The Boy on the Other Side

by Aki_kaze

  His wish granted, Keith got his bedroom back as no trace of the blonde was found. He let out a sigh of relief and climbed up his bed, ready to sleep. He complimented himself for not greeting the stranger. If that guy did not know that he was visible to Keith, then he would not come to bother him.

  How wrong was he. This spirit knew. It must be so or why else he needed to appear before him so many times. This guy wanted attention. One night, he prodded Keith’s arm as he was doing his homework. His new school was not much different than the old one. He still could not make friends. But he didn’t really care. As long as his daily life went on undisturbed, he would survive the high school days.

  Still, being haunted by a spirit was not easy for him either. It was hard to ignore his touch as he suddenly felt the coldness upon his skin. It was hard to pretend not to see when his appearance became so frequent. He had tried many things: avoiding eye contact, not looking his way, and sometimes even staring through him as if he was thin air. Nothing though could fool the spirit; he knew Keith could see him.

  When simple touching proved in vain, the spirit came up with new tricks. For example, he would suddenly show up out of nowhere before Keith when he was walking into his room, trying to surprise him; or lean his face in so close to Keith when he woke up. He even made funny expressions while Keith was having breakfast.

  He could remember that morning well. He was eating cereal, waiting for the school bus. The spirit appeared behind Diane who was talking to her kids. He mimicked her gestures and pulled stupid faces. Keith couldn’t help laughing at that. He tried to suppress it, but it was already too late. The spirit looked at him with victorious smile. Victorious, and genuine. And it had been so long since someone smiled at him like that.

  But he could not let his normal life be at risk by just a smile. If he decided to talk to him, numerous problems would ensue. Talking to the dead meant further deviating away from normalcy. Also, spirits could be good or evil. If he was fortunate enough, a spirit might want just a little help or someone to talk to. But if not, the consequence might be severe. He was once almost put into an asylum because the doctor thought he was going to commit suicide. It was, in fact, those spirits’ doing. He couldn’t simply tell if they were malevolent or not.

  “How long are you going to keep ignoring me?”

  This was not the first time the spirit talked to him. Keith kept a poker face and continued doing his homework, ignoring the one leaning against the desk. A pair of blue eyes bored into him. This guy’s voice hadn’t even cracked yet. Further considering his young look, Keith decided he must be around 15 or 16 years old.

  What interested Keith now was who he was and how he died.

  “Goodness. Where’s your manners? You’re sleeping in other people’s room, you know?”

  The spirit’s rant was occasionally heard. He had walked away from the desk, but Keith could still feel his presence nearby.

  Finishing his homework, Keith turned off the lights and went to bed. The spirit was still there, standing at the end of the bed. Keith kept ignoring him and pulled up the blanket to cover his head. He couldn’t help thinking that the blonde was more well-mannered than him because, when he went to sleep, the spirit was always gone and left him in peace.

  He wondered whether a spirit needed to rest. But he wouldn’t go as far as getting up in the middle of the night to solve the mystery.

  And so another day had passed, with him not talking to spirits.

  A week went on and the spirit showed no sign of surrender. Keith first thought the guy, if constantly ignored, might eventually left him. Well, he was wrong. Maybe because the spirit was trapped inside the house. Keith didn’t know how longer he could keep ignoring this attention-seeking ghost.

  “I must admit that you are very determined,” the blonde told him as he was going to the kitchen for breakfast, “but it has been so long since I got to talk to someone. And you have to live in this house, in my room. Please show me some respect and let’s get to know each other, shall we?”

  Seeing there was no response, the spirit swatted Keith’s bag out of his hand. It fell to the floor with a loud thud, surprising Diane who was cooking. She turned to him to see if there was anything wrong.

  “Sorry. I dropped it,” he said before picking it up, paying no mind to those two blue eyes noting every action he made.

  That guy really observed everything he did: eating breakfast, talking to Alice, talking to Diane, listening to John’s boast, or sending Hector off to work. Even when he left the house for the school bus, those eyes were still on him. Keith sighed. The spirit could follow him only to door, never a step further. He watched as Keith and the other two got on the bus.

  Keith looked back to him; he saw but a glimpse of sadness in those eyes.

  He sat alone on the bus. Alice was with her friends, and so did John. At school, both of them were like strangers to him. Alice was a junior high schooler. Their lunch break periods were not the same. And, despite John and him being senior high schoolers, the former made friends with delinquents and enjoyed bullying other students. With only a week, he became the gang leader.

  “I heard he can see ghosts.”

  “Nonsense. I bet he just wants attention.”

  “But I heard it from the one who is his relative.”

  “He’s looking this way.”

  If they didn’t want him to hear it, they should have kept their voices down. But he was used to it already. John wouldn’t miss a chance to spread out what happened in their ex-school to everyone. Many things had happened during those few months. How sad, he thought, burying the past was harder than expected.

  After school, he went to his locker to put away his textbooks. He was greeted with a word sprayed in red on it: WEIRDO. He had done nothing, and yet here it was. Rumor flew fast, indeed. But it was not like he could really deny he wasn’t one.

  When he got on the bus going home, everyone eyed him in unison. He chose to look away, out of the window. His house was the farthest, which meant it took longest time to reach.

  “They all are idiots.” A boy voice called to him.

  Surprised, he turned to see the speaker sitting next to him. But before a word left his mouth, he noticed this boy’s clothes differed from others’. He was not in a school uniform, but in a casual wear.

  Great.

  He quickly turned his face back to the window. He had learnt his lesson talking to a stranger on the school bus. He wouldn’t let it happen again, especially not in time like this.

  “You are no fun.”

  The boy said before getting off the car as it came to stop. Keith’s gaze still lingered outside but was quickly averted when he saw the back of that boy. The back of his head was covered in blood and red meat pieces, as if repeatedly smashed by a hard object.

  He didn’t usually see a spirit in its premortem form. Perhaps this one was annoyed for being ignored all the way.

  Arriving at home, John went into the kitchen, unceremoniously demanding his dessert; while Alice went to watch TV in the living room. Keith headed to his shelter.

  As soon as he opened the door, the blonde popped up and eagerly greeted him, as if having been waiting all the time. Keith walked right through him, ignoring all the other’s complaint. He plopped his backpack down the floor and climbed up the bed. He lay sprawled, down and depressed, his green eyes looking at the family photo on the nightstand.

  “Hey, what happened?”

  A voice called from behind. Keith could sense a part of bed sinking from the other’s weight. He closed his eyes, trying not to pay attention.

  “Why don’t you want to talk to me?”

  A question went unanswered.

  There was a knocking on the door followed by Alice’s voice, asking to enter the room.

  “Come in,” Keith permitted, propping himself up and still ignoring the boy sitting cross-legged on the end of the bed.

  Alice came in and seated herself beside him. “My friend told me abou
t it. John shouldn’t tell those people about you. Alice was sorry Alice couldn’t help.”

  “It’s okay. He isn’t wrong about it.” He shrugged. “Don’t worry.”

  Alice seemed like she wanted to say something but changed her mind. “You want to eat something? Alice can get it for you.”

  He refused with a smile.

  “Well, then, Alice won’t bother you anymore.” She got up and walked to the door before turning back to him. “You know, Alice do believe you, that you can see ghosts. And that doesn’t make you a… or whatever John calls you.”

  Keith watched as she left and closed the door behind. He was by himself again. Keith turned his gaze to the desk and saw the blonde who was still sitting on the end of the bed. Their eyes met and locked. Too late to avoid.

  An awkward moment. But the blonde was the first to break eye contact and then got off the bed.

  “I didn’t know that that you can see me has caused you troubles. I was just glad I had a friend.”

  Keith turned to the voice source but found nothing. He was gone.

  Chapter Three

  The Blonde Boy

  “What do you want to do first when we arrive there, son?”

  “Swimming!”

  Keith’s mother gave him a gentle smile and his father laughed. Each of them suggested to their son an activity to engage in when they arrive at the vacation house.

  “I can also go hiking with you, Dad, tomorrow morning. So that you won’t feel down.”

  That earned him a hearty laughter from both of his parents. But everything changed in an instant. Sound of a car crash woke Keith up from his dream. He gasped for air, his chest heaving, that last moment of his family was still imprinted in his mind. Terrifyingly vivid. Sweat drenched his face. This was the first time in so many a month he dreamt of it.

  He missed them sorely. Their laughters. Their smiles. He reached for the photo on the nightstand. The family photo was taken two years ago during their summer vacation. It was their last.

  “I’m fine. Keith, you’re fine.”

  He murmured to himself. He put the photo back and went into the bathroom, preparing for school.

  He noticed that something was missing while having his breakfast: no certain blonde was present. He hadn’t seen him since yesterday’s evening. Perhaps he got it now that Keith wanted to live a normal life.

  “I was just glad I had a friend.”

  He tried to pay those words no mind. Although the school life might be troublesome, at least he got his own room back. That was why when he got back from school, he didn’t expect to see the guy in his room again, gazing out of the window like when Keith first saw him.

  But this time he seemed different. He didn’t call for attention, but instead acted as if Keith was not in the room. When Keith was doing his homework, the spirit who sat on the desk swung his leg leisurely. It made continual thuds against the desk and the blonde didn’t seem to care.

  Keith quickly finished up his work, then went downstairs. He helped Diane set up the table. When Hector came back home, the five enjoyed dinner together. Each of them recounted their daily lives. Keith didn’t speak much; there was nothing to tell.

  “I’m through. Thank you for the meal.”

  “You still got your meds, Keith? Do you need to visit Doc?”

  “It’s fine. Doc Anderson gave me her phone number. I can call her anytime if I need something.” He assured. It had been a while since he took those meds, which never made him feel better anyway. He had also got control of his life, so there was no need for it now.

  Diane nodded in assent without further question. Keith then left the table and went back to his room. He wished he wouldn’t find the spirit there. He was wrong, again. The blonde was comfortably sprawling on his bed. There was no way he could sleep without making contact with him.

  He sighed and went to take a shower. He wished the spirit would not be there when he was back. He was quite certain ghosts didn’t need sleep. But some certain one needed attention, apparently, because he was still there when Keith came back.

  He intently stared at his bed. He once walked right through the spirit, and, of course, it was not a pleasant feeling. But he wouldn’t yield. This was his room, his bed, his life. He wouldn’t lose to some house-haunting spirit.

  The bed sank as Keith moved to sit on it, not caring if he was sitting through the other. But he didn’t feel the usual coldness. Instead, all he felt was aching loneliness and unconsoled grief. Some images flashed up in his mind, but quickly disappeared before he could get a grip of them.

  The blonde instantly stood up, his blue eyes glaring at Keith. His usual smile vanished, being replaced with a bitter scorn. Keith tried to recall what he had just seen but to no avail. There were only some emotions left. And those were not his.

  “I…”

  Before he could finish anything, the spirit was gone.

  ✽✽✽

  “Aunt Diane, do you know anything about the previous family living in this house?”

  Diane and her two kids eyed him with the same expression, as if wanting to ask what he had seen. No one said anything.

  “I don’t really know, dear, but I think Hector does. He talked to the broker. You should ask him”

  “Okay…”

  “You saw something in this house?” John asked him while they were getting on the bus.

  “No,” he replied without hesitation. He walked to sit on the front seat. It was never occupied as no one wanted to be near him.

  Keith pulled out his smartphone, opening a search engine website. His finger hovered above the screen for quite a while before he decided to put the device back and looked out of the window, watching the view along the route he was getting familiar to.

  His class held 20 desks but had only 19 students. Every time a pair work came up, he would be left out. Sometimes even the teachers themselves forgot that they had got a new student. John and Alice were new students like him, too, but both knew how to socialize. So, they never got neglected, never got left alone. Their existences were recognized by their classmates and school staffs. It sounded unfair but, of course, it was not their fault. Before the accident, Keith got a lot of friends, too, and talking to someone had never been as uncomfortable. Now he didn’t want to get to know anyone. It had become hard for him to start a conversation. He was afraid that the other was not a living, afraid that he would be tricked or fooled again. Countless lessons he had learnt. Still, every new conversation could lead to another mistake.

  “I told them this school is haunted.” A big kid suddenly showed up beside Keith who was deciding on his lunch. “I know you can see them. Me too. But nobody believes me.”

  Hearing that, he turned to face the stranger. He was about to speak about it but changed his mind.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You don’t have to be embarrassed,” he continued. He even followed Keith to the table. His smile was friendly enough, but Keith had to be cautious. “I understood the feeling of being the only one who can see them. We should get to know each other.”

  Keith simply listened. As he was eating his lunch, he began to notice that this guy had no lunch, unlike other people. Keith got goosebumps. Spine-chilling sensation rushed through him. He couldn’t tell that the one before him was not a living, that he was sitting with a spirit.

  “Go away,” he said in a low voice, “I want to be alone.”

  The boy’s fake smile melted into an evil grin, all the fake friendliness disappeared.