THE ANNOYING GHOST.
Sarawat stared wide-eyed at the disheveled young man in front of him. He was tall and moderately broad shouldered, the outlines of his body beneath his t-shirt and jeans hinted at a more powerful physique than what seemed to be the case at the first glance. His black hair was parted on one side and the floppy fringe was covering one of his mischievous, round eyes.
How the hell had this dude gotten inside Sarawat's room?
Sarawat's inky eyes darted to the balcony behind the guy but the sliding door was closed. What the actual fuck? Was this night ever going to end?
Then his gaze glided along the frame of this new stranger and realization suddenly dawned on Sarawat, like a coin tumbling down the canals of a slot machine. Ding! Ding! Ding! The dude was floating on thin air for Christ's sake, as if standing on an invisible ledge. Cold dread seeped instantly down Sarawat's spine, pooling at his lower back and making his upper lip twitch a little crookedly.
The room and everything else along with it, faded away in the face of this inevitable meeting.
Was this the ghost, his ghost?
Sarawat blinked, holding his eyelids closed for a second longer while pinching the bridge of his nose between a thumb and a forefinger, wondering if the ghost would still be there once he opened his eyes.
And indeed, the disheveled young man was still there. A wide, square smile stretched his cheeks, squeezing his eyes into two charming half moons. Sarawat's wide lips parted in astonishment at the sudden mesmerizing view. How was he so radiant in this gloomy room despite being just a mere afterimage of a living person? What a strange curveball Sarawat had been dealt by the fate. He dragged a hand through his hair, stopping at his nape and just holding it there, anchoring himself to the present. Sarawat was too stunned at this turn of events to even panic, white noise buzzing inside his ears.
This guy looked certainly different now than the last time Sarawat had seen him, more human and less like a zombie, and weirdly enough he actually seemed familiar now that there was less blood and scrapes covering his sharp face and lithe body. But not familiar enough that Sarawat actually knew who he was. Something dark and viscous reared its ugly head inside of him, an echo of a distant pain in Sarawat's chest.
"Isn't this neat?" The ghost said cheerfully, breaking Sarawat's bubble.
The guy stretched his arms wide and gave himself a little spin, letting Sarawat take a closer look at him. Huh. His arm was no longer hanging uselessly at his side and even his clothes were no longer ripped. The gash on his forehead seemed to have magically mended itself and even if there were still some minor scrapes and traces of blood left in nooks and creases, making the guy look a little ruffled, he still looked pretty much alive.
Fuck, Sarawat was too tired for all of this. How could a ghost possibly be alive? Was he hallucinating or was this all just a lucid dream?
He exhaled heavily, feeling his eyes droop slightly. Sarawat could not function properly without at least ten hours of sleep and this night was certainly breaking his limit. He would let all of the impending questions flood his mind once he has had his rest, when he could perceive things more with his brain and less with his heart.
"Hey," the ghost tried to get his attention as Sarawat dazedly shuffled past him, walking around him at a safe distance and flopped down onto the bed. "Hey, I think that was my name."
"What? Tine?" Sarawat mumbled into the pillow, eyelashes lowered as his hooded gaze traveled to the far too bubbly ghost at the foot of the bed, just in time to see him instantly flicker at the mention of the name, minutely bleeping out and then back into existence.
"Yes!" The ghost, apparently named Tine, confirmed cheerfully while pumping his fists into the air excitedly. "Finally! It's been so boring to just drift around here with all the dust and mothballs." Then Tine floated quite hypnotically to the head of the bed, making Sarawat feel a little seasick as he cautiously tracked the movement with his bleary eyes. The ghost leaned slightly over Sarawat from the side of the bed. "Say it again," he whispered reverently, eyes shining, pale hands folded neatly under his chin.
"Ugh," Sarawat uttered eloquently and blinked fuzzily into the gloom, past Tine's flimsy image. His thick brows furrowed as he struggled to think, mind all cottony. Since the ghost was actually more annoying than scary, Sarawat's body was slowly but surely going off into power mode, mind exhausted by all distress he had to tolerate recently. It was not just the ghost that made him feel drained, it was everything; his pushy mother, his distant girlfriend and his not so bright and very unsure future.
Sarawat reached out and pulled a fluffy pillow over his head, trying to get away from the noisy guy invading his space. He was still not fully sure that this was actually happening for real. It had to be a dream, or a nightmare maybe?
"Sarawat~!"
Oh, shit. The ghost had learned Sarawat's name.
"Shut up, you're annoying," Sarawat mumbled without any venom while slowly but steadily drifting off to sleep, his grip on the pillow slacking. For some unfathomable reason he felt secure right there where he was, even with the supernatural knocking at his door. Or maybe it was just his unstable psyche that was trying to tell him something by broadcasting this quirky hallucination. But then again, was it really possible to imagine something so vivid?
Tine huffed above the sleeping man, his brows angled in an upset frown at being ignored so blatantly, hands at his narrow hips. What a strange guy! Nonetheless he carefully reached out a pale, slightly shaky hand and gently nudged the pillow off of Sarawat's face so that he would not suffocate in his sleep.
Oh, wow! It seemed that he had enough power to move light objects without instantly disintegrating and losing his form. Score!
Tine stared down at his own pale limbs curiously, turning them this and that way in the gloomy light of the room, clenching and unclenching his long fingers, scrutinizing the white half moons on his pinkish nails. Is this how his soul looked like without all the blood spilled and bones crushed?
Is this how his real body had looked like?
-----
"So, I've been thinking," Tine said as he smoothly floated into the bathroom where Sarawat was brushing his teeth, making the poor guy spit toothpaste all over the mirror in surprise. Sarawat clutched at the faucet, knuckles whitening from the grip and hair flopping over his piercing eyes at the jerky movement.
Shit! How many times would this stupid ghost keep on doing that? Earlier the same morning Tine had materialized right out of nowhere as Sarawat was getting dressed, making him rip a hole in a pair of jeans when his foot slipped and missed the pant's leg, making him stomp a foot straight through a seam instead. And now this, whatever it was.
"What the fuck, dude, you can't do that," Sarawat hissed while turning on the cold water and splashing it into his face to mellow out the shock still swimming in his system.
Tine was like a lovesick puppy, bugging Sarawat since the wee hours of the morning. First tinkling on Sarawat's guitar and then popping out of nowhere at every nook and crane, scaring the shit out of Sarawat each time. At least when Tine was not able to talk and still looked kind of like a zombie, everything was happening slowly and gradually. However, now it felt as if a hurricane had been let loose inside his room, making Sarawat's heart skip a beat each time something happened. And it was just their first couple of days together while stuck in this strange predicament.
"Sorry," Tine snickered openly at Sarawat, flashing his bunny teeth while not sounding sorry at all. "As I was saying," he mock cleared his throat, a clenched fist poised at his pink mouth. "Since those guys seemed to know my name, maybe they know me as well-," he paused then and fidgeted timidly, gaze fluttering unsurely around the tiled room. "I mean, maybe they knew who I was, well, before all of this?" Tine motioned unsurely to himself, slender hands sweeping unsteadily along his deceitfully corporeal looking body. He turned his hopeful gaze to Sarawat, who was now stoically wiping his face clean with a fluffy towel. Tine stared with pitiful eyes over Sarawat's shoulder, meeting the other man's gloomy gaze in the mirror.
Sarawat arched his angled brows but eventually conceded to the silent plea.
"Sounds reasonable," he exhaled and combed a wiry hand through his tousled hair, brandishing his smooth forehead and slanted a hip against the cold porcelain of the faucet while crossing his arms over his shirt-clad chest.
A really nice looking piece of chest, Tine's ghost mind supplied unhelpfully. He shook his head faintly to get rid of these, highly unnecessary thoughts.
Since Sarawat had moved into Tine's room there had been plenty of opportunities for Tine to observe him. It was not like he did it with dirty thoughts in mind. It just so occurred that Tine was there most of the time and, well, Sarawat was there too.
Besides, it was pretty boring to be a ghost, being anchored to one place and unable to leave. Sometimes Tine would, much like a spec of dust, swirl around lazily in the stray sunrays that fell into the room from the balcony, letting the warmth fill his translucent core, temporarily making him feel alive. Other times he would watch Sarawat strum heart aching melodies on his guitar with those nimble, long fingers. But all the more recently he had been watching Sarawat just sit there, at the open sliding door of the balcony and take lazy drags on one cigarette after another.
It was strange how Tine did not feel compelled to chase this gloomy guy away. For once it was fine that someone was disturbing his lethargic peace, as long as that someone was Sarawat.
"And what do you suggest we do then?" Sarawat's low voice brought Tine back to the present. The lower half of Tine's body was starting to go translucent as he had been splitting up into his wandering thoughts and stopped concentrating on being present, being somewhat real. "Tell them that you're haunting my room? How do you think they will react?"
"I don't know," Tine muttered dejectedly, a pout on his full lips "Maybe they can at least tell you where my ashes are and we can just take me there for final rest or something? End of story."
A mirthless smirk curled at the ends of Sarawat's bow shaped lips, eyes glinting hard in the stark light of the bathroom. Something jolted inside of him at the mere mention of cremating Tine, or any one else for that matter.
"Really now, do you think it'll be that easy? How long have you been hanging around this place?" Sarawat jerked his chin arrogantly, not sure what came over him. "If it had been that easy then you should've found your peace by now."
"Don't you think I haven't been asking myself the same damn thing?" Tine suddenly exploded, his inexistent veins pulsated with bitterness. Why was Sarawat acting so difficult? Did he think Tine was stupid? "Every fucking day, I keep wondering!"
In a strobe of the sudden anger Tine's appearance abruptly changed form, the horrendous zombie look from before flashed forth. A gaping wound instantly split open the side of his temple and along the hairline on his forehead. All the while, blood suddenly gurgled in his throat, spilling from his supple lips as Tine opened them in a silent scream.
Tine had glimpsed at clear image of his own form changing in the mirror behind Sarawat's back. That had never happened before. He did not even realize that he had a reflection until this horrible vision flashed before his eyes. It was horrible. Scary. Was this how Sarawat had perceived Tine all along? Bloody tears of despair tickled down Tine's anguished face. Why the hell did Sarawat not run from him?
Sarawat froze in his spot, his heart speeding up inside his chest at seeing the sudden storm of conflicted emotions fighting for dominance on Tine's pallid face. He unclasped his hands and pushed away from the hand basin, intent on stepping closer to the ghost. Sarawat was unsure if he would be even able to touch him but he felt a burning need to do at least something. Tine just looked so afraid, his ghastly appearance only bringing out the shining terror in his round, wide-opened eyes.
However, before Sarawat could even reach him, Tine had already disappeared in a stroke of smoke, leaving only sizzling energy behind in his wake. A sparkle crackled through the air and went out with a burst, making Sarawat jerk his hand back to avoid getting snapped at on his fingers.
Tine was unreachable thereafter. It did not matter how many Scrubb songs Sarawat played on his guitar, Tine was just not picking up the otherworldly call.
Note:
Tine is finally more sentient in the story! Yay! I must admit that it was challenging to write only Sarawat's pov but now, with Tine finally there to annoy Sarawat, the story should be more dynamic going forward.
Thanks for staying put and reading through the first chapters!