The Boy and the Ghost

The Meeting of the Boy and the Ghost

Somehow Suresh still managed to wake up early for school the next day, although he did wake up in a cold sweat. Panting and puffing, he placed a hand over his heart and felt his quickened pace. It must have been a particularly bad nightmare.

Suresh somehow managed to have it in him to get dressed and go to school. It was Friday, and he was looking forward to a weekend of doing nothing but reading and making notes.

He ended up staying quite late in the library again, and was trying to catch up on History while somehow attempting to distract himself from the news he heard just the day before. Classically Gen-Z of him, he just decided he'd have to bottle up his emotions and deal with the trauma later. Preferably after the end of year exams.

He was scribbling down something about salts and alkaline solutions when Daniel came up to him.

"Hey Suresh." He said in that caramel thick voice of his.

Daniel was the cutest boy in school (just after Jacob). He was not only six foot one and had the body of an Olympic swimmer but was also Vice Head of the Chess Club, the Science Club and Deputy Head of the Prefectorial Board. And Suresh had a crush on him since he was old enough to realise liked Draco and Harry much better than Hermione (back when he was an avid Potterhead with raging hormones).

"Oh hi." He all but squeaked. He was genuinely nervous and could barely even look up at him.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Daniel continued after a few seconds of awkward silence. "You were pretty quiet the whole day. You must be pretty shaken from the news."

They announced the news about Jacob in the morning assembly. It was a car accident. Two girls and one teacher cried. Suresh just tried to zone out.

"No yeah I'm.." Suresh honestly wasn't sure how to respond. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Cool." Daniel responded and played with the zipper of his jacket for a while before continuing. "I just wanted to ask you something. And I hope it's okay if I do."

Suresh just stared at him like he just asked him for a maths formula in Greek.

"I wanted to if you're free tomorrow." Daniel asked.

Suresh did a mental somersault and pretended like he was not free every weekend for his whole life because he never had plans. "Um.. yeah I think I'm free. Why?"

"Do you wanna go out tomorrow?" He asked tentatively. "Like just to hang out. You up for it?"

Suresh genuinely felt like he was going to faint. But just then the lights above them began to flicker and the air suddenly got much cooler than it was before. Like a post-rain breeze had found its way into the dusky library. They both of them paused and stared at the lights for a few seconds till it stopped flickering.

"Yeah sure!" Suresh broke the silence, responding rather loudly and awkwardly stared at Daniel before adding rather coolly,  "yeah, no, I'm down for that."

"Great." Daniel replied. "Meet you at Spectral Mall? Around seven-ish? We can watch a movie and have dinner or something"

"Sounds great." Suresh replied trying to keep his shit together. As Daniel walked away and Suresh finally felt like he could breathe again, the lights started flickering and sizzling, which made the already dingy library seem much dodgier than it already was.

Suresh brushed it off before yet another chilly breeze had managed to enter the library hall again, this time actually managing to make the hair on Suresh stand up and a slight shiver went through his body like a shockwave. Suresh looked around to see that he was in the library alone. Daniel had already left and Ms. Agatha had probably left early since it was a Friday night and left it to security to lock up.

He heard a shuffling coming from behind the bookcase. He looked up and swung his head around only to find no one there. He turned back to his work when he heard another noise from behind him.

"Is someone there?" he called out. But the silence was enough of an answer for him.

He turned around one last time and scanned the scene only to find a perfectly still bookcase and an empty table with empty seats. After letting out a sigh, he turned back around only to see Jacob Lam standing in front of him, just on the other side of his table.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!" He screamed and fell off his chair with a thud. He picked himself up only to find Jacob still standing there with an awkward smile and his hands tucked into his pockets.

"Nice to see you too, Susu."