8
The atmosphere was strange.
I didn’t understand why Joanne chose to ask that now–did it even make sense? After all, I was dead. I had no way to defend myself when I alive, let alone in this state.
Chloe choked up, about to respond, when the phone rang, breaking the tension. My ashes had been taken away by my parents, and Joanne company was under pressure from Xavier.
As Chloe listened to the conversation, she glanced at Joanne, whose anger was growing by the second. She grabbed her bag and left.
Joanne seemed irritated. He opened the refrigerator to grab some water and spotted a note. It was a reminder I had written for myself, stu on a can of ice cream to prompt me to finish it quickly.
Joanne tore the note off and tucked it into his pocket before pulling out the ice cream and eating it bite by bite. The more he ate, the more h head drooped. I was no longer in the mood to care about him; instead, I found myself missing my parents desperately. What would they do without me? Tears started to fall as I thought about them.
After a while, Joanne went to comfort Chloe.
“Move in here; that house is too big,” he said, hugging her. “Don’t leave me, okay?”
Chloe nodded, nestled in his arms.
She looked up to ask him something, but as soon as she raised her head, Joanne’s lips met hers.
“Any questions?” he asked after the kiss, and Chloe smiled sweetly, shaking her head.
Once the last box was moved into the house, Chloe settled in. Excitedly, she dragged Joanne to the mall to shop. I floated along with them, watching as Joanne’s face lit up with happiness.
The more I saw, the colder I felt. When we were newly married, Joanne had never accompanied me shopping like this; he always had someone deliver the goods to my house because he thought it was too much trouble.
When they returned home, they collapsed together on the sofa, too exhausted to move.
It was the tenth day since my death, and I started to feel sleepy at times.
Then Joanne and Chloe had a fight. The reason was simple: Chloe wanted to erase all traces of my existence from the house, but Joanne was torn between agreeing and refusing.
Suddenly, he realized the pink rabbit I had kept was missing.
He rushed downstairs angrily, demanding
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He rushed downstairs angrily, demanding to know where the rabbit had gone.
Chloe replied that she had thrown it away.
Joanne sprinted down the stairs to search for the rabbit.
It suddenly dawned on me that I no longer had to revolve around Joanne.
With that realization, I left the house and drifted toward my parents‘ home.
