Dialogue with a Ghost

Hello?

Who are you? How did you get in here?

Do you remember me?

I'm not sure. You look a little familiar.

I'm Kathleen Newton. We went to High School together.

Kathleen Newton! You were a Senior when I was a Junior and then at the beginning of my Senior Year. . .They announced that you had. . .I don't think they ever really said what you died of. Some disease.

I'm glad that you remember me. I'd like to hug you, but after being dead for so many years, I can't hug anymore. My body just won't do it.

I'm sorry. I remember the first time you hugged me. It was after the school play. Everyone was excited about how well the play had gone. Everyone was hugging somebody else. Except that I wasn't hugging or being hugged. I remember telling myself it was okay, because. . .I'm just not the type who's into hugging, but it wasn't really okay. Then, you came up behind me with your arms open and this smile on your face. You wanted a hug. Someone wanted to hug me. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Pathetic story?

No, it's sweet. I wish you'd told me it when I was alive.

So why are you talking to me, now? Why not talk to someone else from High School like Cyndi or Heather. You used to hang out with them a lot.

Yeah, that's true. Do you still know them?

Well. . .not really. I sometimes hear from them on Facebook, but-

What's Facebook?

Oh. It's a site on the Internet.

What's the Internet?

That would take too long to explain. Let's just say that Heather and Cyndi are both married with children.

But you're not?

No, never got around to it. But can you answer my question first? Why are you here?

Well. . . do you think of me?

Honestly, no. No offense, but after someone dies, you move on. Actually, you know when I did think about you?

When?

A few days before I graduated from college.

Graduation from college. I always wondered what that would be like.

Well that's the thing. I was thinking about how I was already further along then you would ever get. I was also wondering what would happen to me next since I was graduating from college with a degree in English and no idea where to get a job. I couldn't help thinking that you were lucky, because you never got to this point.

I wasn't lucky.

Maybe not. You know, graduation from college felt like the end, but it turned out to be just the beginning. So many things have happened to me since then.

Nothing happened to me since then.

Nothing?

Nothing you would understand, anyway.

Are you crying?

Of course not. Crying is another thing you can't do after death. Your body won't make tears. Still. . .I think it would be best if I left now.