{"id":3211,"date":"2017-04-28T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T04:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3211"},"modified":"2017-04-27T22:29:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T02:29:43","slug":"ten-02-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3211","title":{"rendered":"Ten – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

J.T. rested his hands against his knees, staring at nothing for the span of a few heartbeats.<\/p>\n

Calm. Find your center. Just breathe.<\/em><\/p>\n

The absurdity of what he was trying to do struck him, though he tried to shunt it aside. Talking to the dead was part of what he was now\u2014maybe it had always been<\/em> a part of him that he didn\u2019t realize was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cJameson, what are you doing?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He flinched at the sound of \u00c9riu\u2019s voice. He could sense her as she manifested next to him, sitting on the ground alongside him. He looked at her sidelong and she gazed back, her spectral gaze as unnerving as it was probing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to learn to do what I\u2019m supposed to be able to do,\u201d he muttered. She tilted her head to one side, her brow arching.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t ask for help.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think you could,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The ghost shrugged. \u201cI could try. A lot of it you learn by doing, though. But why are you out here alone? Someone should be here with you to make sure you\u2019re all right.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big boy, \u00c9riu. I\u2019ll be fine without supervision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about that,\u201d<\/em> she said, though she smiled faintly. J.T. took a deep breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t want to worry anyone. The longer I can keep all of this pretty quiet, I think the happier everyone will be. Too many people know already.\u201d<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t know as much as I know, and even I don\u2019t know everything. I know it\u2019s made people uncomfortable.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hell, it still makes <\/em>me uncomfortable.<\/em><\/p>\n

He felt the chill of her touch, her ghostly fingers resting against his arm. \u201cYou have nothing to be ashamed of.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d he lied. \u201cAre you going to let me get on with this anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as if I could stop you,\u201d<\/em> she said. \u201cBut do you mind if I stay?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like I can stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot yet,\u201d<\/em> she whispered. \u201cBut someday, yes. Someday you will.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.] J.T. rested his hands against his knees, staring at nothing for the span of a few heartbeats. Calm. Find your center. Just breathe. The absurdity of what he was trying to do … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,251,14],"tags":[150,205,171,170,160,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-10-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-eriu","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-PN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3212,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211\/revisions\/3212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}