The Ghost Inside - Chapter 1
I was in my room, or at least it looked like my room from back when I still had a place to call my room. It wasn’t the current room I was sleeping in, but the place I lived back before my mother passed away, the closest thing I remembered to a home, back when the future looked bright and hopeful.
A girl was standing at the foot of my bed. I might have called it a paralysis demon, except for two things. I could move, and the girl was stunningly beautiful. She had long black hair and enchanting eyes. When I looked at her, for some reason, my chest ached. I knew her from somewhere. Yet no matter how desperately I tried to remember her name or where we met, my mind couldn’t recall her face.
Her mouth moved, the lips forming words, yet I heard nothing. Even though I knew my body could move, I just remained there like I was trapped. I watched her uselessly as she desperately tried to tell me something, her eyes filled with a need that her lips failed to express. Her eyes glistened as she finally gave up. That’s always when I woke. I reached up and touched my cheek, which was wet.
“I had that dream again,” I spoke softly to myself as I wiped the tears from my eyes.
Strangely enough, as soon as I was awake, I could no longer recall her face. Thus, it was impossible to try to look her up. My blurred vision finally focused on the dull gray ceiling above me, filled with cracks and stains. Outside, there was the noise of cars honking and dogs barking. A subway ran past, causing the entire room to shake slightly.
“You doing good, Dylan?” A gravel-scratched voice asked.
I lifted my head from my mattress to see my dad sitting cross-legged in his underwear on the floor a few feet from my head. He had a cigarette in his mouth and was busy typing on a keyboard and looking at a computer screen that was sitting on a cardboard box currently functioning as a desk. He scratched his unshaven jaw, muttering to himself under his breath as he typed.
“I’m fine,” I croaked, my throat feeling raw. “What time is it?”
“Little after five in the morning.” He responded through his teeth without looking back.
“Why are you up so early?”
“Boss called around three. He wanted me to come in. Called fifteen minutes later when I was half dressed and said it was a false alarm. Couldn’t get back to sleep. You?”
“Just a dream…” I yawned. “Are you applying for a new job?”
Father glanced over at me; his eyes weary. “Where? The only one who will give me steady work is Boss. Even if I find another job, I can’t afford the pay cut.”
“You barely even work part-time. What good is a high-paying job if they don’t give you any hours?” I demanded.
My dad sighed. “You just don’t get it. When you get a job, you’ll understand.”
I sighed, knowing there was nothing I could do to get him to change this situation. I had complained about it countless times, but nothing ever changed, not since Mom died. As I was thinking about such bitter things, my stomach growled.
“I’m going to make something, you want anything?”
“Sure, steak and potatoes.” He replied as I got up.
“If we have it, I’ll make it.” I snorted, entering the kitchen, the floorboards creaking under my feet.
I started with the refrigerator, but I wasn’t surprised to find it empty. I turned to the cabinets with an ounce of hope, but it turned out they were all nearly empty. The only thing left were a couple packets of ramen. It was still better than starving. I began to fill a pot with water and set it on the stove, the flame flickering to life.
“Whatcha making?” Dad asked, still staring at his computer screen.
“It’ll be ramen.” I replied.
“Ramen again?” he whined. “I need some protein. I’m a growing boy!”
“That’s my line!” I rolled my eyes, but when I finished making two bowls, I only had one egg which I cracked into one of the bowls.
As I returned to the bedroom, only a few short steps away in this studio apartment, I handed the bowl with the egg to my father. “Here, Dad. When’s your next paycheck coming?”
His father shrugged. “The boss said he’d send it soon. He’s only a few days late.”
I nodded, trying to hide my worry. I knew our financial situation was precarious, but there was nothing I could do about it. I stirred the ramen, the steam rising and filling the small apartment with its familiar scent.
The sun rose quickly, and I did my best to get dressed and wash. It didn’t really matter what I did though. No matter how much I sprayed my clothes or took a shower, I’d smell like my dad’s cigarettes. There was nothing I could do about it. My dad smoked a pack a day, and we lived far too close to each other for there to be any degree of separation.
I was busy sniffing my shirt on the way to school when I noticed a mother and her daughter walking ahead of me. The mother looked back, and seeing me, pulled her daughter close as they passed, her eyes flickering with a mix of fear and distrust. I was used to such looks though. I had been born with a face of a ruffian. I was short and squat, with a face that always appeared angry. My clothes were old and holey, reeking of smoke from my father’s cigarettes.
I wasn’t sure why, but I looked back at the mom and the little girl just to see the little girl pull away from her mother. Her mother tried to grab her, but the girl ran into the street. I appeared there was a candy shop on the other side she was trying to reach. I could see the car coming toward her, and I reacted almost by instinct. Without thinking, I jumped out and pushed her out of the way, taking the impact of the car myself. The car wasn’t going fast, and he even hit the breaks, but he wasn’t able to stop in time and I was slammed into the windshield. As I fell to the ground, I felt pain on my leg, hip, and face. The driver started to curse me, leaning out of his window to shout obscenities.
“Watch where you’re going, you damn punk!” the driver yelled, his face contorted with anger.
I felt an incredible surge of anger when I recalled this guy had nearly hit a young girl.
“You nearly hit a child! Are you dumb!” I stood up and glared at the driver.
The driver’s expression changed from anger to fear as he took in my appearance. He muttered something under his breath and sped off around me, leaving me standing in the middle of the street.
I turned to check on the little girl, who was crying softly. As I reached down to check on her, I heard a scream.
“You attacked my child! Get away from her!” The mother screeched.
I tried to explain, but the woman was hysterical, grabbing her daughter and backing away from me. The street had gone silent, and every eye was on me. I saw a cop in the distance and a random person pointing my way, my heart pounded in my chest. I turned and ran, my mind racing.
As I ran, I thought I saw a pretty schoolgirl staring at me from within the crowd. She was the only one who didn’t have disgust or anger in her eyes. She merely looked at me with curiosity. When I looked again, she was gone. I must have imagined it, my mind playing tricks on me after getting hit.
Thankfully, the cops didn’t chase me since I left of my own volition. I arrived at school about fifteen minutes later, the familiar halls greeting me with their usual chatter. As I walked down the hallway, I heard whispers and laughter. A few eyes nervously looked my direction before shifting away. I could hear some of their words as well.
“He smells like smoke,” one girl said, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
“He must have gotten into another fight,” a boy commented, his eyes lingering on my scrapes and bruises from the car accident.
“Isn’t that to be expected? He’s just a delinquent. Why does he keep coming to school anyway?” Another voice asked.
I ignored them, my head held high. To the world, I was a true delinquent. The rumors started that I smoked cigarettes after school, was in a gang, and fought and even killed people every night. The wounds I had today were caused by a car, but that wasn’t always the case. I wondered how they would react if they knew it was the pretty boys and alphas they idolized who beat me up after school. Of course, there opinions probably wouldn’t change at all. The students would decide I deserved it and any teacher would always side with them.
My delinquent status didn’t do me any favors with the teachers. They all assumed that I was a troublemaker, and given the slightest slip, I would end up in trouble that would be genuinely ignored by anyone else. They called it tough-love. I called it discrimination. However, there was nothing I could do about it, right? I had a deadbeat father, no mother, and a face I was born with. This would be my life going forward.
“Do we really have to?” The voice came out from a whiny student sitting next to me.
“The old school is a cultural landmark.” Ms. Smith said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Every class is expected to clean the school once. It’s teaching you cleaning responsibilities, organization, as well as giving you a healthy respect for those that came before you.”
Many of the students groaned. It was at this point that an exceptionally attractive boy named Jack raised his hand. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful smile. Many women glanced at him and sighed. Even the teacher was affected by his charms, smiling with bright eyes when he talked to her, even though she likely didn’t realize she did that. As the desks were laid out, people could have a person sitting in front, behind, to the left, or to the right. For this guy, he had a girl on every side. He was also a snake, and if I told anyone he had beaten the shit out of me in the past, they’d never believe it.
In their minds, he was a virtuous and perfect student. He was meticulous, not arrogant, and friendly to everyone. I knew a different Jack. He was actually extremely manipulative, conniving, and a general bastard. However, no one could see him fighting anyone, and even when it came to fights, it seemed like it’d be impossible for him to be able to beat me up. After all, he was so thin and wispy, while I was built like a brick house. Most people didn’t know that he had some kind of combat training. I guessed his sister was a police officer and had taught him some of her techniques, which he graciously had used on me.
“Yes, Jack?” Ms. Smith glowed radiantly.
“Ms. Smith, as long as the school is thoroughly cleaned this month, then we successfully did our job, right?” He asked innocently.
“That’s right. Our class is tasked with cleaning the entire old school. The floors, bathrooms, and dusting the entire building. It seems like a lot, but the old school building isn’t even half as large as this one, and since it’s not used regularly, it’s not that messy.”
“It seems to me that this is a good situation to allow struggling students to excel.” Jack smiled sweetly.
“Hmm? What do you mean?” She asked, furrowing her brow cutely.
“Rather than send the entire class when we should be learning, how about we send just a couple of students to clean it. Then, you can reward these students. Struggling kids could have a chance to get extra credit. Plus, they’ll learn important lessons about responsibility.”
When he made this offer, everyone started mumbling to each other, discussing his words. If he was anyone but Jack, people would assume he was just trying to get out of work, which he clearly was. However, Jack’s reputation had him always put in the best light, and to all of his adoring fans, the teacher included, they saw his offer as an attempt to help the needy.
In fact, many of those whose grades had been suffering could really use the extra credit. They were already going to be forced to work anyway. Although it’d be a lot more work if it fixed their grades, how could they not be at least tempted?
“So, what do you propose?” Ms. Smith asked, not even questioning whether this was something the majority wanted.
Well, since Jack wanted it, the majority would want it. That was the way it went.
“I propose we elect two people to do the cleaning for us. They’ll spend the day cleaning and reap all of the benefits, while we’ll stay in class. I’ll even take notes for them.”
Jack’s words seemed like he just offered to do something noble, but to the trained eye, you’d realize he just excluded himself from being one of those forced to clean.
“In that case, why don’t we just give the assignment to the two students with the lowest grades?” Another student named Mathew spoke up.
He was friends with Jack, and also a troublemaker. He was good at taking any plan Jack started and running with it, often escalating things for his own benefit.
“Hmm… that’s not a bad idea. The one who is most needy would benefit the most.” Ms. Smith’s eyes fell on me.
My mouth twisted, making me look even angrier. I had a sinking feeling this was going to fall on me. I didn’t have good grades. This wasn’t necessarily because I was dumb. This just happened to be an abnormally smart class, and I got killed by the curve. On top of that, teachers graded harsher on my papers. I had even found cases where the same answer had a different score based on whether I wrote it or someone else.
Ms. Smith stiffened for a moment when she saw my expression. To her, it was a threat. Her eyes narrowed and her gaze hardened. She was putting her foot down, it looked like. Everyone who saw this immediately interpreted it as the defenseless teacher standing up to the delinquent student. They all gave insolent grins my way, but the most insolent grin came from Jack, whose smile seemed mocking.
“Dylan, are you willing?” The teacher asked in a tone that suggested it wasn’t a true question.
“Yeah, whatever.” I didn’t mean to answer disrespectfully, but the way they were treating me soured my mood.
Naturally, my flippant and impolite answer got me various dirty looks. The teacher snorted, before turning back to her page to get the second-lowest. In fact, I might not even be the lowest, and she just selected me arbitrarily. It was difficult to know. Before she was able to find the next name, a hand came up.
“Ah, yes, Amelia?”
“Can I be the second person?”
The class broke into whispers of shock. The teacher’s mouth nearly fell open. Every student at that point understood that they were dumping on the dumb kids and getting them out of class, so why would the class beauty suddenly volunteer?
Amelia was a beautiful, intelligent, and graceful woman who was loved by just about everyone. Although I had a crush on her, so did everyone else. Even Jack had been chasing after her, but unlike all of the other girls, she had remained an elusive target. She came from a rich family, wore expensive clothing, and was nice to everyone. Her body was slim, with nicely-sized breasts, long blond curly hair, green eyes, and smooth, flushed skin. Even some teachers would fantasize about her.
Seeing everyone’s eyes suddenly fall on her, Amelia blushed. “It’s just, my grade has been low recently, and I could really use the credit. Whoever is second, please forgive me! I will help you, tutor, if you want. It will surely improve your grade better than those few points, but they will mean the world to me!”
She bowed her head to the group of students after making her impassioned speech. All of the boys grew flustered, but those with the lowest grades got excited for a different reason. She had offered to personally tutor the guy she was replacing. That meant that they could spend time with the beautiful and elusive Amelia! What man wouldn’t desire this?
As for me, I had stiffened after hearing this offer. It didn’t have any effect on me who she tutored. I clearly wouldn’t be allowed to give up my place. However, I had realized something most of the students hadn’t. I was to clean the school alongside Amelia. I would also get to spend time by her side, alone in an abandoned school. As the other students realized that I had also “lucked out”, they gave me dark, accusing looks, like I had somehow done this on purpose.
However, the look that caused my spine to tingle was that of Jack. His expression didn’t show anything, but it was extremely cold. It was clear that his plan hadn’t gone the way he wanted. The girl he desired most was now going to go to an empty school with the school delinquent. However, no one could refuse the earnest expression on Amelia’s face, and things were set.
That night, I walked into my small apartment. Dad had a cigarette lit and was watching the television, sitting far too close to it to be healthy. He was sitting in nothing but his boxers and a stained white shirt.
“Hey, kiddo.” He said as I walked in the door.
“Any food?”
“We got more ramen.”
“We always have ramen.” I sighed, leaving to get myself a cup.
“Dylan, why are you limping?” he asked.
“Ah, fell off my bike.” I lied
“Oh? Did you get it working?”
“Y-yeah… figured it out.”
“Awesome. That’s one less thing I have to worry about spending money on.” Dad let out a laugh.
Of course, that was also a lie. My bike was still broken. As for why I was limping, it wasn’t from the car accident, but because Jack had found me after school. He gave me a polite warning that if I tried anything with Amelia, he would wreck me. I had never even considered it, but he didn’t care about such details.
The next day, rather than come into class, I went straight to the old school. Amelia wasn’t there yet. I waited for her a bit, but after an hour passed and she still hadn’t arrived, I started to realize what happened. Perhaps, someone had convinced Amelia not to go. Perhaps, Amelia didn’t plan to go in the first place. All she had to do was say she was here and she’d get credit. If I tried to claim that she didn’t come and I did all the work, no one would believe it. The innocent and beautiful Amelia could say anything, and it’d be believed.
I let out a sigh. Perhaps, this was for the best. I went to the janitor’s closet and found the supplies, and then started working normally, this was something that would have taken two hours when it was the whole class. Because it was me alone, it’d likely take all day and all night. I started cleaning room after room. Just as I was getting into it, I heard a sudden slam of a door. Frowning, I walked out into the hallway, looking around. A few minutes later, I heard another slam, and then a thud.
I told myself it was just the school settling. After all, it was old. There were rumors that the old school was haunted, but I didn’t really believe them. Ghosts were a joke. Then, I heard someone scream.
I jumped up, running out into the hallway. This time, I tried to locate the source of the scream. I headed through three hallways before I came to a stop. Chairs were sitting in the middle of the hallway, one stacked up on another.
“No way…” I said and then shook my head as common sense took hold. “Someone in class is screwing with me. Damn it, can’t I get a break?”
I left the chairs there, although I would have to pick them up before I was done. These bastards were just creating more work for me. That’s when I turned a corner, and came face to face with Amelia. I let out a cry, grabbing my chest and backing up a few steps.
“Man… crap…. you scared me. Ah… was it you who screamed earlier?”
Amelia gave me a curious look like she was examining me up close for the first time. Then, after a second, she gave a nod.
“Oh… what about the chairs, did you do the chairs?” I was expecting her to deny it, but after a brief pause, she nodded again.
“Well, I don’t know what you were doing, but they’ll need to be put back away, or this place won’t be considered clean.”
I realized I was admonishing her, and I suddenly grew petrified. Usually, the girls would grow fearful, even accusing me of threatening them. My face just had that kind of effect on people. However, Amelia showed no sense of repulsion at all. In fact, she looked at me earnestly and even smiled. I realized how close her face was to my own, and I pulled away instinctively. Being smiled at by a girl like her was really dangerous.
“Well, I’m going to go clean then,” I said, turning and heading into the room I was cleaning before I was interrupted.
When I turned back, I realized Amelia had followed me into the room. She was still looking at me. In fact, since I had run into her, she hadn’t taken her eyes off of me even once. In another person, it would be disconcerting, but for the beautiful Amelia, it made my heart beat excitedly.
“You don’t want to go to another room to clean?”
She cocked her head, and then shook it. There was a cute stubborn look on her face. I blushed at that look. I couldn’t believe I was actually talking to her like this. This was the most we’d ever spoken to each other. Technically, she hadn’t said a thing, but still. If Jack saw this, he’d definitely be furious.
“In that case, I’ll start washing the floor, you clean the chalkboard, okay?”
She smiled brightly again, and I went to grab my water pail to keep from being affected by her charms. After I frantically scrubbed the floor for another moment, she finally turned away to find a cloth to clean the chalkboard. I let out a breath as her eyes finally left me. Did I have something on my face? Why had she been looking at me like that?
I continued to wash the floor, working quickly. We still had a lot of work to do. With her here, it’d be faster, but it’d still be an all-day affair. Meanwhile, she dusted down the chalkboard. To get the high parts, she had to get up on her tiptoes. While we both worked, I hadn’t noticed that we were both moving in the same direction. When her foot stepped right next to me, I instinctively looked up, and my mouth fell open.
I was on the floor, and she was right above me on her tiptoes. She was wearing a skirt, meaning that I had a full view up it! I’d like to say I was a better man and instantly looked away. However, she was a beauty, and this once in a life-time event was not something I could miss. My eyes were locked on the supple meat up her skirt, unable and unwilling to look away. I was like a deer in headlights, knowing this would be my undoing, but unable to move.
Almost in slow motion, Amelia fell back down onto her heels, her head dropping as she looked at me. Her eyes met mine and then traced up her skirt. There was a flash of confusion, and then realization. That was it. She was going to scream, slap me, and then when Jack found out, I was a dead man. I stared on, waiting for the fate I deserved.
Amelia pushed down her skirt, covering up that area. However, she didn’t freak out. Rather, she blushed, biting her finger awkwardly. Somehow, this was far cuter! Leave it to Amelia to even take being violated so cutely! She was too fine of a girl to make such a scene. Of course, that only meant I’d die later when she told people what happened.
“D-do you like that kind of thing?” She asked, her words sounded kind of muffled like her tongue was swollen.
It was the first time she had spoken to me. In class, her voice sounded completely different. She was much timider now, but why wouldn’t she be after what I just did?
“Th-that…” I fell in dogeza.” I’m so sorry! You’re beautiful and I couldn’t stop myself from looking.”
“So… you like seeing that stuff.” She said, just as weakly.
“Please, don’t tell anyone!” I cried out.
“It’s okay… if you like, please, be my guest.”
“Huh?”
I looked up again, not intending to, but accidentally seeing up her skirt a second time. Before I could even turn away, she reached down and gently lifted her skirt, revealing the area between her legs completely. She was blushing with her eyes closed, but it was a scene every guy fantasized about, and no guy would ever believe happened.
“I… I… I…” I was completely frozen, my eyes glued to the white fabric covering her region and just the barest hint of the shape underneath.
“Y-you can touch if you want… also…” She said, her breath coming out in a slightly ragged breath.
My eyebrows rose, and I was certain I misheard her. “What?”
“Just for today, you can do whatever you want to me, okay?”
After being presented with such an offer, I said what every guy would say after hearing such sweet words.
“Huh?”