He felt like such a looser. Halloween night, and he was home alone, avoiding tricker treaters. He sighed and flopped onto his couch. He knew that he should be working on his resume. It had already been nearly half a years since he graduated, and he was still living on his parents dime. They didn’t mind, of course, but he did. It just didn’t feel right mooching off of them like that. Still, he didn’t get up and get his laptop. Work would just have to wait right now, he was too busy being lazy. He began to wonder what the point of it all was anyway. He sighed again and reached for his cigarettes. He couldn’t remember when he had started, but at this point at half a pack a day, it didn’t really matter. He took on out, lit it, and took a long drag as he closed his eyes. Might as well be dead at this point, he thought dully.

“You know, smoking can kill you” a girls voice said. Ed’s eyes sprang open. In front of him stood a slightly transparent girl. She smiled as she plucked the cigarette out of his mouth. Ed felt a scream rise in his throat as the girl solidified in front of him. She, on the other hand, calmly put the cigarette out. Then, to his utter shock, she giggled. “You should see the expression on your face. It’s so cute!” she said.

“Who…” he strangled out as he tried to back up further into his couch.

“Oh, that’s right, I haven’t told you who I am yet! Sorry,” she sat down next to his and extended her hand, “I’m Dani, and I happen to be dead but don’t worry, I’m strictly peaceful”.

“Hi. I’m Ed. What are you doing here?” Ed asked warilyas he shook her hand.

“Well the thing is, spirits can choose to visit whoever they like on Halloween. Who knew the clichés were right? Anyway, I’ve come to visit you, and to tell you something.” Dani explained.

“So what do you need to tell me?” Ed asked, wondering if this was all a dream.

“We’ll get to that later,” she said while avoiding his eyes, “So, why aren’t you at a party tonight? A handsome guy like you should be having fun.”

“Well, I got invited to a few places, but I didn’t feel like going. I really should be working on my resume, but I don’t want to do that either. Got any supernatural advice?” He said as he handed a copy of his resume over to her. She began to leaf through it, taking notice of his many notes.

“This is a pretty good resume. It has all the right credentials for someone looking to get into corporate business,” She said offhandedly, “But why did you major in business? What happened to your art? You used to love it so much.”

“Art is a dead end. How can I be successful painting crappy pictures? Besides, my parents would have pitched a fit if I had gone out for an art degree” Ed explained with a scowl.

“That sounds like lame excuse number 156, if you ask me” she commented dryly.

“Well what do you know? Your dead and you never knew me! Just how did you know about my art anyway?” he asked.

“I knew you in high school” She said quietly. Ed looked at her from the corner of his eye. She looked sad.

“You did? When?” he asked.

“Never mind. So why did you really not go for an art degree?” she asked abruptly. Ed sighed.

“I guess I was just too lazy. I didn’t really have enough conviction to go for what I wanted, but it doesn’t really matter now. I kinda wish I had stuck with it though” He said regretfully.

“It’s never to late you know” She said

“Hmpf” he grunted, “You have yet to tell me why you came here in the first place”.

“Fine, fine. I knew you in high school, and I had a crush on you. I wanted to come back and tell you that” She said

“You came back from the dead to tell me that? I’m flattered, but I thought you might want to spend the one night you get with your family” he said.

“My family have already had our closures. It’s just you that I’m still hung up on,” she said as sheblushed.

“Oh” he said, slightly shocked.

Dani smiled wanly. “Being dead, in a way, is very freeing. There are no regrets, no future consequences, you just are. It’s kind of like living perfectly, only not” She gave out a weak chuckle. “I didn’t just have a crush on you in high school. I was in love with you. Still am. Pretty pathetic being dead and all. Anyway, I’ve got to do this while I still have the nerve”, she leaned over and kissed him sweetly on the mouth. Ed was paralyzed with shock. She touched his cheek and slowly started to fade. “Don’t waste your life like I did” her voice fading into a whisper.

“Wait! What happened to you? Why did you die?” he cried out to her as she turned into nothing. A faint wind of a voice caressed his ear

“I killed myself” the whisper said.

Ed stared at the grave before him in deep thought. In his hand was a square package wrapped in paper.

“Well Dani, here I am,” he said, “I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I’m here. I thought you should know that I quite smoking. I’m still looking for a job. I’m never going to be an artist Dani, not a professional one anyway, so I made you something so that you wouldn’t be too disappointed in me,” he placed the brown package on the grave. “Anyway, I’ve got to go, but I just wanted to say thanks for being there, and, I love you too.” Ed said. He kissed the tombstone and walked away.

A few minutes later, an older couple approached the grave. The woman picked up the package.

“Look Roger, someone left a package on Dani’s grave. It says ‘For Dani, for loving memories’, how odd.” The woman said to her husband.

“Isn’t it supposed to be in loving memory?” Roger asked as his wife tore open the brown paper. Both of them gasped in union. In the package was a painting of Dani, sitting on a couch, laughing.

“It’s so beautiful…” the woman sobbed. Her husband just wept silently. The woman hugged the painting close to her and both she and her husband walked down the hill, back to their car. They hung the painting in their living room, and it remained there until they died. It passed through many hands after that, until it was brought at a thrift shop one day by a pretty young woman. She, in turn, gave it to her great uncle, who looked at it every night until he too died. The painting was buried with him at his request, and his tombstone read, ‘Here lies Edward, an artist. For loving memories.’