SPECTRAL

Chapter 9

 It had been two months since Noah first saw that boy. No matter how much he tried to get him out of his head, he still worried constantly.

Currently, Noah was sitting on the couch in his apartment, in a heated debate with Josh and Joey over what every color would taste like. Claire was watching the two in amusement while Mildred would sigh every so often.

Mia, who was sitting on Claire's lap, would pipe up every now and then to input her own opinion. The two girls had formed a strong sister relationship over the time they have known each other.

Everything was normal, until Mildred suddenly asked, "Where's Charley? I haven't seen him much today."

Noah tugged on his sleeves as he looked around, "I haven't seen him since I got home from work. Maybe he slipped out. Has anyone seen him?" There was no response so Noah spoke, "I'll go look outside."

Worry began to bubble up in his chest. Charley never has gone missing before. He would always follow Noah around or be with one of his friends. What happened? As soon as he left his apartment building, the happy bark of Charley filled his ears. Snapping his head in the direction of the bark, Noah almost doubled over in shock.

Charley was running around the child that Noah has been seeing around so often. The boy was laughing, and Noah was sure that his eyes were following Charley. But that can't be, right? Only Noah was able to see Charley. Only Noah was able to see ghosts.

He hesitated before approaching the boy, but when he was near enough, Noah blurted, "Can you see them too?"

The dark skinned boy jumped in shock as he turned to look at Noah's towering figure. His head tilted in confusion, "What?"

Noah bit his lip, maybe he was mistaken, "I asked, can you see them too?"

Ignoring the question, the small boy turned to look at Charley before glancing back at Noah, "Is this your dog? He's very pretty!"

With the newfound knowledge that the boy could see at least one ghost, he prodded, "Do you ever see any transparent people? Any that tell you to not tell anyone about them?" A sliver of hope blossomed in him as he waited for the response.

After a few seconds, the boy answered, "Well, of course I see them. That's normal, isn't it?"

For a brief second, Noah saw himself in the boy.

"You can't tell anyone that you can see them, okay?"

"Why?" Was the innocent response.

"It isn't normal, but that's okay. They are ghosts. If you pay attention around them you won't hear their footsteps, won't feel them touch you, won't see them interact with anything. They can't, they don't have bodies. It's okay that you can see them, I can too, But you can't tell anyone else, okay?"

The boy nodded his head quickly, "Okay! But does that mean you will be my friend now? I don't have any friends except for one- ghost? Is that what you called them?- But he's a bit grumpy. And don't worry, I have no one to tell."

Noah hesitated slightly before taking the risk, "What do you mean you have no one to tell?"

The boy quickly answered, almost in a routine fashion, "Well my parents didn't want me I guess. I never was told the full story, but they left me at an orphanage. So I have no family, but that's okay. You can be my family now!" The boy's brown eyes glistened with hope and Noah didn't have the heart to disagree.

"Of course I'll be your family. But it's getting kind of late, do you need to get back to the orphanage?" The boy shrugged, and Noah realized they hadn't introduced yet, "I'm so sorry! My name's Noah, what's your name?"