It was getting cold out. Ayanna pulled out the pill, weighed it in her hands. Olivia, I miss you, she thought. Olivia, I’ve had a weird day; I don’t need you to tell me the world will be better, I just need you to listen to me tell you about it and then to hear you tell me about your day. Olivia, I want you to tell me that somehow you survived. Olivia, I want you to tell me you forgive me. Olivia, I want you to be annoying to me again.

The more she thought about her sister, the more spirits descended, so many it reminded Ayanna of watching a movie where a smirking actor cut his hand a little and let blood drip into the ocean. An enormous number of sharks appeared, fins and fangs, and the main lady swooned with fear. A familiar voice thanked her for reaching out to Marlie: I will help you when she’s there, thank you. The more the spirit spoke, the more electronic it sounded.

Ayanna was relieved to see them. When Matthias had said she was cured, Ayanna assumed in some way it was from this. It was frightening and annoying to be able to see the world as it was for everyone else, and see the spirits; but with the doors gone, this was, she knew now, the only chance of getting to see Olivia again. Their soft-pink bodies stretched, elongated, blobbed. They made the world seem like a vast lava lamp. The glow relaxed her.

“Liana, you seem so lonely,” the voice said. A cloud coalesced into a figure taller than Ayanna. She could see his face clearly, large eyes with long eyelashes. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she could feel it. Light and a strange texture, like a hand made from Play-Doh.

Ayanna took a step back. Twice in one day, she thought, men not respecting my personal space. She knew it was a hand on her arm, but still wanted her boundaries respected.

“I could feel it.”

“I miss you so much.”

“I’m not Liana.”

He told her about the summer of his affair with Liana. Looks at parties, kisses stolen in the dark, in empty rooms, a weekend at a hotel spent only in desire. They would exchange books and he would tuck notes in, sometimes note cards or cardboard cut to be a bookmark. Gin and tonics, a night when they walked to look at each other’s windows but met in the middle and fell into bliss that almost got them caught. Her skin smelled like cedar and violets.

“If Liana loved you so much,” Ayanna said, “then why didn’t she leave her husband?”

The spirit paused there.

“I forgot about this side of you, Liana.”

“Ayanna.”