Alexander heard a dog's panting and someone's laugh. Where was he, even?
"You're eating all my marshmellows!" a boy's voice exclaimed.
Somewhat following the noise of his dog and this stranger, Alexander sighed.
He didn't like people. He just didn't. Usually, people would bring up his eyes, which he couldn't even see himself. Aparently, they were different colors - great, though, he couldn't see colors.
He couldn't see at all! What else was there to understand? Maybe Alexander was being too sensitive, but anything regarding him and his appearance made him annoyed.
"Are you this doggie's owner?" the voice asked.
Xavier barked. Alexander was kind of disapointed that his dog was playing with this kid.
"Yeah, I am," mumbled Alexander. "His name's Xavier."
"I'm Theo!"
"I'm Alexander. And I can't see. I'm blind." It felt stupid to start off with, but it also felt like something he had to say.
"Oh, that's cool! Your eyes are cool, too. They're really pretty. I've been told my eyes glow in the dark, almost. They're a bright green," rambled Theo.
"It's dark out?" Alexander asked, ignoring the comment about his eyes.
"Well, actually, the sun's setting now."
Alexander hadn't really known it was dark out. People would think he had a pretty good sense of direction at this point, but not completely. He had most of it figured out, at least. Most of it.
The ground underneath him was wet, and it felt kind of damp outside. It had been raining a while ago - Alexander had still been out while it was. The three senses Alexander relied the most on were smell, sound, and touch.
"Weird question, but where are we?" Alexander reached for Xavier's fluffy body.
"At this mansion I found. We're deep in the woods right now. I think going in will be a lot of fun!" Theo gushed.
"Can you lead me?" Alexander just wanted to get home, really. Wandering far away was something he didn't do on occasion, but it always happened once in a while.
"Oh, sure!"
Giving another bark, Xavier's collar could be heard shaking. Rain droplets landed all over Alexander. "Xavier!" he yelled, smiling nonetheless.
"It wasn't Xavier," Theo said sheepishly. "Well, it was both of us. It was . . . really rainy out here, huh?"
The smile on Alexander's face turned to more of a frown.
Theo grabbed Alexander's wrist and walked him back home.
At least, that was what Alexander thought.
They were suddenly hit by a blast of cold, and that's when Alexander knew something was wrong. His bare feet were standing on wood, not dirt.
"Woah!" gasped Theo. "These curtains feel like they're made of silk, or something."
"What?"
"And these paintings! They're, like, caked in dust! Come feel!"
"No, I-" But Alexander's hand was smacked right onto a sandy feeling canvas, and he couldn't help it.
Pulling his hand away immediately, Alexander grimaced. "Did you take me into the mansion!?"
"You said to lead you!"
"To my house!"
"Well, you didn't specify!"
A shriek sounded out through the house. Xavier whined.
"Here, have a marshmellow, boy," Theo whispered.
Blindly, Alexander slapped Theo's hand away. "You're probably gonna sugar him up."
"Right."
Something similar to metal tapping was heard from upstairs. Was it an upstairs? It was just from somewhere above Alexander; that was what he knew.
That wasn't the only sound, though. The floor creaked every time the two boys and the dog took a step. Alexander could swear he heard whispers from below him.
"Where's the door out?" asked Alexander, sounding a bit angry.
"I'll get it."
Footsteps, then the noise of a squeaking doorknob.
"It's locked!" Theo exclaimed.
"Really?"
"Really! I swear!"
Alexander felt for the door and tried opening it himself. It wasn't working.
"We're trapped!" Alexander screamed. "I'm trapped with my dog and I don't know how to get out of here!"
"It's gonna be fine! I've got weapons! A- a slingshot! And I've got . . . marshmellows!" Theo's voice had a certain amount of uncertainty that Alexander didn't like.
"I'm sure we'll get outta here!" continued Theo.
Holding onto Xavier's collar, Alexander listened as Theo tried breaking a bunch of things. He wasn't sure what that was supposed to do, but stayed out of it.
Just as Theo shattered something that sounded like it was made of porcelain, a squeal sounded.
"Maybe . . . stop?" suggested Alexander.
"Yeah, maybe," Theo muttered.
"How did the breaking stuff help?"
"I don't know, I just kinda wanted to!"
There was another, louder, intense screech. It hurt Alexander's ears.
Theo wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew what he was definitely going to try. Taking out his slingshot and loading it with his ammo, he pulled the toughest face he could make. It probably wasn't much.
"Hey! I've got marshmellows and I'm not afraid to-"
"Hiya."
Jumping slightly, Theo let go of his slingshot and the marshmellow flew away.
"What was that?" Alexander asked.
"I- um-" Theo looked around. "Who was that?"
Flickering into sight was some guy, older than Theo, who was dressed in strange, olden day kind of clothes. He looked straight out of a museum or something, really.
"It's me!" the guy exclaimed. He was floating a few inches off the ground.
Xavier still glued to him, Alexander questioned,"Who?"
Theo reached for another marshmellow.
"My name's Cassius. I'm here to make sure you don't die, if you don't mind."
"But-" Alexander probably had just as much knowledge as to what was going on as Theo did.
Xavier growled.
"Aw! It's a puppy!" Cassius smiled.
"Who are you?" Theo aimed his weapon at Cassius. "And in detail."
Cassius crossed his arms. "Oh, come on. Anyone who likes dogs is a trustworthy person. Probably."
Narrowing his eyes, Theo said firmly, "I'll shoot."
"Woah there. Feisty," replied Cassius. "I'm a ghost, so it wouldn't matter. Dead as my own dreams."
Theo let go of his slingshot, and this time, the marshmellow went through Cassius.
"Notice the left hand that's missing? Oh, and maybe the way my whole entire left arm looks like it was grilled."
"Is this some kind of prank, Theo?" asked Alexander.
"No, there's this floating guy in front of us!" Theo answered, trying to sound as serious as he could be. "And he looks like his arm went through a paper shredder that was on fire!"
Cassius chuckled. "That's pretty accurate. 'Course, we didn't have paper shredders back in the early 1600's, did we?"
"Did you?" Theo didn't really know anything about anything. As far as he knew, the rainbow started with the color orange.
"Nope. Only swords to cut musician's hands off, I suppose." Cassius had on an agitated voice, which came off as threatening to Theo.
"So who are you? And, uh, what are you?" Alexander pulled Xavier even closer to him.
"Do I have to explain again?" sighed Cassius.
Alexander frowned. "You didn't explain too much at all."
"Fine then. My name is Cassius Randolph Haybridge. I was a musican who lived in the late 1500's to the early 1600's, I played the lute and I was really great at it, people didn't like my music one day, pushed my frail, peasant body to the ground, cut off the hand I use to play, burned my entire left arm, and I like long walks on the beach." Taking in a deep breath, the ghost continued. "You're about to die, I'm trying to help you. Also, you're stuck here now. In this mansion."
"That was too fast!" Theo whined. Really, it wasn't - Theo just hadn't been listening that much.
"I'm dead and you're about to be, too."
"Is that a threat?" snapped Alexander.
"No, it's a nice warning. Now come with me." The ghost grabbed Theo's wrist with his one good hand, and Theo instinctively tried to hit him. Of course, it didn't work.
"You can't tell me what to do!" Theo exclaimed.
"Great. A rebell. You can work with this, Cassi - don't want them to be dented by a baseball bat," huffed Cassius.
Alexander took a step forward. "What was that about being dented by a baseball bat?" His voice was full of suspicion.
"Nothing. Nothing. Now let's get into the safety basement, huh?" Cassius faked a smile. "Uhm . . . yay . . . let's do it!"
Theo looked at Alexander. He didn't seem very amused, even for a person who couldn't see.
"How come kids are so less compelled to listen to people these days? When I was still alive, I could play a song and children would swarm like flies!"
"You're not supposed to follow strangers," replied Alexander sharply.
"And I just don't like listening," Theo chimed in.
"Let me explain quickly, because she's going to hear sooner or later," Cassius said.
"'She?'" Alexander seemed to be growing more defiant by the second, for some reason. Theo liked it, though.
"Uh-huh. She hates kids and absolutely loves to scare them half to death. Or just kill them; that works, too."
"Okay, but who the heck is 'she?!'" pushed Theo, rocking back and forth.
Cassius's face went sone cold. "Fluffy."
"Fluffy?" Alexander laughed. "You want us to believe we're about to be killed by someone named Fluffy?"
"What happened with you? You were becoming my favorite! You were quiet. Now you're being like the backpack kid!"
"Just taking action."
"I swear, I want to scream. But you know, it's always like this at the beginning. So, cooporate, please," begged Cassius. "We're wasting time."
"Correction. You already did."
Theo turned his head to see another floating figure. She was dressed in a baseball uniform, paired with a baseball hat and . . . horns, strangely enough, looking as if they were each snapped off into two.
"Fluffy." Cassius's face was taut.
The other ghost smirked. "Cassius."
They both nodded at each other.
Theo backed up towards Alexander, ready to run if needed.
"I think you're too old to understand that kids won't hop onto your van, even if you offer candy," Fluffy told Cassius.
Cassius hovered closer to her. "I wasn't able to get to the candy part, yet. You kind of interrupted me."
"Everytime you try to save one of these tiny abominations, they get killed more than half the time. Eventually, you're gonna have to stop. Let me take care of it."
"Maybe kids were never nice to you, Fluffy-buns, but they were always nice to me," replied Cassius. "They probably all died of plague or something, but I love kids. I love people in general. Most people, at least."
"Your point?" Fluffy raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know, really. Got off track. I'm just nice? Nicer than you?" taunted Cassius.
Fluffy floated higher and higher into the air. "I only wish I could kill you another time!" she shrieked. Growing to what seemed like 8 feet, the ghost started spouting out screams and noises, shadowy limbs sprouting out of her.
"Go!" Cassius yelled at Alexander and Theo. Xavier was howling up a storm. "I can't do that all that, I'm not cool enough!" He began flying into the air.
"Theo, let's run!" hissed Alexander.
"No way! I want to watch!" Theo argued.
Cassius stopped mid flight, turning to look at Theo and Alexander. "You're really going to fight me on this n-"
Suddenly, Cassius was thrown into a wall. Getting up only resulted in being tossed into the wall across him, like a bat hitting a ball.
"You have two strikes!" Fluffy's distorted voice called. "One more and you're out!"
She grinned and looked at Alexander and Theo. "Then you'll be up to play."
"Don't you touch a creepy hand on them!" shouted Cassius.
Next it was the ceiling. Cassius fell to the ground in front of the two boys. This time he didn't get up. Ghosts couldn't die, could they?
Laughing, Fluffy stepped closer to Theo and Alexander. "Three strikes, you're out!"
"Run now?" Alexander asked.
"Run now!" Theo answered.
They sprinted right through Fluffy - like, they phased through her. Was that what it was called? Theo had no idea. He didn't want to question it too bad. Ghosts would just be ghosts.
Xavier behind them, Theo took Alexander by the hand and ran. He ran, and he ran, and he just keep on running as fast as he could.
They passed doors and a kitchen, old, velvet furniture, paintings, stairways, and a shelf of plates just waiting to be smashed.
In truth, Theo had no idea what he was doing or what had just happened, but he didn't think Alexander did, either.
-------
Fluffy nudged Cassius with her shoe, grinning ear to ear. "Wakey wakey," she said.
Cassius got up slowly, hovering again. "I feel like life flashed before my eyes for a second time," he mumbled. "If you touched those kids, I'm going to-"
"They got away this time," Fluffy cut in. "The little weasels. We didn't even get to play ball. I should've possessed one of them, that would've been a good game plan! Unfortunately, I was more focused in scaring rather than scarring."
Cassius smiled. "You're a horrible sport."
"You're a horrible fighter. And I also really don't like you."
"Didn't know, couldn't tell," joked Cassius.
"Shut up," barked Fluffy.
"So, right now, the score is Cassius: one, Fluffy: zero." Cassius chuckled.
Fluffy groaned. "Of course you would say that to me."
"Homerun!" cheered Cassius.
"That's not how you play baseball." And with that, Fluffy flickered out of sight.
Flickering away himself, Cassius decided to try and look for the kids. They were stuck in the mansion, anyways. There was no way they could be too hard to find. They had touched an object and were bound to the house. Just like him.
Just like Fluffy.
Just like everyone else.