Three Idiots and a Ghost

When a cat gave a piece of his mind and a ghost got a name

"Your cat is fucking mental!"

"What? Mr. Sprinkles?" Cooper said in disbelief. "Nah, he wouldn't hurt a fly—Hey, stop it, little buddy. That tickles!"

Mr. Sprinkles was in the middle of licking Cooper's face that had a little bit of stubble he'd have to shave off soon. However, behind this sweet gesture was actually a very dark threat only the girl could hear.

"Take my prickly tongue, useless human! I hope it scrapes your face like a thousand knives!"

"Your cat's trying to kill you!" the girl exclaimed, wishing she could grab the manic feline and throw it far away from any living being.

Finally putting the pieces of the last few minutes together, Archer asked, "Wait, you can understand Mr. Sprinkles?"

"Yeah, apparently so. And it's not nice the things he's thinking out loud right now."

"Woah, that's dope," Cooper said, still clinging to the annoyed cat and completely oblivious to the death threats he was receiving. "What's he thinking now?"

The girl reluctantly focused on the low voice. "Lower me the fuck down, bitch. And get me my morning tuna already! I'm starving. While you're at it, clean my fucking shit too. How the fuck do you expect me to shit on top of my last night's shit, you incompetent piece of worthless cu—"

"He's telling you to lower him down and give him his tuna," the girl quickly explained, no longer wanting to hear anymore. "And you should probably clean his litter box too..."

"Oh, right! Totally forgot about that."

Cooper rushed to do the specified tasks. Mr. Sprinkles leisurely made his way to the kitchen behind him to finally be fed, his white tail pointed up and sassily swinging back and forth. And that was the end of the harsh voice for the morning.

"So, you can talk to cats and move through objects," Archer said. "I wonder what else you're capable of."

"Let's stop there for now," the girl responded since in reality she didn't know any more than that but was a bit afraid to find out. She decided to change the subject. "I think I've told you enough about my own self. Now it's your turn."

"I suppose that is only fair," Archer agreed to the girl's relief. "I'm Archer Lee, but you can just call me Arch."

With his gaze elsewhere, Skyler then said, "Skyler Rose. I prefer Sky though."

"Arch and Sky," the girl repeated. However, as her tongue grazed over the second name, she couldn't help feeling a certain kind of warmth resonating within. It felt familiar, yet distant at the same time. She couldn't pinpoint what it was, but she chose to ignore it for the time being.

Archer further introduced, "The guy in the kitchen is Cooper Smith. But we like to call him Coops, or even Dumb Coops depending on the mood. And that was his cat, Mr. Sprinkles. Now, that was all of our names. But what should we call you?"

"I personally like Rags," Cooper said, rejoining the group in the living room.

Archer nodded. "It does have an oddly nice ring to it."

Skyler merely shrugged with no further opinion.

"No way!" the girl protested. "Rags is a horrible name!"

"Then what do you want to be called?" Archer asked.

"I..." The girl's mind went completely blank. She knew it didn't matter what she replied with. Chances were, it wouldn't be her actual name. That information was still buried deep inside her and was currently beyond reach. This fact greatly bothered the girl, and she let her irritation show through her next words. "Forget it. You don't have to refer to me as anything. It's not like I'm going to be staying with you. There are so many places I'd rather be than in a stuffy apartment with three guys. And you know what? It was nice meeting you three, not really, but I think it's time for this ghost to make her departure already."

The girl made her way to the front door. Without any thought, she reached for the handle, momentarily forgetting her predicament when it came to touching objects. However, to her surprise, she could actually take hold of the doorknob, albeit only for a split second. She instantly pulled away upon feeling a painful shock travel throughout her body from her right hand.

"What the hell?" she whispered to herself, watching her hand shake from the surprise jolt.

"Need some help with that?" Archer offered, opening the door for her with ease.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I guess this is goodbye then."

"Yeah. Bye, guys—"

The girl made her second attempt to leave, only for it to end in another failure. This time, she found herself bumping head first into an invisible brick wall so hard that the force pushed her a few steps back into the house. It seemed impossible. She could clearly see the hallway of outside the apartment right in front of her, yet something was keeping her from getting to it. It was as if her freedom was staring straight at her but standing just out of reach.

The girl turned around to be met with three confused looks that mirrored her own. "I-I don't get it. I can't leave for some reason."

"Don't tell me you're stuck with us then," Skyler said, frowning. He definitely didn't welcome the idea of having to share a home with a ghost, especially one that wasn't even all that hot.

Cooper, on the other hand, was beyond excited at the thought of having a new dead roommate. He exclaimed, "The more, the merrier! Welcome to the flat, Rags!"