False Sight (Peter, Lavannah, Aly, Open)

[lavannah.livejournal.com]

When Peter answered the door to Lavannah and David, Lavannah cast her pseudo-father a worried look. Peter had paint on his forehead and in his hair and he looked...for lack of a better word, insane. "Come in!" Peter said, his voice slightly too loud with a manic edge that made Lavannah's spirit guide incredibly uncomfortable. It made sense. Lavannah's spirit guide was Peter's dead mother. And she was worried about her son. Once she and David had been ushered inside, Lavannah glanced around and waited. "Oh right! I could take you upstairs."

"Or you know...you don't have to. I know the way." Lavannah smiled thinly. She already knew that Katherine wouldn't be up there. Katherine probably wasn't a ghost. She wouldn't have stuck around. She had had no reason to stay. Peter wasn't seeing ghosts, he was just seeing things in general, which was not a very good sign to say the least.

Aly appeared in the living room, bouncing baby Thomas in her arms. She smiled at David and Lavannah, though she remained silent. Peter looked over at her and then back to Lavannah. "No, I'll go with you." He turned to David and Aly. "We'll be right back, okay?"

Lavannah took Peter's hand as they walked up the stairs and Peter turned to her and he gave her a tired smile. "How are you feeling, Peter?" She ventured, carefully.

"Oh...worried about Katherine." Peter pushed the door to his bedroom open and he held it for Lavannah. "Other than that...I suppose I'm fine."

"What about your headaches?" Lavannah knew about headaches. You got them a lot when you couldn't block out the voices of the dead. Thank goodness for Louise who now did that for her.

"Oh they're...masked with an ever increasing dose of aspirin." Peter's smile was getting thinner by the moment. "She was in there." He pointed to the bathroom and then he hung back like a child who was telling his parents to get the spider. Or a Peter who was telling Aly to get the spider...

Lavannah walked straight into the bathroom and she looked around. There was dried red paint on the floor and in the sink, but no ghosts. Not a one. She stuck her head out. "Peter...come here."

Peter hesitated. "Do I gotta?" He didn't really like seeing the ghost of his dead first girlfriend.

"She's not in her, Peter." Lavannah reached her hand out for him and Peter took it. She pulled him into the room slowly. "Katherine's not here. I don't think she ever was."

Peter looked distraught. "But...but I saw her! I didn't make it up!"

"I don't think you did, but you weren't seeing a ghost. Unless you saw the young lady right there." Lavannah pointed to the ghost with the yellow hair, hiding in the corner. "But her name is Melanie."

Peter backed out of the bathroom and fast. "Th...there's a ghost in there? Now?"

Lavannah smiled at Melanie reassuringly. "He just doesn't understand, it's okay." And Melanie looked quite relieved. Lavannah turned back to Peter and she exited the bathroom. "You hurt her feelings."

"She's...haunting my bathroom! Did...has she seen me shower?!"

Lavannah sighed. "Peter..."

"Can you...send her on?"

"She doesn't want to go. That's not my choice to make. And usually she's in Lydia or Anna's room anyway." Lavannah explained.

"What?!" Peter's voice was incredulous.

"Peter!" Lavannah's voice was suddenly sharp and quite loud for such a small person. "Melanie is nice and your kids make her happy. She watches over them. She's hardly the only ghost here. But Katherine was not here. I think...you're seeing things. Things that aren't there..." Lavannah was uncomfortable telling him that since he'd been the first one to believe that she could see ghosts. It felt like a betrayal. Peter sighed and he sat down on the bed in defeat. "I'm sorry..."

"No. No, Lavannah, it's not your fault. Could you just...give me a moment here?"

"Yeah. Of course I can." Lavannah nodded and she gave him a quick kiss on the top of his head before running down the stairs back to David and Aly. They were waiting on the couch, cooing to the baby. "Hi..."

Aly looked up. "Did you find anything?"

After Peter's reaction to Melanie, Lavannah left her out of it. "No. Katherine's not there. She wasn't there. He's...erm...seeing things."