Banished Divinity: Learning to be Human

"Oh, I'm sorry," the ghost said, and she had the decency to look embarrassed. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sera. But I think you already know that, judging by the fact that you're in my body and I've been watching you for the past few weeks."

"You've been watching me," I gasped.

"Not in a creepy way!" she said quickly. "I mean, yes, technically it's creepy. I'm a ghost watching someone live my life. That's objectively creepy. But I didn't mean it to be creepy. I just—I didn't know what else to do. I was there, and then I wasn't, and then I was watching you, and I thought, 'Well, she seems to be handling things better than I would,' and then you called Mum a peasant and I thought, 'Okay, maybe not better, but definitely more entertainingly.'"

I continued to stare at her.

She continued to talk. This, I was learning, was a Sera trait.

"The slipper thing was amazing, by the way. Mum hasn't thrown a slipper at anyone since I was fifteen when I tried to dye my hair purple. I was very impressed. Also horrified. But mostly impressed."

"Moo," Moo Moo said weakly from the bed.

The ghost—the human Sera—looked down at him.

"Isn't he the cutest?" the human Sera said.

"I know what he is," I said. "I've known him longer than you have."

"Oh! Right! Of course you have. You're—" She gestured at me vaguely. "—you're the celestial one. The one from the heavens. I saw you. When I was—" She paused. "—when I was dying."

The words hung in the air.

Dying.

She had said it so casually. Like it was nothing. Like it was just a thing that happened, like losing your keys or forgetting to buy milk.

"You were dying," I said.

"Technically, I am dead." She said it like she was correcting a minor detail. "I was dead for a few seconds. After the explosion. There was light. A tunnel. The whole thing. Very cliché. I almost went into it. I almost—" She stopped. Her voice wavered. "I almost left. But I couldn't. I hadn't said goodbye. To Mum. To Dad. To Mina. To—" She waved a hand. "—everyone. I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. So, I stayed. And then you woke up in my body, and I thought, 'Well, this is convenient.'"

"Convenient," I repeated.

"Very convenient. You're already here. You're already living my life. You're already being weird and calling people peasants and getting into fights. All I need is for you to—" She stopped. Her face did something complicated. "—to help me finish things. Before I go."

I stared at her.

She stared at me.

Moo Moo, who had recovered enough to sit up, looked between us with the expression of someone watching a tennis match. "Moo," he said. Which in this context meant something like Are you two going to talk, or should I get snacks?

"The boy," I said slowly. "The one who messaged you. The one you needed to give an answer to."

Human Sera's face went pink. Even as a ghost, apparently, she could blush.

I didn’t know ghost can blush. Interesting.

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