Jeremy Frazier - Tumblr Posts

Hi so i’m thinking of writing a Jeremy Frazier x reader where the reader and her family buys the murder house and Jeremy (is a ghost obviously ) but like just really likes the reader and messes with her ?

part 1

Heaven Knows I’m miserable now🍂

Jeremy Frazier x Fem!reader

( Reader has mother and step- dad who they hate…also a dog because why not. Reader is female , grunge and your usual angst filled teenage girl.

.˚⊹🎃🍂🌗₊˚𖦹⋆ .˚⊹🎃🍂🌗₊˚𖦹⋆ .˚⊹🎃🍂🌗₊˚𖦹

The car ride into Winter River was long..boring and almost painful ; the dark green ford mustang carrying the family and the bags sped up eventually, ending the silence and the ride. Y/N L/N stepped out of the vehicle first, sliding her headphones off her head and onto her neck in the process . She stretched out , yawned and grabbed a bag, eyes stuck on the building ahead ; the murder house . The house her Step father had bought since it was “so cheap “ and that “the thing that the happened there can be forgotten about with new memories “ . She rolled her eyes , remembering how happy her mother had been when they bought the house .

“and where are you off to so soon? “ Alan, the overly positive idiot who had moved into Y/n’s life and forced her to move away from her…somewhat enjoyable life before , stepped out , a smile tainting his features and causing most of his face to wrinkle on the process. He moved away from the car before Y/n could even speak, opening the front door before turning , “look at that..! All the vintage furniture still intact..!” He almost gasps out , oh so positive about a literal murder house.

Y/N , now somewhat annoyed by her step father’s interest in whatever she was about to do…even though he’d ignored her for the two hour long car ride quickly ran past . Bags in her hands as she darts into the house, up the stairs and into the only room that seemed fully lived in ; Jeremy’s Frazier’s still intact , still lived in…room.

The bags quickly get thrown onto the floor and the bed now dipped in by the girl, she sighs out before leaning back . Her eyes trained ahead onto the ceiling before tears blur her vision , ruining what should have been a moment of peace . Her hands find themselves into her hair , messily running through it before a heavy bang from the corner of the room shoots her back up. Her head snaps in the direction, pushing off the bed before she moves to check it out. Her eyes scanning the various grunge band posters, vinyls , the record player , the wardrobe which now appeared open…it was locked shut last time the family had visited their new home. She shrugs , maybe the house estate agent had opened it?.. whatever had happened , she didn’t care. She didn’t care about any of it..the murder house..the new guy who’d turned her and her moms life inside out and then left and then massively right into what seemed like a chaotic mess of a situation. She sighs out, bending down to pick up a book that had fallen ; the handbook for the recently deceased . She looks around before opening a window , her eyes catching sight of something..no no someone moving in the treehouse . She blinks before the figure disappears, maybe she was just tired or maybe her eyesight was playing up , she had just spent 2 hours in a moving car staring down at her phone and only occasionally staring out of the window before the next song played into her headphones . She shrugs before scanning the book, turning it over to read the back and then the front . Her fingers dancing along it before they hesitate to open it, she scoffs out ; finally making the decision to open it before the door slams open.

Her eyes snap up, book hidden behind her back as her eyes focus on…nothing? The door bounces back , slamming shut again before slamming open, hitting the wall and causing a couple of posters to fly off the wall. Leaving Y/N stood there , posters a mess around her ; some hanging off the wall, some still stuck , some sideways now and some just flying through the air of the cold, almost quiet room. The book slipping from her fingers , slamming onto the floor before almost flying from its position and into the closet . Y/N moves to follow it, only for the closet to slam in her face and lock. She scoffs out, her first slamming onto the wood before the bedroom door slams shut again, she groans out .

“I hate this house..!!” She screams out , causing the nearest adult ; Alan to run upstairs , his hand pushes the door open before he scans the now neat and untouched room, he smiles over at Y/N , his hand dropping the bernese mountain dog puppy in the process . He stands there, almost expecting his step daughter to speak before he nods at her , looking around the room

“so are you keeping the room..the same?” he hums out , his eyes scanning everything almost judgementally , the way his lip quivers up into its usual concrete , unbreakable , overly happy and warm smile .

“mhm.” Y/N rolls her eyes , moving to scan the room ; confused due to the fact everything had returned to normal in only a matter of seconds .

Buddy, the 3 month old puppy eagerly running around the room in the process of y/n trying to rethink everything and also try seem like she was putting effort into her step fathers boring little conversation.

“really..? you don’t..want a change of anything..? you know this is where..the uh-“

“i know.”

“but..i mean..its a teenage boys room and he was..you know.. he did horrible and-“

“i know, i like the room.”

“but it’s so dark and..i mean look..! look at the posters, the…the books..this isn’t you-“

“no, it is me. You wouldn’t know because the moment you met me, you immediately talked about moving and changing .” Y/N snaps her head back over to the man, watching his little positive performance crumble in a matter of seconds due to her words.

Alan scoffs , “fine but..we’re getting rid of the clothes in the closet . He could have killed those innocent parents of his and then…then changed.” He tries to smile, only to realise the teenage girl stood before him didn’t actually care..nor was she actually listening since her eyes had darted over to the puppy now sniffing aggressively over at the closet.

“uh huh…” She sighs out , her hands moving to open the closet causing the puppy to bark and snarl , his ears pricking , tale shooting up like some sort of tv aerial , fur standing up, stance almost wide and heavy on the wood like a stone statue . His eyes wide and trained to the pile of clothes .

Y/N moves to push Buddy out of the way, weirded out by her dog’s new behaviour towards the closet that was locked only ten minutes ago. She scoffs out , looking back at her step father , “well aren’t you going to take the clothes then.? since you mentioned it..might aswell go do it now..!” She sarcastically hums out , moving to grab a trash bag, opening it before handing it to the now dumbfounded Alan. Pushing back him, grabbing her phone and putting her headphones on in the process . Clicking the play button for her playlist , sighing out once she slides down the banister and jumps down a couple of the steps. Letting the Smiths fill her ears , she scans around ; hoping to catch a glimpse of her mom. She stops , half way to the kirchen and only a step past the living room door , turning back to the man sat in the chair watching the tv . She fully turns , staring at him…almost confused by the fact the old tv still worked : it wasn’t plugged in and..also by the stranger now sat so snuggling in the old chair . She blinks for a moment, the tv still playing but the man gone. She shrugs , turning and moving into the back yard , sighing before pushing the back door open. Her eyes falling onto the sea of light orange , dark orange , green and red leaves from the nearby trees . She moves , pushing her phone into the pocket of her dark blue jean flares , carefully smoothing out her oversized white wool jumper . She sighs before moving to climb the tree house , hands gripping the wood as she pulls her self up , eyes stuck ahead before she catches sight of a figure moving .The figure pacing , repeating things to..himself..?

“got to get them out.” He repeats , over and over . Stopping once Y/N reaches the last wooden block, pulling herself up before she stares wildly up at the teenage boy , his face hard and almost wide as he looks around . He chuckles before his hand moves , “sorry..pretty girl..” He smirks before pushing her down, causing Y/N to lose her grip , stumbling back before her hand slips from the wood, pulling one of the blocks with her as she falls. Her body falling limp onto the ground , her eyes momentarily fluttering between staying wide and closing , her hand moving upto to her hair ; checking for the now painful sensation hitting all around her head .

(I apologise for any spelling mistakes, please please leave your opinion on this cause i crave validation the same way a starved dog craves food )

Heaven Knows i’m Miserable now🍂

Part2!!! (hey guys so…uh…i’ve changed the format, decided i hated the use of Y/N and now just gonna use “you” and write it like that bc yeah..!! thank you )

PART 1

The pain from both the ground and shock of someone else being in the treehouse shocks you, shocks you so badly that your poor brain looses track of everything. The only thing it can focus on was the fact that someone had pushed you…sure they’d complimented you too but they’d pushed you, hurt you even. Caused your pretty little head to hit the floor, narrowly avoiding the tree roots..imagine if you had hit one..you’d have either died or maybe just passed out. You push yourself back up, head stinging and body tense, you’ll be sporting a couple of new bruises soon . You sigh, pushing yourself up before glaring up at the treehouse only to find…no one , nothing other than the stray autumn leaves blowing around the base of the wood.

You look around , standing up now and brushing everything off you , hands going through your hair before stopping at a now wet and..painful spot. You’d obviously hit your head and caused a minor bleed..? but did you know that? no. Were you now panicking and thinking your brain was going to leak out of your skull and you were inevitably going to die? yes. Yes you were. You rush up, hand gripping your head before you open the back door, watching it bounce back and almost hit you in the face before you open it again and step back into your..new home. You sigh out before the sound of humming hits your eyes, it’s soft and gentle..a nostalgic hum , the kind your mom would hum to either soothe your crying or maybe just to get you to sleep.

“Mom..? Mom..! Mom! Mom!” You call out , rolling your eyes once your mom stays humming in the kitchen , you shrug before following the humming . Finding what seems to be your mother..leaned over the counter, baking? Your mom had stopped baking once Alan moved him ; since he’d claimed he hated sweets or anything soft or chewy or even hard…What a freak.

Your mom turns to face you..only to be faced with someone who was not your mother . She stands there, smiling at you as she offered you a cookie . Maybe you failed to notice the cookie but you definitely noticed the blood dripping from her eye..was that a meat grinder stuck into her eye socket??? You gasp, covering your mouth in horror as you continue gasp for air. The women disappears just as quickly as she’d turned, leaving the tray of cookies in her wake..only now they were mold covered and blood soaked. You turn , gasping for air again as your eyes prick with fear and despair, the only proof of those emotions being the faintest of tears staining your face . You push away before slamming into something, screaming out as their hands grip your shoulders .

“Shit kid..are you good??” Your eyes snap up , shocked expression dropping once you stare at Alan, his hands soothing you as you debate telling him…he wouldn’t believe you, he’d just send you to church or maybe a shrink .

“no..i..i fell outside and then..uh…” You mumble out, watching Alan move away, he turns to hold an ice pack out , his eyes judgemental and almost sorrowful at you.

“Thanks…” You take the ice pack, holding it to the painful little blood bump formed on your skull, you definitely needed to let it heal before even washing your hair or else you’d just be in for the most painful shower ever.

“So..you climbed the treehouse..?” He asked , nodding towards the back door . The lump in the leaves from your fall, the broken off wooden block and..your phone still outside , next to your now snapped in half headphones. You gasp out , running outside as Alan follows like some annoying little excuse for a man. He stands there, watching you grab your phone and grabbing your headphones , pushing back inside to tape them up.

“uh yeah..yeah i did.” You hum out , taping your headphones together before holding one near your ear, hearing your music play along side some sort of whispering ??

“get out.!” the voice screams back , causing you to drop the headphones once again. Your ear now slightly deaf from how loud the voice had seemed.

“Yeah i’m thinking of tearing the treehouse down..i mean that boy killed his parents and ran up there and then fell..broke his neck and died…we can’t have that happen to you..” Alan hums out , unaware of literally anything that happened just then.

“right cause if i was gonna murder you and my mom..id definitely hid in the treehouse and not clean up..and then drive away.” You sarcastically nod, laughing before meeting Alan’s somewhat disgusted gaze. You gulp before rolling your eyes , “you can’t get rid of the treehouse .” You hum out , interest from the earlier events keeping your gaze back onto the wooden deck.

“Why not?” Alan scoffs out

“cause uh..i..want to keep it..yeah i want to keep it, it’s cool “ You nod, eyes flicking back to Alan as you smile , trying to seem like you actually want the treehouse and not like your actual desire was to know if the kid who’d almost murdered you stayed up there .

Alan rolls his eyes before turning around , grabbing one of the cookies , then taking a bite . You watch in horror as beetles, bugs and blood drips from the cookie , staining his face and crawling all around his features . Crawling up into his nose , into his beard and even into hair . You gulp before shaking your head , pushing..or rushing past him and bolting up into your room. Almost gagging in the process.

You shake your head before your eyes meet with…well..nothing . Everything seemed normal..somewhat normal..? What was normal anyways ? It definitely wasn’t this house and it definitely wasn’t alan and it definitely wasn’t you..either…was your mom normal?? No..definitely not.

You scoff out, moving around the room as you start to hang your own clothes up into the closet , taking note of the chalk scribbles and the…giant “get out” sign written in…blood? maybe it was just red paint..you shrug it off . You were way too tired to even care right now, the day was weird enough with your little hallucinations from your concussion and Alan.

Once you finish you sigh out , moving out of the room to the bathroom, flicking the shower on before noticing something moving behind the shower curtain, peeling it back to come face to face with a teenage boy. He laughs…this was the same guy from earlier . He winks at you, his hand moving to your chin, “shame you’re still alive…” he mumbles out , his face way too close to yours and his body oddly cold..the coolness of his skin against your warmth causing you to shiver .

He pushes past you, smirking , “you know…your little joke about killing your parents..? I loved it..! You should..” He laughs , his eyes darting over your features as he leans against the bathroom door before you blink and he disappears. Leaving you in the now freezing bathroom .

You turn and then turn back again, eyes scanning the bathroom before you calm yourself…you were just hallucinating…you’d hit your head and you were just…seeing things…or maybe going insane… You shake your head before slowly stripping and getting into the shower , hissing out against the water hitting your skull, causing a whine to leave your lips against the pain. You shower pretty quickly , not wanting to pain yourself anymore and…also wanting to just sleep. You sigh out , changing into a baggy t shirt and shorts . Eyes stuck on the words drawn into the steam on the mirror

“leave now. get out.”

You roll your eyes before opening the bathroom door , hair dripping down your skin and clothes stuck on your figure , you walk back into your room, noticing your puppy nuzzling into the air..what a weird dog. You sigh out before flopping onto your bed…scrambling to turn a light off before getting more comfortable into the bed , clicking your tongue for Buddy to jump in. The puppy jumps in, turning before laying down . You pull the covers over the both of you, yawning before your eyes flutter closed . Wanting the day to be over and..also wanting to sleep for the first time in hours.

You drift off to sleep..unaware of the boy now peeling your covers back..pushing himself up against you , his chest up against your back , arm lazily around your waist as he places the warm covers back over the two of you, “oh pretty girl…” he whispers against your ear,chuckling at your little movements, “come on..kill your parents…or just leave..leave the house..kill them…come join me..? hm? “ he whispers , nuzzling into your neck as you mumble something out under your sleep state .

Heaven knows i’m miserable now 🍂

@sarcastic-cookie wanted to be tagged so!!

More jeremy appearances..

Tw ; death discussed..murder discussed… murder..suicide mentioned..Manipulation?

The cold air hits you almost instantly, almost as instantly as the thoughts of murdering your mom and step dad swarm your head. Causing you to shakily take a breath and slide up , back against the pillows as you move to sit up, watching as the outside fog pools into your room..your window was wide open…you could have sworn you’d shut it.. You shake it off, maybe your mom opened it before she left to go shopping or maybe Alan had before going about his moving duties…? It didn’t matter..what mattered now as the fact you were alone…home alone with these new..horrible, disgusting and….somewhat interesting thoughts .

You could murder your mom and step dad…you could get away with it..it wouldn’t be hard to cover up either..no one knew you here , they didn’t know your family ; no neighbours had introduced themselves, your mother kept to herself when shopping..even back home so it’s not like she’d be making any friends here…and Alan hadn’t started work yet..he was just setting up the garage…a quiet place…sound proof too.. That’s how the kid before had murdered his father…luring him into the garage and asking him to help him with some wood work project before turning the electric saw on and ramming it into-

You snap out it , gulping as the thoughts spin around your head, causing the colour to drain from your face and..well..your entire body to shake..? not with fear but with interest..? you could actually get away with murder.

“You look awful today…did you sleep well.?” A voice whispers to you..but you’re too in your little murder trance to even notice that the voice doesn’t belong to your mom or Alan.

“y-yeah..i slept fine…” You mumble back , eyes stuck as you zone back into the world. Snapping back up and towards the voice…you gasp out , eyes stuck on the pale, thin, ghost like boy. Watching as he laughs and moves closer , putting his hands up dismissingly

“not gonna hurt you..” He hums out , smirking as he chuckles , “just wanted to check on you…see how you’re settling in..to..my room.” He stares , eyes stuck on you the same way a wild dog stares down at a helpless little rabbit.

“i…uh..-“

“what do i want? is that your pretty little mind is wondering ? hm?..” He laughs , moving to kick a box out of his way , it flies against the nearest wall causing him to flex his wrists before he jumps to sit on the bed…perching on the edge as he smirks at you again, laughing, “oh well…you know..kinda want you out…it’s not like i’ve been so obvious with it..!” He sarcastically states, you move to slide away.

His hand shoots up, forcing your body back down, “not so fast…i was just about to convince you to kill your stepdad..don’t ruin this for me, pretty…” He laughs , evil shining deep into his pretty brown eyes . His hand drops from its ghost trance , he moves closer .

You open your mouth to speak only for him to roll his eyes , his expression no longer happy or even cocky…he was bored, almost tense by how you raced to speak and leave .

You stare at him , “convince me?” You scoff , glaring at him, disgust and..well shock playing on your face since..this was the psycho who’d murdered his parents in the house…who was now a ghost? who was now…sitting so politely onto your bed..

“yeah..? come on..it’d be fun…” He laughs out , “just do what i did…get him alone -“

“alone in the garage…show him my wood work project i need help with and..”

“drive the electric saw right into his skull…and don’t stop until he’s limp and bleeding out..” He finishes your interruption , laughing loudly as he rolls onto the bed , evil radiating from him as he continues to laugh at his father’s demise and his own actions . He sits back up once he realises you’re not the slightest impressed or even…laughing with him. You were scared, you had every right to be…he was trying to convince you to murder your step dad.

You stare at him, quickly moving away from the bed, moving like some sort of prey..worried he’ll attack you or even stop you with his powers. He sits up, watching as you scramble off the bed and over to the window , clearly panting as you try convince yourself you were still hallucinating.

He rolls his eyes , moving over to his old records and record player , bored of your behaviour and now trying to play a song…one of his comfort songs..maybe one he played before he butchered his parents . He looks back over at you before sliding open the record player , placing the vinyl inside before playing it . Putting the sleeve back on the table , slinking next to you as he scoffs at you.

The music hits your eyes..you’d heard the song before The smiths ; Back to the old house . It’s distracting..it’s only on a low volume but it’s loud enough to overwhelm you in this situation. Your eyes snap downwards, over to Alan who’s not messing around in the yard with power tools, obviously aiming to cut down the treehouse himself.

“he’s gonna kill himself….” Jeremy laughs, his hand ghosting over your shoulder before he pulls at your hair , not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to pull your head towards him, your hand shoot’s up to dismiss him only causing him to laugh at you as he now messes with the strand .

“Get off..!” You mumble at him

“i will…if you kill him.”

“i’m not gonna kill him.”

“you should.”

“why?”

“so you leave my house ? let me go about my ghost business and…actually..” He smirks , pulling you along with him as he grabs a book ; the handbook for the recently deceased…

He flicks through it , pulling your hair so you can read it with him, he smirks before pointing to a page , “murder him…sacrifice him so i can swap with him…i can come back to life..and..we…pretty girl…can murder your mom together..!”

“i am not killing my step dad and i am not…helping you come back to life so you can go on another murder spree..!!” You gasp at him, which causes him to groan out of anger , throwing the book down on your bed before grabbing a fist full of your hair and pushing you back towards the window .

“you don’t even like him…!” He scoffs before his eyes return to Alan..alan who’s now..messing around with an axe ..

Alan who’s now…too weak to handle the axe..Alan who’s now fallen over , the axe stuck in the tree before it drops from a branch, falling before it hits his flesh…a wet squelch cutting through the air , bones crunching as the axe finds its way comfortably sunk into his neck, slicing it as his head rolls and hits the path below. Causing you to scream out , shaking your head as you quickly rush to grab your phone .

Jeremy laughs , “wow…guess we don’t even need to kill him-“

You’re quick to call the cops…screaming about Alan killing himself .

——————-

You return home after the local cops had interrogated you. Slowly slumping into the house , your weeping mother behind you. Her cries echoing through the house , tainting each room and..well filling the house with an incurable sadness. You look over to her, now hunched over the kitchen counter , stood right next to the..- no no this wasn’t about the ghosts you could see..this was about your mom. Her hands gripping the wine glass as she messily pours the wine bottle into the glass. You sigh out before pushing up stairs .

Blinking a couple of times, your eyes stung from all the lights and well…the image of Alan’s dead body . You sigh out before a familiar chuckle fills the small room

“there she is…!!!!” Before you can even speak, an arm snakes around your waist , lips ghosting against your ear , “hi..” He whispers against you, you don’t push him off. You don’t even speak, too traumatised to move . Almost slumping into him as he pushes you onto the bed, his free hand running through your hair

“look at you..huh…”He whispers against your ear, nuzzling into you as he practically cuddles you, “i’ll leave you alone if you sacrifice someone for me..!” He almost sings into your ear, chuckling but stopping once you don’t even respond .

He rolls his eyes, “you didn’t even like him.”

That snaps you out of it, your eyes dart back towards him as you try move away, almost crying .

“sh sh sh…pretty baby..poor baby..hm..” He whispers, cradling you as he cuddles more into you, “aw..poor baby can’t handle a little death…the death of a dickhead she didn’t even like..god you’re pathetic..” He laughs again before rolling his eyes , “fine fine..maybe you should just kill yourself if you’re gonna be so pathetic , huh? join me that way..?” Your eyes scan him for a moment before you push him off, watching as he scrambles up. He quickly disappears, leaving you to cry and sink lower into the bed as you hide under the covers; Jeremy’s words echoing through your mind once again .

Heaven Knows I’m miserable now🍂

… A lot more Jeremy…

@sarcastic-cookie @herondale-lightworm

It’d been four months ; four months since you moved in, four months since your hallucinations and four months since Alan had died. Your mom has finally stopped crying about three months after , i mean she did only know Alan for two months…and she did kinda rush everything…maybe this was the worlds way of telling her he wasn’t what she needed? Your mom seemed happier ; you bonded alot more now, you cooked, you baked and you even gossiped together. She’d started work about a week ago , working at the local libary and you’d started studying…which you weren’t exactly the best at since you found it hard to concentrate. You’d stopped seeing Jeremy around..he’d left you alone..or so you thought .

You wake up, it’s lunch time..you’d slept it once again. Your dog cuddled into your side, your laptop left open and still playing which ever Scream movie you’d left on…you had a habit of picking scary movies and then falling asleep before the end. You stretch, the usual coldness of your room hitting your body as you slink out of bed , eyes darting around before they land on..well…the ghost boy who’d been pestering you the first couple of days you’d moved in and then disappeared for four months.

“hey..” He hums, hand in his pocket and one behind his back, he stands there sort of awkwardly before he looks back out of the window, “i…uh look look i’m gonna apologise for how much of a dick i was..i mean i still want you to die and join me..cause..well that way your mom would leave and then i wouldn’t be so alone..! “ He scoffs out, “but but that’s not why i’m apologising…i’m apologising cause i’m sorry your step dad died..and that you had to deal with me…” He nods, you almost fall for it…but you can’t , you know he murdered his parents and you know he’s probably just saying all of this so you do join him.

He stands there for a moment before rolling his eyes,”i mean it..come on! Believe me, babe. I’m being so-“

“prove it. You can do stuff with your ghost powers so prove you’re really sorry.” You interrupt him, arms crossing over your chest , subconsciously pushing it up in your tank top ; giving the teenage boy before you a view he’ll probably think about for the rest of his undead life . His eyes move, scanning you before they slowly make their way to your face..would you blame him?…he’s still a teenage boy even after years of being dead .

He snaps out of it, “what do you want me to do? posses someone? “ He rolls his eyes before stepping closer to you, his hands now reaching for you before he chuckles out, “hm? i’ll do anything for you..” he whispers against your neck, now nuzzling into your neck causing you to gasp against his ice cold hands and how much his touch seems to taint the warmth you were feeling.

“i don’t know..come on get off..” You mumble out , pulling away which only causes Jeremy to follow, chuckling as his arms fully wrap around you ; his head finding the crook of your neck as he hums out

“i’d do anything for you..” he whispers against your skin, his lips ghosting over your neck . His eyes moving to focus on the way your skin looks, his tongue swiping his bottom lip for a moment before he scoffs out , snapping his head towards yours and his eyes back onto yours .

“i don’t know…just…prove it.”

“how can i prove it if you won’t even tell me what you want? that’s so-“

“can you leave this house?”

“why? want me to run to the store for you..?” He laughs before rolling his eyes, “no. i can’t leave past the treehouse.”

You look over to the treehouse before his hand pushes your face back towards him, his thumb brushing your bottom lip as his eyes fall so intensely onto your lips , his own parting in the process.

“i wanna read the book.”

“that’s all you want ? that’s how im gonna prove it to you? you don’t wanna like…possess your dog for a moment or even..possess your mom..or ask me about the 2000s…you just want the book..?” He stands there, offended that you hadn’t chosen anything that showed his powers or even boosted his ego.

“mhm…the book..and also you have to hang out with me all day-“

“already was planning on that, pretty-“

“and you have to show me your music taste cause..i have no clue how that thing over there works and-“

Before you could even continue, Jeremy laughs, smirking at you before pulling you over to the record player.

“okay okay okay..now we’re talking..!”

He smirks , his eyes moving from you to the record player . He pushes the glass top off of it , his hand moving yours in the process to over it . He stands behind you, his hands moving under your arms as they start to guide your hands to things .

He moves you around , causing small giggles to leave your lips..which just stun him more and..well completely fill his mind ; maybe Jeremy did secretly like you alot more than he let on..and maybe he did actually enjoy hanging out with you. He continues, “okay so this..and this..and this..all make this..” He hums out , guiding your hands and making you press buttons .

“this..!” he hums out, letting a song play before his hands snake over your waist ,pushing your chest against your back as Heaven Knows I’m miserable now plays and fills your ears.

You hum out, giggling as he sways you around , your hands holding his forearms as he continues to gently push you around , you giggle at him ; your head resting against his chest as he continues to sway you around , humming out at the lyrics at you as he turns his head to look at you…admiring you…his eyes stuck on you as he smiles ; it’s a soft smile, not one of the cocky ones he’s worn before , this is a new one you’ve seen..so new it causes you to smile back at him.

He rolls his eyes before his hand lifts your chin a little higher , his eyes stuck on you before his lips meet with yours.

Your eyes close , arms wrapping over his neck as he turns you so your chest to chest , you kiss him back . Continuing to kiss him even after you feel the faint hit of air , your body lifting up before Jeremy pulls away, causing you to look away and around .

You gasp which causes him to chuckle before he sets you both down, he smirks before his hand brushes through your hair , he continues to watch you for a moment before you speak up.

“i said show me the record player not kiss me.” You sarcastically hum which causes him to roll his eyes

“shut up..” He rolls his eyes, laughing for his lips crash against yours again, this time it’s a little rushed and alot softer . You’re not floating around this time, you’re on the ground . Your hands in his hair as you continue to kiss him…this was probably one of the coolest things ever ; kissing a ghost ? how many people would say they’ve kissed a ghost? not many…cause they’d probably be called crazy..but come on it’s cool!!

Jeremy pushes away again, smiling down at you before he grabs the book, his eyes run over you again before he lays back on the bed , “come on..”

“i need a minute…gonna go change..” you hum out , grabbing an old band t shirt and some black flares , Jeremy smirks before nodding at you ; letting you go change before he settles on the bed.

You return , fixing the shirt before moving next to him, eyes scanning the book before you take it from him ; reading the cover before opening a page . Jeremy hums out , his hands moving to your waist as he pushes you down, his head on your chest , “so are we like…undead boyfriend and…alive girlfriend..?” He hums at you

“what?” You’re too busy reading the different parts of the book to even take in whatever he’s saying , just reading it and admiring each part ; your own interest pinning you to each page .

“are we like girlfriend and boyfriend now..?” He whispers which causes you to stop for a moment

“woah..where’d that come from..?”

“we kissed…”

“ i know we kissed,Jeremy..”

“right so…are we together then?”

“i…i don’t know..” You mumble out before continuing to read , holding the book before Jeremy’s head raises to nuzzle into your chest , his eyes stuck on you

“do you want like..flowers ? cause i can get you flowers…? we should be together, come on…you’re the only girl i can see and im the only boy…who..uh..look let’s just date..!”

“you wanted me dead a couple of months ago.” You remind him, now half way through the book before you stop on a page ; The Living….which clearly meant you and the non dead.

“yeah but i’ve only always wanted you dead cause then we can be..like a cute little ghost couple.”

“you’re rushing me.” You hum out , continuing to read before repeating a line, “the living cannot form a relationship with a non living..”

“bullshit..” Jeremy scoffs out , reading the page before he smirks, “another reason you should get someone to repeat this…” he flicks to the page , “so then i can be alive and we can…do alot more than kiss..” He winks

“oh yeah cause the town would just love it if their old..psychopath teenage boy comes back..” You roll your eyes and sarcastically hum out, causing Jeremy to laugh and pull you closer , throwing the book away.

“i wouldn’t murder anyone..again..i’ve learnt my lesson..”

“have you?”

“yeah. I’d be forever yours and i wouldn’t do anything you didn’t approve of..” He smirks , guiding your lips back to his as he kisses you again…you continue to kiss him, giggling as he now rolls you both over so you’re underneath him.

His tongue darts over your bottom lip ; it’s cold..and slightly dry against your skin but who are you to complain? you part your lips for him , letting him push his tongue into your mouth as your own slides against his , your lips capturing his . You’re making out with him…a literal ghost..you should be trying to get him out but no…you’re kissing him , your hands in his hair and your lips moving against his.

The front door opens which causes you to gasp and scramble away from a now chuckling Jeremy , he looks down at you, “look how beautiful you are…” He whispers before you playfully push him away, rolling your eyes before his arms snake around your waist and push his head into your neck , humming out .

“so this is..my daughters room…!” Your mom’s voice interrupts which causes you to jolt up and away from a now annoyed Jeremy who’s now sat so neatly and nicely on your bed. Your door opens to your mom and..some guy , you stand there sort of annoyed and..confused.

“get a load of all this vintage stuff..” The man announces as he moves closer to most of Jeremy’s stuff , “are you selling any of this..?”

“no.” You and your mom quickly reject him, you look back at your mom

“Dan here is gonna buy some of the old…stuff we don’t want..he’s already bought our entire tool supply in the garage .”

“ooh..” You smile before watching your mom move away and out of the room

“are you sure you’re not…selling any of it?” The man hums out , smiling at you

“yeah no i actually love all of this stuff so..i’m keeping it..”

“you don’t look like the type to…enjoy these things-“

“well i do so…”

You stand there for a moment before looking back at Jeremy who’s now well, pushing the open page of the book towards you, “so…are you new to town or..?” you ask Dan, your hand swiping the book as he nods

“yeah yeah…” He hums out before you quickly nod

“you collect vintage stuff right? so..i mean you could buy this ?” You push out the book towards him, watching as he stares down, his hands offering you five dollars before he swipes the book, already reading the page out . The room glows green , a part of the wall opening and dragging Dan and Jeremy in, jeremy waves to you before they both disappear. The wall closing and then room silent…dead silent . Why did you even let Jeremy’s words influence you…was it the fact he kissed you? was it the way he looked at you that stirred you so badly to doing whatever he wanted..?

hi babies !!! it’s me..! i’m thinking of writing a drabble where neighbour! Jeremy Frazier kisses and traces your self harm marks ? or is that too niche and depressing? let me know !!! cause i wanna but.. i don’t wanna upset anyone

hey so i did it . press here

Sweetness

Jeremy Frazier x reader!

Tws ; selfharm mention, self harm scars mentioned , talk of home life . Remember that you can swipe away from this post even after understanding the triggers it may cause . Remember people love you and please be safe , eat and drink . also remember to rest !! i’m proud of you <3

Genderfluid!reader

You sneak your way into Jeremy’s treehouse , climbing up each little wooden step as your eyes fall onto the dark haired teenage boy before you ; your Jer…your sweet boy, the boy who’d never lay a finger on you despite the way he looked at other people, your neighbour and childhood friend . The one who skipped school with who, who let you sleepover whenever your parents argued too loudly , the one who would sneak over with snacks whenever you were sad…and the boy who stole your first kiss after you raved on about it at some childish halloween party. Your Jer…Jeremy Frazier , the sweetheart next door.

He turns his head , closing his book as he chuckles at you, “well well well…if it isn’t my favourite…” He hums out , patting the spot next to him as he places the book down next to his little brown bag of corner shop candies . His smile just bright enough to warm the cold air around and causing your own smile to peak out .

You quickly slide down next to him, head on his shoulder , “hi jer..” you mumble as you reach over for a piece of candy , you fumble around in the bag before grabbing a piece of honeycomb toffee , placing it into your mouth before chewing on the crisps piece .

Jeremy smiles down at you, his hand moving to your side to trace shapes into your side , “hi beautiful…” he mumbles out , letting his eyes fall back onto the leafs covering a part of the wooden panel. He sighs before pushing you a little closer to him, letting your head slowly shift on his shoulder . His other hand moving over your wrist , tracing the skin there before he sighs out , “baby…we talked about this…thought you were gonna stop..”

You look up at him, trying to move your wrist away before his captures it and holds it a little tighter, “i..i’m sorry..i just couldn’t..they were arguing and everything got loud and…” you ramble out , half whispering half embarrassed.

He brings your wrist up before his fingers trace the skin again, “i know…i know “ he mutters out , now pulling you onto his lap ; his head so close to yours as he kisses your forehead. Now raising your wrist to his lips as he peppers kisses to each and every little mark on your skin , “i’m here..i’m not gonna leave, i’ve got you..you’re staying here tonight and we’ll cuddle , okay?” he mumbles against your skin , lips warm against the coldness .

You nod at him, “i’m sorry..” you sigh out , watching him as he moves to kiss more skin, holding your other wrist up, kissing more marks and scars , letting each one feel his kisses.

“love you..” he mutters between kisses as you sit there , watching him before you look away in some sort of sad little daze .

“love you too.”

“promise me..promise me you’ll come find me whenever you feel like that again? okay? don’t want my baby hurting themselves cause of their stupid parents .” He stares up at you, causing you to nod and look back at him.

“promise.”

He smiles before pressing a kiss against your lips , peppering your face which causes you to squeal out and laugh against how ticklish his lips feels against your skin . You let him continue to plant kisses against your skin before you cuddle him , letting the warmth of your body mix with his . Slowly relaxing against him for a while.

His hand finds its way into your hair , his other slowly tracing up and down your back again , “which movie are we gonna watch first ? hm?” he whispers at you, kissing your forehead again .

“hmmm…scream?” you giggle against him, picking one of jeremy’s usual picks , not minding what movie plays , just wanting to relax under your usual safety blanket ; Jeremy Frazier .

Heaven Knows I’m miserable now🍂

…

@sarcastic-cookie @herondale-lightworm @anunstablefangirl @kitsbaby123

More jeremy !!!!!!!!!!!!

I’d been hours , four long hours…it was dark outside and you were ready for bed ; settled so nicely in your bed , reading and trying…failing…to distract yourself from your ghost boyfriend who’d well…disappeared from the face of the earth. Maybe he’d moved on…? moved onto the next thing…made at peace or something…you’d hoped he hadn’t , you missed him. Rethinking everything, the way his lips felt so perfect against yours . You tried to read a book, only stopping on the same sentence two hundred and three times , Heaven knows I’m miserable now by the Smiths echoing through the dull room .

You were bored…sad and somewhat completely still confused by everything. You heard your bedroom door slowly open before a very breathless and..soaking wet Jeremy appeared.

“there she is..!”Jeremy pants out , “oh i’m so glad you’re here cause i’ve just had to fight the weirdest…” He stops , shaking himself as he laughs out , “i’m human like i’m actually breathing and stuff and i bruise and..oh my god i can actually leave this place ..”

You stare at him, leaving your bed to hug him, “missed you.”

“oh? yeah? i…uh…yeah…i missed you too but listen, baby…i just had to fight the weirdest guy over in..the underworld thing..? like he was not letting me leave but..uh i mean he did let me but-“ You cut him off , lips meeting with his as he freezes, pushing off for a moment.

“you’re warm..”

“yeah i’m alive again so i’m-…you kissed me.”

“yeah..? i missed you.”

“so are we like officially together now..since like…im human and not dead and like totally able to go on dates with you.”

You roll your eyes , pushing his head back to yours as you lead him onto the bed , his hands gripping your thighs as he leans over you, tongues dancing and lips hungrily smashing together. Your hands in his hair , he hums out occasionally; clearly dazed by everything and now the fact he was human and able to kiss his little human girlfriend without a care or a problem….well besides the problem brewing between his hips..

He lifts you a little higher, shifting himself between your thighs as he continues to kiss you , his hands wearily moving from your thighs and under your shirt causing a small hum to leave your lips…

“hm..” He stops for a moment, “i have missed this..”

“oh?” you stop, blinking at him as he hand slowly runs over your chest , your eyes half lidded as you stare at him

“i…i..not like that! i meant being a human…i wasn’t like some total manwhore…i mean this is the closest i’ve gotten to actually touching-…ill just…ill just shut up..”

You giggle at him, moving his head to rest on your chest as your fingers run through his wet hair , sighing out , “you worried me…”

“i know but trust me…i would never leave you..i chose to haunt you when i was a ghost and..i am so gonna haunt you now im alive….you’re gonna have to kill me to get me to leave ..” He smiles up at him, fingers drawing circles into your skin, eyes shining with softness and admiration once again as yours mirror his.

“i think id like it if you haunted me forever, jer…”

“yeah..?”

“mhm…”

You both settle , breathing matching as you stare at each other…mind at peace and body calm under his…you’d have this forever .

love

The Wanderer

jeremy frazier x fem oc.

chapter one: hey, sadie, it’s 1999.

From Jeremy’s window, you get a good view of the town. The trees all turning brown and gold, the leaves which fall from them in varying shades of reds and yellows. Some are dead, with only branches to spare. Then there is the winding road, of course, and the small stores that tunnel it.

From Jeremy’s window, people are putting together Christmas decorations on their houses, string lights in multicolours, and Santa Claus signs in the yards.

From Jeremy’s window, she stares down into his backyard. Her backyard. Their backyard, as it has been for so long. There’s the stolen bike propped up on the inside fence, waiting for the cops. There is the eyesore pile of leaves laying crisp in wait for the kids from next door to come and dive into when they’re feeling daring. There is Jeremy’s childhood treehouse, its paint red and faded but standing strong. And sitting at its edge, strumming a guitar, is Jeremy himself. His long fingers dance along the guitar strings, long legs hanging over the edge of the doorway he sits in. Today, Jeremy’s dressed in her favourite teal sweater of his, and black jeans. His head is bent over the guitar ever so slightly, chocolate curls brushing his eyes. It’s strange, how she gets the urge to grab his curls and slam his face into the treehouse wall. Strange indeed.

As if he can sense her watching, Jeremy raises his head and tilts back, lifting a knee up to his chest under the guitar. Milky skin is unchanged in the cool weather, darling pink lips turning up to a smile. A set of dark brown eyes meet her’s, and they set there. He’s calm today, apparently. He’s kind.

Sadie isn’t.

Today she feels…angry. They’re always conflicting emotions, the two of them. A match strikes inside her, and she raises a confident hand to her neck, swiftly moving it across in a slicing motion, clenching her teeth.

Jeremy’s mouth only tugs upward, perfect white teeth on display. He tears his eyes away and down to the guitar strings, and begins to play again. The song is familiar, but she’s never learned its name. He won’t tell her. She can’t help but latch her eyes on his hand, strumming the strings like they’re the most delicate things in the world. Memories cast phantom fingertips along her wrists, searching somewhat softly for a pulse. She’d had one, then, at that particular moment in time.

Which was why he’d swung the bat again.

“You should come down!” His voice calling pulls her from the past. It’s like honey, not at all uncaring, and it does the trick. “The fresh air’ll do you some good!”

Sadie scoffs harshly. Fresh air…Is he trying to be funny?

“Move away from the window, Sadie,” he chastises, he advises, he urges.

She folds her arms and waits heavily on one hip, tapping her fingers along her arms, and steps backward until she’s definitely out of his vision. The street is busy, today, but the treehouse is just behind the fence and out of sight. She could really annoy him and open the window, throw herself out—that usually gives him a bit of a shiver, at least. Or maybe—

“I know what you’re thinking, Sadie! Stop plotting and come down!”

He knows her too well. Being house-bound for twenty years will do that to a person.

Tilting her head, she allows herself to consider the options:

One—leaving their room today would be a nice change of scenery. She hasn’t left it in exactly a week, rotting in desperation and depression. Eyeing the movie posters on the walls, Sadie thinks of all of the things that could go wrong by going outside. Absolutely nothing, to be real. She just risks blowing up on Jeremy for the third time this week.

Two—Jeremy would try to serenade her with a sweet word and deescalation techniques, and she couldn’t promise that she wouldn’t try to throw herself and him out of the treehouse.

“What do you think, Prisoner Panda?”

Sadie turns to their bed. There are Jeremy’s old plushies of course, only an alien from the movies in Montana, and a blanket. But there is also her panda, a small and ragged thing left here by chance many moons ago. He’s cartoonish and limp, now the stuffing has moved so much. But he’s still smiling, and he smells like home. Prisoner Panda is Prisoner Sadie’s only best friend.

The other one killed her.

Prisoner Panda does not answer her.

“I should go out, right?” Sadie nods to the inanimate object. “A change of scenery will make me feel better, huh? Yeah. I think so, too.”

She takes a jacket from the back of Jeremy’s desk chair and pulls it on over her outfit of red dress and tights. The next step is getting out of the bedroom. Jeremy’s music is still playing away from the yard, as Sadie slips through the hallway. The yellow patterned wallpaper smells faintly of cigarette smoke and baking, the smell of which only becomes stronger the closer she gets to the ground floor and the kitchen.

The staircase is somewhat creaky, the banister painted dark brown, like old varnished mud, and the steps are the same. She can’t count the times she fell on these stairs, all the times Jeremy’s mom would help her with an ice pack to the knee, or the head.

As if she can sense Sadie thinking about her, Jeremy’s mother comes hurrying by the staircase just when Sadie reaches the bottom. Her long blonde hair is tied up today in a pretty bun, and stuck through with green sparkling pins. She has a rag and a bottle of cleaning detergent in her hand, peering at Sadie with her one good eye. She bursts into a bright smile exactly like her son’s.

“Morning, Sade.” Her pale hands wipe down every inch of the walls. Always cleaning, is Sara. Obsessively so.

You’d deduced together, you and Jeremy, that his parents were completely unaware that they were dead. To them, it was just another day. The kitchen utensil sticking through Jeremy’s mother’s eye was nothing to her, and the same for the one in his father’s head. The weapons their son had used didn’t phase them in the slightest, because to them it never happened. Life went on as normal. Was it a coping method, she wondered? Or hadn’t they reached the level of self-awareness in the afterlife of which she and their son had?

Passing by the living room, Sadie clears her throat. “Morning, Ted.”

Ted Frazier is by all means, a couch potato. While Sara cleans, Ted hogs the television. “Mornin’. Think Jeremy’s outside…”

Through the homely hallway, decked in frames of she and Jeremy in Montana, the last one at their graduation, and snapshots of Ted and Sara’s life together, including small images of baby Jeremy, and other family members Sadie only met the once. It smells strongly of lavender and lemon cleaning products, like a little trail of Sara.

Through the dining room, past Sara stress-polishing the table, Sadie strolls to the open back door, and out into the world.

There’s the plain garden fence, encasing the small bench on one side (where Jeremy can’t reach), the red treehouse, and down to the open driveway.

The wind blows firmly today, but not enough to put her off coming outside. It kisses her skin like she’s still alive, and the grass is cool under her feet, bare beside the material of her tights. Jeremy’s coat blows, forcing her to wrap it tighter with her arms crossed around the front. Sadie raises her gaze to the sound of strumming, the high notes blending softly together.

“Hey, Sade,” his voice comes down, gentle, like he’s approaching a frightened animal. “It’s a nice morning.”

Across the damp ground she approaches him, staring from the bottom of the ladder at first. She wishes to scare him, get her own back. Not that she hasn’t done so in the past twenty years, but it’s long overdue since the last time. Two weeks, exactly, since she’d tried to throw him down the stairs. Jeremy had the upper hand, and pushed her over the banister instead.

“If you came here to stare at me and say nothing I’d say just go back inside,” he drawls. “You’re being boring.”

“You’re an asshole.” She spits, full of spite.

“You said that last week. And then you couldn’t get enough—”

Quickly, she raises her hands and claps them around his thin ankle, feeling the bones grind beneath her fingers. And she yanks, hard on his weight. He shifts only once, enough to be startled, the guitar falling hard to the wood beneath, and then she pulls again, unforgiving this time. Jeremy yells in surprise and pain, body landing with a thump on the thick tree roots at the base. Groaning on his back, a hand stronger than it looks takes a fistful of her hair and twists, as her own balls up and pounds into the junction at his neck—right where he broke it.

“Get off!” He’s angry, now. And good, she thinks, he deserves to feel what she is feeling, and slaps her palm across his face. It’s only eleven in the morning, but they’re about to have many, many fights today. “You little psycho, go back inside!”

Sadie laughs, and then cries out. Jeremy slides his fingers through her hair to her temple, digging firmly into the place of injury.

“Ow! Ow, fuck!” She lets go of his collar. Jeremy wrenches himself from her grip.

They’ve had this particular back-forth situation happen a million times. She knows how to hurt him—digging into his broken neck—and he does her—by pushing on the spot of impact.

“You told me to come out!” She manages to yell, pushing a hand free between them both to take a dig at his bruised neck. “You—told—me!”

“I thought you were feeling angry, not murderous! I can deal with angry.”

“Shame I had to deal with murderous!”

She bites at his wrist, grazing it, and Jeremy laughs like he can’t believe it, taking a handful of her hair to pull her away. They’ve done this a million times, and he still acts shocked.

It makes her think of his twentieth birthday back in 2001, play-fighting in the front room. They’d just watched a rerun of some army movie and tried to replicate their moves. Surprisingly, she’d had him on his back, watching in glee as he wrestled her over, hovering carefully between her knees and complaining about a girl being stronger than him.

Such a shame things went the way they did back then.

She doesn’t stop fighting him because she wants to; they stop because of his mom. She yells from the doorway.

Sara sighs heavily. “Jeremy! Not again, guys! Back To The Future is playing in five, don’t you want to watch it?”

The two of them are quiet, just breathing hard, adrenaline running. Jeremy moves away slightly, giving her space. He lightens the hold on her hair, brushing the bloodied dip of her skull from the incident so long ago. His thumb brushes over it, a loving touch and a tender warning all the same.

“Yeah!” He calls, stumbling back to his feet. “We’re coming now.”

“Well, don’t be late for it! You know what your dad’s like.” Sara laughs nervously, tittering in place. “I’m going to get started on lunch!”

Lying on her back watching the clouds float by, Sadie waits to catch her non-needed breath. After a few seconds, she sits upright, and uses the tree to get to her feet. Jeremy stands a little way off with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, observing her.

“Feel better, psychopath?”

She nods her head, and hums. “A little.”

Jabbing his thumb to the house, he lets that smirk appear. “Can we go watch a movie now? You’re not gonna smash the television over my head are you?”

Sadie pushes him aside, passing. “Don’t push your luck.”

They settle on the couch for the movie, and stay there until it’s nearly time for dinner. There’s no benefit of eating in the afterlife—the food is nice, but pointless. It has no nutritional value whatsoever, but Sadie does it to appease Sara, who has never known she’s dead.

That night, in the dark coziness of their bedroom, tucked under covers and blankets galore, Jeremy presses a mirage of kisses along the impact zone on her skull, raining love along the violence. He noses at her neck, and breathes in the flat of her collar.

“I’m tired,” mutters Sadie, laying a warm hand against his bruised neck. She feels the blood pooled under his skin, tiny fragments of bones dancing around under there.

“So sleep,” he says.

For the first time in weeks, she does.

—

“We really should put out the Christmas decorations. I’ll ask Ted and Jeremy to go get them down from the attic later…”

It’s raining hard this morning of December seventh. The sky cries, presenting itself in dark blue. The stand mixer whirs, and so does Sara, spinning back and forth around the kitchen for the things she needs to make cupcakes. Sadie’s supposed to be helping her, but the Vogue magazine from 1999 that she has read a million times is just so damn interesting…

Rain cracks down on the windows. Lifting her eyes, she watches the droplets slide down the glass, and pool at the dip in the window ledge.

“What do you think, Sade?”

She looks to Sara, now. The cooking utensil sticking out of her face used to bother Sadie greatly, but now it’s like looking at a friend—the abnormalities don’t bother her much anymore.

“What?”

Sara smiles but rolls her good eye. She waves the bowl of batter. “I said, vanilla or strawberry flavoring?”

“Strawberry,” she decides, looking back to page four. “We had vanilla last week didn’t we?”

“Right we did, Sade. Right we did…”

It’s boring, being dead. Trying to find ways to pass the time when you’re aware that you’re no longer living is difficult. At first, they tried everything, she and Jeremy. Football games in the yard (once they got past the initial hatred stage); moving household furniture around; and other things. But there’s only so much time that being intimate and pushing furniture pieces around can fill.

They started to get creative.

By trying to kill each other again.

“Bet this isn’t what you thought came after death,” she told him once upon a time, trying to gather a bit of broken skull off of the floor.

“Not. One. Bit.” Jeremy seethed, trying to crack his neck back in place.

It’s been twenty-two years since this Vogue magazine came out, but when she looks out of the window, the style is coming back around. The two-thousands never dies, it seems. She’s seen it come back about five times, now.

The chair shrieks across the tiles when she stands up. Sara grimaces and casts a look to the hallway, where Ted’s programme can be heard. It hasn’t gone amiss that there’s been a lack of arguing on Ted’s part this past week—he’s bound to blow up anytime now. Every little noise Sadie makes is like pulling on the tense wire that is Sara’s nerves.

She leans down to the windowsill, her head down on her arms, watching the world go by. School kids wait for the yellow busses, a couple of teens bike on by, laughter high on the rain. The headlights on the newer cars shine down the street, whizzing past at a speed waaaaay over the limit. Longing pulls at her heart.

A shuffle somewhere behind her draws her eyes up, refocusing on the reflection of the lit kitchen in the glass.

“Morning,” Jeremy sighs, pulling a chair from underneath the table and sitting heavily. He’s in black pyjama pants and a loose-fitting red sweater, and he takes the bowl of cereal his mom offers him, digging in straight away.

Ugh. Sadie looks away, out of the window again. This time, she swears a kid looks right at her. Probably not—Jeremy’s always said living people can’t see them one bit. Unless they’re Lydia Deetz, but she’s a bit of a folk story in their world. A could-be, whom people want to believe can give them a way out. There are whispers, and shouts, but nobody has proven her to be the real deal yet.

“Did you get a good sleep?” Sara lays a gentle hand in her son’s curls, shifting them. “Your father and I didn’t keep you awake yelling did we? I tried to tell him to quieten down; that he’d wake the two of you. But…well, you know how he is.”

As a matter of fact, yes, Ted did keep them awake. Something about slipping on the stairs because they’d been polished too much. Unable to sleep, Sadie had turned on some alternative rock from Jeremy’s player, and watched the world go by all night at his desk chair, contemplating life and the afterlife. Nearly twenty-three years of the same posters on the walls, twenty-three years of Ted and Sara, twenty-three years of Jeremy sleeping with his back to her, tossing and turning, like he can’t face the consequences of his actions.

In the middle of the night, governed by moonlight, she had even dug out Jeremy’s copy of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and had a good old flick through. Hers had been thrown under the bed when she missed her target of Jeremy the week prior, and she couldn’t be bothered to go crawl under there and grab it.

Seven-hundred pages of illustrated explanations, incantations in different languages of all kinds. Nothing particularly helpful, besides the whole ‘draw a door!’ thing it offered, for those who wanted to talk to a case worker.

They’d done that in the early days, when the desperate need to escape became too much for even him. See, Jeremy’s death had been an accident. Hers, an unfortunate consequence. Wrong place, wrong time. In another life, she might have stayed home. Jeremy wouldn’t have come out to the garden to find her. The cops would have found him in the house and arrested him before taking him to prison, and her life would have continued in a decent deal of shock, but at least it would have continued.

Jeremy had drawn a messily-etched door on the wall, tearing down his precious posters, and knocked three times. It materialised and opened up into winding hallways passing grotesque endings and frightful things. It was a whole city—dry cleaners and police forces in terrible hues of reds and greens, dirty and depressing; a waiting room, and an immigration centre, for those wanting to reach the Pearly Gates, the Fires of Damnation, Elysium or the Great Beyond, governed by the dead. Their case worker, Juno, in her last year working, sat them down and explained the basics.

They were dead. This was the afterlife. No, Sadie, there hadn’t been a mistake. No, Jeremy, he couldn’t go back. But the good news was that they weren’t stuck forever! Sadie blew her nose noisily at this on a tissue Juno handed over the desk as Jeremy side-eyed her, clenching his fists. This was not what he’d hoped for.

“One-hundred-seventy years for you!” Juno slapped a stamp down on a business-like card, a bit of slip with Jeremy’s name in blood-red ink looped along the top line. “For soul redemption, and per the guidelines.” She slapped it down in front of him. “Don’t lose that, young man!”

She turned to Sadie next, human-looking with permed blonde hair and kind eyes. “Sadie, darling, I know this is hard to comprehend.” She touched Sadie’s hand, before offering a glance to Jeremy, as if willing him to understand. “Murder victims are often the hardest to console—the shock.” She picked up her pen with the other hand and began to write out another card.

“Only fifty years for you, my dear. Your life review deemed it unfair to have you repent for his sins. But, per the guidelines, you also have a lot of reviewing to do.”

“What happens after the time is up?” Snapped Jeremy at her side. His foot tapped anxiously at the ground. “What does it mean?”

“You’ll come back here and head on over to immigration! Show them your passports—they’ll arrive in a few days, so not to worry about that. You’ll have a choice: reunion at the Pearly Gates with other family members. Damnation if the council decides you have more repentance to continue. Or the Great Beyond, if you would like another shot at life. We give significant wait times between your death and your departures overall to allow those who have passed into our current side the opportunity to really think through their choices.”

Jeremy shifts, leaning forward. When Sadie shifts her gaze away from Juno to her boyfriend, there’s this look on his face. Anger, shock, mixed with a bit of terror that this is what the afterlife is.

“So this happens to everyone?” He asks.

Leaning back, Juno shakes her frizzy hair. “Not everybody, no. Some people become ghosts, others don’t. Luck of the draw. We aren’t completely sure why only certain people end up in our state, but it happens more often than you think. The live people think it’s down to unfinished business. But you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, both? You’re very new here. And oh, so young! Twenty…what an age! Not to worry—we have some pamphlets I can give to you. We run acceptance classes on a Thursday night, all about accepting you’re dead. It helps some dead to make peace with their circumstances. And of course if you ever have any queries or complaints, we’re always here to help!”

Thunder cracked, and the book in Sadie’s hands slid from them, falling to the floor with a heavy thud. It fell open, face-up. She leaned down to it and examined its pages contents. The book only displayed the contents when it deemed the reader ready for them. The pages her book showed would not necessarily be the same ones as in Jeremy’s.

SO YOU WANT TO EXCHANGE YOUR AFTERLIFE FOR ONE OF THE LIVING? READ ON NOW, WE CAN HELP!

The bed sheets ruffled, Jeremy rolling over in his sleep. Ted screamed at his wife two floors below, and Sara’s words came through among the sobs.

Creeping across the room on light feet, she sat down at her boyfriend’s side. “Hey, Jeremy…you’ve got to get up.”

He opened his eyes, seriously unimpressed, rubbing them.

Sadie leaned down, smugly smiling. “I’ve got an idea.”

The following afternoon, residing in the same chair after a fight with Jeremy and an aching heart, Sadie thought back on her whole twenty-two years in this house. Her parents were somewhere out there in the big wide world, in their sixties. Her siblings would be grown with families of their own, having been to college, or travelled. Maybe she was a sad reminder in a photo frame on the mantelpiece somewhere, or a candle lit in memory on the anniversary of her death, or her birthday. She might be a story shared at Christmas, replayed every few years on the news. She missed them terribly.

She thought long and hard about the lead up to her death, and spiralled. For the rest of the afternoon and well into the night, curled up beside him, she thought over first encounter with Jeremy in the town, and a long drive into what became her new home.

She thought way back when, to 1999.

CHAPTER 2 -> to be published.