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“She’s never going to pick up, you know.”
Dan sighs, placing the house phone back on the hook with a resounding, frustrated click. “I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
“If she was okay, she would have never left.”
Dan sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’d rather not do this now.”
In fact, he’d rather not do this ever. From the moment Diana left, his son had been making his presence known. Dan could usually get through most of the week without seeing him, ignoring Gabriel like he had been for so many years. But Diana’s departure had taken a toll on the entire family--dead son included.
“I’m never going away,” Gabe stated. It was then that Dan finally turned around to face his son.
Gabe was leaning casually against the wall, hands stuffed into his jean pockets, his usual smirk playing out across his face. To him, it was all a game. To see who he could get attention from, and how much attention he could get. As far as Dan was concerned, Natalie hadn’t had any chats with her older brother. And he would surely like to keep it that way.
“Why didn’t you go with her?” Dan asks, repeating the same question he had asked when Gabe first revealed himself.
Gabe doesn’t answer. He merely stares at Dan, as if to dare him to answer his own question.
“You should have gone with her,” Dan finally remarks.
“I was never a hallucination.”
“You’re not a ghost either.”
“No,” Gabriel agrees. “I’m something in between.”
“Whatever you are, you’re dead. We shouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
Gabe blinks, his expression falling for just a second, as if Dan hurt him. But the moment passes and his mischievous smirk returns. “You probably never thought you’d be jealous of the dead, huh? She loved me.”
“She loved Natalie as well. She loved me.”
“Maybe. Once. Maybe she will again one day.”
“What do you know,” Dan retorts, suddenly feeling angry. “She left you too.”
Gabe looks away, crossing his arms firmly. “Yeah,” he slowly agrees. “But you’re still here.”
Dan opens his mouth to says something, but he’s cut off by the ringing of the phone. He looks at Gabe solemnly before turning around. A little unsure, Dan picks up the phone. “Hello?”
“Dan?” A familiar voice answers.
“Diana,” Dan says through a breath of relief. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“I’m the one who should be worried,” Diana simply states with that all familiar passive tone. “I’m the one who left you.”
Dan turns around only to find Gabe is no longer there. Gone again for who knows who long.
“It’s okay, Diana,” Dan says, almost mournfully. “We’re okay.”