The Short Story Collection

Ghosts

The boy waved over to the man and girl acsend the stairs to the front door completely captivated. First glance she was mundane with her bruntette hair blowing around her shoulders. Following after her as she entered the house peering up at the carved ceilings with a smile on her face he became captivated with her rounded cheeks and coal lined eyes. The man presumably her father stomped in not sparing a glance to the decorative cieling, urged the girl to find a room and unpack. The girl sighed dramatically shoulders dropping, the boy followed closely behind her his booted feet silent. The girl shivered and scratched her arm as she found a large master bedroom covered in dust sheets and boarded up windows. Dumping her back, the girl stalked over to the windows and started pulling off planks of wood grunting when it wouldn't budge. Laughing the boy walked over and helped her but he recieved no thanks for his efforts. The girl had scratched her arms harder and put on a jumper blaming the old house for the cold.
Later that evening when the girl and her father sat down for dinner she asked him about the house, it used to belong to a wealthy family before the boy and his two uncles perished mysteriously he told her. The girl was captivated by her father's story of a mysterious illness, lost fortunes, crime lord uncles and lavish mansions.
' The boy was the same age as you when he passed, only fifteen' the midleaged father said shaking his head.
' what was his name' the girl asked her doe eyes shiny and sad.
' i think his name started with a C carlo or cooper. No that not right, oh thats it, his name was caspian'.
When the girl lay down to go to sleep that night she dreamed of a boy with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. That night the boy with blue eyes and sandy hair layed on the floor at the foot of the bed as he felt it too inappropriate to sleep in the bed even though it was his. For it was his bedroom she had chosen with it blue hues and constellation ceiling.
Days past with the family making the once empty house into a home, caspian confined to the house grounds watched each day as the girl left for the bus to school becoming increasingly more upset despite her claims to her father that she had made friends. Caspian joined them for dinner now finding it too rude to sit and watch like a dog he pretended to eat the bread the grey haired father served for starters. The girl had shrieked when the bread basked had moved on its own, the father alarmed by his daughters shriek only laughed when he found out why and joked that maybe it was a friendly ghost.
It was on the seventh day when the girl had put all the finish touches to their room when he decided he was going to show himself to her. She had shown herself to be kind, moving snails off the path and into the dirt, helping to carry the shopping in and always saying hello to her elderly neighbour Robert. He hoped that maybe she would be kind do him and not banish him from the house like the last owners did when they tried to call in a priest before his uncles ran them off. Luckily for this family his uncles where nowhere to be seen for now. Besides he reasoned they knew eachother already, they sat together for breakfast and dinner. He told them about his day walking the grounds while the father spoke of his remodelling of the crumbling old kitchen and she spoke of her lessons at school. He had asked more questions about her English class pretending she was speaking to her when she spoke fork waving in the air  for emphasis. The girl sometimes swore she saw a shadow in the seat opposite her. Yes he reasoned they knew each other quite well.
Three days passed since his decision and the day had finally arrived. The girl had come home from school while he was walking the over grown vegetable garden , he had moved the crawling ivy off the greenhouse and the father had startled at the site of the glass building deeming it miraculous discovery thanks to his sharp eyes. The father had made macaroni dish somethibg caspian had never had and he picked at the oven dish trying to grasp some pasta but his hand passing through the heavy weight of it. He was estatic when the family had started calling him the friendly ghost when the stairs creaked or a dish moves, even if it wasnt him. Caspian walked circles anxiously around their bedroom that evening as he waited for the girl to come back from the shower. He would start of with hello or was that too weird? Hi there? Too chipper. Hi I'm caspian? Too direct? Caspian groaned exasperated chewing his nails as the girl now dressed in teal Pyjamas went over to her night stand and started combing her hair knfront of a large oval mirror.
It was while the girl was tying up her hair that she noticed the temperature drop she shivered her skin prickling. Looking into up into the mirror she gasped dropping her comb and froze . In the mirror stood a spector, an apartion almost so thin it was only a flickering outline. Did it have blue eyes? It surely looked like it had light brown hair or maybe blonde? The girl trembled as she turned slowly, shoulders locked. Caspians mouth gaped open and closed like a dying fish cheeks burning. In the end it was her who spoke first her brown eyes sweeping up and down his flickering form.
' You're the dead boy aren't you. Our friendly ghost'