Not Your Typical Ghost Story

Chapter 1- Could It Be Any More Cliche?

August 30th | Six Months Since Remus's death | Roman's First Week at School

"Fuck it. Kill them all, they're math teachers, nobody likes them anyway."

"Remus," Roman muttered as he took his stuff out of his locker before replacing it with all the other shit schools gave him, "Could there be just once where you don't suggest genocide on a random group of people?"

Remus shrugged as his ghostly form floated next to him and he lazily leaned back on nothing but air. "I'm just saying, what do they contribute to the world? C averages and mini panic attacks at three-thirty in the morning because you have no idea how to solve for x. Who needs that in their life, if I wanted to go to hell I wouldn't have become a ghost."

Roman rolled his eyes as he shut his locker door closed and headed towards his first class, the morning bell had sounded a few minutes ago and he wasn't in the mood to be late, "You don't have to come you know, you could just leave."

Remus just smiled, "You know I can't do that little brother. Hundred and sixty-three feet away is my limit, otherwise, I rebound back to you like Taylor Swift and all those guys she's always singing about."

It was true, Remus was pretty much stuck haunting Roman. Or more accurately, Roman was stuck with his dead twin brother constantly hanging over his shoulder. If Remus got any farther than exactly one hundred and sixty-three feet he would literally be shot back towards Roman in what was most often a very painful way. Coincidentally (or maybe not, the two weren't really sure how the whole ghost thing worked) one hundred and sixty-three was the exact amount of time the two were apart in regard to age. One hundred and sixty-three seconds. No more, no less. And of course, Remus was older. Something he just loved to throw in Roman's face.

Remus looked around the chaotic hallways of the typical high school Roman now attended, it had been six months since Remus's funeral and one week since the twin's parents moved them away from their old home and to the city of Orastin. They had claimed it'd be a fresh start, something new and exciting, something they could finally look forward to, and something that could finally make them happy again. Well, Roman wasn't exactly radiating happiness right now. He'd been attending school here for a week now and had yet to make any friends, if he took any longer he'd be classified as the loner and that would be that. He'd have no more chances, zip, zero, nada.

"Damn, mom and dad really did move us to the most boring school on earth, didn't they?"

"Me," Roman corrected, "Moved me. You're dead, you don't count."

"Careful little brother, they're listening," Remus said, his voice taking that ominous tone that Roman may have dismissed as Remus just being Remus if he didn't hear the sound of teasing laughter.

He turned towards it, locking eyes with a pretty brunette girl who rolled her eyes and hid her mouth behind her mouth as she whispered to her friend, "New kid's a freak."

Roman could feel his face redden in embarrassment as he turned away from the small group and hurried down the hall, that was the other reason they had moved. The reason nobody talked about. Ever since Remus had died and Roman had begun to see his ghost, everyone thought he was crazy. Not that he could blame them, he was sixteen, too old for imaginary friends. They just thought he had been so overcome with grief that he had begun to hallucinate and make up some stupid fantasy.

Which wasn't true, Remus was real. They knew this. He wasn't crazy. And it wasn't as though Remus was the only ghost he could see either, ever since his twin had died Roman had begun to see ghosts almost everywhere. They were all over from train stations to parks. Some of them, like Remus, were forced to follow another person around and could only get a certain distance away before they were once again forced together. Others were trapped in a place or an item. That was what they had noticed, all ghosts were forced to stay by something, linked to it and only able to get however far away. They had also noticed that Roman was the only one who could see and hear these ghosts. Nobody else knew they were there, if there were others, they hadn't met them yet, which just reinforced the idea that he was crazy.