And then I died.

  Or so I think. I mean, I’m a Ghost now, so it’s kind of obvious. Look, I can’t recall the exact moment of my soul’s departure, but from what I’ve been told and assumed, I had left the nd of the living. And then, I woke up around three days ter, because that’s you know, normal, thinking that I had just fallen asleep.

  Being a Ghost might seem fun or rather appealing. Yeah, sure, it is fun, I can agree! You can do lots of things and guess what? You don’t have to use the toilet because, surprise, you’re dead! And the little floating thing humans think Ghosts can do? Sure, it’s a hundred percent real and it’s probably the most fun thing to do as a spirit!

  Being a cursed Ghost isn’t as amazing. I mean sure, you can still float but…it’s not the same, mainly because you can’t interact with alive and breathing human beings. They just can’t see you and you, poor Ghost(!), can’t use your … special Ghost ability on them. A phantom that isn’t cursed can do that with no problem.

  Me and the others though, we are the cursed ones.

  They had no clue where this curse came from or who cursed us and from what I’ve been told at that time, the others didn’t do anything bad, so it just remained a big mystery no one really cared about when we actually did find the answer.

  And I truly believe I made a good impression with this introduction. Hope you don’t fall asleep or something, because, well, buckle up, it’s going to be one hell of a long story.

  To begin with the so called storytime, the first person I saw when I woke up was a girl with a creepy grin and bright neon green eyes. She was staring directly into my soul and I started to feel nervous and a tad bit uneasy. I had a feeling I wouldn’t really get along with her, mainly because she gave stalker-ish vibes.

  Next to her was another girl, clearly older, who was also staring, but she wasn’t smiling like the other one, no, no, she was very serious. That made me feel even worse.

  “Hello there, good morning, nice to meet you, I’m Midari and you?” the first girl blurted out. I almost didn’t understand what she said, since she was talking really fast.

  “Uhm hi?” I said not knowing how to react “I’m…” I thought for a moment and then it hit me. Looking back I feel stupid for not knowing my own name.

  “I’m Luna, nice to meet you too I guess? Where am I?” I then added.

  “WELCOME to the family” Midari cheered “this here is Mily” she added and pointed at the other girl, while standing up, looking confident.

  Mily, although angry, was very pretty, very elegant. She wore a long, bck dress, probably gothic, with a beautiful corset. Her hair wasn’t short, but it wasn’t long either, so shoulder length (I have no idea why I didn’t just say so from the start).I honestly couldn’t quite distinguish if it was bck or just a really dark brown. One of her eyes was covered with her hair, making her look like an emo teenager. She did have a braided side tail with a little blue bow in it, which really matched her eye color!

  “Don’t be scared of her, she’s just trying to look edgy and stuff” Midari dismissed her with a hand wave. I wanted to say that I was more afraid of Midari than Mily but I decided to shut up. I didn’t want to anger the kid.

  “Alright, hi” I tried to seem polite “now, my question! Where am I?”

  “Promise you won’t freak out? Midari said with a serious tone. Not going to lie I couldn’t take her seriously at that time. Midari looked like a 10 year old and she had this weird neon green ombre hair (like the eyes) that almost every child wanted at some point in their life. Compared to me she was really short and from what I could guess, she was also shorter than Mily.

  “Soooo…if I were to tell you that you died and that you’re a Ghost now and that you can do crazy magic stuff, that unless you like science more, because if you do you’re more than welcome to join ME, we can blow stuff up together you know? But we’re moving away from the subject unless you DO like that. Oh, oh, oh and if I told you that you have cool powers and you get this free weapon, oh look there is yours, right there on the floor! Nice katana, look I have a gun and if you want I can teach you how to shoot someone, or if you don’t want to I can teach you how to make bombs and-“

  “The point is” Mily said and covered Midari’s mouth with her hand, so that she would shut up “that you died. I don’t know how, but you did. And it would seem like you became a ghost. Any questions?”

  If I can be honest I did have a lot of questions. But instead of asking them I just said:

  “Nope, I’m good, I understand.”

  “Great!” Mily said “Thank the librarians you don’t have any questions. You seem to be a fast learner, I’m sure you’ll soon adapt to this new…ghostly form”.

  “Yeah greaaaat. I’m sure it’s going to be juuuuuust fine” I lied of course. I was having a panic attack on the inside.

  “I sure do hope so” Mily added and then quietly left the room, without saying anything else. Oh no, I thought. She just left me here with this little green thing!

  “Now that Mily’s gone… I can finally talk to you properly!” Midari smiled and got awfully close to me “How did you die?” she wanted to know.

  Well that was straightforward…

  “I don’t know. I thought I was asleep” I then confessed. It was true though. At that time I didn’t have any memories of how I died. I just hoped it wasn’t painful or dramatic. But then I realized that, in media, Ghosts were always portrayed as someone who had died tragically and had traumatic backstories, so mine was probably the same.

  “Hmmm, interesting! Do you want to know how I died? Of course you do! I got shot, right in the heart. It was sooooo tragic!” Midari then pretended to shed a tear. I should have probably guessed that she had a tragic death, since she herself seemed like an eccentric and a somewhat crazy genius.

  But how she died wasn’t the question I had about her, so…

  “Uhm I actually have another question!”

  “Feel free to ask, I’ll answer anything! Is it about you ghost abilities? Or about your weapon? Or about lunch?”

  “I’m sorry for asking, and I don’t mean to be rude, but, how old are you?” The question seemed to amuse her. What was so funny about that?

  “Lol, sorry, everyone asks me that. Based on my calcutions I should be 18 years old!” Midari cimed. If I had a drink in my mouth, I would have spit it. Eighteen years old?! This little girl?! This 5’1 kid?!

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked in hope I misheard.

  “I said that I’M 18 YEARS OLD.”

  “Are you sure? You’re kinda…small” I said.

  “Sure I’m sure. Listen, it’s really complicated and I don’t really want to talk about it, ok?”

  A moment ago she had been soooo eager to talk about her “tragic” past and now she had a sudden change of heart?

  “Ok…”

  “Alright enough with the small talk, let me give you a tour of the school.” Midari decided.

  “A tour of the what now?” I repeated.

  “The school. The pce we haunt. Or more exactly, the pce we are trapped in.” Midari lowered her voice in a creepy way “So technically, home! Come on, let’s go. I shall introduce you to the FAMILY.”

  I slowly stood up and before I knew it, I fell down. It was almost like I’ve forgotten how to walk. Midari gasped but before she could reach me, someone else lifted me back up on the bed. Turns out, falling down after waking up as a spirit is common and it happens for a reason.

  “Hey there, sorry I didn’t catch you. I didn’t expect you to fall, sorryyyyyyyy “ a tall man said.

  I hate to admit that he looked really good. Especially with that suit he wore.

  “Excuse you?” Midari said “OH,OH,OH I know who you are now!”

  “Really?” the man looked amused. He arranged his tie and then his suit.

  “Not technically, but I know what you are. Luna this is your companion…” Midari looked at him, waiting for him to introduce himself.

  “Edgar, my name is Edgar. Nice to meet you, Luna. We technically already met in the void where every Ghost meets their companion before waking up, but that doesn’t matter” the Edgar guy said and reach out his hand. I shook his hand and for some reason he felt oddly familiar.

  “Allow me to expin what this kid said” Edgar pointed at Midari who was clearly unhappy with being called a kid “I’m your companion, a friend of some sort, a helper, or how others see companions as: servants. Oh and I also give you more power, thus “upgrading” your power level aaand I can help you with lots of things! Oh and I’m not good at cooking so if you need food cook it yourself.” He then grinned.

  “You don’t really need to eat, but just so you know, you can. We’re not in some sort of fantasy novel. The food simply disappears. It’s basically just a thing that gives your soul energy. It’s not the strongest energy fuel though.” Midari added “Well I’m sure that you do have questions and I will answer them because that’s my job.”

  God, this girl is changing her personality every 5 minutes, gotta be careful!

  “Then what’s the strongest energy fuel?”

  “Oh silly” Midari ughed “It’s souls obviously!”

  “What…?” was all I managed to say before she interrupted me.

  “Anyway, let’s go on a walk shall we?” Midari said and peacefully opened the door.

  “Come on, it’s going to be fun” Edgar said and followed her.

  I managed to stand up this time. Outside the room where I was in I saw a corridor with lots of doors. On each door I noticed a name and I figured it must be the name of the room owner. Midari was in the front expining something. I didn’t pay much attention, as I was too busy reading the names on each door.

  Mily, Saki, Midari, Erika…

  Then realization hit me. I was dead. I was a Ghost. And ghosts were supposed to be just stories. I looked at my hands. Maybe I was just dreaming this whole thing? That would have been a good expnation for not remembering the st few days. This can’t be real, I thought. I’m not dead and not a ghost, I just need to wake up, everything is going to be just fine, I’m not dead…

  “HELLO” Midari shouted “ARE YOU THERE OR AM I JUST TALKING TO THE WALLS? Or to Edgar, at least he’s listening…”

  Edgar batted his eyes innocently.

  “Nope, I’m here!” I was obviously lying. Who knows what this kid could do. Even though she was small, Midari looked dangerous. Plus she said something about Ghost weapons and abilities. I wondered what her ability was.

  “Then repeat what I just said” she crossed her arms.

  “Uh…hehe…you see…”

  “If you’re feeling weird you can always talk to me, you know” she said. Damn her eyes are pretty.

  “No, no I’m fine! I don’t feel weird” I assured her.

  “Look” Midari crossed her arms “I know this feeling you have. And I’m a hundred percent sure that you’re questioning everything as we speak. You don’t have to. This isn’t a dream Luna. You are dead and you need to face the reality. It’s your only option, unless you want to go insane. And I bet you don’t want that.” She shook her head as she said the st sentence.

  And that’s her, changing from a very happy person to the most serious human (ghost?) I’ve ever seen.

  “Alright, alright. So, uhm, what were you saying? I wasn’t really paying attention, sorry.”

  That seemed to annoy her. I can’t bme her, if I expined something I would also want the person I’m expining the thing to listen to me.

  Actually never mind I take that back, because the sentence makes me look bad and I don’t want to look bad in people’s eyes.

  “Again” I continued “I’m sorry.”

  “Hm, okay, I forgive you, but please, try to pay attention. It’s important for your life as a ghost. Or should I say death?” Midari added and ughed.

  “Anyway, what were you talking about?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  “I was just giving you a tour and expining a little about how the rooms work and about the others. Oh here we are.”

  Midari opened a door and we entered a room that looked like a kitchen. There was Mily, who was reading a book at the table. On the other side of the room I saw a tall woman who seemed to be in her early twenties, washing a pte The first thing I noticed about her was her dress, because it had a pastel pink color, which seemed odd for a woman that looked like she was 20 years old. At the same table as Mily was a boy with gsses and bck, short hair. He was pying with a pen, staring at it. I guessed that he was thinking about something.

  “Oh great, you’re here” Mily said “Saki, scoot over, let the girl sit down.” The boy with gsses frowned and stood up.

  “I’ll be in the library if you need anything.” Mily nodded and this…Saki left.

  “You can sit down, would you like something to eat? Or something to drink? Maybe your companion here would want something” Mily offered.

  “Nope, I’m not hungry, but you can eat if you want Luna” Edgar smiled. You know those weird dating games? Yeah, if he were in one of those he would have been the “nice caring guy” love interest.

  “Uhm sure” I said, even though I wasn’t hungry “what’s on the menu?”

  “Anything you want” Mily answered “you just have to make sure you eat everything, that’s the only rule.”

  “There will be consequences if you don’t eat everything!” Midari warned me.

  “Uh, then how about a sandwich?”

  “Sure, I already made some of those. You can go to the fridge over there and pick whatever you like.”

  The moment I opened the fridge I heard the woman who was washing the dishes say that she was done and then left. I then learned that her name was Erika and that washing the dishes was one of her favorite things to do(it apparently calmed her down, Midari was annoying).

  “So Luna, tell us more about yourself” Mily said while closing that book of hers. The only thing I could think about at that moment was why the title of the book was “Spells against your enemies:offer them a PAINFUL death (torture methods)”. I brushed the thought though because it was creeping me out.

  “So, uhmmm, as you already know my name is Luna, I’m 12 years old and I like…doing nothing I guess?”

  “Go on” Mily insisted.

  “I don’t remember how I died…”

  “That’s not really normal. Like not at all” Mily interrupted me “are you sure you don’t remember?”

  “Sure I’m sure. Don’t you believe me?”I asked. Mily simply made this weird look with the eye that wasn’t covered and changed the subject.

  “Tell us” she looked at Midari here “more about your life before you died. Your parents, any siblings?”

  “I don’t have much to say about my parents. They’re just your average human beings. As for siblings? I don’t think so.”

  “Interesting, continue. What do you remember?”

  “I just remember that I fell asleep not that I died or something.” Mily gave Edgar the same look she gave me. He seemed harmless to me.

  “And you” Mily started speaking to him “you don’t know anything about this?”

  “Nope, not a single thing” he said “I intend to find out though” he then added quietly. Ha, this man thought I couldn’t hear him?

  “Do tell me more about yourself Edgar. How old are you? Why did you become this…companion thing?” I asked him, curious to find out more about my new friend.

  “I don’t know how I became your companion but I’m sure I’m too old for you. I could be your dad, that’s how old I am.”

  That was unexpected. Then how did this old man (that still looked great!) become my companion? Well to be fair I still didn’t really understand what companions are so…Then I decided to change the subject.

  “So now that I’m, you know, dead, what can I do?”

  “Pretty much nothing, it’s really boring” Midari said.

  “And you’re sure there isn’t any way to become…not dead? Like come back to life?” I wondered.

  “Sure there is, I’m currently researching it.” Midari cpped her hands, an action she would be doing a lot in the future.

  “Only you’ve been doing that since forever and you still don’t have a result” Mily said. I assumed that this was their normal morning conversation.

  “But what’s the progress?” Edgar asked.

  “Hmmm… it’s like 68 percent done.” Midari looked proud of herself.

  “And only that much in eight years. Maybe you should just give up.”

  Wow, drama time!

  “NEVER! If I do manage to bring you all back to life, not only you will be grateful to me for the rest of your lives but I can also become rich and famous. Being a person that can control when someone dies…that sounds rather god-like!”

  “And that’s where you’re wrong. You won’t be able to do that. It’s against all the magic rules!” Mily was getting angrier by the minute.

  “I don’t even like magic! It’s not scientifically accurate and it’s hard to control.”

  “Just because you can’t control it that doesn’t mean that others can’t. Wake up Midari, the world is being ruled by magic, the librarians-“

  “-are really boring. They can’t decide what I’m going to do. I can control my destiny! Plus they don’t even exist!”

  “You have to set your expectations lower. Nothing that you have ever dreamed of is going to become reality.”

  “Oh yeah, like you saving that woman that was your teacher? That is your dream isn’t it? Spoiler alert: she isn’t coming back to life unless I discover that method to actually bring her back!”

  “And they’re at it again” Erika appeared out of nowhere “they always have the same fight every morning. That’s why I wash the dishes and run away as quickly as possible.”

  “Then why did you return?”

  “I came back to save you two of course, still want to see the rest of the school?” She offered. Edgar and I looked at each other and silently agreed that going with Erika was the best option.

  “And they’re doing this every single morning? Doesn’t that give you headaches?” I asked Erika.

  “Nah, because being dead… you can’t really feel pain. Their fight is still annoying and boring” Erika said “allow me to expin the curse.”

  “Curse? What curse? Since when?” Edgar asked.

  “The curse works like this: The spirits who end up in this…school won’t be able to communicate with humans. For example if you, Luna, would want to talk to a person you won’t be able to. Same goes for haunting them. Oh and you can’t leave the school.”

  “Who pced the curse?” Edgar asked. This man sure knows more then he shows.

  “No one knows. And it’s really annoying. Like I would really like not being trapped in this school, do you even know how loud kids can be?”

  “Sorry can’t rete” Edgar said.

  “Good for you! And you Luna? Where did you study?” The question took me by surprise and I realized that I didn’t remember. Or do I?

  “I might have studied here, in this school” I said and looked out the nearest window. I did remember the school yard. Still everything was so blurry…

  “Are you sure? All sort of spirits end up here even though they didn’t go to school here. Me, for example. I’m from Salem.”

  “No, I’m sure. I do remember studying her at some point. WAIT! Did you say you were from Salem?!” I excimed.

  “Yes I am” Erika said and then proceeded not to tell me more about that town “ I never saw you here. And I know all the students. There’s no kid named Luna here.”

  “Did you take your medicine Erika? If the girl says that she studied here, then stop pestering her with all these questions. You tend to forget a lot” Edgar said, clearly annoyed. I didn’t question him at that time and I’m so gd I didn’t.

  “Alright Edgar, as you wish.” Just a moment, how did she know his name? We never mentioned it in her presence…oh well, maybe she did hear it at some point?

  “Good. Let’s go back to your room Luna, we’re done here” Edgar said and started walking down the hallway that led to the rooms. I followed him of course. Somehow I trusted him even though we only met like half an hour ago.

  We arrived in my room in no time. Edgar took a seat on a chair next to a table (where the sandwich I had just started eating was, hmm I wonder how it got there) and frowned.

  “Are you ok? You seem angry. If Erika said something you don’t like I can go talk to her…” I offered.

  “There’s no need to do that. She’s just annoying that’s all. She thinks she knows everything just because she’s old.”

  “Old in what way?”

  “Didn’t you hear her? She’s from that miserable town called Salem. Of course she’s old.”

  “Oh I didn’t think of it like that” I said. I felt bad for the man and I didn’t know why.

  “Anyway, how do you like your room? It’s pretty blue, do you like the color?”

  “It’s really pretty. Blue is my favorite color so…also, it matches your eyes!“ He giggeled.

  “Thanks! Say, you really don’t remember anything? How you died and such?”

  “Nope, but I’m sure I will at some point!” Ha, as if. My wishes don’t come true. Still this memory loss bothered me. My whole life was blurry and I couldn’t even remember the faces of my own parents, let alone other details. I didn’t quite remember the school and nothing from what I learned there.

  “Hey, snap back to reality!” Edgar said. I didn’t realize I zoned out.

  “Midari came to see you.”

  “HELLO!! I was wondering if you’d like to blow some stuff up together with me? After that we can go eat lunch and then we can py something if you want. I’m not that good at games like truth or dare but I’m really good at board games so if you want to do that…” she said.

  “Uhm what was the first part? You kinda lost me there.”

  “I said, THAT IF YOU WANT WE CAN BLOW STUFF UP TOGETHER. I hope that was loud enough. Maybe then we can discover your ghost abilities and then I can help you control them and-“

  “-and that won’t be happening, it’s far too dangerous”

  “Oh come on Edgar, you oldie. It’s not like she can die a second time.”

  “No, but I know that she can disappear from this world!”

  “Won’t be happening. Go do something else while I teach Luna my ways.” She proudly decred.

  “But I wanted to explore my room…can’t we do that ter?” I suggested.

  “Oh come on, it’s really not that interesting. It’s just a room.”

  But it’s got video games, I thought.

  “But…BUT!”

  “No but allowed. Don’t you want to find out your ghost abilities?’ Midari asked. Oh God, she’s really close. The little girl doesn’t have a personal space concept.

  “I mean I do, who wouldn’t. But still…the room is really interesting.”

  “Oh forget the room. I don’t have anyone to do experiments with. One of my grestest wishes is to have some kind of assistant! And it’s getting kind of lonely…so…PLEASE COME WITH ME I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE” Midari said and started crying. Little did I know at that time that this was just a form of manipution.

  “Alright, alright just stop crying.” I gave into her desieres.

  “OK, let’s go! Today we’ll be conducting experiments in the school yard!” she said, grabbed my hand and dragged me to the yard. You should have seen Edgar’s face, poor man.

  Edgar disappeared while I was gone with Midari. Of course, because I’m the st person to find out about everything, the reason why he left remained unknown for me.

  The time I spend with Midari was great and I could tell that I found a friend. I didn’t discover my ghost ability on that day, but a week ter, when I accidentally set the kitchen on fire.

  “OH NO, MILY, LUNA’S BURNING DOWN YOUR KITCHEN!!” Midari shouted while trying to get some water to put out the fire.

  “What did you say, OH NO!”

  I was trying to process everything that happened and unfortunately it looked like I didn’t care, so Mily started scolding me.

  “IT’S BEEN ONE WEEK, JUST ONE WEEK AND YOU’RE ALREADY DESTROYING THINGS! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH ENEGRY WILL COST ME TO REPAIR THIS?!”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! I’ll clean the kitchen once we put out the fire, I promise!”

  “YOU BETTER CLEAN IT! AND DON’T YOU FORGET THAT YOU PROMISED!”

  I felt really bad. It wasn’t my fault…well actually it was, but I didn’t know how to control this power yet…

  Saki started reciting some incantations in another nguage and the fire went out, but the kitchen was severely damaged. I did clean up everything and with the help of a few spells from Saki the kitchen was clean in no time. I was really proud of myself (and Saki).

  A new week then started and the kids that were learning at that school were in for another traumatizing week. Edgar reappeared a few days after Monday (I can’t remember exactly which one), didn’t say a thing about where he had left or about how he managed to get out of the school. He seemed really sad and I tried cheering him up but that didn’t work.

  Mily was still a little angry at me, but her anger soon disappeared when Midari blew up a whole cssroom.

  The next few months I spent away from the students (they can be really noisy, just like Erika said) and then it was time for summer vacation, which meant peace and quiet for me and the others.

  I trained daily (to my own suffering) with Edgar, because he insisted I needed to know how to properly defend myself (and how to use a sword). Turns out I’m good with a sword but really bad without it, so since that moment I always made sure I had my katana with me.

  As for the powers part, the fire I can generate isn’t your typical fire. It’s actually a neon blue fire, which at first scared me. Mily assumed it was like that because my favorite color is blue, but I’m not so sure about her expnation. She was in charge of my ability training and, I don’t know why, she couldn’t really stand me. Her main reason was about me chatting a lot and asking a lot of questions, but I didn’t think that that was it. She could handle Midari who was talking even more than me but couldn’t stand me talking? That was really suspicious.

  Then summer vacation also passed. The most notable event of the whole summer was meeting this 10 year old who was apparently the others’ boss. He didn’t seem important so I ignored him.

  Then autumn, then winter(I can’t really remember what I was doing, probably just sitting around, doing nothing all day and chatting with Midari) and then it was spring again!

  And then my life turned upside down.

  As I was walking down the hallway (which was really out of character, I never go there) I happened to pass by a group of students that were chatting very, very loudly. I then decided to follow them, see what they would do, because it didn’t seem to me like they were going to their respective cssrooms and plus, I was bored. I wouldn’t have been able to follow them outside the school though, which really annoyed me.

  To my surprise the group did go into their cssroom (cssroom which seemed oddly familiar)even though I thought they would just ditch css. Then they all went to their respective seats, chatting some more.Then I decided to have a little bit of fun, look through their stuff, read their texts and maybe attend the lesson? I didn’t even know which css they had next, but it didn’t matter, since I was bored out of my mind.

  Looking through their stuff was interesting. Still, I couldn’t help but get sick after seeing a very old uneaten sandwich in a students’ bag.

  And then, in the back of the cssroom I noticed an empty desk. I looked trough that students bag and the things the kid owned looked incredibly familiar, like they were mine.

  The teacher seemed to be a little te (Erika said that every teacher there is te, no matter what, that’s why she dislikes them) but so was that kid.

  Moments after I thought about that, the teacher entered the cssroom.

  Oh shit, I thought, I’ll be attending math css…well it can’t be that bad, right?

  Yes it was! I mean, it was interesting, but I’d forgotten most of the stuff I learned. It’s not like I use math every day as a ghost.

  While the teacher was teaching his…algebra (ew, algebra, actually ew math! That’s why I’m better at nguages) someone knocked.

  It must have been the missing student!

  Luckily I was correct!

  The door opened and there stood a girl that was a slightly taller than me, but had the same hair color! And eye color (ok, those weren’t the exact same, because hers were green and mine are blue)! And style! And…almost everything…in short, she looked like she was my double or something. The girl apologized to the teacher for being te, she got scolded and then went to her seat. I quickly analyzed her and yes, she did look like me. The only difference was that she looked like she’d been crying the st 30 minutes of her life. Then I started hearing some students talking about…apparently that girl. And by talking I mean, gossiping and mocking her.

  “Pff, she was crying in there!”

  “I know, right? How pathetic is that?!’ Then a third student joined the conversation.

  “What a dumbass! She thinks she’s better than all of us, and yet she was crying IN THE BATHROOM, AT SCHOOL!”

  “What a pick me girl!” a fourth student said and the teacher didn’t even hear them. I looked at the girl who was on the verge of crying again, because she had heard what they said. I suspected she was crying because they did something to her earlier. Or else I wouldn’t see any good reason why anyone would be crying at school.

  What a bunch losers, I thought.

  I then decided that it was me who should defend her! And she looked like me too and she seemed very familiar too so…and one thing you should know about me is that I absolutely despise bullies!

  First, I had to know more about the whole situation. And then…then I don’t know.

  If the girl had been crying in the bathroom, there was only one person who knew everything about the bathroom, the person being that 10 year old I had met in the summer. I never bothered to ask him what his name was (or Mily probably told me and I forgot it). He was a short boy with choppy, short bck hair, who was wearing all bck and had a thing for bathrooms.

  “Hello? Uhm…bathroom boy! You, the kid that lives in the bathroom!” I tried.When I first met him, he was very talkative. The boy was apparently the youngest and he did look so. What I didn’t like about him was his hair. It looked really weird.

  Why wasn’t he answering now, when I needed help?!

  “Luna! It’s so good to see you!” Oh nevermind, he’s here “How come you came to visit visit?! You never visit!”

  “I’m gd that you got out of your room for once. I need help.”

  “Hmmm, what kind of help?”

  “I saw a girl and she was crying in here, did you see her?”

  “Specify the girl. Everyone comes here to cry, like that kid over there” he then pointed at the boy’s bathroom, from where a cry could be heard.

  “Uhm, she looked like me. Like she could be my twin or something.”

  “Oh yes, that girl that cried for approximately 40 minutes. Why are you interested?” Oh dear, this guy is annoying.

  “Her cssmates were talking trash about her. I want to know why” I said. He looked amused.

  “Alright I’ll tell you, but you have to give me something in return.” Oh no, he was surely going to ask for something…inappropriate…as in…me killing someone. I find that to be highly YUCKY.

  He then got closer, and closer. The boy was really scary for a ten year old and highly inappropriate…if you know what I mean.

  “You know those cookies that Mily bakes every Sunday? Yeah steal me two of those, because I never get to eat them! And she doesn’t let me near them! And I’m hungry!”

  Oh thank God, I thought. That was really easy to do, me and Midari do it every Sunday, because Mily doesn’t share them with us, but with Saki.

  “Alright, deal! But you have to tell me more about her. NOW.”

  “Rex, I’ll tell you once I have my payment. I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

  Stealing those cookies was a lot harder than expected, but I managed to steal the st two. I didn’t know that Saki was now in charge of guarding them!

  “Congratutions! You did it! Good job!” he cheered, happy he got something to eat. The biscuits I stole for him were very tasty and Mily was using a recipe she herself came up with.

  “You got what you wanted, now give me my information” I said and tried to look him straight in the eye, because I heard that if you do that, the person you’re staring at will feel intimidated. Not him though, he was amused. And happy too because of the biscuits he got.

  “Ok, ok, I’ll tell you. Her name is Millicent, Millie for short, but I guess you already know that, since you’ve been spying on her almost the entire st 24 hours.” I didn’t know how he knew, but I decided to stay quiet.

  “Continue please” I said.

  “She’s 13 years old, like you…since your birthday passed and she’s going to turn 14 this year, ironically, on the same day as you. Her cssmates don’t really like her and they find her weird, so…”

  “Since how long?”

  “Well she mysteriously appeared in the school one day so I guess since then. That was around the time you appeared here. I’m guessing that that, the fact that you look the same and that you’re interested in her is reted?”

  “I don’t know” I said “she seems interesting I guess? And yes the fact that she looks like me is also very, very weird.”

  “Maybe she’s your long lost sister. Or you’re hiding something.”

  “I’m not. I can’t even remember how I died!”

  “That makes you more suspicious.”

  “No it doesn’t!”

  “Yes it does!”

  “Also” I started “quick question. Is there any way for me to… be visible? At least for her.”

  “Lmao, of course there is. Why? What do you want to do?” he ughed.

  “I just want to talk to her. Now tell me the way!”

  “Lol, you’ll have to pay for that too!”

  In the end he did tell me how to become visible without any payment. All I had to do was convince Mily to cast a spell! How I would do that, he never told me, probably because he wanted me to fail. So I had to get creative! I started thinking about stuff she might like. Sadly there wasn’t anything. So then I decided to do the unimaginable.

  “Heyyy Milyyyy, my best friend, the best person in the whoooooole universe,the love of my life, my sunshine on a rainy day, the-“

  “What do you want Luna?” That was direct.

  “I offer you… a trade.”

  “Sure, what do I get and what do you get?” It was unexpected that she would be interested.

  “I heard that you can make me visible for humans. Only that, nothing else.”

  “That is correct. I can’t use it on myself though.”

  “If I clean the whole school, you room and wash the dishes for the amount of time you wish, could you make me visible for this one human?”

  “Hmm, fair. How about you do that for the whole month? Or let’s make that two months.” Suddenly I wasn’t sure about this. The school was pretty big after all.

  “I…uhm...alright” I agreed.

  “Great, you’ll start tomorrow! And now I need the name of the human you want me to make you visible for. And the age.”

  I had to run back to bathroom boy because he never told me her family name. Turns out it was the same as mine and that kept me awake the whole night.

  I can’t tell you exactly how Mily preformed the spell, still that’s when I learned that aside from being a spirit she was also a witch. The next day, as soon as I woke up, I was on cleaning duty, so I didn’t have time to go talk to the Millie girl (I just realized that the name pronunciation is the same as Mily’s) until like 11 am (I woke up at 6).

  I entered Millie’s cssroom. She seemed to be focusing on the lesson. But as I got closer I realized she wasn’t solving the exercise the teacher has written on the board, but drawing flowers in her notebook. And yet she didn’t seem to notice me! I was about to go to Mily and asked her what happened (a.k.a. shout at her), but instead I decided to at least try to say hi.

  “Hello!” I said.

  “What?” she said and then screamed. She got so scared that she fell backwards with her chair. A loud thud was heard when she hit the ground and everyone looked in her direction. Hey! I didn’t look that bad, did I? Oh well, she looked traumatized.

  “TAYLOR MILLIE WHAT IN THE NAME OF MATH DOES THIS MEAN?!” I can’t say that what the teacher said didn’t amuse me.

  “I…I’m sorry. I slipped” Millie said. She looked terrified.

  “Let’s see…oh, you were drawing FLOWERS?! Where is the solved exercise?” the teacher yelled.

  “I-I…” she stuttered “I don’t know how to solve it.”

  “That’s literally so easy, she really must be stupid.” A student said.

  “Hey! The only stupid thing here is you kid!” I said, fully aware that the human didn’t hear me.

  “You’ll get extra homework and if you don’t do it until tomorrow, I’m failing you” the teacher said and left Millie’s desk. Some kids started ughing at poor Millie and one threw a paper airpne at her, on which was written: You suck.

  I could tell that Millie was on the verge of crying yet again and I decided to apologize.

  “Hey, sorry for the trouble I’ve caused” I said. She looked at me and wrote something for me to read on the back of her notebook: It’s not your fault. Sorry.

  “It’s ok, I’ll make it up to you. Give me your homework and I’ll have it solved in no time!”

  “It’s ok, I can manage.”

  “Nahhh, I have this genius friend that can solve every single math, or chemistry (!), question! At the end of the lesson give me your homework!”

  “It doesn’t seem polite, that’s all…”

  “Don’t worry, I got you! I’m Luna by the way! And you’re Millie! I’ve been watching you for a couple of days now!”

  “How come I could never see you? And…I’m guessing that you’re a…ghost…excuse me if I got it wrong, I’m terrible at this!”

  “Nope, you guessed correctly! I really am a ghost.”

  “So, you’re a ghost now? Really? Luna I know it’s you, you can’t prank me.”

  “What? I’m not kidding.”

  “Excuse you? You’re clearly my sister, Luna. We look the same for God’s sake! Or…maybe you…forgot? Either that or you’re not my sister!!”

  “Wait what?” I looked at her confused.

  “So then, you’re not my sister or…? ARE YOU TRYING TO MANIPULATE ME?!”

  “Shit, no. I don’t really remember my life, or my death…so…maybe?”

  “I don’t know what to say, really” she wrote “you’re a little suspicious. But you act like my sister…are you sure your name is Luna?!

  “Do you think that I don’t know my own name?

  “Sorry.”

  “Eh, no worries. And sorry that I’ve scared you. Oh and this css is very boring. How do you manage to survive in here?”

  “I don’t, really.”

  “Why are these kids mean to you? Did you say anything, or…?”

  “No, never said a bad word to them. I guess they just don’t like me.”

  “But you’re really nice. I can’t see what they dislike about you.”

  “Hmm…anyway, should I tell you how you died? Or…do you want to know more about the things you’ve forgotten?”

  I didn’t really know what to say. I wanted to know, but at the same time I was hoping that I would remember as time goes on. So I decided to compromise!

  “I just want to know how I died. Also, would you like to spend your break with me? We can go to this empty cssroom upstairs!”

  “You died in a hospital, from a heart attack, approximately a year ago. And sure, I would like to spend time with you :)”

  The thing Millie said about a hospital seemed oddly familiar. Still, I couldn’t remember it. This must be what they call amnesia.

  “Hm, I don’t really remember. Oh look, your css is almost over. Give me your math homework. Or any other homework.”

  “So you want my math, chemistry and English homework?”

  “Sure. The first two can be solved by a friend. I’ll do your English homework. I mean, I don’t really have anything else to do, so…”

  “Thank you! :D”

  “No problem.”

  Then the annoying math teacher came to give my poor sister (damn, the sister thing was already growing on me) the extra homework. After that I told Millie to follow me and we went into the empty cssroom upstairs.

  ..So! You really are a ghost and I’m not imagining things? Because if I am, then I really must be depressed, haha.” Seems like this little cssmate problem of Millie’s really affected her.

  “Yes I am. And I have to go through hell to be able to talk to you.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I now have to clean stuff for…I can’t remember how long, but I have to…”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. I wanted to talk to you” I said and smiled. We talked for a little bit and I told her about what being a ghost was like. She seemed really excited to find out more. When the break was over she suddenly got a call from her mom saying that she was waiting for Millie outside the school. I got a little sad because I didn’t want her to leave. She still had to go to her dentist appointment.

  Once Millie was gone (she tried to give me a hug, but instead fell on the ground, because, guess what? I’m a ghost) I decided that it was time for me to bring Midari the homework and then start on the English one.

  “Uhm hello Midari, what are you doing?’ I asked, entering her room. Midari was looking for something. Every single paper of hers was on the ground but she still couldn’t find the thing she was looking for. She turned her head after I greeted her.

  “Hey Luna, I’m searching for this old handmade thing I made centuries ago. And you? What do you have there?” she said and pointed at the paper with the math problems.

  “I have something for you to solve. Chemistry and math. You in?” I asked.

  “Sure, I’ll do the chemistry. In math…it depends. You got these from that human girl you were talking to earlier?” Midari said and took the chemistry paper out of my hand, went to her desk, pushed some things around to make space (her room is very messy) and started working.

  “How did you know I was talking to her?”

  “Lmao, you didn’t even notice that I entered the cssroom?”

  “Uhm, no.”

  “Haha, I was right there. Anyway, you realize that you’ll have to kill that girl at some point right?”

  “W-what?” I was hoping that I misheard what Midari said.

  “Well I heard what you were talking about. If she really is your sister, you would want to spend time with her, right? Sadly, you can’t leave this school and she can’t stay here forever. What if…she forgets you? Then, there’s only one solution: She must become a ghost and then you’ll live happily together. Forever. And how will she become a ghost? She must die.”

  “Midari stop the nonsense, I can’t do that, haha. I hope you’re joking right now.” I said.

  “Uhm,what? Luna I didn’t say anything” Midari looked at me confused “you were just staring at the floor, are you ok? “

  “I think so. Are you sure you didn’t say anything?”

  “Nope, we were just talking about that girl and here, the chemistry homework is done. Hand over the math one too!”

  I gave her the paper but then I started thinking about what Midari said earlier. Or I pictured her saying? I don’t really know anymore. The thing that “Midari” said was true. I didn’t really have another choice. So maybe I should just…tell her about it. Mily told me that the spell will wear off eventually, it couldn’t st forever, so…

  “Wow, and I was saying that I’m not that good in math” Midari said. She looked proudly at the paper and then handed it to me.

  “Is that all?” she asked “I could get used to doing homework for this girl!”

  “That’s all, thanks!” I said then thanked her for the homework. I then went to my room to complete the English one.

  After a long afternoon and then a good night sleep (I don’t really need it, but it’s a human habit, and a way to recharge your soul with energy) and after cleaning Mily’s room (she has so many books on necromancy!) I went to find my sister! I really hoped that I would spend the whole day with her so I was pretty excited! But then I found out that she didn’t show up at school that morning. So I checked her schedule (why does Erika have the schedule in her room?) and decided to go to her before math css. But I noticed that she still wasn’t there.

  I started to get worried but decided to wait until the next day, to see if she was going to show up.

  When she didn’t show up the next day too I decided it was time to stalk her cssmates to see if they say anything about her.

  “Have you heard? She isn’t going to show up today as well!” Yes, but why, I thought.

  “She’s in the hospital?”

  “Yes! That thing we put in her food worked! She’ll stay home for the whole week, miss tests and she won’t be bothering us anymore!”

  “Oh my, she just texted me saying that she isn’t feeling well at all!”

  If I had any blood, which I don’t because I’m dead, I would sure be boiling by now! HOW DARE THEY HURT HER! And what sane kids would be trying to poison their cssmate? It all sounded like a weird story.

  I left the cssroom in a hurry and went straight to find Mily. Maybe I did need the “Spells against your enemies” book. I did find her, but she was busy doing some kind of weird ritual, so I didn’t disturb her. If I did she would have probably put me as an offering to the gods or something like that.

  I did find Midari and soon learned that if I hit a human hard enough, despite the curse, I could still hurt them. After obtaining the information I went straight to Millie’s cssroom.

  “She’s going to cry after this!”

  “Of course, that’s the whole point!”

  “And then we’ll get rid of her for good?”

  “Sure!”

  As I entered I happened to hear the conversation they were having. Why did they even want to get rid of her? She was such a nice person! And what were they? Just some assholes who were talking shit about everyone.

  I quickly took out my sword. I just need a very hard hit and I could hurt them.

  The first try was a fail. The second one too. The third one as well. The tenth one too.

  And then the solution hit me. Why not infuse the katana with fire?

  I did so, and this time it worked. The girl that was writing mean stuff all over Millie’s desk screamed in pain as her arm started to burn. No sign of a fme though, just a really big burn on her whole right hand. I used the same method on the other girl and the same happened to her and then on the boy that was helping them. They were all yelling for help, but before someone could come to their rescue, I hit them again. This time they started screaming louder and a teacher came to help them. From what I’ve seen next they were transported to the hospital with an ambunce.

  I tried erasing the things they wrote on Millie’s desk but it didn’t work, so I gave up, but decided to expin the whole situation to her the next week, when she would return to school.

  Later that day Edgar started questioning me on the subject of Millie and if I were sure that she was my sister. I expined to him the whole situation and he freaked out. The next day he disappeared again.

  The next week on Monday, I woke up extra early, cleaned the kitchen and then presented myself in Millie’s cssroom at 8 am.

  She entered 5 minutes ter (hmm 5 minutes te, where was she?). Her eyes lit up when she saw me. She then went straight to her desk, took out a pen and a paper from her backpack and started writing.

  “Hi! I missed you!”

  “Aww, I missed you too! How are you feeling? I heard that you were in the hospital st week!”

  “Yes I was :(. I got some kind of food poisoning (I guess) and had to stay there. Oh, by the way, do you have my homework? I need to give it to the teacher today :P.”

  “It’s inside your desk. If you ever need help with it again, do tell me! My friend also said that she could get used to doing your homework!”

  She looked inside her desk, then took out the papers. Strangely, she didn’t seem to notice the mean things her cssmates had written.

  “Thanks! And thanks to your friend too!”

  “Are you happy?” I asked. She seemed a little taken back by the question but quickly wrote her reply:

  “Yes! I’m really happy! I found you and then you did all of this for me! I couldn’t be happier!<3.”

  “Hey, what are you writing there?” a girl asked and took Millie’s paper. She then started to read it out loud to her css, making Millie look like a weirdo for talking to herself.

  Millie tried taking the paper back but she was held back by two boys in her css. She was trying to fight back but it didn’t work.

  I was really thinking about burning them again so I took out my sword again and hit one of the boys that were holding Millie.

  But it didn’t work.

  But Midari said it would work.

  But it didn’t.

  I did strike them like 20 times, even with fire but nothing was happening. Millie was getting hit by those kids and they read the paper out loud. Now it seemed like Millie was talking to herself! They also started calling her these horrible names that I will not say because I’m a good person that doesn’t say bad things.

  “Oh fuck” I thought as the teacher came in (HOW LATE!) and everyone went back to their seats as if nothing happened. Millie instead ran quickly to the door, past the teacher (that man didn’t even notice her, how blind!) across the hall, and into the bathroom.

  “What happened to her again?” bathroom boy asked.

  “Her cssmates again” I said then drifted my attention to her “How are you feeling? I would give you something to ease the pain from the hits but I can’t” Millie sniffled and then said:

  “Don’t worry. The effort you put in defending me- and don’t look at me like that, of course I saw you- was enough. I just hope that you aren’t only in my imagination.”

  “Lmao, she doesn’t even believe you exist-“

  “Shut up, not you Millie, you can talk. You probably can’t see this short kid that’s talking shit about everyone”

  “Nope I can’t. And from what you’re saying he isn’t that great.”

  “HEYYYYY, I’M GREAT AND YOU CAN’T CHANGE THAT. AND I’M REALLY SOCIABLE AND LIKEABLE, YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS!” he shouted. I swear he’s embarrassing me.

  “Anyway, you should head back there. I know that they bully you but it’s not like you have a choice.”

  “Haha, good to know” Millie said and lowered her head.

  “This girl really needs to stop caring so much.” I rolled my eyes at him and then told her what he had said, so we could have a proper conversation with him. Oh God, I’m talking to a 10 year old.

  “Yeah, I would to that. But sadly they’re hitting me. How am I not supposed to care about that?”

  “Fight back at least. You’re always crying here, it’s really annoying. Punch them or something, if I were you…”

  “The child said that you should try to fight back. I don’t agree of course. They’re too many.” I gred at him and this time he rolled his eyes. How do you kill something that’s already dead?

  “Anyway. I’ll wait here until next css. If you guys don’t mind.”

  “I do mind-“

  “The kid would love you to stay, how polite of you!”

  “I don’t!”I gave him a little punch and he looked really annoyed, but decided to simply groan and frown. Looking back I’m so gd that he didn’t do anything to me, thanks to the universe!”

  The hour passed by quickly. I did ask Millie why she wasn’t telling her parents about the bullying. She simply said that she did but didn’t continue.

  I walked her to her cssroom. Some kids ughed at her but she simply ignored them and went to her seat. She took out the homework and went to hand it to her teacher saying that she was sorry and that she got sick again the st hour. The teacher advised her to go home and she nodded. Millie then went to her seat, got her backpack, looked around the cssroom at her cssmates with a judging look, then walked trough the cssroom door. She then turned to me and gave me a sad smile. Millie also whispered a “see you tomorrow. Or when I return. Sorry.” and then walked away.

  I’ve never felt this sad, and the thought that I couldn’t help her made me feel even sadder.

  “I’m sure she’s a good kid, but are you willing to kill her to satisfy you selfish needs?”

  “Why are you here again, I thought that your pce was in the bathroom.”

  “One year of living with me and you still don’t realize that I do have a room. I’m not that insignificant. Now answer my question.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You realize that she must die in order to stay with you forever. Or as long as the two of you please. C’mon Luna, you’re not stupid, are you now?”

  “Yes and? I do realize that.”

  “Are you actually going to kill you own sister? Or at least make her kill herself?”

  “I…no.”

  “Yea, well I don’t think so” he said and turned his head to look at me “I know you do. But damn, that’s a little too selfish, not thinking about her future. Not caring about her happiness.”

  “I don’t need to give you an expnation. And I’m not selfish” I said.

  “Haha, that’s what you think. But I assure you that you’re just lying to yourself.”

  “And what are you going to do to stop me?

  “Hmmmmmmmmmm” he said and closed his eyes, pretending to think (I don’t think that’s possible for him) “absolutely nothing. Why should I stop you? It seems fun and I’m really, extremely, 100% bored. So nope, I won’t stop you. Instead maybe, I should help you. I’ll think about that!”

  “Uh, I thought you didn’t like her?”

  “Nope, you got it wrong again lmao. Oh why am I so good at acting?” he sighed, closed his eyes again and made a dramatic gesture with his hand.

  “Stop it. So, how are you going to help me?” I asked in disbelief. He opened his eyes.

  “I will transform her into a ghost. You just have to bring me her soul, that’s all! When she dies, take her soul, I’ll teach you how, and then I will turn her into a brand new ghost.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “It is. I’m a natural when it comes to turning people into ghosts.” I heard a student saying a “pfffff” at that moment, as if mocking him.

  “So, what’s your answer? Do we have a deal?” I should have given this more time, but instead I agreed.

  “So…” he said and raised his hand for a handshake “friends?” It really took me a whole minute to figure out if I wanted to be friends with this guy or not. But then I decided to get on his good side, ‘cuz he might actually be useful. And a good friend (haha you thought).

  “Hm, sure” I said and shook his hand.

  “GREAT! I don’t really know how to be friends with people so I’m not sure if that’s the right way to become friends with someone, but I finally did it. K, bye now! I’ve got some work to do!” I was about to say goodbye but then I remembered a detail that had been bothering me.

  “Wait!” he turned to me “What’s your name? You never mentioned it.” He actually seemed happy by the question.

  “Ohhhhh, I forgot! It’s Lord.”

  “I asked for your name, not your status.”

  “But that’s my name.”

  “What kind of parents name their child that way?”

  “They didn’t. I named myself.”

  “That expins a lot. Still, why did you name yourself like that?”

  “And that, Loonie, hope you don’t mind me calling you that, is a story for another time. See you in the bathroom? I’ve got my hands on some food, maybe I should share it with my new friend, yay!” he did this anime style excited look.

  “Uh…I’m busy, sorry.” I said.

  “Oh…ok…” he said “no worries, maybe another time?”

  “S-suuuure.” I said. He then nodded and left silently and I could swear I heard him sniffle a little.