apparition aspect {short story}

two

"hi," i mumbled, not able to look at him any other way than with confusion.

i had made my way over from my seat in the dining room, regretting coming to such a party. it wasn't much of a party, anyway--too formal. costumes, sure. alcohol, sure. music, positively. the whole sit-at-the-table-and-eat-dinner-with-us thing was a little weird, though.

he looked at me just as i looked at him--very, very quizzically. it was more of a judgmental confusion than a genuine curiosity in his case.

"why are you here?" i asked, forgetting my manners completely in the chaos of the night. i may not have been drinking, but i sure did eat some candy. too bad i ran out.

"why are you here?" he retorted. he was swift, and had a voice i didn't want to miss out on. it was just like my candy--delectable, both sweet and sour, and a bit tough to get a grip on.

i shrugged sloppily, feeling too confident in my get-up. no one could know who i am; no one would even guess that i'd be at this party. the anonymity was nice, and stupidly gave me a sense of security. it was as if, even if i made a fool of myself, my actions didn't matter.

"i don't know," i said. "the door was unlocked."

i think he grinned under all that cloth, but it was just an assumption. couldn't really tell. "so you just walked in?"

"who was stopping me? you, the scariest ghost alive?"

"i don't think the words 'ghost' and 'alive' are associated with each other."

"you caught me. i realized my mistake after it came out of my mouth."

the boy paused, glancing at my costume for just a second before meeting my eyes again. "you like beetlejuice?"