A Place For August

Chapter 3

Adam stared back at a figure of a boy. Or he thought it was a boy. He had no color to him, but he had wide trousers, his button up shirt tucked into his trousers, he was slim, with more fluffy hair, and his jaw was more round. Adam crawled back, until his back hit the wall. The boy was see through, Adam could see the light shine through the boy's body.
“Who the hell are you!?” Adam cautiously asked, the ghost stumbled backwards and gestured to the ground. Adam took a hold of himself and inched closer to see what the ghost was gesturing to. It was the blank book his grandfather had given to him. “I don’t understand.” Adam blinked at the ghost in confusion.
“Book.” The ghost managed to say, Adam furrowed his brows in confusion.
“Yup, that's a book.” The ghost's face lightened, he flew close to his face with a smile. Adam recoiled slightly backwards. His breath quickened, but it wasn’t because he was scared. Maybe he was nervous? But why would he be nervous?
“You can hear and see me!?” The ghost came closer to Adam's face. His stomach churned, he crawled  backwards again and took a moment to relax himself, and process what was happening. He nodded hesitantly, it felt so nonexistent, maybe he was dreaming. He convinced himself he was dreaming, and the ghost wasn’t real. “No one has been able to see me for years..well I was stuck in a book for years but still.” The ghost came closer to Adam. Adam scanned the ghost’s face, he noticed a scar that ran through his skin, he glanced down to his arms. His hands seemed to be scarred as well.
“Who..who are you?” The ghost flew down into a sitting position with a light feeling smile.
“I’m..uh…Stanley, my name is Stanley.” Adam thought the name was nice. It seemed like a more old name, but it just made the name more interesting. “What's your name?” Adam hummed in surprise and looked back up at Stanley.
“Well my name is Augustine, but I like Adam.” He answered, Stanley's eyes narrowed.
“Why don’t you like Augustine? It’s a nice name.” Adam’s breath hitched. He moved backwards and shook his head. He had no idea what was happening, and he was insanely confused.
“Why are you here? How are you here? Am I dead?” Adam worriedly asked, Stanley's face darkened. Almost like he had remembered everything in that one moment.
“Augustine-”
“Adam.” Adam corrected him, Stanley rolled his eyes.
“August.” Adam sighed, giving up at that point. “Anyways, I died, got cursed into a book, and since it has opened I've been free, although it had been locked ever since I died, so I don’t understand how I’m here…” He responded, Adam was silent for a second, trying to understand everything.
“Who killed you?” Adam asked, Stanley gave a sarcastically offended face at Adam. “Oh…wait was that offensive I’m sorry.” The ghost chuckled and shook his head.
“No, it’s okay I don’t remember who murdered me, I only remember slight things from when I was alive.” He patted Adam on the shoulder and rested his hand there. Adam stumbled on his words, then just shut his mouth. Stanley pulled his hand away in embarrassment. “Uh..sorry…I can’t leave the possession of the book, I can't touch anyone, but I can somehow touch you. I don’t understand how, or why, and well I just figured out I move objects too.” He explained, Adam was slightly fascinated by the ghost. Realization hit Adam.
“Wait, were you the one who touched my hand earlier, and drew a heart?” Stanley shrugged with a smug smile.
“Maybe it was me, or maybe it wasn’t.” Adam couldn’t help but laugh, now he wanted it to be real. Stanley seemed like a nice person, and he hadn’t had any nice people interact with him since he moved. Even in his old school he hadn’t noticed how bad his friends were, but Stanley being nice warmed his sad heart.
Adam spent the rest of the night asking Stanley questions, and Stanley asked Adam questions. At 5am, Adam drifted asleep. Stanley sat there, he didn’t know if he should’ve left. Adam had to wake up before 7am, so it would’ve been normal for him to wake up at 5am, but Stanley didn’t want to wake the boy.
Stanley stared at August in awe. He didn’t care that August had only just figured out who he was. He had grown a soft spot for the boy ever since the morning he woke up all excited, and grew even more soft when he came home sobbing. Stanley wanted to protect August, although it sounded weird. August reminded him of himself in some way.
Adam woke up around 6:20 in the morning, he jolted away. Still tired from barely sleeping. He found Stanley still sitting with him. He smiled at Stanley then jumped out of bed to get changed. “I should go to school with you.” Stanley stated, while Adam searched for a shirt. He peaked out from the closet and looked at the ghost who lied on his bed.
“Wont people see you?” Adam asked, going back in the closet and pulling a shirt out. He would just wear the same pants and shoes.
“Well, no, only you can see me.” Stanley stated, Adam took his shirt off and slid a short sleeved shirt on that had stripes and tucked it into his pants.
“Are you sure?” He ran to his bed and slid his converse on then turned to the ghost. “Plus, I only figured out you were here last night, you have that much trust in me from just a couple hours of talking?” Stanley shrugged, he leaned over the bed and handed Adam his book bag. “Thanks, maybe you should stay here for today, we need to figure this out anyways.” He added, Stanley sighed and nodded.
“I just hate being stuck in places.” Stanley laid back down on the bed. Adam sighed and put his bag on.
“Sorry Stanley.” Adam apologized, Stanley sighed with a shrug, indicating he didn’t care as much anymore. Now that Adam had that figured out, he had to sneak past his dad without him noticing. This would be interesting.

A/N

This is probably the first OC book that I have felt confident in, I hope you enjoyed 🤩🤩

Word Count: 1083