The Ghost In My Room

Chapter 6: Call

Chapter Six

"Explain everything from the beginning." I requested, hovering near the doorway, stuck between deciding whether to enter the living room or remain standing by the door.

If Cole noticed my nervous stance, he didn't show it. He didn't even look my way, content in staring out of the window as if it held the secret to his entire existence, his snow white hair falling over his eyes. I was suddenly struck by a thought.
Did his hair feel as soft and cold as it looked?
I quickly shook that thought away, not having the slightest clue which part of my mind it had come from. Hopefully they wouldn't be regular occurrences, since I had enough on my mind without the weird thoughts showing up.

I was about to repeat myself when Cole beat me to it.

"Well, that is going to be an awful long talk." He tilted his head to the side, looking at me from under his long lashes. "Or maybe not. I don't remember much about anything."

If anyone could make me feel both exhausted and frustrated at the same time, it would be Cole.

Finally making a decision, I went into the chilly room and took a seat on the sofa facing Cole and the large window, showing its grey and dismal scenery proudly. I wondered what beauty Cole saw in the dark, twisted dead tree. Or the weeds whipping frantically in the garden, as the wind tore into them, yet they still clung on resolutely to the hardened soil, as he steadily looked out, never wavering in his gaze.

I shivered a little, wishing I had thought about turning on the central heating as the chill settled slowly on me.
My eyes roamed around the room, as I noted that no matter how much of our possessions we placed to fill the empty spaces in our house and our lives, this place just didn't feel like home and I wasn't sure it ever would.

It was a good thing he hadn't taken a good look at me yet. I really didn't want him to see my puffy eyes- it had been embarrassing enough when he witnessed me crying before.

The silence stretched on between us, causing me to get a little impatient. What was he waiting for?

I cleared my throat, hoping to snap him out of whatever zone he was in, but I might as well have been alone in this room, with the reaction I got- or a lack thereof.

"Well?" I asked, my cold fingers fidgeting with the frayed hem of my jumper as I looked towards Cole, who finally inclined his head towards me.

"There's something peculiar about you, little lady. For one, you are a ghost magnet. Trouble has yet to cease following you."

I didn't know which was a worse nickname- calling me little mouse or little lady- but I curbed my tongue, not wanting to invoke his wrath again. Not after last time.

"It's not something I can help." I said as he looked at me, and I realised just how easy it would be to get trapped inside his bottomless gaze. "But you can help me, by telling me what happened before? I need you to tell me the truth."
I hoped he didn't hear the desperation in my tone.

A deep rich chuckle left his mouth as he looked back outside, "How would you know if I lied? I could say anything and you would probably swallow it all up like a gullible little mouse."

I had to bite my tongue to stop a few, less thought out words leave my mouth. If I was going to get any information out of him, it would have to be in a well thought out and careful manner.

"It doesn't affect just me, it affects you too." I said calmly, looking down at my hands in my lap, wondering where it all went wrong.
Probably around the time I stepped across the threshold of this cursed house.