Odd notes and a semi-Journal

4.14.20

There are a fair few things in this world, Edmond conceded, that are unable to make sense from any rational explanation. And while not having a thorough explanation didn’t bother him per se (he was still able to go on with his daily life with relative ease even with the encumberment of the unknown), it surely did make his life a tad more difficult. For instance: when the topic of family is brought up, how is he to succinctly explain that while both of his parents are deceased, it is really not all too sad because he was taken in from a very young age by his extended family, who also happen to not be exactly corporeal in form? Furthermore, this introduces the problem that introducing friends and acquaintances to said relatives becomes complex when they cannot see this aforementioned family. Fortunately (or perhaps, unfortunately), Edmond had not had this situation presented to him enough times for him to know how to correctly phrase or introduce the concept. Though Edmond could only interact with his relatives in the same way anyone could interact with a ghost, his relationship with those whom he never got to know pre-mortem was filial in nature. As much as they were able to, they smothered Edmond with attention and love. In doing so, whatever sadness Edmond felt about never knowing his parents were mitigated. Not to mention, if he could commune with his long-deceased relatives, then finding his parents in the spirit realm would just take a bit of practice! But- seeing as his parents were still incommunicable for the time being, and the people who have raised Edmond and continue to raise him are all but invisible to a majority of those still living, Edmond's rare and unusual problem has been brought to the forefront.

  “Well, you see Lucy…" Edmond started, suddenly becoming very interested in the grass. Edmond wondered how to phrase what he was preparing to tell her. If he was equivocal and skated around the topic, maybe she could eventually handle the honest truth which made him sound (admittedly) slightly mad. No, that would never work. He knew Lucy would never stop asking questions until she got an answer which satisfied her curiosities, and she was seldom satisfied. He envisaged another scenario where he outright told her, and to his surprise, this scenario made more sense to him. If Lucy had stuck around him this long and had gone through this much, surely ghosts wouldn’t scare her away now. He took a deep breath before continuing. "This is going to sound strange, I know, but please, just hear me out! The people who raised me, they're... they're ghosts, Lucy. My parents are dead, and the people who raised me are ghosts." Edmond dared to lift his head and look at Lucy. He was expecting to see a pallid, frightened girl who would either laugh at him for being "ridiculous" or become angry with him and tell him that his joke wasn't funny and he shouldn't say things like that. Instead, Lucy looked at him with alacrity.

   "Really?" She exclaimed. "That's amazing! When can I meet them? How many are there? Can you touch them? Can they touch YOU?" She kept on with seemingly endless questions that Edmond could not find himself answering fast enough. Laughing, he took her hand and led her towards his house- if it could be called that. The place in which Edmond resided was more reminiscent of an old victorian era mansion that was really into celebrating Halloween. Even though most of the residents of Belleview Road had never struck up a conversation with Edmond (and some had only ever heard his name in passing conversation, never seeing his face) many would most likely attest to Edmond’s parents' deceased nature, along with even more surprising and outrageous tall tales surrounding Edmond’s existence. Edmond’s name had been denigrated long before he had even come into this world, as the house which he and a family of spirits now inhabited had kept the same outward appearance for over one hundred years. In the words of Edmond’s next-door neighbor Mrs. Evie Wilkinson, a woman who had lived long enough to witness the entirety of the stasis in the decay of Edmond’s house, “It was a miracle the house hadn’t collapsed in on itself!". Edmond's home was doing these stories no favors with its defunct doorbell and broken shutters, porch steps with holes and lawn full of molehills and dead, sparse grass. The most striking and appalling features of Edmond’s residence, however, were the tombstones around the side of his house. On the first day that Lucy had moved into his neighborhood and walked right up to Edmond’s house to strike up a conversation with him, she had asked why he kept tombstones on his lawn. He had evaded that question, but she continued and inquired about their epitaphs. The answer he gave only fully made sense to Lucy now, with her new information that in addition to everything else odd and interesting about Edmond that he had ghosts living with him! What Edmond had told her all those months ago was that inscriptions were calling cards for the deceased, which made infinitely more sense as she entered into Edmond's residence and came face-to-face with a transparent woman who tried her best to give Lucy an oppressively tight hug, despite her lack of physical form. 

 "Hello, dear! I'm Edmond's Aunt Harriet, I'm sure he's mentioned me, I've heard so much about you! But not from you of course, so you must tell me about yourself firsthand!" Lucy nodded along while thinking back to the woman– Aunt Harriet's tombstone inscription which read "Effusive in everything she did, in life and in death". Other family members drifted towards her with names of themselves and others around them and Lucy responded with a wave and a smile to each, until Aunt Harriet announced, "Come now, Lucy! We have so much to talk about!" which was answered with a myriad of cries made by various relatives who also seemed to want to have their own words with Lucy. These groans of complaint quickly led multiple spirits to become embroiled in what Lucy could only describe as a brawl. Suddenly, Edmond grabbed her hand once more and led her up the stairs and away from the conflict brewing in the entry room.

 "Sorry about that," he started. "They're just overexcited, I promise they're not usually this... aggressive." To that, Lucy giggled. "Hey!" Edmond exclaimed. "You want to see the room of infinite doors?" Lucy cocked her head to the right slightly, nodded, and then smiled. Her summer was shaping up to be interesting indeed!