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There was a girl of pure white in the room Emily slept in. She tip-toed around the bed, danced to the music box, and blew out the candle when Emily fell asleep. Emily couldn't see her, not even when the girl's hand ghosted through her tangled hair, as if trying to brush it for her. Kevin did, though. He always saw her when he stepped foot in Emily's room. He always saw her floating above Emily as he told bedtime stories. The girl and him, they only gazed at each other, never pushing through that barrier of silence.
Until, one night, the girl told him her name. It was a strange night, a night where the wind blew strong but the leaves weren't trembling. Kevin always wondered if it was the strangeness of that night that made the even stranger girl feel more talkative. The cause didn't matter, though. The barrier had been broken the moment she spoke her name.
Alyss.
To acknowledge that he heard her, Kevin, as he pulled a blanket over a sleeping Emily, said it back to her.
The girl, Alyss, told Kevin many things after that. And they had many conversations. Alyss slowly became less strange and more of a wonderful friend, a comfort, and talking to her as the stars shined became something to look forward to. The way Alyss ended the conversation by blowing out a candle had always unsettled Kevin, though. The life of the small flame seemed to be the only thing she could ever interfere with in this world.
One particular conversation Kevin had with Alyss always haunted him. The exchange happened on the same sort of strange, odd night as the night when Alyss spoke her name. But on this night, instead of speaking a name, she spoke of her heart.
"I had seven hearts... Now I have only four," Alyss had said. She leaned in, waving her fingers through Kevin's hair, which was the same color as the light she radiated. Kevin didn't say anything in response. The way her words sounded... It was like she already knew all that he could ever ask.
"I have always been dead... I was born dead. When I first opened my eyes, there were seven hearts within me." Alyss gently guided Kevin's hand to her chest. She couldn't really touch him, but he let his fingers follow hers, until they hovered over the ghostly skin that covered where a heartbeat should be.
But there was not a heartbeat, but heartbeats. Kevin felt the dissonance of four pulsing hearts beneath his fingertips. He stared into Alyss's eyes, enraptured. Yes, it was a strange, strange night.
"Sometimes... I give a heart away... When I want to feel close to them and feel like I am really touching them. I gave the first heart to a man that had pretty green eyes. He always made me smile. The second one was given to a girl with a sweet voice." Alyss briefly turned her head towards a dreaming Emily.
Alyss didn't continue. She was waiting for something to be asked, and Kevin knew what it was.
"Who did you give the third heart?" The moment the question was in the air, Kevin felt a rattle in his chest. Alyss smiled.
"I gave it to you."