Collection TSV - One Shots

Prompt 10 - Pieces

Pieces

As long as Eddy could remember he saw the otherworldly spirits. Some in corporal form, some as white or grey mist. He never bothered too much with them. After a mean child-spirit told him to jump down the well in the back of the yard to be with her, he stayed away. It resulted in him almost drowning. Thankfully his father saw him jump down and rescued him. Up until then, every spirit he came across was nice and good, but this one girl was not.

She always lamented the fact that the jump didn't kill him, breaking his body in little pieces like hers, and so he couldn't be with her. Eddy stayed away from the well after that.

He learned that spirits had a different radius determined on how they died. If they were killed or they accidentally died the radius was bigger. The ones who took their own lives, either by accident or on purpose, had a very tight radius around the place it happened. If a person died in a house, the house was their cage. If a person died in like a well, the well and the surrounding area was theirs but they couldn't leave the yard. If a person was killed on a street, they could wander a bit but not by much. That was why the girl in the well could go out of the well, but for only a meter or so. She jumped in when her father chased her to do the strange thing to her again, she told him. She didn't like it. It was painful and wet and she felt disgusted when it was over. Also she bled when her father was finished with her. So instead of enduring it again, the young girl – she couldn't be older than five or six – wanted to 'hide' herself in the well, not thinking about how she couldn't swim. She very obviously drowned. And she was so lonely, so she wanted Eddy to join her! But that was a failed attempt and another was no longer possible. After his father fished him out of the well, his parents nailed it close. It didn't keep the girl inside, but Eddy couldn't jump in it anymore. This was for the best.

Eddy knew all the spirits in the immediate area. Why wouldn't he, honestly. He was a shy, introverted child who hadn't had many friends and when he spoke to the spirits in the kindergarten, he was labelled the 'weird one' from the get go and other children didn't dare to come close.

It didn't matter much to Eddy; he liked the company of the ghosts more. Especially one was very nice to him. It was a young adult and he was his best friend. Well, ghost-best friend. He always encouraged Eddy to do his best and try out new things. He was the one who told him to start playing the violin. Since the ghost himself played it, Eddy learned very useful tips from him. It was wonderful.

Years flew by and Eddy was standing in his suit in front of the mirror.

"You are looking sharp. You will rock that."

The young man threw his best friend a glance and chuckled, "Thanks for the encouragement, bro. I will really need that for the upcoming competition."

"I know you will be great. Destroy that Menuhin Competition, okay? Do it for all the hard work you put into!"

Eddy laughed and turned to the other Asian man, "Sure, I will. See you in a week."

With a nod, they parted ways. Eddy stopped and turned around to look at his friend, who was sitting on the bed, smiling at Eddy.

The ghost was killed in the basement. It was brutal according to the newspapers of that time. A hate crime. Someone was racist as fuck, got his grubby hands on the young man and tortured him for days until he cut him up and let him bleed to his death. The police found the mutilated corpse when the neighbors were complaining about the smell one hot summer day and the owner was away on a fishing trip. Fishing for another victim.

The young man had deep black hair, like so many of them, almond shaped eyes and a gentle smile. He couldn't be older than twenty-five. Eddy was now twenty-five as well and they were really good friends.

"Thank you for all you have done. I will win this – for you."

The man nodded and smiled brightly, revealing the rows of perfect teeth, "Thank you Eddy."

"Until later, Ray."

The door fell close and Eddy left for the competition he would eventually win. For Ray, his ghost-best friend Ray Chen.

Words: 789