call out my name [2gether]

CH 7

THE (UN)HELPFUL FRIENDS.

Tine was unreachable for a whole week. It was unclear if it was by choice or by the strange laws of the universe, but once he did deign Sarawat with his elusive presence, Tine just silently and very ghostly moped around the room by ways of fluttering the curtains and pulling on blankets or just strumming sad notes on the guitar. Preferably in the middle of the night or precisely when Sarawat had to write a report for his class. On a couple of memorable occasions he even kept shoving Sarawat's cell phone from the desk, letting it mercilessly clatter to the floor.

These antics drove Sarawat mad since he could not even see the damned guy, which meant that he could only fume in silence, being left with Tine's scared expression looping through his mind. Sarawat could not decide if he was irritated with Tine for acting so bratty or if this irritation grew from something more. He was now even considering asking for Natty's phone number from Boss. She could not be all that useless, right? Maybe if Sarawat told her the truth, that he had been in contact with the ghost, then maybe she could actually help him.

Right. Sarawat shook head as he sauntered through his room and over to the balcony entrance, a wry smile on his lips at his own pointless thoughts. He then leaned one sturdy shoulder against the doorframe, hips tilted to one side and swiftly lit a cigarette, the lighter clicking in his hands. Sarawat lazily inhaled and then exhaled a swirl of white smoke, letting it gush out from in between his lush lips while he pondered, the cigarette now pinched between his fingers.

"Tine," he called evenly in a soothing, even if a little raspy voice, not quite knowing what to expect.

Silence.

Well, of course.

Tine was certainly a new brand of nuisance in his life and clearly more high maintenance than one would expect from a ghost. Not that Sarawat knew many ghosts, obviously.

Sarawat frowned then, thinking. Was Tine just hiding away while he sulked or was he actually unable to show himself? Shit, this was way over his head. Sarawat had seriously no clue how any of this worked. Was there even a special procedure one had to follow when summoning spirits?

"Alright," Sarawat muttered finally between puffs of white smoke, getting a little vexed. The midday sun shone blindingly yellow and made him squint a little, his lashes fluttering. "Tine, I'll talk to your friends or whoever those guys were and try to find out some information for you."

It was strange that Tine had not even known his own name but god knows how the afterlife worked. Maybe everyone started anew once they died. Although, that did certainly not explain why Tine was still there, looking the way he did if his soul had indeed been reset, cleansed. Why was he then still stuck in this strange purgatory?

Sarawat was quite puzzled by the mystery of Tine but it was better not to let the ghost know that, he had a feeling that Tine would become insufferable then, finding ways to lord that over him. Besides, he could very well be a malicious spirit, trying to lure Sarawat into some kind of a trap. Who knew? Certainly not Sarawat, at least not yet.

Tine popped out of thin air suddenly, materializing right in front of him and Sarawat bit back an undignified yelp, the cigarette shaking between his fingers, spilling ashes to the floor. The ghost was floating a couple of inches above the balcony floor in a squatting position, long legs drawn in tightly against his chest with sturdy arms looped around them, head on his jeans clad knees. He blinked up innocently at Sarawat from his drifting perch, black hair a little ruffled as if he had been anxiously running his hands through it. He was back to looking normal again, deceitfully human, all creamy skin and deft muscles.

"Really? You'll do that for me?"

Sarawat shifted his owlish eyes to the side, at a point a little above Tine's head, avoiding his clear gaze. There was something with this guy that made his heart jolt unnervingly for some reason. A teeny tiny needle pierced a little bit deeper, digging into his heart each time he saw Tine. Granted it had not been many times, but somehow he had already gotten under Sarawat's stoic skin. It was probably the sob story of him being a ghost, acting so blissfully happy over just finding out his name, such a simple thing in life that everyone else took for granted. It was sad really, and it pulled at Sarawat's heartstrings.