Chapter 2
One of the cops sighed. "It's that guy again, the one who's always searching for his missing sister.
"Seriously, wherever something goes down these past two years, he's always around."
I couldn't wrap my head around it.
The guy I was seeing right now was the one burned into my memories.
Even back when things were at their worst, when we were living under a bridge together, he'd find old clothes tossed out by others and make sure I had something to wear.
He always washed them clean and buttoned them up nice and neat.
My brother used to smile and say to me, "Lily, no matter how tough things get, you still gotta hold your head up."
But now, he was a mess.
His pants had a huge hole in the knee.
His shirt buttons were all crooked, and only two were fastened.
He was missing one shoe, and the other was caked in mud.
His face was filthy, streaked with dirt and grime, and I couldn't even tell what he'd gotten on himself.
The cops were standing inside the police tape, blocking him from getting in.
He craned his neck, straining to see inside.
But after the police had finished checking my remains, they'd already put me back in the coffin and closed the lid.
No matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't see a thing.
I overheard the middle-aged couple talking about the necklace.
He suddenly got really agitated, totally losing control.
"That's my sister's. That's her necklace!" he shouted.
The young cop looked surprised.
The other cop shrugged, as if he'd seen this a hundred times before.
He said, "The hospital checked him out. He's got a few screws loose.
"Last time they found a woman's body up north, he started freaking out, saying the pinky was gone, so it had to be his sister.
"But someone else ended up claiming the body."
Ryan must've realized the cops weren't going to let him in.
He glanced around, desperate for someone to help him out.
Then he spotted Lucas standing nearby, and his eyes suddenly lit up, as if he'd found his last hope.
Lucas looked over, clearly recognizing him, but turned away in disgust.
Lucas hated me.
By extension, he hated Ryan too—hated anything connected to me.
Ryan looked frantic and desperate, his eyes bloodshot and pleading.
He was barely holding it together, totally forgetting the promise he made me.
He fell to his knees, voice breaking as he looked up at Lucas.
He said, "Lily never betrayed you three years ago.
"Sh-she had leukemia. Maybe she's already gone.
Ryan choked out, "I saw the hospital report. I really did—I saw it with my own eyes!"
Lucas pulled out another cigarette and flicked his lighter.
But when he heard Ryan's voice, his hand jerked—just for a split second, but I caught it. 'Did that really shake him?' I wondered.
Maybe it was the wind picking up at dusk, but no matter how many times he tried, the cigarette wouldn't light.
He looked like he'd finally had enough.
He tossed the cigarette and lighter into the guy's hand behind him, growling irritably, "Lunatic."
He stormed off, not even glancing back, completely ignoring Ryan's frantic, desperate calls.
As he left the cemetery, still pissed, he spat out, "Everyone here's a nutcase!"
Behind him, Ryan took advantage of the cops' distraction, ducked under the police tape, and bolted straight for my coffin.
He didn't care about the cops yelling at him. He went crazy, shoving the coffin lid open like he'd lost his mind.
Inside, there was almost nothing left but a skeleton.
There wasn't a single feature left to recognize.
But he fixated on my shattered pinky bone, and with the cops trying to restrain him, he suddenly collapsed to the ground.
His eyes went wide with terror, then went vacant, finally turning gray and empty.
I heard him crying.
His voice was hoarse, raw with pain, regret, and guilt.
He said, "My Lily, it's really you.
"My Lily, it's all my fault. I wasn't there for you in the end."
I'd never seen Ryan cry before. My heart felt like it was being ripped apart.
I lunged toward him, desperate to help him up, to comfort him, to tell him it wasn't his fault.
But my hand slipped right through him, and my words vanished into the air, unheard.
The cops, worried he'd mess up the coffin or the remains, dragged him away, not giving him a chance to resist.
But he kept sobbing uncontrollably, like he'd lost his mind, desperately calling out, "Lily."
Not far away, under a tree, Lucas's steps faltered for a split second.
He must've heard it.
He didn't turn around, but his expression turned even more grim.
Lucas left the cemetery and got into the car parked by the roadside.
I was worried about Ryan, wanting to follow him.
But my soul wouldn't obey me. It ended up tethered to Lucas.
I had no idea what was going on.
It wasn't until I saw Lucas slide into the back seat, pull a silver ring from his suit pocket, and start fiddling with it, looking a little lost, that I realized what was happening.
Turned out, it was this ring that tethered my soul to him.
Lucas and I were once engaged. This was the ring he used when he proposed to me.
He designed it himself, learned the skills on his own, and etched the pattern by hand.
When I passed away, I wanted to take this ring with me to the grave, but it was nowhere to be found.
In the end, all I could take with me was that necklace I'd fished out of the trash.
Even after death, my soul couldn't stop longing for that missing ring.
Now that I'd finally seen it again, I couldn't help but be drawn to it.
I couldn't leave. I was stuck, sitting right there in the back seat with Lucas.
I had no idea how he ended up with that ring.
*****
The car left Springfield and headed for Pinehurst.
For the entire four-hour drive, Lucas didn't say a single word.
He leaned back in his seat, eyes closed, looking like he was asleep.
But I saw his eyelashes trembling. I knew he wasn't sleeping.
Back when my brother and I first met Lucas, he barely spoke a word.
Now, it felt like he'd turned right back into that same quiet guy.
I couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.
But just as the car rolled into the villa district and was about to stop, Lucas suddenly spoke up.
He said, "Lily got dumped by Mr. Grant."
I froze for a second.
Then it hit me that "Mr. Grant" was my old boss.
The guy I told Lucas I'd fallen for, just to make him believe I'd moved on.
The driver up front looked surprised.
He glanced at Lucas in the rearview mirror, clearly at a loss for how to respond to such an out-of-the-blue comment.
Lucas looked completely indifferent.
He just tossed it out there like it didn't matter, then went on, "I flew back today and saw Mr. Grant at the airport. He was with some woman."