[Original] Chronicles of the Paranormal [Novel]

Chapter 1: Nothing More Than A Hallucination

Chronicles of the Paranormal
Chapter 1: Nothing More Than A Hallucination
It's nothing more than a hallucination. If you don't acknowledge its existence, it's like it's not even there in the first place.

This was the thought of Takada Kotone as she vigorously brushed her teeth that Wednesday morning while glaring at something in the mirror. Her own reflection stared back at her, of course, revealing a tall teenager with an oval face, a short straight nose, a well trained physique, and lovely tresses of long brunette hair. Her sharp brown eyes invoked a challenge towards the mirror, or rather something in the mirror. A pallid reflection in the upper corner of the mirror floated wistfully towards the ceiling, watching Kotone perform her morning duties.

Kotone closed her eyes. It was obviously a hallucination, a byproduct of her half-dreaming musings as she slowly woke up. Not real. She was tired from last night, that had to be it.

Nevertheless, that blurred image – a lithe pale girl with owlish cerulean eyes, two long black braids that dangled to her shoulder, and slightly large ears – remained in her peripheral vision.

Kotone let out a laugh, then put a hand upon her brow and shook her head. Her heart beat in a steady rhythm, her hand felt no heat upon her brow, and her blood pressure and vitals seemed normal. It had to be a product of her imagination. It was a bright and sunny day with the sakura blossoms in bloom, with nothing strange occurring otherwise. No one else in the household had acknowledged this spirit.

"You're not so easily spooked by this, are you?" Kotone directed at her reflection. "Let's be rational. There's no such thing as spirits or ghosts. I thought you were a tougher girl than this, Takada Kotone. You gotta shape up and confront your problems head on. This hallucination isn't your real problem. It's you overworking yourself to the point of exhaustion and insisting you don't need any sleep whatsoever, despite the fact that every functional human being needs at least eight hours a sleep a day."

Kotone spit into the sink and washed it down the drain. Then she meticulously combed sections of her hair into sleek perfection with a perfectly symmetrical part in the middle. Her straight part through the middle was her trademark feature.

Yet when she stared at her reflection in the mirror, the ghost was still there. Wait, was it making faces at her? She frowned, twisted around, and hurled her hairbrush at the lingering specter. The hairbrush clattered against the wall then banged down to the floor. Kotone winced then let out a heavy sigh. Of course it would phase through.

"Oh sure, since I'm dead, it's alright to throw things at me," the ghost said. "Twenty points if you throw it through my stomach. Fifty points if you throw it through my head. Who am I, Moaning Myrtle? Just because I'm dead doesn't mean that I don't have feelings!"

"You're not real," Kotone muttered before washing her face. The cold water upon her face was a welcome relief, though that relief dissipated when the spirit hovered next to and touched her. Kotone's skin tightened.

Just a temperature shift in the room, nothing more, she told herself. There wasn't a ghost floating next to her or talking to her. That was just silly. Irrational.

Kotone exited the bathroom and went to grab a quick breakfast before she left for school. She was punctual, as usual, as punctuality was a feature she admired. When she went downstairs to the kitchen, her father was sitting at the table reading the newspaper. He glanced up from the news and crinkled his eyes in affection towards her. "Good morning, Kotone. How are you doing today?"

"Just fine. I'm getting a quick breakfast before I head towards school. I'll also be walking Megumi to school today."

"You go do that," her father said before returning to his newspaper. He furrowed his brow as a cold draft coursed through the room. "Chilly, isn't it? The weather does say that we should be expecting rain soon."