Scratching The Surface

Chapter 11

The next night, Piper woke at midnight from a sudden chill. She looked down to find the blanket off her and only around Jason, her small nightgown not doing much to keep her warm. She went to pull the blanket back over her when she heard walking downstairs, coming from the living room where she had spoken to Nico the night before.

Scrambling to her feet, Piper exited the room as quickly as she could without causing a disturbance. As soon as she was out she tiptoed down the stairs two at a time, her bare feet hitting the wood with barely a noise. She was getting good at sneaking around, whether that was good or bad.

"Nico?" Piper called softly, walking into the living room. She jumped slightly when she saw the boy sitting on the couch, even though she knew he would be there. His hair hung in his face and his suit hung off his frame, the constant dripping of blood the only sound he made.

Piper entered the room quietly, the light from the fireplace lighting up the room enough to see. Even though the temperature reached a hundred outside, the air around Nico seemed as cool as if it were winter.

"Can...can we talk?" Piper pulled a blanket around herself and sat across from Nico on the other couch, the coffee table between them and the fireplace to her right, his left.

Nico looked up at her before cracking a smile. "Why else would I have woken you up?"

Piper let out a soft sigh in relief, trying not to shiver too much. "So I'm not bothering you?"

He shook his head. "Nope. It's hard to bother me lately. Yet your husband seems to accomplish it, I admit."

"Jason is...he doesn't realize you're here." she defended weakly. "He doesn't believe in...in..."

"Ghosts," Nico finished for her. "I realize that, and I know what I am. You don't have to beat around the bush."

"Right, sorry." Piper felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "So...so...You're Nico..."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "We've established that."

"I'm sorry," Piper put her head in her hands. "I'm just so..." Letting out a soft groan, she looked back up at him. "I've never believed in ghosts before. And now...seeing you...my mind is screaming at me that I'm insane...but after Katie seeing that girl in the woods and the priest running out..."

"It's okay to believe." Nico replied easily. "I mean, I believe in ghosts."

Piper couldn't help but laugh. "Of course you do, Nico."

"See? It's not so hard. You're talking to a ghost, perfectly normal." Nico brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them. His voice got quieter, more serious. "I mean...it makes me happy to have someone to talk to...your kids are great but its nice to finally have a mature conversation."

"You talk to my kids?" Piper squeaked.

Nico nodded as if this was common. "They're great kids, adorable. But Katie keeps asking me why my neck is bleeding and why she can't tell you guys about me."

Piper swallowed thickly. "Oh,"

A light beeping noise came from the kitchen, causing Nico's head to perk up. "Oh, the coffee's done."

"You made coffee?" Piper asked, the fear draining out of her. She couldn't help but smile at this boy as if he was just another one of her kids. "It's midnight."

"I was thirsty." he got up and reached a hand out to her. "And late night talks always go by better with coffee. You should know this by now, Piper."

Piper took his hand before following him into the kitchen, not even thinking about how Jason could have heard. "So...so we can talk... I can ask questions?"

Nico sat on the island, swinging his feet as Katie did. "Yeah, I guess."

Piper got two coffee cups down before filling them up. "First. You can drink coffee?"

Nico smirked. "I don't know. I've never tried. Next question?"

Piper handed him a cup before pouring creamer into her own. "You're...you're...not alive...may I ask...when you lived?"

Nico looked down into the coffee cup, swirling the dark substance around. "When the house was built. My father was the one to build it. We moved here from Italy and he built it for my mother, to ease the pain of leaving our country."

"Oh," Piper leaned against the cupboard and sipped from her cup. She frowned at how hot it was still before looking back up to Nico. "What do you want me to know? You wanted to talk to me if you woke me up and showed yourself...so what do you want me to know? How do you want this to work with us living here?"

Nico sipped from his coffee, smirking successfully after doing so. "I'm fine with you living here. It keeps the house from being torn down. If that happened...I honestly don't know what would happen to me."

"Can you leave the house?"

Nico shook his head. "Can't even poke my head out of the window. It's a pain in the ass, I'll tell you."

"I can only imagine..." Piper watched him sadly. "I'm guessing you died in the house, that's why you're stuck here?"

Nico nodded. "I don't quite understand it, though. I wasn't the only one to die in here, but I'm the only one here. It's more like a form of Hell, I guess. This is my Hell."

"I doubt you deserved to go to Hell." Piper rejected. "It's probably just got something to do with how you died, if it was sudden or not, or something like that."

"You seem to know a lot for a sceptic." Nico commented.

"Jason's mother is a...I don't know what to call it." Piper explained. "He doesn't talk to her anymore but I was dating him when he still lived with her."

"A medium?" Nico asked slowly.

"No...maybe...I don't know. She's obsessed with ghosts." Piper set her coffee down and closed her eyes. "Nico...do you want Jason to believe in you? Do you want him to know you're here?"

"Not yet," Nico got off the island and cracked his neck. "I've got to work him into it. Give me a month."

Piper laughed softly. "Okay, okay. I'll let you 'work him into it'."

"I...do need to put some limits out." Nico admitted quietly. "Like that room in the basement. It was boarded up for a reason. And then my room and the attic."

"There's an attic?" Piper opened her eyes.

"That you and Jason won't go into." Nico ordered. "Can you do that for me?"

She nodded. "I guess so..."

"Good," Nico looked up at the ceiling before frowning. "Your husband woke up. Ciao." He disappeared from sight, the steaming coffee mug the only evidence that he was there. Again, the blood seemed to have disappeared along with him.

"Piper?" Jason walked into the kitchen, a frown evident on his face. He saw the two cups, saw Piper in a conversation-like stance, saw the panic on her face. "What's going on here?"

"I...I don't know what you're talking about..." she lied weakly, setting her cup into the sink. "I was just coming upstairs."

"Who were you talking to?" he asked, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "This is two nights in a row, now."

"I wasn't talking to anyone." Piper argued, moving towards the stairs. "It's late. We should be in bed. You have work tomorrow."

"Where is he hiding?" Jason grabbed her arm lightly. "That cup of coffee is still warm and I didn't hear a door. So where is he?"

"I don't know who you're talking about." Piper retorted. "Now please, let's go to bed."

"Who. Were. You. Talking. To?"

"Jason! It isn't any of your business!" Piper yanked her arm away from him and walked out of the room, tears starting to threaten her eyes. "We need to go to bed before the girls wake up."

Jason shook his head at his wife's retreating form before going over to the cup of coffee Nico had been sipping on, staring at it for a minute before throwing it against the wall. It shattered on impact, glass shards spreading across the kitchen floor. Jason knew how Piper drank her coffee. She never would have drunk it black like what was in that cup.