My Annoying Ghost Girlfriend

Lina Chen had reached the dangerous stage of exhaustion where reality started feeling optional.

At some point around midnight, her biology notes had stopped looking like words and started looking like ancient curses.

By 2:13 AM, she was lying face-down on her desk whispering:

"I'm dropping out."

Her laptop continued playing a lecture she wasn't listening to.

Rain tapped softly against the apartment windows. The tiny room smelled like instant noodles, cold coffee, and academic failure.

Normal college atmosphere.

Lina dragged herself toward bed with the grace of a dying Victorian child.

She collapsed onto the mattress dramatically.

Silence.

Finally.

Peace.

Then—

"Hey."

Lina froze.

A long pause filled the room.

Slowly, painfully, she lifted her head.

A girl was sitting upside down on her ceiling.

Just casually.

Like this was completely normal behavior.

Long dark hair hung toward the floor. Purple eyes sparkled with amusement. She rested her chin in her hands, swinging her legs lazily in the air.

The girl waved cheerfully.

"Oh good, you can see me."

Lina stared at her for five full seconds.

Then calmly pulled the blanket over her head.

"Nope."

The girl gasped dramatically.

"Excuse you?! That's so rude. I've been trying to get someone to notice me for YEARS."

Lina squeezed her eyes shut harder.

Hallucination.

Definitely hallucination.

This was what happened when you survived three energy drinks, four hours of sleep, and pure academic despair.

The mattress dipped suddenly.

Lina slowly lowered the blanket.

The girl was now sitting cross-legged beside her.

Way too close.

"Oh," the girl said curiously, leaning forward. "You look worse up close."

Lina screamed into her pillow.

The girl blinked.

"Wow. Okay. Bit dramatic."

Lina sat upright immediately.

"Who are you?!"

The girl pointed at herself.

"I'm Rika."

"That explains literally nothing."

"Fair."

Rika grinned brightly.

Despite the whole ghost-on-the-bed situation… she looked weirdly normal.

Too normal.

She wore an oversized hoodie, mismatched socks, and the expression of someone who had never taken anything seriously in her entire life.

Which somehow made this worse.

Lina grabbed her phone with shaking hands.

2:58 AM.

Of course this was happening at 3 AM.

Rika tilted her head.

"You're taking this surprisingly well."

"I think my brain shut down twenty minutes ago."

"Honestly? Respect."

Lina stared at her.

Then at the ceiling.

Then back at her.

"…You were sitting upside down up there."

"Yeah."

"On the ceiling."

"Yep."

"You understand why that's concerning."

Rika considered this.

"Not really."

Lina made a weak, defeated noise and buried her face in her hands.

"This is it," she muttered. "I finally snapped."

Rika leaned closer excitedly.

"Ohhh, are we having a mental breakdown together? Because I've never done that with someone before."

Lina looked at her through her fingers.

"…Please leave."

Rika's smile faded slightly.

"Oh."

For the first time since appearing, she looked strangely uncertain.

"I can't."

The room became quiet.

Rain continued tapping softly outside.

Lina frowned a little despite herself.

"What do you mean you can't?"

Rika glanced away.

"I mean…" She laughed weakly. "If I could leave, don't you think I would've done it already?"

Something about the way she said it made Lina's chest tighten unexpectedly.

But before she could think about it too much—

Rika suddenly brightened again.

"Anyway! Since you can see me now, we're basically roommates."

"We are absolutely not."

"Best friends?"

"No."

"Emotionally connected soulmates?"

"Get out."

Rika pointed dramatically at her.

"See? This is why ghosts haunt people."

Lina grabbed her pillow and threw it directly through Rika's face.

The pillow hit the wall instead.

Rika burst into laughter.

And somewhere deep inside her exhausted brain, Lina realized something horrifying:

This ghost was not going away.