Chapter Text
I sigh, looking around the new apartment and counting the boxes to make sure they were all here. "Five... six... aaand, wait where- Oh, seven." I finally spot the last box and sigh in relief; however, I'm still not looking forward to unpacking everything. Seeing as it had already been a long day, I decided to just go ahead and get some sleep, and just unpack everything tomorrow. Slowly making my way over to the couch (cause it's the only furniture I've gotten so far), I flop down and close my eyes, drifting off to sleep rather quickly.
I groan, lifting my hand to block the sunlight as I wake up from a blissful sleep. "Definitely need to get curtains..." Groaning again, I slowly sit up and make my way into the kitchen, starting up the coffee and reaching into the cabinet for a mug. As I set the mug on the counter I freeze, looking at the mug on the counter, then at the full cabinet, and then slowly turning to look at where the pile of boxes had been the night before. They still look closed and exactly how I had left them last night, so I walk over to them and peek in the closest one. The one that had had my silverware, cups, bowls, and plates in it. The one that was currently empty except for the packing paper that I had used to protect my dishes. In panicked confusion I look in every other box, finding all of them similarly empty. I backed away from the boxes, then went to search the house to see if I had somehow been either robbed or some random person broke into my house just to put everything away, the coffee forgotten.
An hour and a half later, I sit back down on the couch, thinking. 'What the heck...? Everything is exactly where I would have put it... But I'm not the one who put it there, so who did...?' Shaking my head, I look up, only to freeze as a steaming mug of coffee is sitting right in front of me on one of the boxes that had been close to the couch. I immediately jumped up and looked around, there had to be someone in here with me! There's no way that the coffee just appeared, and I know that I didn’t place it there. ‘This isn’t logical, there’s no one here but me… So, what is going on?’ This seemed like something straight out of a paranormal show, but everyone knows that they just fake all that stuff for the camera. None of it is real, so there has to be a logical explanation, right? I was pacing back and forth as it helps me think more clearly, and I almost sigh in relief as I hear a floorboard creak down the hallway. ‘See, logical explanation.’
My relief doesn’t stop me from being cautious however, so I grab my umbrella-bat before venturing down the hall bravely. I roll my eyes at that thought, ‘I sound like Roman; he’s rubbing off on me too much.’ “Hello? Who’s there,” I call out down the hallway before continuing down it. “I know you’re there, so just show yourself and we can talk. Alright?”
At first it seems like whoever it is isn’t going to answer me, then I hear a soft, breathy voice say quietly, “I don’t want to scare you…” I scoff, they’ve already done that, although I am curious as to why a mysterious (and somewhat helpful? for some reason) and soft-spoken stranger is in my new house. “Well, you’ve already done that, and you are trespassing in my house. So, just come out already.”
There’s another pause, and then a soft, “Just… Please don’t scream…? I won’t hurt you; I promise…” I narrow my eyes slightly at that, I am a logical person, I won’t scream at the sight of an intruder. I open my mouth to say just that, only to close it again with a stifled gasp. In the middle of the hallway there was a slightly transparent figure just… floating there. I stumble back slightly; this isn’t logical at all! “That’s not logical, it’s nothing but smoke and mirrors, that’s all. Just… Just an illusion!”
The figure seems to sigh and look down as I try to make sense of what just happened. “I told you I didn’t want to scare you… I promise you that I’m not gonna hurt you.” Before I can stop myself, I say, “It’s going to, not ‘gonna’.” The male? figure giggles softly, but doesn’t comment on it. “Just think of me as a… ghostly assistant in taking care of your home.”
Now that I’m no longer panicking as much about the logicality of it all, I can see that the figure looks to be about 27, which is my own age, and has a softer countenance than one would usually see on a male. While he is somewhat transparent, there’s nowhere that one could hide a projector, mirror, nor a smoke machine in order to create an illusion of this caliber. This leaves another, less-logical, answer to what exactly was going on. “You mean to tell me, that you are in fact a ghost?” The ghost nods, almost cheerfully. “Yeppers! And it’s been so long since anyone has stayed here, I was beginning to think that no one ever would…”
I remember the realtor saying something similar, but they never expanded on why that was. Maybe this ghost knows… “Why is it that there hasn’t been anyone here? I remember hearing that before, but no one would say why.” The ghost gives a small laugh, it’s smile becoming more feral. “All the others were too fragile… Their minds couldn’t handle knowing that ghosts are real, very real, and didn’t survive me trying to make them one.” It takes a step closer to me as I shuffle back in horror. “You see… It gets terribly lonely here when people leave, and they always leave… But! You’re different! You’re smart… And…” The ghost laughs as I realize I’ve backed myself into a corner. I close my eyes, hoping futilely that I’m just having a vivid nightmare. Cold hands wrap around my throat, almost gently, and the last thing I hear is, “I think you might just become like me…”