Kris' POV
I tried to remember again how I died. It was a blur. The last thing I remember is me looking up at the stars. I was somewhere isolated, and I was holding something. I just don't know what it is.
Oh, God. Maybe I did commit suicide. No, I know myself. I wouldn't do something crazy like that.
My head started to ache, so I gave up. But it felt wrong to just forget the last moments of my life. I felt like I need to remember something.
"I-I need to go get some fresh air." I said to Kylie as I hastily stood up and went outside without looking back.
Kylie's POV
I looked confusedly at the door where Kris just went out. What just happened? What got into him?
I lied in bed, staring at the ceiling.
How come he doesn't remember? What if he was murdered? Or was caught in an accident? Or maybe he got sick? And maybe he can't cross over because he wished for something before he died and it wasn't fulfilled? Well, that's a cliché thing to happen, so that's possible.
Hmmm...I know that Kris said he doesn't want to cross over yet, but I can't just do nothing while he's suffering because of the past. I know he feels something, maybe grudge against Crystal and Mark, that prevents him from crossing over. I can't let him hold that grudge anymore.
If he could just let go of that grudge, maybe he can finally cross over. Kris doesn't deserve to be a ghost wandering around here. He...deserves to be in peace.
My eyes landed on the small metal box I found a couple days ago. I suddenly felt a pull towards it. It was like the scene in the movie "The Lord of the Rings" where the ring seemed to be calling out to Frodo.
The box was silently sitting under my dresser. I sat up and frowned at the box. I stood up and started to walk towards it. I opened it and immediately saw the locket. I took shiny little thing and caressed it.
"This thing," I thought. "Is very mysterious. It makes me feel weird. I don't even remember how I got this. Maybe my mom got me this."
I closed the box and put the locket inside my pocket. I walked towards my parents' room. I didn't bother knocking and just opened the door.
I gasped, horrified at the sight before me. At the center of the room were my parents making out. I instantly covered my eyes. No, my innocent eyes! I knew I should've knocked.
I heard my father gasp dramatically. And I bet my mother's face was beet red at the moment.
"Oh, my God! I cannot unsee it! I'm scarred for life!" I wailed.
My father immediately went to my side. "Oh, no. Maybe we should go to the doctor. And, and make you undergo some kind of brain surgery."
He said that with genuine concern. He didn't seem to be joking.
My mother hit his head. "What on earth are you trying to do, Jared?!"
"What?" My father frowned at my mother. "Can't you see? I'm trying to help our daughter."
"Well, what if something goes wrong with the surgery and she'll forget all of us?!"
Seriously? They're considering the surgery?
"This wouldn't have happened if you didn't seduce me." My father muttered.
"I seduced you?! You seduced me!" Mother pointed at my father.
"What?! I didn't-"
"That's enough!" I stood in between them.
They stayed quiet and kept glaring at each other. I sighed exasperatedly.
"Anyway, mother," I called. She turned to me. "What is it, sweetie?"
I took the locket out and showed it to her. "Oh, my goodness. That is so beautiful! Did Kris give it to you?"
"What? No!" I furrowed my eyebrows. "Didn't you give it to me?"
"No, sweetie. It's my first time seeing this locket." She said then smiled knowingly. She even wiggled her eyebrows.
I just stared blankly at her. There's no way Kris could've given it to me. It was inside the box.
"He's not courting you, right?" My father gave me the look.
"No, father. He's not." I rolled my eyes. The three of us looked at each other.
*Crickets chirping*
The three of us just stood there awkwardly. I cleared my throat. "So, I should be get going."
"Uh, yeah," my father rubbed the back of his neck.
When I was about to close the door, I told them, "Don't worry. I'll knock next time."
I passed by Josh's room. It was quiet, so I figured out that he's already asleep.
On my way to my room, I saw Jake walking in my direction. The picture of my parents making out suddenly flashed in my mind. I'm okay with them giving each other a peck on the lips, but making out? Noooo.
I shuddered involuntarily. Jake stared at me with wide eyes, and I stared back.
"You're not being possessed, are you?" Jake took a step back, ready to run away.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"
He sighed in relief. "Well, I thought you were being possessed because you suddenly shook like you have an epileptic seizure."
"Well, you would be shaken up if you saw what I saw." I said, looking at him seriously.
"W-what did you see?" His eyes growing wide again.
I was laughing hysterically in my mind. I bet he's thinking that I saw a ghost, except Kris of course.
I ignored what he said and made up something. "You know, she said she needed someone to talk to. She also said that she prefers to talk to a guy." I stalked towards him.
"S-she? Who's she?" He stuttered and gulped audibly.
He's scared, alright.
"She's right here." I said when I was in front of him and widened my eyes in a creepy way. He screamed as expected. I lunged at him before he could get away.
We both rolled on the floor. He ended up lying on his stomach, and I was sitting on top of him. I was about to tell him something scary, but someone spoke.
"Oooh, incest!" Jake and I looked at the intruder.
It was Kris. That perv! Oh, he's still in human form by the way. Maybe he's afraid that mom would get upset if she didn't see him and would assume that he left without a word like last time.
"Kris! Help me! Kylie's possessed!" Jake thrashed beneath me.
Kris looked at me then frowned at Jake. "What the heck are you talking about?"
Kris looked at me again, and I sent him a signal to just go with the flow. His lips formed an O when he got what I meant.
He then looked at Jake. "Jake, you're in a very dangerous situation right now."
"What?" He sputtered. "Bro, help me!"
"Sorry, Jake. The evil spirit is too strong for me." Kris slowly shook his head sideways with a pained expression.
And the Oscars goes to....dundundun...Kris Robertson!!!
"You've got to be fvcking kidding me." Jake mumbled under his breath. I felt sorry for him, so I got off him. He looked like he was going to cry.
Kris burst out laughing. Soon, I found myself laughing with him. Jake, who finally got it, started to stand up and glared at us.
"You two shouldn't be put in the same house with me. You'd end up killing me." Jake scowled at us who were still snickering at him.
It's funny to think that when the first few days we got here, the two of them were ganging up on me. Now, Kris and I are ganging up on Jake. Maybe next time, Jake and I should gang up on Kris.
~~~
I let my body drop on the bed. If my mother didn't give the locket to me, who did? Why am I making this a big deal anyway? Maybe one of my friends must've given me this when I was a kid.
I haven't opened the locket yet because I'm afraid that I might find something related to the person who gave this, and I might want to find that person. I don't really know why I'm curious about the giver of this thing.
I sighed tiredly and drifted off to sleep.
Kris' POV
I lied on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I'm in the guest room, which is my room when I was alive by the way.
"Was alive, huh." I smiled bitterly.
"You're alive right now, aren't you? They can see you. You can touch these people, feel the warmth of your blanket, feel the cool breeze of the night...right?" My subconscious said.
I stretched out my hand, as if reaching out to something. I looked at my hand carefully. I smiled sadly as I thought, "It's not transparent....is it?"
"No," my subconscious paused. "It's not."
"But this is just temporary." I brought my hand down beside me. "No matter what form I take, even if it's human form, I'm still dead, aren't I? It will never change. Even though I really feel like I'm alive when I'm with these people, especially with Kylie, it doesn't change the fact that I'm just a ghost. I will never be one of them."
I started to caress the blanket and pillow with my fingers. It feels so soft. It's not my pillow and blanket though. Mine are in the attic. Well, most of my personal things are.
I looked around the room. My eyes landed on the desk beside the bed I'm lying on.
"Huh, I'm sure it was just beside the window when I was using it." I stood up and put my hand on the smooth surface of the desk. I was tempted to put it back to its original place, but I realized that I have no right to any of these anymore. I don't live in this house anymore, I just...I'm just stuck in this place.
I saw my name carved at the upper left of the desk. Crystal and Mark's names were beside mine. Our names were enclosed in a circle. I remember the day they vandalized my desk. I was twelve back then. The two of them were about 8 years old.
~Flashback~
I heard Crystal and Mark running towards the kitchen where I was making some cookies.
"Kris," Crystal tugged my shirt. I looked down at her and saw that tears were already dripping down her cheeks.
I quickly washed my hands. I knelt down to wipe her tears. I looked at Mark who was wearing a worried look at the corner. I raised my eyebrow at him. "What did you do now?"
"I didn't do anything! It's her fault!" He pointed at Crystal.
I turned to Crystal. "What did you do, C?"
She sniffled before answering. "I was just...I was just playing with your toy, but, but I accidentally dropped it. Waaah! I'm so sorry, Kris!!! I didn't do it on purpose!" She cried out.
I sighed in relief. "I thought you got hurt or something."
She looked at me with wide eyes. "Y-you don't mind I damaged your toy?"
I feigned a worried expression. "Of course, I do. What to do now? I didn't even eat lunch for a few days just to buy that."
"Eeehhh?! You didn't eat lunch just for that! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll just buy you another one!!!" She hugged me tightly.
I smiled as I looked down at her tiny figure. She really think that's true? We wouldn't be able to buy this house or mansion if we don't even have money to buy a toy.
"Hey, I'm just kidding. It's okay." I held her face and wiped her cheeks. "Why don't you go to my room with Mark? I'll just finish these cookies and I'll bring them to you upstairs, okay?"
"It's really okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, it was an accident wasn't it?"
She nodded.
"Right, so you don't have to worry about it." I turned to Mark who's staring hungrily at the cookies. I chuckled at him.
"Mark, go bring her to my room. Behave, okay?" I said to him.
"Yes, sir," he sent me a salute before taking Crystal's hand and went out of the kitchen. I just shook my head, smiling.
The cookies were done after a while. I was making my way towards my room. I opened the door and saw Mark writing something on my desk.
I walked towards him and looked at what he's doing.
"Hey!!!! What the fudge are you doing?!" I pushed him so that I could see what he carved on my desk.
In a what seemed to be a circle, is our names. Noooo, my poor desk. I glared at Mark.
"I told you to behave, didn't I? Did you know that I clean this desk everyday just to keep it shiny and all?!"
The kid just shrugged and smiled brightly at me. "Well, that symbolizes our friendship anyway, so it's fine."
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"That's right, Kris! Since you use that desk everyday, you will always see that circle and will remember that you have friends here!" Crystal jumped up and down on my bed.
My eyes softened at the two of them. I just realized that these two are very important to me.
"Ooh!" Mark suddenly pointed a finger at me. "Kris is going to cry!"
"I'm not!" I glared at him.
He stuck his tongue out at me.
~End of flashback~
Those two were really important to me. They helped me a lot in the past...but then, they did something that destroyed our friendship. They betrayed me. I couldn't imagine the cheerful and sweet Crystal doing that behind my back.
I punched the wall beside me. That Crystal...the old Crystal is not coming back anytime soon. If she ever lay a finger on Kylie again, I'll teach her a lesson myself.
Kylie's POV (Tuesday morning)
I sat up abruptly and glared at the alarm clock that was continuously ringing.
"Oh, shit. I won't be able to catch the bus in time." I sprinted towards the bathroom.
Upon opening the door, a body fell on top of me. I yelped in shock and scrambled away from the body.
Kris' laughter echoed in the room. He appeared beside the unmoving body.
"Aw, don't be scared, Kylie. It's just a life-size doll of you." He snickered.
I glared daggers at him. He raised his hands in surrender. "Well, you're wide awake, so you can go shower now. Bye!"
He vanished with his stupid doll before I could even open my mouth.
~~~
I was running to the bus stop when I heard a honk beside me. I jumped in surprise and looked at the driver of the car.
"Hey," Mark smiled. "Long time no see."
I stared at him, not knowing what to do. This guy did something terrible to Kris. He betrayed his own best friend. How could he do that?
But he didn't do anything wrong to me. Maybe he changed for the better. His smile seemed genuine. Or maybe he's just a good actor. I wonder if he's just playing me. If he is, I will chop his head off and throw his body in the river. I'll just keep the head for my collection. Bwahaha!
"Kylie," He waved his hand to get my attention.
"Want a lift?" He offered.
Going with him seems to be a bad idea. It's like betraying Kris. But then I want information. I want him to tell me personally that he did betray Kris. It's not like I don't trust Kris' words. I just want to know if Mark is sincerely sorry that he did that to Kris.
I forced out a smile. "Sure."
I went inside his car, and he drove silently.
"I didn't get to see you yesterday because coach trained me the whole day." He laughed.
I looked at him and furrowed my eyebrows.
I wonder if he knows about Crystal's prank yesterday. Rumors usually spread like wildfire. Also, they took pictures of me. Oh, no. THEY TOOK PICTURES OF ME!!!
This is bad. Why haven't I thought that I'm gonna be bullied after Crystal pulled that stupid prank?! Oh, I know! Because of Kris' past! That's been bugging me since yesterday.
I clutched my head and groaned. I'm so stressed that I might die right now.
Mark sent me a sideway glance. "Are you okay?"
I whipped my head in his direction. "Uh, y-yeah, of course."
I surreptitiously narrowed my eyes at him. Maybe he's lying about training yesterday and purposely left me so that Crystal can pull the prank without me suspecting him.
Maybe he's actually on Crystal's side, and they're planning to get their revenge because I tricked and punched Crystal (She asked for it anyway). And now, he offered me a lift to make sure I won't run away.
"Oi, why are you thinking like he's a bad guy? He didn't do anything wrong to you. He's been nice to you since you moved in that mansion." My subconscious reprimanded.
"But he did betray his best friend." I argued mentally.
"Yeah, but that's in the past. He might've changed after Kris' death."
I mentally glared at my subconscious after she mentioned about Kris' death. I refuse to think that Kris is already dead. Well, he's dead physically. For me, Kris is pretty much alive.
"Hey, Mark," I muttered.
"Hmm," he hummed, eyes focusing the road.
"Why do you hate Crystal?" I asked frankly.
I could see that he was taken aback by my question.
"Uh, what makes you think that I hate her?" He forced out a smile.
"Well, for one, you looked happy when I told you that I punched her." I pressed my lips together.
"She deserved it." He replied shortly.
"See, that attitude obviously says that you hate her." I pointed out.
He furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't exactly hate her, but I don't like her either."
"And why do you dislike her?" I raised my eyebrows.
"U-uh," It was obvious that he's uncomfortable talking about Crystal.
"Why are you suddenly asking me these questions?"
"I'm curious." I shrugged. "Now, answer my question."
"She...she bullies people. That's why I don't like her." He was obviously lying.
"Anyway, we're here." He said.
I looked ahead to find the school, but...there was no school. I squinted my eyes to search for our school, and there it was. You could only see the rooftop in the distance.
Wow, I'm amazed by his sharp eyes. He could see the school miles away. Well, he said that to shut me up , I guess.
We arrived in time, fortunately. I got out of the car, and the students started staring at me.
"Why am I not surprised?" I mumbled under my breath.
"Why are they staring at you? Did something happen?" Mark asked in concern.
"Tss, ask them. They all know, anyways." I went straight to my locker.
I opened my locker, but what's inside made freeze in shock.
"What the..." Mark breathed out before gagging.
I stepped back, still staring at the sight before me. Inside my locker was a dead cat. It was killed in a not humane way.
"Who the hell did this?!" Mark shouted angrily at the crowd forming around us.
The students stayed quiet.
"Answer me!"
I looked at Mark hesitantly. He looked like he was about murder who did this.
"I did." Someone answered.
We looked at the girl walking towards us confidently. Crystal fucking Peige. She even has the guts to smirk at me. I gritted my teeth as I stomped my way towards her, but Mark reached her first.
He grabbed Crystal's shoulders roughly. Crystal winced before smiling at Mark.
"Hello, Mark. You finally decided to talk to me?" She looked at him with hopeful eyes.
Is she crazy? Or just plain stupid? It's obvious that he wants to hurt her.
"Why did you do this?! Why are you doing this to her?!" Mark tightened his grip on Crystal's shoulders.
Crystal's smile faltered. She glared at me for a second before looking at Mark like an abused puppy. Hey, I'm the one who's abused here, not you, bitch.
"W-why are you so concerned about her, Mark?" She stuttered. She looked like she's about to cry.
"W-why are you so concerned about her, Mark?" I mocked silently.
Of course, he's concerned about me. I'm the victim here.
"Because I lik-" he cut himself off. "Because she's my friend. And stop whatever you're planning to do to her because I might not be able to stop myself next time you do this bullshit."
My eyebrows shot up when I heard Mark swear. Oooohh, bad boy Mark is awesome.
Mark grabbed my arm and lead me to his car. I was about to protest when he spoke.
"You need a day off." He said without looking at me.
I was tempted to say, "I already took a day off yesterday," but I stopped myself.
Crystal's POV
I clenched my jaw as I watched Mark drag that bitch towards his car. I turned around and pushed some students who were in my way. I went inside the washroom and shooed the girls who were gossiping inside.
I slammed my hands on the sink. I won't stop, Mark, until you become mine. If I have to kill that bitch just to get you, it will be my pleasure to do it.
"Crystal," a voice that was so familiar said behind me. I felt the hair at the back of my neck stood up. I noticed the drastic drop of the temperature. I abruptly turned around, but there was no one.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
I opened every cubicle, but there was no one.
"It must've been my imagination." I muttered to myself.
Someone chuckled creepily. "Imagination? I'm more than that, my dear Crystal."
I looked around to find the owner of the voice even though a part of me already knew who it was. However, I refuse to believe it because it's impossible. H-he's dead.
I decided to go out of the washroom, but when I was about to open the door, it locked. I twisted the lock to unlock it, but it won't budge.
"You can't run away from me, Crystal." My eyes widened in fear as the voice whispered in my ear.
I turned around shakily, but I saw nothing. I was breathing heavily atthe moment. I decided to test the waters.
"K-kris?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's note
Hey, guys! Wow, I'm such a mean person, aren't I? Another cliffhanger! Mwahahaha!
Sorry if it took me three weeks to update. I had a writer's block again. Anyway, you had a glimpse of how crazy or interesting Kylie's family is and Kris' past with Mark and Crystal. I'm sorry if you're uncomfortable reading this chapter because of so many shifts in POV.
Thanks for reading this far! I'm sorry for the grammatical errors if there are any. Don't forget to vote and comment! Bye! I shall return!!!