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Suitcase sat on the edge of the roof, looking into the sky full of stars. The wind was cold as it blew against her, but she didn't mind. She wasn't sure how many times she’d come up here; it was almost a routine now.
“You didn't tell me you were visiting,” a raspy voice asked. She turned to her right to see Knife had sat down next to her.
“Sorry, I worried I was coming over too much.”
Her heart twisted seeing his ghostly form, a pale version of her former friend with a wispy tail in place of legs. She couldn't believe he was really dead, and it’s harder to grieve a death when you can see their ghost every day. So he's not really gone then!
Except..
“Hey, it's alright, you know you're not a bother to me.” he reached his hand out, but it passed through her.
That.
He let out an angry sigh and looked back at the stars. Suitcase wouldn't call him out on it, but he did this every time. He used to comfort her that way when she was having an episode; the touch was grounding. But it was clear he was coping with his own death as well. She could see the longing in his eyes when he looked at the others walking freely from the mansion windows. He didn't even like half of them, but since death, it seems his anger has gone numb.
“Thanks,” she smiled at him. A thought crossed her mind, and her eyes lit up, “Oh! The first few houses are finishing construction tomorrow, I'm planning to move into the closest one!”
Suitcase had been at the head of the construction operation. She wanted the new town to be right outside the mansion so visiting any ghosts wasn't out of the way. She’d talked with the other two inhabitants of the mansion, and they said they wouldn't mind more people stopping by as well. And if all the contesta– past contestants were going to live normal lives, she wanted the spirits to get that too. She looked over to Knife, hoping he’d be happy with the news, but his expression was unreadable.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, no, it's just,” he met her eyes, and there was a flash of guilt before he buried it, “I just wish I could see it all.”
She wasn't happy with that response. “Knife, I know that can't be the only thing.”
He clenched his fist, “Maybe I don't want you to move into a house out there.”
"What?"
“Maybe I wish you’d just move in here, and that's… selfish,” he turned away
Her heart skipped a beat. Here? She’d thought of it a lot, actually, but could never get the courage to ask about it. Yet Knife wants her to.
“No, not at all!” she stood and walked to him. “I’d like that. A lot.”
He turned to look her in the eyes, and his hard expression went soft. “You mean it?”
“Of course!” she smiled, “I’ve been too scared to overstep anything, so I never asked you.”
Knife smiled, “Never be scared to ask me things.”
“Alright, but it goes both ways. We can’t sit here trying to read each other’s minds.”
The two laughed.
“I love you, Knife.”
“I love you too.”