“Oh wow, I haven’t been trick or treating in decades!” Zoe said over the phone. “Ugh, I shouldn’t have said that. Now I feel so old.”

  “At least you’ve been before,” Ever said. He waited until there was a break in the traffic before crossing the road. Not much further until he was back at Mimi’s house.

  “Wait, what?” Zoe said. “You’ve never gone Trick or Treating? Your parents must have been monsters!... which in turn might have explained why you didn’t go Trick or Treating… because they were monsters. Get it?”

  “What?”

  “Nevermind. First time for everything! What are you going as?”

  “I’m not sure. It has to be something scary right?”

  “Well not necessarily. A lot of girls in high school saw it as an opportunity to dress slutty. I was one of the few that actually did special effects, movie-level make up. Give a girl YouTube, a palette and brushes and she can rule the world. I remember this one time, I–”

  Ever wasn’t listening much at all, though he was enjoying just hearing her talk. It seemed that in the last few days, she had gotten more used to talking rather than texting, which suited Ever perfectly.

  “...and that’s how I made the most popular girl go home early to change her pants.”

  Ever unlocked the door to the old house and went inside, flicking on the light.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  ^Hello Ever! How was your day?^

  “Oh hello Mimi!” Zoe cooed. “Put me on speaker phone.”

  Ever laughed, crouched down and held the phone for his pet. “She wants to speak with you.”

  ^Me?^ Mimi said, turning her head this way and that. ^She doesn’t understand me like you do.^ A string of barks, before she ran off to sit by her food bowl.

  “Hey, is the Grim Reaper scary?” Ever asked, taking Zoe off speaker phone.

  “I mean, the guy’s got a scythe and appears when people are about to die. Sounds pretty scary to me.”

  “That’s not true. I… he does use a scythe, but he actually appears to ghosts and helps them pass to the Underworld.”

  Zoe laugh was tinkling, teasing wind chimes. “Really now? It sounds like you know the guy pretty well.”

  “I mean, I did say the other day that I could see ghosts.”

  Ever went and poured some food for Mimi, who was wagging her tail so hard he was certain it would come off.

  “Hey Ever…”

  There was that tone again. First Taylor over lunch, now Zoe.

  “Do you think you could come by the clinic sometime next week? There’s something I want to show you.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s not urgent, not really. It’s just…” even though it was over the phone, he could tell that she was wrestling with something heavy. “I just need you to come by. Please?”

  “Yeah sure, of course.” His heart had gone into double time. It had to be the pet ghosts - or lack thereof - in the clinic she was referring to. What else could it be?