Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

“It was fast,” Hugo said, staring off into the darkness. He let his hands
hang over the edge of the railing. “The roads were slick. Sleet and freezing
rain had been falling all day, and Mom and Dad were going out on a date.
They’d been thinking about staying in, but I told them to go ahead, so long as
they were careful. They worked hard, and I thought they deserved a night out,
you know? So I pushed them. Told them to go.” He shook his head. “I
didn’t … it’s weird. I didn’t know it was the last time I’d see them as they
were then. Dad squeezed my shoulder, and Mom kissed me on the cheek. I
grumbled about it and told them I wasn’t a kid anymore. They laughed at me
and told me I was always going to be their little boy, even if I hadn’t been
little in a long time. They died. Car hit a patch of ice and slid off the road. It
rolled. I was told it was over in an instant. But that stuck with me for a long
time, because it was over for me in an instant, and yet it feels like it’s still
happening, sometimes.”
“Shit,” Wallace breathed.
“I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up because someone was standing
above me. I opened my eyes, and … there they were. Just standing there,
looking down at me, wearing their nice clothes. Dad hated his tie, said it felt
like he was choking, but Mom made him wear it anyway, telling him he
looked so handsome. I asked them what time it was. You know what they
said?”
Wallace shook his head.
Hugo laughed wetly. “Nothing. They said nothing at all. They flickered in
and out, and I thought I was dreaming. And then a Reaper appeared.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah,” Hugo said. “That was … something else. He took my parents by
the hands, and I demanded to know who he was and what the hell he was
doing in our house. I’ll never forget the look of shock on his face. I wasn’t
supposed to be able to see him.”
“How did you?”
“I don’t know,” Hugo admitted. “I’m not like Mei. I’d never seen ghosts
before or anything like that. I never had any kind of touch or sight or
whatever it is that makes people like Mei who they are. I was just … me. But
here I was, trying to grab onto my parents, to pull them away from this
stranger, but my hands kept going right through them. I reached for the
unknown man, and for a moment, it worked. I felt him. It was like fireworks