2012
Los Angeles, California

Destiny sat on the stairs, she patiently waited for the woman to walk in, her big brown eyes looked over to the clock that stayed against the wall, the seconds slowly started to reach the twelve number, indicating that it was going to be four o'clock already. Lauren was going to walk in and ask for help, the elderly woman has come every day since 1995, she asked for help and wanting to talk to her son, a young boy who had died when his dreams were going to come true. Lauren was now sixty-four and she never gave up the possibility of being able to speak to her son, but Wendy Brennan always said the same thing she had said over the past seventeen years.

"I'm sorry Lauren, but I can't reach your son." Wendy would've apologized about it, she would hold tightly her hands as the elderly would cry.

Destiny's heart broke whenever her mother said she couldn't find him, it pained the little girl that her mother never had the heart to tell the woman the truth, ghosts don't exist. The brunette always told her mother to be honest to be true to her clients and not rise the high hopes of people. However, her mother always shook her head and chuckled.

"Oh Destiny, ghosts exist. Spirits who have unfinished business stay on earth, they die for terrible reasons and God knows it wasn't their time, so, he helps them, they get to stay on earth until they finish and reach their goal. Then they can go peacefully to heaven." Her mother always explained this to her, it had always been her answer to the little one.

"But how does it involve you?" Destiny would ask with her arms crossed against her chest.

"Sometimes their unfinished business is with their family, and I can help them talk to the living. Maybe a spirit had left their inheritance somewhere and they want their parents or children only to have it. Maybe they must ask for forgiveness to move on, spirits have their reasons." Wendy continued trying to make it reasonable for the twelve-year-old, but it wasn't.

Destiny wasn't much of a religious person, she did believe in God, Heaven and Hell, angels not really, the afterlife, weirdly enough, she sort of believed in it. She believed in reincarnation but people, spirits, staying behind, not at all.

The shimmer of the bell was heard, both Brennan girls looked at the door, Lauren was walking slowly at the table, a small smile on her lips, the smile of hope, it saddened Destiny, but all she had to do was stay quiet, listen and observe, that was all.

"Morning Wendy, I know, but can I try something new today?" Lauren asked, taking a seat on the other side of the table, Wendy nodded her head and sat down across from her. Lauren pulled out from her bag a picture, four young boys, musical instruments in each. "This is the band my son was in, Sunset Curve, remember I had mentioned it?" There was a hint of breaking in between her words.

"I do remember, who are the boys that had passed away Lauren?" She asked with the picture now in her hands. Lauren pointed them out, the three boys in the corner "I am very sorry again for this loss." Wendy pressed her lips together, showing compassion to the elderly. "I'll see what I can do."

Wendy Brennan gripped gently the hands of Lauren, her posture straightened, clearing her throat Wendy called out for the spirits on the other side. Her eyes were closed, to help her focus even more on the silence that was around her.

"Spirits on the other side, may I speak to Reginald Peters." She paused for a moment, Wendy gave the spirits time, time for someone to talk to her, but the pause was a little bit longer before she could speak again. "Reginald Hayes, I am here with your mother, she wants to speak with you." Another pause. No answer. Wendy opened her eyes looking down at the picture on the table. "What were their names Lauren?" The woman pointed out at the two boys next to Reginald, Lauren sniffed and smiled at the faces of the young boys.

"Alexander Mercer and Luke Patterson." Lauren responded to the question, Wendy took hold of her hands again, closing her eyes, calling out their names, hoping to get a response from them. Pause, pause, pause. Nothing seemed to work. Destiny wanted to chuckle and just scream out that her son was in heaven now, let him rest in peace, but that was going to be truly cruel for the elderly. The session was just like Destiny had imagined, a failure. Lauren left the place, thanking Wendy for trying, but both Brennan girls knew that tomorrow they would see her and the day would repeat itself until Lauren could finish her grieving and accept such horrible news she had received back in 1995.

The day for Wendy and Destiny continued, clients coming in, new and old faces, Wendy helped some of them, others suffered from the bad news of not being able to contact the spirit. Some clients asked Wendy if she was ever scared of those who she contacted, what if someone evil tried to take over her body, what could she do? Destiny overheard the question and it stuck with her. What if a spirit actually tried to possess her mother? Destiny just shrugged it off, telling herself that there weren't such thing as good or evil spirits, well, spirits in general. But it seemed like her mother felt it too close to home, her face fell, the smile she had disappeared, and that day, she closed the sessions early, shutting herself out of the world in her room, not even her husband could enter the room.

Destiny was worried for her, it was difficult for her to fall asleep knowing her mother hadn't left her room not even to eat. She couldn't understand how was it possible that, that specific question taunted her so badly. The next morning Destiny was the first to wake up in the house, the snores that came from her brother's room helped her quiet down the creaking of the wooden floor.

"Mom?" She knocked a few times on her door, there was no response, she was probably asleep, but checking in on her wouldn't hurt. Slowly she opened the door, taking a peek inside, her brown eyes widened, she got in faster to see the bed made, the doors of the closet wide opened, the dresser was open as well, all clothing was gone. Wendy Brennan was gone. A little note sat on the bed, Destiny took it on her hands when she searched the place and saw the piece of paper.

I am terribly sorry, but I can't handle this anymore, I must find myself.

Love, Mom

Destiny fell on her knees, she screamed out for her father, who rushed to her rescue only to fall in his knees too, just to hug his daughter and rock his back back and forth, trying his best to comfort her.

"Why did she leave us daddy? Why did she leave us?" Destiny sobbed in her father's chest. What had caused this to happen?

As years passed by and Destiny grew, she learned about the spirit world, with hopes of becoming like her mother one day. She always stayed in her room, practicing in hopes of locating a spirit, always making sure she reached out to a family member, but with every failing exercise her hopes slowly vanished and her beliefs extinguished with it.

"Dad?" Destiny pushed her dinner away from her "Do spirits and ghosts really exist? I've been trying to do what mom did but I just can't." Her father sighed and looked at her, his face softened at the sight of a daughter who's hopes were about to be destroyed.

"Honey, your mother liked having hobbies in her life, and it was like being a medium was one of them, ghosts and spirits don't exist, spirits go to heaven or hell and they stay there, there's no such thing as staying back and everything your mom told you, please don't get those hopes up."

Destiny nodded her head, she took a deep breath and continued to eat, she didn't ask another question about it, but, hearing the words of her father, made her heart hurt, as if someone had been slowly gripping it, and Destiny was only waiting for it to break.

Changing her objectives, Destiny stopped the ghost spiritual world as the way her mother had shown her, she didn't want to erase the memory she had left of what she loved doing, so, Destiny continued it, hoaxing people into believing she had the gift like her mother.

And with her getting older and smarter, she even threw a few tricks of her own. Some days she felt like the Universe was getting back at her for being a liar and getting people's hopes up, and how was this happening? Well, Destiny often had shivers, she would see shadows passing behind her, the faint voices of people calling for out to her or even asking for help, and like every time this occurred, Destiny just ignored it, saying that her mind was playing tricks on her.

It all had to be a coincidence, right?

a/n

i reuploded this chapter since we already have the last names of the boys, so I wrote the changes

AND PART TWO!

publishing the chapters all over again to fill on some plot holes!