Hide & Seek [Mile x Apo] [MileApo]

Part Three

"Ding dong..."

Apo felt his heart accelerate in his ribcage, it went 'bump ... bump ... bump', it just echoed fervently in his ears as he glued himself as discreetly as possible into an alcove between the shelving over the bookshelves that aligned themselves in the room, he'd assigned to himself a long time ago and never had to share with anyone before.

"Little kitten, it's been a week already. Haven't I given you good meals?"

The sing song tone only sent shivers through his form, bristled his fur as he continued to hold his breath and hoped that the offending patron nosing around his room would leave. Damn not being human anymore. Damn not being able to tell this Mile to leave before the man also got caught up in the mansion's curse. Damn Mile for being a drop of intrigue into his otherwise boring, mundane existence.

"Are you hiding from him again?"

The tickle of a wispy voice in his pointed ear made Apo hiss loudly unconsciously, batted at the apparition with a paw, tail flicked agitated behind him, and glared when he could hear Mile's feet pad towards his hiding spot in a rush. He swallowed, "Sawika!"

"Oh, come on Apo, you've been playing cat and mouse with this guy all week. He wants to play with you then let him."

"First off, that sounds really weird. Secondly, I have not!"

The ghost, a woman named Sawika who had died from cholera 200 hundred or so years ago that she swore she got from a gentleman caller she knew at the time, and she cursed him with every other word uttered from ghostly lips. She would call herself the self-proclaimed real owner of the house as it had been on her land that Heaven's Island had been built on after she passed away with no descendants. She loved to just moan and whine to any lurking spirit or Apo.

They normally ignored her, floating and being aimlessly lost as Apo felt except he, unfortunately, was subjected to all of the house guests at any given time. They shared this purgatory. If he had been human, he'd have been freaked out by the ability to do this, being clairvoyant but such a time had passed. Humanity left him when his body was converted into its current state.

He just wanted to live his cursed life in peace but then this fellow just reared his pretty head into Apo's space even seemed adamant to stay. The feline darted his eyes left and right in a fear of where to head as he could see the bookshelf starting to rumble. Was Mile moving it?! If he picked the wrong side, Apo might not be able to save himself from whatever this human had in store for him. The thought of the villainy made him shudder to himself.

"Let him catch you already. What's the big deal? At least you have a handsome man chasing you...I died before I could find mine again," Sawika let out a long-winded sigh, a hand cupping her chin as she floated in between the spaces, a see-through figment. "You are so pretty."

"I'm a CAT!"

"A pretty cat? That foreigner always called me pretty...before he gave me cholera!" Another long howl from Sawika made the bookshelf stop its movement. That made Apo blink. Could Mile hear Sawika? That never happened. The occupants of the house only assumed their presence yet carried on as if ignorant.

Apo had an idea and rolled with it, "Sawika, didn't you say that foreigner had black hair?" He commented to her when the scrapping of the shelf against the floor made him cringe at the screech. His eyes widened in panic. As much as Apo wanted to be free of his cage, it didn't mean he wanted to meet this human face-to-face; it would be unbearably odd for the physical interaction.

"Oh goodness me, oh goodness my. He DID have black hair! This one too! Devil men!" Another booming wail from Sawika as she straightened out, "Oooh that foreigner!" She sobbed as if the memory of this man who died a long time ago continued to haunt her.