Three Idiots and a Ghost

When a ghost fell asleep

"I can't believe I'm really stuck here," Rags groaned, standing at the dinner table with the three men who were seated. By then, she'd just accepted her given nickname since there was no convincing Cooper to change his mind.

She had now spent an entire day of being dead. The afternoon wasn't nearly as eventful as the morning, however. The guys simply had a relaxing day at home, each going about their separate business. Cooper occupied the couch for hours, shooting away zombies on his Xbox. Skyler soon joined him after finishing all the laundry and housecleaning. Rags was surprised to learn that he was actually the only person to really do the chores around here. He certainly didn't appear to be the tidy one.

Archer, on the other hand, kept himself shut in his room. Rags was curious what he was doing, so she snuck up on him after discovering she could pass through the room doors, just not the front one. She found his tall and thin frame hunched over at his desk, furiously typing away on his laptop. He was in the middle of writing a story for some website called Pattwad. It was called The Bad Boy Gang Leader vs. The Billionaire Alpha on the Quest for the Average Girl's Virginity? Rags had some serious doubts about that lengthy, overly-descriptive title, but she quietly slipped out of the room after seeing how dedicated Archer was to writing it. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, especially since Archer had been the nicest to her so far and she was kind of growing to like him.

With that, Rags, for the most part, was left ignored by her forced roommates. She had become so bored that she even tried to talk to Mr. Sprinkles once. However, the grouchy cat merely hissed and swore at her a couple of times before resuming his long nap on Cooper's bed.

At around seven o'clock, Rags followed Skyler into the kitchen. He was preparing dinner for everyone. It seemed he was more like a mom than he really let on. Although on the outside he remained cold to Rags by not even acknowledging her presence when she was literally standing right next to him, the inside was a different matter. And it showed when he found himself having accidentally made four servings of spaghetti instead of three.

"It's for Mr. Sprinkles," he claimed, even though Rags hadn't asked.

However, in that moment, the Persian cat entered the kitchen, walking over to his bowl that was full of dry cat food. The girl heard him thinking, "What the hell is that fuckboy talking about? I'd rather lie in my own shit than take one bite of the crap concoction he calls food."

Rags tried her best to suppress her laugh. Perhaps she could get used to being able to hear Mr. Sprinkles after all.

That brought everything to this moment of the four people, three alive and one dead, at the dinner table. To the ghost's surprise, Skyler actually bothered to put a plate of spaghetti out for her. But it stayed cold and untouched, eventually being stolen by Cooper. Not only could Rags not get a single hold on the fork in the first place, but she also couldn't smell any of the delicious cuisine either. Although, it didn't matter since she had lost the need to eat and the feeling of hunger along with it. She merely watched the three guys enjoying dinner in silence, accompanied by the lingering thought that she was trapped with them for however long her afterlife lasted, or until they decided to move away.

"I can't believe I'm really stuck here."

"You know, I've been thinking," Archer began. "It all makes sense now, why a ghost is always depicted as haunting only one specific place. They can't leave it."

"Yeah, but out of all the places, why must she be haunting our apartment?" Skyler asked.

"Maybe she used to live here before she died!" Cooper replied, followed by a mock spooky ghost sound.

"No, that's not possible, Coops," Archer quickly shot down. "The last people who lived here and the ones before them were just a bunch of college guys like us. But then again, I don't think we need to figure all of this out at once. Maybe with time, Rags might remember a few things about her life on her own."

"I hope so..." Rags said, slouching her shoulders. And she really did mean it. She didn't care how insignificant the information was, she just wanted to learn at least something about her own self.

After dinner, the three guys got ready for bed. This brought out another question and discovery about their dead roommate.

"Do ghosts need to sleep?" Archer asked, walking out to the living room after having just brushed his teeth.

Rags was sitting on the floor alone, watching a cartoon that Cooper had turned on for her. She didn't particularly like the show, but she had no other choice. It wasn't like she could simply grab the remote control and press a button.

"Now that you mention it, I do feel a little tired."

Upon hearing the conversation, both Cooper and Skyler joined the two in the living room.

Skyler immediately said, "I'm not sleeping in the same room as a ghost."

Scratching at the back of his blonde hair with a guilty grin, Cooper added, "I, uh, have like stuff to do at night that you can't like know about."

That left Archer. However, he too refused with the only excuse he could come up with on the spot. "I'm gay. I'd prefer not to sleep with a girl."

"Fine!" Rags exclaimed, trying to hide her slight disappointment at how unwanted she was. "Alright, I'll just sleep here on the floor then. I don't want to share a room with any one of you either."

Suddenly, Cooper broke out into a burst of laughter. He said to himself, "A dead person sleeping in the living room."

"Shut up, Coops," Archer and Rags said together in annoyance while Skyler only shook his head.

Afterwards, it was lights out in the apartment as each guy entered his own room. Archer took the curtesy to lay out a spare blanket for Rags. Though it was unnecessary since her body simply went through the soft material to be laid on the cold, hard wooden floor underneath. But Rags didn't care all that much about her uncomfortable sleeping situation. In a way, it was an accurate reflection of how she was feeling on the inside. Cold and hard—but in the difficult sense of hard rather than in solidness.

She had so many complicated unanswered thoughts drifting in her head. But that only fueled her already growing exhaustion, and before she knew it, Rags had drifted off to sleep. She was soon dreaming, though it wasn't a pleasant dream at all. In fact, it was a nightmare.