Ghost of Mine

He’s staring at the blank canvas again. I hate it when he does that. He’s trying too hard. He’s putting too much pressure on himself and it isn’t healthy! It’s like a writer with a writer’s block staring at a blank piece of paper with the quill pen in his hand.

A loud ringing tears his eyes away from the white cloth and he looks towards the door. He quickly walks out of the room, down the long halls and small staircase to the front door. He opens it.

“Mikey!” he squeals and throws himself into the arms of the stranger outside. I stare at the scene from the top of the three steps. I can’t walk down those. I’ve tried.
“What are you doing here?” he asks as he pulls away from this Mikey and look him deep in the eye. I feel my fingers and eye twitch. If I could, I would pull them apart and punch Mikey. This gorgeous creature is mine!

“I finally got the time to come see your new crib!” My man giggles and lets Mikey into our house.

“You watch too much MTV, Mikes.” What is his name? Does he even have a name?
Yes; stranger!
The stranger holds out a box with a bow on it for my man.

“A belated housewarming present.” My man happily accepts and quickly pulls off the bow and paper around it. It reveals yet another box.

“Mikey!” he squeals again and throws his arms around the stranger’s neck. I snarl.
My man quickly pulls away from the stranger and looks over his shoulder. He looks right at me, but he doesn’t see me.
Instead, he shrugs and turns back to the stranger.
“Thank you so much!”

“No prob, bro. It really wasn’t hard since you asked for it.” They both laugh, while I just stare at them in confusion. Is my man’s name prob bro? What does that mean? What language does that originate from?

“Come on! Let me show you around.” Prob bro. Is it perhaps southern? Or maybe from the cold, barren North?
“This is the hall, obviously. Out there is the annex and down there a wine cellar that I don’t dare to use or even go down into.” I zone out and settle for following them around. I relish in prob bro’s sweet, sweet voice rather than listening to his actual words since I already know the entire house inside and out – even though I haven’t been out for the past 170 years.
“And this is my studio slash living room,” prob bro says enthusiastically. To be honest, I don’t like his name. I thought it would be something more…elegant.

Both men sit down on the couch and continue talking. They’re too close for my liking. Their knees are almost touching!
The flame of jealousy within me is inextinguishable at this point.

While my man gets up and walks over to his drawing desk, I take the chance to throw a punch at the stranger. He barely budges, but he does flinch.

“What the fuck!” My jaw drops at his curse. How dare he curse in our house!

“What?” My man sounds so sweet and innocent. He’s too good to be around a man with such a filthy mouth!

“It was like something just pushed me,” the stranger says outraged. I wish I could do more damage than just a slight push.

“You feel it too?” my man squeals – now with a bit of terror in his voice. He drops what he was roaming through before and walks over to the stranger.

“What? You feel like that a lot?” My man looks around the room, almost as if he's searching for me. I keep staring angrily at the stranger, though.
“Gerard?” I frown. Gerard?
I look over at my man. Gerard?

“Yeah, I feel it,” my man says shocked and sits down on the couch next to the stranger.
“Sometimes I’m being pushed, sometimes pulled. It’s like-“ My man looks disheveled and frightened.
“It’s like some invisible force that’s guiding me and controlling me at times.” He looks around suspiciously.

“You think it’s a ghost?” The stranger sounds unconvinced – critical.

“Yeah! I even see him sometimes!” Again, my beautiful man’s eyes meet mine, but he doesn’t see me.
“I’ve tried to draw him for weeks, but I just can’t do it. He keeps disappearing when I try.” He keeps staring at me. Can he see me?
I smile at him.
His lips twitch.
I smile wider.

“What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna call the Ghostbusters?” My man breaks our eye contact and looks at the stranger.

“I’m gonna draw him.” He sounds so determined. It’s incredibly attractive.

“Cool,” is the stranger’s only response. I take it very personally.
“So, do you have any food in the house, big brother? I’ve been driving for forever!” Brother? They’re brothers?!

“Sure thing, little bro. Come on.” They both get up and walk out of the room.
It’s his brother. ‘Bro’ means brother. I still have no idea what ‘prob’ means, but at least the beautiful human being who moved in here a month ago is still very much mine.