call out my name [2gether]

CH 6

THE ANNOYING GHOST.

Sarawat stared wide-eyed at the disheveled young man in front of him. He was tall and moderately broad shouldered, the outlines of his body beneath his t-shirt and jeans hinted at a more powerful physique than what seemed to be the case at the first glance. His black hair was parted on one side and the floppy fringe was covering one of his mischievous, round eyes.

How the hell had this dude gotten inside Sarawat's room?

Sarawat's inky eyes darted to the balcony behind the guy but the sliding door was closed. What the actual fuck? Was this night ever going to end?

Then his gaze glided along the frame of this new stranger and realization suddenly dawned on Sarawat, like a coin tumbling down the canals of a slot machine. Ding! Ding! Ding! The dude was floating on thin air for Christ's sake, as if standing on an invisible ledge. Cold dread seeped instantly down Sarawat's spine, pooling at his lower back and making his upper lip twitch a little crookedly.

The room and everything else along with it, faded away in the face of this inevitable meeting.

Was this the ghost, his ghost?

Sarawat blinked, holding his eyelids closed for a second longer while pinching the bridge of his nose between a thumb and a forefinger, wondering if the ghost would still be there once he opened his eyes.

And indeed, the disheveled young man was still there. A wide, square smile stretched his cheeks, squeezing his eyes into two charming half moons. Sarawat's wide lips parted in astonishment at the sudden mesmerizing view. How was he so radiant in this gloomy room despite being just a mere afterimage of a living person? What a strange curveball Sarawat had been dealt by the fate. He dragged a hand through his hair, stopping at his nape and just holding it there, anchoring himself to the present. Sarawat was too stunned at this turn of events to even panic, white noise buzzing inside his ears.

This guy looked certainly different now than the last time Sarawat had seen him, more human and less like a zombie, and weirdly enough he actually seemed familiar now that there was less blood and scrapes covering his sharp face and lithe body. But not familiar enough that Sarawat actually knew who he was. Something dark and viscous reared its ugly head inside of him, an echo of a distant pain in Sarawat's chest.

"Isn't this neat?" The ghost said cheerfully, breaking Sarawat's bubble.

The guy stretched his arms wide and gave himself a little spin, letting Sarawat take a closer look at him. Huh. His arm was no longer hanging uselessly at his side and even his clothes were no longer ripped. The gash on his forehead seemed to have magically mended itself and even if there were still some minor scrapes and traces of blood left in nooks and creases, making the guy look a little ruffled, he still looked pretty much alive.

Fuck, Sarawat was too tired for all of this. How could a ghost possibly be alive? Was he hallucinating or was this all just a lucid dream?

He exhaled heavily, feeling his eyes droop slightly. Sarawat could not function properly without at least ten hours of sleep and this night was certainly breaking his limit. He would let all of the impending questions flood his mind once he has had his rest, when he could perceive things more with his brain and less with his heart.

"Hey," the ghost tried to get his attention as Sarawat dazedly shuffled past him, walking around him at a safe distance and flopped down onto the bed. "Hey, I think that was my name."

"What? Tine?" Sarawat mumbled into the pillow, eyelashes lowered as his hooded gaze traveled to the far too bubbly ghost at the foot of the bed, just in time to see him instantly flicker at the mention of the name, minutely bleeping out and then back into existence.