Chapter 1
“Hurry up Christian, we’re gonna be late!” Ana dragged me by my left hand. It was the second week of college and Ana, my girlfriend, insisted that we should get coffee before our classes start.
“This was your idea, not mine so don’t blame me.” I groaned, wanting to rub the bridge of my nose. Don’t get me wrong, Ana is very sweet but sometimes she can get a bit too... Overwhelming.
“It wasn’t my fault you wanted to watch that stupid movie!” She retorted, stopping in her tracks to glare at me. “Now, if you dare go on blaming me-” The blonde-headed girl said, poking her finger at my chest. “-I’ll make sure to tell my dad so you’ll never get a successful job, got it?”
I nodded, trying my best to prevent an eye roll. Her father and mine are good friends from what I can tell. I met Ana when I was five and we instantly became friends. Later on, in Junior year of high school, our dads decided to put us together because we were ‘so close.’ As I was lost in my thoughts, I felt myself trip over. The hot brown liquid spilled all over me, staining my grey t-shirt. “Watch where you’re going,” I grumbled, looking down to find a girl sitting crisscrossed on the floor with a book in her lap. I’m not going to lie, she was beautiful; like a masterpiece gifted from the heavens.
“W-Wait. You can see me?” She asked. Her fiery red waves moved back as she tilted her head up to look at me. Her eyes were like the ocean, consisting of different shades of blue and small, light freckles danced around her nose like stars in the sky. “Hello?” The girl cleared her throat, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Why are you sitting in the middle of the street with a book?” I asked. Two manicured fingers came into view and snapped at me. From the periwinkle colored nails, I can already guess it was Ana.
“Christian?” She asked, concern lacing her voice.
“Yes?” I replied, looking up.
“Why are you talking to the cement?” Said Ana, furrowing her brows.
“What do you mean? There’s a girl right here.” I pointed to the red-head who was glancing between the two of us.
“No there’s not. Are you okay? Do you need to go back to the apartment? I can call in a sick day for you if you want.” Ana suggested, placing a hand on my forehead.
“Just say you’re sick and tell her to continue ahead. I’ll explain everything after without making you look like a madman.” The girl said. I simply just nodded and did as she told.
“Go ahead, Ana. Maybe I’m coming down with a small fever or something.” Ana nodded and said a few quick goodbyes before walking to the campus.
“Are you going to explain now?” I asked. We were at the park. The girl was swinging on one of the swings with an icecream cone in her hand whereas I was leaning against the tree.
“Well for starters, my name is Alara.” She quickly said, looking at me. “Are you going to tell me your name?”
“No, because you can be a stalker for all I know.”
“Fine, then I guess you won’t get an explanation.” Alara huffed, crossing her arms. I thought about it for a solid minute.
“My names Christian.” I sighed in defeat. Alara grinned in victory. “But that’s not the point. Tell me what happened earlier.”
“It’s difficult to explain. You’ll probably think I’m crazy or something.”
“I’ll start thinking you’re crazy if you don’t explain this instant.”
“Alright, alright. Calm down.” Alara rolled her blue orbs and kept swinging. “If I explain everything, would you be quiet and agree to help?”
“Help with what?” I raised one of my eyebrows and looked at her weirdly. “I mean I have nothing to do with-”
“Look behind you.” She coughed, interrupting my statement. I felt a light tap on my shoulder but ignored it. It could’ve been a bird or a squirrel.
Tap
Tap
Tap
“What?!” An elderly lady was standing behind me with a little boy who I suppose was her grandson.
“Are you okay dear? You were talking to yourself.” She informed politely, pulling her grandson closer to her side. I was completely confused. I glanced back to see if Alara was there and she was, in all her glory.
“I wasn’t talking to myself, I was talking to-”
“Just say that you were reading a text out loud or something. I don’t need you looking like a crazy man if you’re going to help me.” Alara snapped. I sighed and apologized to the lady before she made her way onwards. “So you do listen.” She mused, snickering.
“Whatever. If you’re going to continue stalling, I should go instead of wasting my time.” Soon afterward, I stormed away, annoyed that I wasted over ten minutes with some random girl who wouldn’t tell me what was going on.
‘You got to admit, that random girl was hot.’ My consciousness told me. I couldn’t deny it but I wasn’t exactly going to admit that either.
“Boo.”
“Ah! What the hell?” I exclaimed, seeing Alara appear in front of me. “H-How did you catch up to me so quickly?”
“I’m a ghost.” She bluntly stated. I gave her a look of disbelief once more.
“You’re joking. Ghosts don’t exist. They’re just tales that parents tell their kids to scare them.”
“No, I’m not joking. This is actually serious.”
“S-So this isn’t some prank?” I asked. A man walked towards Alara. I was about to warn her to watch out when he went straight past her. The blue-eyed beauty glowed blue and went faint for a second before returning back to her normal state when the man passed.
“Holy shit..” Alara gave me the ‘I-told-you-so’ look when she saw my dazed expression.
“Nevermind that; now that I told you, you’ll need to help me.”
“With what? How can I help a dead spirit that can possibly haunt me at any time?” I said.
“I’m not entirely dead yet if I’m still on Earth.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You see... A person can’t leave their death city until they have had everything they wanted. Like me for instance, I can’t fully rest until I have the one thing I couldn’t.” Alara explained slowly as if she was talking to a child.
“And that is..?”
“A boyfriend.”
