Bound by surprise

Mundus

Mundus had been altered to all extremities since her last visit.  It had been warped and moulded and torn and haphazardly sewn back together over and over again.  The changes made were ripping the balance that was once so carefully and elegantly maintained.
Even then the technology belonging to the bourgeoisie was substandard to that available for observation all around the world of the rich.  The creaks and groans of the supposedly great new things that created Hayden's apartment building were disconcerting - severely - to her.  And she was already very much dead. 
Niyah didn't fear for herself really (maybe the slightest bit) rather for Hayden and the dangers he lived with at all times.   It was a wonder to her how there weren't a great deal more trips forcefully taken to the now broken Mundus from Caelum.

She may have glossed over her story slightly when she had told it to Hayden - it was conscious decision as she was terrified that she would terrify the boy that she was apparently bound to. 

The apartment was really quite terrible.  She had bared witness to the modern housing in their journey and had been expecting something of far more grandeur for her temporary host.  To say she was disappointed was beyond an understatement.

Dust coated the hard wooden floors and a threadbare rig lay skew wiff between the old coffee table,  the battered couch and the boxy device that had some weird glassy cover on one side - later Hayden had told her that it was his rather crappy television.  The windows were closed and the latch on one had rusted.  The doors didn't close completely and there was an assembly of mildew in every corner of the lounge that they had entered into.  There was another odd box in the corner in a an uneven table that looked about ready to collapse - apparently it was his equally crappy stereo.
Hayden walked in and swung the door shut behind him.  He sauntered to the couch and flung himself on top of it, his left leg dangling awkwardly over the edge, his non - plastered right arm slung over the back and his left knee pointing to the ceiling.
She was just left standing on the grubby welcome mat as he picked up a smaller box - the television remote - and pressed the buttons repeatedly and rather awkwardly with his bulky, plastered hand.
Getting over her shock to some extent Niyah wandered into the largest part of the room.  She perched delicately on the edge of the coffee table.  She felt Hayden's eyes on her back curiously as she sat engrossed with the fantastic new technology that buffered and flickered right in front of her eyes.
"Hey, I'm gonna get some tea.  Can you - like - ingest - like - nutritional... whatevers?"  He asked as she turned to look at him - she didn't know what to think of his speech pattern, whether it was funny or plain irritating.
"I have never tried." She grunted as he walked up to the kitchen - the two areas were joined in an open plan layout. 
"D'ya wanna try?"
"Yes, sure."
"So can you, like touch things?"
"I can touch things that I choose to, aside from living things.  As far as I'm aware I should not be able to touch those whatsoever."
He grunted in understanding as he bustled around with a pot of sugar, two weird little bags full of dark powder and a bottle of milk.  The metal thing at his side began to steam and whistle.  He grabbed the handle and poured the steaming liquid into two mugs, doing something with the bags before adding sugar and milk.
"Here." He said as he pressed the warm handle of the beverage to her hand "Careful,  it's hot."
He nursed his own mug as he watched the TV,  moving his feet and leaving her room to sit next to him.  She obliged and sat facing the television with her knees pulled up to her chest.

Hayden couldn't imagine being Niyah.  She had been forced from her world - Caelum as she called it - and forced into his a century after her last visit.  The way that everything had been so drastically changed must have been much more than off putting to the poor girl.
Her long eyelashes grazed the skin just below her eyes as she stared quizzically at the hot drink.  She brought it up to her lips and he watched curiously from behind his mug and bangs.  A smile spread across her face as the hot liquid travelled down her throat and he found himself thankful that she could appreciate the everyday pleasures of Mundus - no matter how few and far between they were.
Soon he began to drift off to sleep - not before putting his empty mug in the coffee table, mind - and was surprised to see that Niyah was draped over the other side if the couch in slumber. He didn't even know that ghosts could sleep.
When he woke up her gages were grazing his shins and he was surprised to find that they had moved to the point that they were tangled together in a mess of limbs at some point during the 'nap" (more like night).  He clambered to his feet and ran to his room to change.  He had a lecture that morning - to hell with being presentable.  He threw on old sweats - the hole in the knee wasn't that noticeable,  right? - and an old band tee from a concert he went to when he was sixteen.  He ran a hand through his hair to make it appear as though he had made some modicum if effort with it.  He threw on his combat boots again, leaving the laces undone and dashed back to the living room with his satchel in his hand.
"Morning sleepy head." Niyah grinned - no traces of sleep in her face, hair or
Mustard yellow tunic at all.
"Slightly hypocritical aren't we, mate?"
"Say what you want about me but know you will never win."
She was a thousand year old ghost but she seemed so normal - as mundane as her name for his Earth implied its inhabitants to be.
"Well alright Miss. Victory herself.  Come on - I've got a chem lecture to go to and I ain't being late."
"Chem?"
"Chemistry.  It's a science.  My uni is about a ten minute walk from here and I've got a lecture - a lesson."
"Interesting."
"Interesting.  Better be.  Ya don't really get a choice, yar comin' with us ya know?"
"Education?  Perfect, even if no one can see me and half of this lesson is going to go right over my head."
"Alright eager beaver, let's go."
He left with a short series of long paces and she was left scurrying along at an unnaturally fast pace to keep in line with the striding boy.