I watched out of my bedroom window (I didnât care what anyone said, it would always be MY room) as you and the two men pulled up to the house. My deceased heart fluttered with excitement and I smirked at the thought of all the new mischief I could cause. Most of the spirits in here hated when a new family moved in, but I always loved it. Especially if there was a girl involved, which of course, this time there seemed to be. Nora wouldnât be happy, because it was two men, AGAINâŚbut I would try to appease her somehow in hopes of her leaving them alone so I could spend some quality time with this new girl, who appeared to be quite cuteâŚ.
âWhy donât you go ahead and look inside, Tristan,â uncle Hank told me. âWeâll wait for the moving firm out here.â
I nodded and went up to the front door with Belsebub in his carrier. He meowed and growled for some reason but I didnât pay much attention to it. He was a bit of a grumpy.Â
I went inside and checked a few of the rooms out. The house was beautiful but my feeling of being inside a horror movie or maybe something out of an Edgar Allan Poe novel didnât waver. âIf I run down the stairs upside down with a crucifix between my legs by next week – promise youâll kill me,â I told Belsebub as we went up the stairs to what would be my room.Â
I made sure I was well hidden when you entered the bedroom, a cat clutched in your arms. I studied you carefully as you walked around, an apprehensive look on your face. I could feel your unease. I shifted my weight where I was standing, still invisible. At the slightest hint of my movement, the cat in your arms whipped its head around to look directly at me, itâs green orb-like eyes staring through me, as if it knew I was there. A low, light hiss escaped itâs throat. I smirked slightly. Animals were always so damn smart.
Belsebub hissed and I cradled his furry black body to me. âWhat is, sweetie? You feel it too? Yeah, feels like Iâve just stepped into a damn Edgar Allan Poe novel. But what can you do? And itâs not forever.â I sat down on the bed with a sigh, scratching behind his ears while I kept talking.Â
âItâs just this year and then Iâm off to college. Or to hit the road if I donât get in anywhere. And Iâll take you with me. Of course I wonât go without you, Bubby.âÂ
I smiled and picked up my cellphone. âWhat do you say, wanna hear some Manson?âÂ
I started Spotify and put on Marylin Mansonâs Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) before I dug up my packet of incense in my bag and lit a cone with the scent of eucalyptus. Hopefully that would help me relax. Then I laid down on the bed with a long-haired black cat watching over me
I listened to your monologue carefully. A year, huh? That would be plenty of time to have some fun. That isâŚif your family even made it that long in this house. I would do my best to keep the other spirits at bay so I could enjoy you as long as I possibly could.
I smiled as Marilyn Manson filled the room. You definitely had good taste in music. I made a mental note to check your playlist later to see if you had any Nirvana on thereâŚ.
I swept past your bed, still invisible, and made my way into the attached bathroom. As I expected, your cat sprang into action and followed me, stopping at the entrance of the bathroom. I let a soft chuckle escape my lips as your cat studied me. Hopefully you heard me. I wanted to alert you to my presence but not completely frighten you. Not yet, at least.
I looked up as Belsebub suddenly jumped off me and rant to the bathroom. He wasnât looking for his litter box, he was ⌠studying something. I raised an eyebrow and got up from the bed.Â
âWhat is it, Bubby Bub?â I wondered and walked to the doorway of the bathroom, only to meet a pair of dark eyes and an angelic face.Â
I saw your shocked expression and my dark eyes flickered to yours momentarily before I let myself disappear. I wasnât ready to fully reveal myself to you just yet, just give you a small taste of what this house had to offer and observe how you handled it. I wanted to get a better feel for you first before I started talking to you. I wanted to make sure everything went right when it came to infiltrating your life and making you mine.
I blinked and then he was gone. What the � I stupidly ran into the bathroom to the point where he had stood and looked around, even patted the ground.
âHe was here,â I said to myself. âSomeone was here! And now âŚâ I didnât finish it because it sounded too stupid. I was no stranger to reading horror novels or watching spooky movies – it was one of my favorite things to do. But I had never believed in ghosts, demons or invisible things that could hurt me existed.Â
But this ⌠how could I explain this? I wasnât stoned or drunk. And I doubted that I was seeing things since Belsebub had seen him too. In fact, he had seen him before I did.
The only reasonable explanation âŚÂ
âHoly shit!â I whispered again and sank down on the bathroom floor as my knees suddenly didnât support me.Â
I watched your stunned reaction, including your weak collapse to the floor. Interesting, I thought. You werenât like most people, who stupidly insisted they were just seeing things. You caught on a lot faster than I expected you to.
Of course, you still knew nothing for sure, and thatâs what was so fun about this.
I wiggled my finger for Belsebub to come to me. I needed him. When he climbed up into my lap I buried my face into his soft fur and tried to gather my chaotic thoughts.Â
Alright. So clearly me and my cat had seen a ghost. But said ghost was gone now.
The only thing I knew about ghosts was what I had seen in horror movies and from tv-shows like Supernatural and somehow I doubted that making a ring of salt would help. Besides, itâs was not like he had actually done anything to me.
If he had come claws blazing or threw me into the wall it had been a different story but I had only caught a sight of him.
Suddenly uncle Ross called from downstairs:
âTristan! Your motherâs on the phone!âÂ
I groaned loudly and banged my head repeatedly against the wall.Â
Great. Just what I needed.
As I got up from the floor with a slight wobble (probably from banging my head into the wall) I decided to let the ghost boy be for now. I could only handle one crisis at a time and my mom was way more dangerous for my mental health than any spirit.Â
I heard one of the men call your name, something about your mom wanting to talk to you on the phone. You seemed pretty displeased about that, and I wondered why. My mother was such a colossal disappointment so the fact that you didnât seem to have a good relationship with yours intrigued me even further. We possibly had something in common, something I could use as leverage to drawn you in.
I was debating whether to stay in your room and snoop around, or follow you and eavesdrop on your conversation with your mom. I decided on the latter because I could always snoop through your room another time.
You got up, letting your cat gently off your lap, and walked out of your room into the hallway. I followed silently behind you, still invisible.
I walked downstairs, Belsebub at my heels and went into the kitchen. Uncle Hank was there too and he sent me a pitying look as I picked up the phone and said:Â
âHi mom.âÂ
The call didnât last long. Apparently she only called to wish me luck at my new school and hope I would be happy in the new house and oh yes, she hoped I wouldnât hate her now but she really couldnât get away to celebrate my birthday in two weeks because she was going to Florence with the new man (ironically not the one she had dumped me for) and not that she wanted to ruin the surprise for me but apparently this one was really rich and wanted me to have 500 dollar as a birthday gift, since he âstoleâ my mom away from me on my birthday. Wasnât that nice?Â
Uncle Hank had stayed in the kitchen and listened, his mouth hanging open. When I finally ended the call he exclaimed:
âThat woman ⌠sheâs unbelievable. And not in a good way! I canât believe Iâm related to her.â
âNow, now,â uncle Ross said, standing at the kitchen counter, chopping vegetables. âSheâs âŚâ he looked up and met mine and Hankâs gazes.Â
âAlright,â he sighed. âSheâs a horrible sister and an even worse mother. Iâm so sorry, Tristan.â
He came up to me and hugged me and I leaned against him, sighing. I should be used to it by now but somehow it still hurt.Â
âItâs alright,â I said as he let go of me. âJust promise youâll let me pound in the stake on her funeral – I owe her that.âÂ
Ross looked shocked but Hank laughed. âWell, what am I going to do then?â he said offering me a swig of his bear with a wink.Â
âOh, donât worry.â I said with a laugh. I was good at this – hiding the pain behind humor. They actually believed I had already forgotten everything.Â
âYou can cut off her head and show it to the villagers.âÂ
With a last fake smile I left my two uncles and went up the stairs again, digging the nails into my palms to shut out the ache inside my chest.
I may not have gathered much from only hearing your end of the conversation, but I could hear the pain in your voice and see it in your eyes.Â
I watched as you turned to go back upstairs, and then I had an idea. I shifted my energy from the kitchen up into my bedroom in an instant. I grabbed a small notebook and a pen off of your bedside table and wrote âIt will be alright,â before setting it down, open to that page, on top of your bed in plain sight.Â
Then I sat down on your chair in my bedroom and waited, still invisible.
I moved up the stairs and decided I would skip dinner tonight. I knew it was dangerous, it was easy falling back into old habits but I just didnât want to see more of my well meaning uncles and the pity in their eyes.Â
And those 500 dollars that the new man wanted me to have? Yeah, they would make a nice little fire in the backyard some coming night.Â
As I came into my bedroom I noticed that one of my notebooks laid open on the bed. I raised an eyebrow since I handât left it there and moved closer.Â
It will be alright.
I felt my eyes widen and without meaning to a sob broke out from my throat. I laid down on the bed with the notebook on my stomach, holding it like a teddy bear.Â
I watched as you curled up on your bed in a fetal position and sobbed. Distressed, I felt a pang shoot through me as I listened to you cry. I felt for you. The pain of a mother who didnât care, the filth of this world pressing down upon youâŚI had felt it all before. I still did.
What to do now, though? I hadnât wanted to reveal myself to you so soon, but watching you upset like this was tortureâŚ.
I turned on the other side and reached for the packet with matches. I knew this wasnât right – it would kill my uncles if they knew. But the pain on the inside never seemed to ebb and it would drive me crazy if I didnât manage to disperse them for a little while until it was time to sleep. I just knew I would never be able to go to my new school after a night of no sleep and only anxiety – I would collapse.
So I lit a match and looked at it a few seconds as the flame burned and then I lowered it, pressed it against the bare skin of my lower arm. I bit my lip so to not gasp as the flame went out against my flesh but the sting brought instant relief.Â
I watched, horrified, as you burned yourself. âNo!â A strangled sort of cry left my throat before I could stop it. Before I realized what I was doing, I became visible and launched myself from the chair onto your bed to attempt to stop you, even though the damage was already done.
I donât know why I did it. This wasnât how I wanted it to happen at all. I had only been watching you for less than a day, yet I already felt connected to you somehow. Maybe it was because we both had shitty mothers. All I knew is, I didnât want you to hurt yourself.
If youâre Brazilian and youâre reading this and youâll vote for either Bonoro or Haddad I just want to say from the bottom of my heart Vai tomar no cu thanks if youâre not from Brasil please spread this is very important