Realistic or Modern So a Kid and a Ghost Walk into a Bar...

[SquishCat]

N Nue

The house was old. That's about where his thoughts ended when he looked at the place. The paint was peeling, some windows were cracked, a few roof tiles were either loose or missing all together; it was just a mess. A mess that he certainly didn't have the funds to clean up. And as Aiko took a step out of his excuse for a car, he briefly wondered why the universe hated him so.

"Is this it?" a voice to his right asked.

"Yep," Aiko responded.

"It's so... dusty." Lucas, his younger brother qupped.

The two stood there for a moment longer before Lucas started down the driveway towards the door. Aiko sighed and went to the back of the car, opening the trunk to get their luggage. The last member of their tiny little family, Alan, hopped out from the back seat and came back to help. And as Aiko slung a bag over his shoulder, he took a moment to really look at the place.

The house itself was a fairly average size two story home set with a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and two bedrooms. At least, that's what he was told. The man who rented them this place seemed shady at best, though perhaps he was just far too lax, having failed to list any rules or have them sign any documents other than the bare necessities. He only accepted this place because it was going for extremily cheap. It was a wonder why no one else had already taken the offer.

And finally, as the two have all their luggage ready to go(cause real men only take one trip), they make their way inside the house and start to unpack.

 

[Nue]

It all started when Kimberly Hastings heard a sound she hadn't heard in a very, very long time: a car, pulling up to the house.

She'd been lying on the floor, pretending to sleep. This was a fairly common part of her routine now. You see, being dead is only really fun for the first few days - once the novelty of being able to go anywhere unseen and yell obscene things in public has worn off, there's really nothing left to do. So Kimberly had taken to lying on what had once been the carpeted floor of her teenage bedroom, eyes closed, daydreaming and hoping desperately that she'd eventually drift off. She never did.

Of course, it wasn't really her bedroom anymore. Almost 40 years had passed, and so many others had passed through it, too. The room belonged to a middle aged man, then to a pair of high school sweethearts, then it was a nursery, then it was a study.. so many other lives had passed through it, she was certain there was no trace of hers own, by now. The spotted wallpaper had long since been stripped away, the carpet ripped up and removed, all of her belongings discarded. It didn't really even smell like her home, anymore. And yet she stayed.

It's like Lincoln's Axe, she had thought to herself, dully, if you replace the handle of Abe Lincoln's axe, and then the handle, is it really Abe Lincoln's axe anymore?

And still, despite all the other people who had lived there since her death, she felt that it was still, and would always be, the Hastings home. Her home. And someone had just pulled up to the driveway of it.

Kimberly shot up and ran to the window, her feet making no sound as she did. Her pale, freckled face peered through the glass. There was a car that, in her opinion, looked like it had seen better days, and three figures emerging from it. It was only when she noticed the luggage - and heard the click of the downstairs door opening - that she realised why they must be here.

There had not been anyone living here for a good 5 years. Her last 'housemates' had been a newly wedded couple, and the man started up an affair so quickly that Kimberly was certain it must've been going on since before they'd even gotten married. It was during those years that she'd wished more than ever that they could see her, so that she could've told the wife, maybe scare the daylights out of the husband whilst she was at it. But then the wife fell pregnant. Twins. And the house just wasn't big enough for this budding family, she supposed, so they moved out, without her ever being able to tell the wife. Kimberly had been alone ever since.

She stepped out onto the landing, staring down at the intruders. As she did; the light from the window hit her.. and spilled right through her onto the landing. It lit up her opaque body, revealing pale, faintly orange hair (that would've probably been ginger, had she not been transparent) twisted into two, tiny braids, and a freckled teenage face. Her clothes were the same ones she had been wearing for the past few decades: the denim jacket, the white shirt, the high-waisted jeans. When she walked, she seemed to flicker in and out of existence, like when a light-bulb starts to go on the blink.

Kimberly didn't bother to speak as she stood at the top of the staircase. Why would she? They couldn't see her, even if she wanted them to.

 

[SquishCat]

Aiko stepped into the house, soon followed by Alan, and immediately felt that something was off. Something he couldn't quite place. But with a quick glance at the other's curious faces as they explored their new surroundings, he brushed it off as new house jitters or whatever.

Lucas, who had been looking around in the kitchen apparently, popped his head out of the entryway. "You guys! This place has popcorn ceiling in here! Do you think if I scrape it off I'll find a secret door?" he said with a bight and slightly mischievous grin. He'd always been the adventurous type of kid, though all of his teachers would describe him with, less kind words than that. He was newly 16 years old but he had bright green eyes that just screamed 'excitable toddler'. His light blonde hair was also a favorite amongst the elderly community.

"We're still on the first floor, idiot," Alan said playfully. He was only a little younger at the age 14, though he was just as tall as Lucas. He wasn't particularly tall for his age, though. Lucas just happened to be quite short(hey!). He had black hair and brown eyes and some small distinctly Asian features, though they were slight. He was a shy little guy around most newer people but felt right at home with his family.

Aiko chuckled as Lucas seemed to try and start a cat fight with Alan, but only got a chuckle and a light shove in return. "Alright you guys, I'm going to start setting stuff up down here, you guys go get yourselves situated upstairs." Aiko said as he shouldered his bags onto a worn down sofa with the others.

"Yeah!" "Okay." Lucas and Alan replied respectively and headed upstairs. Now alone, Aiko started sifting through the bags until he found the one he was looking for, a rather heavy bag filled with various kitchen appliances and utensils. Aiko was the oldest of the three siblings at 22. He also had black hair, but grey eyes. he was relatively small, but wasn't really bothered by it. He also had distinctly Japanese features. He was also typically quiet, but not in the shy sense we see in Alan. He's not super trusting, either, and many people get a sort of cold vibe from him at first look. He cares dearly for his brothers, though, as do they for him.

After finishing setting up the coffee maker, plugging in the microwave, and placing the silverware, Aiko thought he'd better check on the other two. They seemed to be getting a little too energetic up there. As he headed to and up the stairs, he thought about all the cleaning and renovations they'd have to do. A scrub down of the entire house was gonna need to happen asap, starting with the kitchen. Seriously. Even after just setting up a few appliances Aiko could feel the dust caked on his hands and clothes. There was a lot of work that needed to be done. The counter would need to be scrubbed. The kitchen floor needed to be swept and mopped. The carpet would definitely need a few rounds of vacuuming. Maybe if he scrounges up enough extra money Aiko could call someone in to replace these sta-

Aiko's thoughts skidded to a halt as well did his feat, nearly making him fall back down the way he came, his hand tightly grasping the safety rail being his only saving grace. He stared wide eyed for a moment at the stranger who'd managed to startle him so bad before attempting recomposing himself.

"U-um, who are you?"

 

[Nue]

The two teens bolted up the stairs and right through Kimberly, as if she wasn't there. Well. To be fair, she technically wasn't. She trailed after them, curious to see what their deal was. The blonde one seemed maybe a little bit too excited to be in a desolate house that had more bugs than it did pieces of furniture, she noted. Trawling through abandoned buildings was kind of exciting, in her opinion, but maybe not so much when you actually have to live in them..

The other child seemed to have a much more appropriate reaction. She couldn't really gauge which one was the eldest between the two, but she supposed they must've been siblings. There was something in the way they interacted with each other that screamed 'brothers'. Which meant the eldest was.. surely not their dad, right? He was definitely an adult, but not old enough to have two teen aged children, right? But then, where were their parents?

She drifted back to the staircase. The eldest was approaching now, looking completely lost in thought. His eyes rested on her, and she thought, for a sliver of a second, that he was looking right at her. But that couldn't be true. Kimberly always had little moments like these, where she'd catch the eyes of a stranger for a second, and it'd be like they'd seen her, but it was always fleeting. And yet, his expression was changing now, to one of shock, almost as if.. he'd seen a ghost.

"U-um, who are you?"

It took her a moment. Kimberly glanced behind her, as if there was somehow going to be some other stranger standing directly behind her at the top of the stairwell. But.. there wasn't. This stranger was directly addressing her. A wave of feelings began flooding into her stomach and rising up - confusion, excitement, but most of all, bizarrely.. panic. As she stood there, her opaque figure buzzing in and out of reality subtly, she could only think of one response, a cliched response she never thought she'd ever actually say in real life.

"You.. you can see me?"

 

[SquishCat]

Aiko stared at the stranger for a moment longer, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. A young woman, probably a teenager, actually, stood in the stairway, flickering. Flickering. She seemed shocked for a moment at his outburst, looked behind here, and looked back at him with widened eyes.

"You... you can see me?" she asked, sounding almost bewildered. As if him just being able to see her was somehow something taken out of a fiction novel, like werewolves and elves. Looking at the way her entire form seems to flicker, though... maybe she's not far off?

"Uh," Aiko responded smartly. "Yeah? Should I not? And who are you? Why are you in my house?"

 

[Nue]

Kimberly felt her voice get caught in her throat. She let out a strange, choked noise, before finally managing to stutter out an answer.

"I'm, you.. you can't.." She faltered, "You're not supposed to be able to see me!"

Her voice sounded odd. It didn't echo down the stairs, but instead sounded disembodied, like it wasn't really coming from her, and instead from inside his head. She stumbled backwards, out of the shadows and into a patch of sunlight.

It was as if she were made of glass. The light, instead of crashing against her body, instead shone right through it, illuminating her. There, it was made plainly obvious - her body fizzed in and out of reality like static, the edges blurry. The landing behind her could be clearly seen right through her, slightly distorted. She looked off, like she wasn't really standing atop the stairs, but instead was simply projected onto it. And when she stumbled, she went right through a lone box of belongings left on the floor. There was no movement from the box, no noise, it was as if she simply phased through it.

"How can you see me? You're not supposed to be able to- This is impossible, I-" As she spoke, her expression began to change. First, it had been shock and confusion.. but now, a grin was beginning to leak into it.

"Oh my God, you really can, can't you?" She said in hushed tones, an excited whisper.

 

[SquishCat]

Aiko was beginning to feel a little concerned. Not only for himself, but for the girl in front of him.

He had no idea why this girl who looked barely old enough to drive was in his home. Maybe she had just wandered in here? From the things she's said since she first saw him he doubted it would be too far out there to assume she was a little lacking upstairs. Should he call someone? Was there a family missing their daughter somewhere nearby?

He also had no idea why there seemed to be some sort of reality altering filter on her. She didn't have a shadow, for one. That was definitely something to be a little concerned about. Aiko also thought that he might be able to see the wall behind her? Even though she's standing in the way? Okay, he had no idea what was going on there. Absolutely none. He'd figure it out eventually, he supposed. Overall, though, she just gave off this aura of 'Not Real', and Aiko wasn't sure how he felt about that. How could someone, someone standing right infront of him, be not real? Aside from some sort of mental disorder suddenly rearing its head out of nowhere, and he doubted that would be the case, he couldn't really think of an explanation for that either.

And lastly, he had no idea why she seemed to think that him being able to see her was the best thing to have ever happened to her. Perhaps they were both crazy? No no. That's definitely not right. What were the odds of that? This was probably some kind of joke or something set up by idiot neighbors. That's the best explanation he could come up with at the moment, anyways. He didn't know how they would do something like this, or why, but that was all he had.

On the off chance that this wasn't a joke, though, and this girl really was a lost delusional child and he was somehow hallucinating, he decided he would approach this gently.

"...Are you okay?" he asked cautiously, forcing as much kindness into his body language as he could, which honestly isn't much. He's not used to these kind of situations. "Are you lost?"

 

[Nue]

She paused, staring at him. If this were like the movies, he should've guessed already. See-through, blinking in and out of reality, no shadow, hell she'd even said the classic "You can see me?". But.. nope. As utterly confused as he looked, she could tell he hadn't fully grasped it yet. And so, without thinking, she burst into laughter.

"I'm okay," She managed, in between the laughter, "Oh, I'm okay, don't worry about it."

He hadn't figured out she wasn't amongst the living yet, and you know what? Kimberly wanted to see how long she could keep that going for. She hadn't spoken to a human in a good 30 years.. once he put two and two together, she knew she was in store for an onslaught of questions, so for now, why not just have a little bit of fun with it?

"I think you have the wrong house," Kimberly said finally, once her giggling had subsided, "Because this is my house."

It wasn't technically a lie - she wasn't sure how it all worked out legally, but this was the house she was born in, and, ostensibly, died in.