open up her home to me. I knew it was just she and her older brother, but I still hated to intrude. So I ended up asking her 50 times after she made the offer if she was sure it was okay. Winter took out her house key, unlocked the front door, and walked through the threshold with me at her heels. “Kai?” she shouted to the house at large, “we’re here!” I set my bags down in the foyer, slightly nervous to be meeting her brother so soon.
~~~
I heard Winter’s voice from the kitchen and I came out to greet her. “Hey sis.” I said to her, giving her a hug. I looked to you and gave you a short but welcoming smile. “You must be the friend. I’m Kai.” I said to her. “I’m crashing in the den, you’re welcomed to take my room so you don’t have to share Winter’s tiny ass bed. She snores and kicks by the way.”
Your hair…was blue. I tried my best not to gawk. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised what with Winter’s ashy hair color, yet it still wasn’t what I expected. The blue hair suited you, however. It seemed to be a more recent acquisition–I could tell because the color hadn’t faded, although your roots were starting to show a little bit. I felt like I was staring at a blue-haired version of Kurt Cobain, except with brown eyes instead of blue. Sexy yet grungy, charming yet dark and slightly mysterious. It was definitely apparent that you and Winter were family.
“Oh, I’m Lucy,” I said, coming to my senses. “And really, don’t let me kick you out of your own bedroom. I don’t mind sharing with Winter,” I answered, shooting her a pleading glance. Winter returned my look with a smile.
“Nonsense. This is your home now too. Besides, Kai’s been living down in the den for a while now…weirdo,” she muttered as an afterthought. She bit her lip and kicked her foot out in your direction. “Will you show her around, please? I want to get my stuff unpacked and put away,” Winter said to you.
(My/slightlystrangesimmer’s personal blog)
I took the hint and grabbed your bags for you. “Come on, I’ll show you to my room.” I told you as I started to walk. We went down to the den first on my way to the bedroom.
“I’m down here if you need anything. If you hear noises coming from down here that’s me obviously. I suggest you don’t come down until they stop unless you want to see me having sex or masturbating.” I spoke openly.
I chuckled at your face. “I’m an open guy. I prefer to not have secrets.”
Heat rushed to my face and to my core as I unwillingly imagined you fucking and/or playing with your own cock.
“O-oh,” I stammered then giggled awkwardly, struggling to keep my cool. I felt a sudden urge to excuse myself from your presence and go take a cold shower, but I pushed that aside.
“So you have a girlfriend then?” I asked nonchalantly as I stared around the basement den that actually seemed quite cozy.
I watched out of my bedroom window (I didn’t 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 wouldn’t be happy, because it was two men, AGAIN…but 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 cute….
“Why don’t you go ahead and look inside, Tristan,” uncle Hank told me. “We’ll wait for the moving firm out here.”
I nodded and went up to the front door with Belsebub in his carrier. He meowed and growled for some reason but I didn’t pay much attention to it. He was a bit of a grumpy.
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 didn’t waver. “If I run down the stairs upside down with a crucifix between my legs by next week – promise you’ll kill me,” I told Belsebub as we went up the stairs to what would be my room.
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, it’s green orb-like eyes staring through me, as if it knew I was there. A low, light hiss escaped it’s throat. I smirked slightly. Animals were always so damn smart.
Belsebub hissed and I cradled his furry black body to me. “What is, sweetie? You feel it too? Yeah, feels like I’ve just stepped into a damn Edgar Allan Poe novel. But what can you do? And it’s not forever.” I sat down on the bed with a sigh, scratching behind his ears while I kept talking.
“It’s just this year and then I’m off to college. Or to hit the road if I don’t get in anywhere. And I’ll take you with me. Of course I won’t go without you, Bubby.”
I smiled and picked up my cellphone. “What do you say, wanna hear some Manson?”
I started Spotify and put on Marylin Manson’s 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 is…if 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 there….
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 wasn’t looking for his litter box, he was … studying something. I raised an eyebrow and got up from the bed.
“What is it, Bubby Bub?” I wondered and walked to the doorway of the bathroom, only to meet a pair of dark eyes and an angelic face.
I saw your shocked expression and my dark eyes flickered to yours momentarily before I let myself disappear. I wasn’t 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.
“He was here,” I said to myself. “Someone was here! And now …” I didn’t 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.
But this … how could I explain this? I wasn’t 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 …
“Holy shit!” I whispered again and sank down on the bathroom floor as my knees suddenly didn’t support me.
I watched your stunned reaction, including your weak collapse to the floor. Interesting, I thought. You weren’t 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 that’s 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.
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 andsomehow I doubted that making a ring of salt would help. Besides, it’s 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:
“Tristan! Your mother’s on the phone!”
I groaned loudly and banged my head repeatedly against the wall.
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.
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 didn’t 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:
“Hi mom.”
The call didn’t 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 wouldn’t hate her now but she really couldn’t 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 “stole” my mom away from me on my birthday. Wasn’t that nice?
Uncle Hank had stayed in the kitchen and listened, his mouth hanging open. When I finally ended the call he exclaimed:
“That woman … she’s unbelievable. And not in a good way! I can’t believe I’m related to her.”
“Now, now,” uncle Ross said, standing at the kitchen counter, chopping vegetables. “She’s …” he looked up and met mine and Hank’s gazes.
“Alright,” he sighed. “She’s a horrible sister and an even worse mother. I’m so sorry, Tristan.”
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.
“It’s alright,” I said as he let go of me. “Just promise you’ll let me pound in the stake on her funeral – I owe her that.”
Ross looked shocked but Hank laughed. “Well, what am I going to do then?” he said offering me a swig of his bear with a wink.
“Oh, don’t worry.” I said with a laugh. I was good at this – hiding the pain behind humor. They actually believed I had already forgotten everything.
“You can cut off her head and show it to the villagers.”
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.
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 “It will be alright,” before setting it down, open to that page, on top of your bed in plain sight.
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 didn’t want to see more of my well meaning uncles and the pity in their eyes.
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.
As I came into my bedroom I noticed that one of my notebooks laid open on the bed. I raised an eyebrow since I hand’t left it there and moved closer.
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.
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 didn’t care, the filth of this world pressing down upon you…I had felt it all before. I still did.
What to do now, though? I hadn’t wanted to reveal myself to you so soon, but watching you upset like this was torture….