal. First, I didn’t know he was a spirit when I met him. Now, he can touch me. What the hell was going on? “Can I try something?”

“Yeah, of course.”

I lifted my hand slowly, moving it toward his shoulder. Once I placed it against the soft fabric of his black hoodie, I yanked my hand away. “Jesus Christ.”

“You’re scaring me, Nora.”

“Scaring you? This has never happened before.”

“Well, maybe me being able to see my parents through you might actually work.”

I inhaled, needing to remember what I was there for. I was there to bridge the gap between Kyler and his family. I’d have to figure out what the hell was going on with me later. “Right.”

I shifted the car back into drive and drove in silence until we reached Kyler’s neighborhood. Each home was decked out for Christmas and I realized quickly that Kyler had grown up in a picturesque setting.

“It’s that one,” he said, pointing at the white colonial decorated with pretty wreaths and red bows on every window.

I parked in front of his house. “It’s beautiful.”

“My mom loves decorating. I’m surprised she only did the windows.”

“I think it looks lovely.”

“Yeah, but that’s unlike her not to do lights and lawn ornaments.”

“She’s probably not in the mood given what happened to you,” I said.

“Dammit!” He dropped his face into his palms and fell forward. “I’m such a selfish bastard,” he growled.

“Why?”

“I haven’t even considered what they’ve been going through.”

I reached over and rubbed my hand over his back, still shocked that I could touch him. “Go easy on yourself. You’re dealing with a lot.”

“That’s the problem. I’ve been so wrapped up in me and my situation that I hadn’t thought about how my parents were handling it.” He lowered his hands and looked at me. “Maybe that’s why I’m still here. Maybe I haven’t learned how to move on when I’m so consumed with myself.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“Then how?”

“Once you cross over, any selfish thoughts or transgressions seem to disappear. It wouldn’t be the cause of you still being here.”

He looked out the window toward his house.

“So, what happens when you go up there? You can’t pass through the door?” I asked.

“I’ve never even been able to get this close. It’s like an invisible wall keeps me from this road.”

“Well, you made it onto the road. Hopefully, your parents let me in and you can just follow me inside.”

He nodded.

I rested my hand on his arm. “Look, I know this isn’t easy. But I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.”

I opened my door and a cold chill whooshed inside. Goosebumps scampered up my arms as I stepped out.

Kyler appeared at my side. “Let’s do this.”

I smiled as I closed the door, hoping for his sake it worked. We made our way up the walkway to the front door. A wreath with a big red bow at the top hung on it. I pressed my hand to the door. “Try to get in this way,” I said.

He placed his hand beside mine, but it was stopped by the solid door.

“That’s okay. Hopefully, you can just follow me inside.” I rang the doorbell and the melodic chime echoed inside the home.

Within seconds, the door unlocked. Once it opened, a woman stood there eyeing me while I eyed her. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and the same up-turned lips as Kyler’s.

“Mom,” he said beside me, the longing to see her etched in the word.

“Hi, Mrs. Fletcher. My name’s Nora. I was a friend of Kyler’s.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“She doesn’t believe you,” Kyler said, sensing something in his mother’s look that I wasn’t keen to.

“Then why haven’t you been by before?” she asked, suspicion heavy in her tone.

“Oh…I…”

“You what?” she snapped.

“I’ve been busy?”

She balked. “Everyone wants to see for themselves the stories they’ve seen online,” she said, disdain dripping from her tongue. “It’s despicable.”

“I’ve been in Florida,” I lied.

“Don’t come back here. We’ve suffered enough.” She slammed the door in my face.

“Dammit,” Kyler cursed.

“I’m sorry,” I said, turning to face him. “She just caught me off guard.”

“Try again,” he said. “Make her listen to you.”

I cocked my head. “Kyler. She’s gonna call the police if I push her.”

“Then let her,” he said.

“I want to help you. I really do. But we need another approach.” I noticed movement by the side of the house. I stepped down one of the steps and looked over. A gray-haired woman in light blue scrubs stepped out of a medical van parked in the long driveway. “Who’s she?” I asked Kyler.

“I have no idea.”

She noticed me staring at her and called over, “Can I help you?”

I stepped off the front steps and approached her. “I’m Nora,” I said. “I was a friend of Kyler’s.”

Sympathy shone in her eyes. “I’m Sue. I can let you in.”

“Oh…I…” I glanced at Kyler who shrugged.

Sue watched me as I tried to decide if that was the right move or not. It wasn’t like I could just ask Kyler what I should do. Sue checked her watch. “I really need to get in to see Mr. Fletcher.”

“What’s wrong with my dad?” Kyler asked with fear in his voice.

“Is Mr. Fletcher ill?” I asked her.

Confusion filled her features. “Mr. Fletcher has been in a coma since his accident.”

My eyes widened as I looked to Kyler who seemed just as shocked as I was. “I’m alive?” he said, clearly unable to grasp what she’d just told us.

I looked back to Sue. “He’s still alive?”

“If you call a coma alive,” she said.

Oh. My. God.

“That wasn’t in the article?” Kyler asked me.

“I never finished reading it,” I said to him, just as awed as he was. “My phone alarm rang, and I needed to lock up the café.”

“What?” Sue asked, confused by my mention of things she didn’t understand. Why would she understand? I didn’t understand. I’d been speaking to a spirit who was still alive in that house!

“Jesus Christ,” Kyler said, still reeling from the news.

I acknowledged Sue and tried to offer her some version of the truth. “The news article about the accident. I thought Kyler was dead. I saw the word coma and never finished reading it. That’s why I didn’t realize he was still with us.” That, and the fact that I’d only ever seen the spirit of a ~dead~ person~. ~But Kyler ~wasn’t~ dead.

“It’s certainly been a difficult year,” Sue said.

“Yeah,” I agreed, unable to wrap my own head around how all of this was unraveling. “Does Kyler get many visitors?”

“Melanie seems to be the only one who ever stops by these days. Poor girl. I can’t imagine having been in that car when…well…when you know,” she said.

I nodded.

“Did you want to see him?” Sue asked.

I winced. “I don’t think Mrs. Fletcher trusts me since I haven’t stopped by before.”

Sympathy returned to Sue’s eyes. “She hasn’t been in a good place since the accident as I’m sure you can imagine.”

I nodded.

“If you come back around ten on Monday, Mr. Fletcher will be at work and Mrs. Fletcher will be at her weekly therapist appointment.” She smiled as if we shared a secret.

“How about Melanie?”

“She’ll be in class. I reckon she wouldn’t appreciate a pretty girl like yourself sitting with her boyfriend.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“See you then,” she said before making her way inside the house.

I turned to Kyler, but he’d disappeared. I spun around, looking for him by my car, but he wasn’t there. I looked down the street first to the right and then left, but he wasn’t there. Had he disappeared for good? Had he learned what he needed to learn from me? I’d never seen the spirit of someone who was still alive. Did my ability to see him mean that there was really no hope left for him?

I walked down the driveway toward my car. I opened my door and was about to slip into my seat when I spotted him standing stark still on the side of the house staring into a first-floor window. “Kyler,” I whisper-yelled.

He didn’t budge.

Now that he was able to get close to his home, he probably didn’t want to leave. But could I really leave him there? I sighed and closed my door. I walked along the sidewalk until I reached the far end of their property, then cut a sharp right and speed-walked to Kyler hoping no one saw me. Mrs. Fletcher was definitely going to call the police if she spotted me there. “Hey,” I said as I stepped up beside him.

He didn’t say a word, just stared into the window. The blinds had been raised so there was an unobstructed view of the room inside. There was a hospital bed in the center of the room with Kyler in it, attached to a ventilator, tubes, an IV, and other machines. An empty chair sat beside his bed.

“Oh,” I said, just as shocked to be seeing him that way as he was.

“This is why I’m still here,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said, though he may not have been asking.

“Do you think it means I’m really dead and they just don’t know it?” he asked.

“That machine right there, the one showing your heart rate, means part of you is still alive.”

“Then why am I here and there?”

“I have no idea.”

“Maybe I need to enter my body. Isn’t that how it’s done in the movies?” He reached out his hand and placed it against the window. The glass stopped it. “Fuuuuuck. What do I do now? Just hang out here until I die?”

My eyes shot around. A neighbor climbed on a ladder hanging Christmas lights two houses down. It was just a matter of time before he became suspicious of me staring into the Fletchers’ window. “I need to go before someone sees me,” I said to Kyler. “You stay.”

He turned to me and wrapped his arms around me. I stilled, surprised by the gesture and the feel of him holding me so closely. His arms were safe and strong—and not really real. But, if I was being honest, they were the most real thing I’d felt from a guy in a long time.

“Thank you, Nora. I never would’ve known if you didn’t bring me here.” He released me and stepped back, burying his hands in his pockets.

“I’ll be back on Monday. If you’re unable to get in between now and then, hopefully, you’ll be able to get inside with me.”

He nodded.

“I’ll see ya then,” I said before turning and heading toward my car. With each step, a pit grew in my stomach. I’d never helped someone like this. I’d relayed messages, but I’d never been so involved—so invested—in their life.

And, never before had a spirit been alive.