Transparent

“Still ignoring me?” I ask the boy, who is now desperately searching for his English book; an English book that I may…or may not have hidden from him in order to get his attention.

Harper glares at me from the corner of his eye. I notice this and grin, triumphantly. “I saw that.”

Harper pretends not to have heard me, once again. He throws up his covers, which go right through me. He knows I hate it when he does such things. Just because objects pass through me, it does not me I wish them to. It only makes me realize how hopeless my situation truly is.

“Mom, have you seen my English book!” Harper shouts out his bedroom door. When his mother answers in the negative he turns to me.

I smirk. “Something wrong, boy?”

Harper grinds his teeth. I see how much he really does not want to speak with me, but it appears that he has finally realized that he will not find the book without me. I hid it, after all. Normally, when I hide things from him he ignores it. However, last night he was working on a rather important English paper, which he had slid into the book in order not to loose it.

“Where’s my English book?” Harper asks. It’s one of the few things he has said to me in nearly a month. He is incredibly stubborn. I now see how people found me to be so annoying.

I shrug in response. “I haven’t the foggiest.”

Harper groans and angrily stomps his feet in defeat. With a very annoyed sigh, he asks, “What do I have to do, in order to get you to tell me where it is?”

To be honest, I considered replying with something cruel. First, I imagined ordering him to do an action that would embarrass him for all time, but I decided that would not be in my best interest. Harper is still mad at me, though I do not see why.

I have not committed any ghostly acts for a month! One would think he’d have gotten over it and forgive me, but he is a stubborn brat, I’ll give him that.

“Stop ignoring me,” I reply, which for some reason, seems to shock him. Harper’s eyes glow with curiosity. “It’s annoying.”

“Why?” He asks, with arms crossed and head down. “We aren’t friends, you made that obvious. You want us go-“

“Is it a deal?” I interrupt, because truthfully…I do not want to answer that. I feared he would ask such a question, to which I am not sure if I have an answer.

I have been asking myself that too. Why do I find it annoying when he ignores me? I guess I know why, but don’t want to admit it to myself…and especially not to him.

“You’re going to be late,” I tack on, in hopes to get his agreement as quickly as I can. I’m becoming more and more embarrassed by the second. “If you do not swear to me that you will no longer ignore me, I will not show you where the book is.”

Harper huffs in defeat, he’s cute. With his cheeks puffed out, Harper mumbles, “I swear I won’t ignore you.”

“Good boy.” I hop off his head, ignoring his complaints about me ‘treating him like a dog.’ I disappear through the ceiling to the attic. From below I hear Harper complaining about the existence of attics.

Harper makes his way to the attic opening. He pulls down the latter and glares up at me, who is holding his book with a triumphant grin.

“Why do ghosts like attics?” He asks as he snatches the book from my fingers.

“We do not like attics,” I reply. “It is you who fears them and we use that against you.”

Harper snorts and slams the attics door in my face. Had I not been a ghost that hit probably would have broken my nose. And if Harper were a woman, I would say he was on his period. He’s so moody.

“I’m still mad at you,” Harper says just as I return to his room. He does not look at me as he speaks. “When you’re mad, you take your anger out on those around you and that is not right or fair. What if one of us was home when you did what you did? Would you have hurt us?”

That is a good question. Would I have hurt them? If Harper was home…what would I have done to him? Would I have done anything?

“I regret what I did.”

Harper turns to me in shock. His eyes grow wider as he asks around a small smile, “Are you apologizing?”

“No,” I scoff. I do not apologize. This brat is out of his mind if he believes that I would stoop so low as to apologize. Me? I do not think so. “I don’t apologize.”

Harper rolls his eyes. “I guess that’s the closest thing I will get to an apology so I’ll take it.”

“You do that.”