Transparent

"Not again...," Lacey breathed, clearly distraught. She was seriously stressed out by now. The ghost was always in her room moving things, destroying things, breaking things, messing everything up.

I put my arm around my sister as tears gathered in her eyes.

"Listen, Lace, I'll switch rooms with you," I told her.

She wiped her eyes on her sleeve catching the tears before they fell. "No, no, Harper, it's fine. I'm the one that wanted to see ghosts."

"Lacey!" I said firmly. "Please, just switch rooms with me."

She eyed me suspiciously. "Why?"

"Are you kidding? No matter how messed up your room is, that ghost finds something else to destroy or screw up and I might be able to reason with it."

She was quiet for a moment before saying, "I don't think it likes talking. Even less, reasoning."

“I might be able to do something though,” I told her.

She threw her arms around me as she said, “You really are the nicest brother ever.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

In the next day, we had all of our belongings in the other’s room. “This better not be a ploy just so you could get the bigger room,” Lacey called mockingly.

“I already told you that I’d give it back when things settled down.”

In fact, I didn’t even bother to take out any valuable items to one, prove a point, and two, I don’t want my things out in the open for the ghost to smash.

“Did you two switch rooms?” Mom asked when she got back from work.

“Uh… yeah. I’m sorry…” I apologized.

“I’m just surprised you two got it done so fast,” she chuckled before giving each of us a kiss on the forehead.

“Mommy!” We all turned to see Kory running at our mother. For a moment, I suspected the worst; that maybe the ghost was bothering him again. “I missed you!”

He squealed as she swooped him up in her arms. “I missed you too, sweetie pie!”

“I’m going to go start on dinner,” my mom said. “Hopefully I can get your dad cooking on the stove after last time.”

“Then I guess I’m gonna go do… uh…. Girl stuff or whatever you think I do,” Lacey said before walking away, shutting my door behind her.

And as soon as I turned around, I was face to face with the ghost. If I hadn’t been so prepared to see him, I might have freaked out a bit. “So soon?” I questioned aloud.

He just stood there, creepily, grinning. “Trying to confuse me?” He spoke. I was shocked, honestly. Up until now, I’d only heard him say short, threatening sentences. “I have absolute knowledge of this house. You can’t fool me.”

“I-I didn’t think I would,” I stuttered. I didn’t mean to, but it happened either way. It probably made him think I was scared, which isn’t exactly the right word for it. Perhaps the word is anxious.

His grin turned playful as he tilted his head. “How interesting,” he said quietly before taking a step towards me. It took everything I had not to move backwards from him as a conditioned response. “And why would you possibly want to draw me out?”

His tone mocked me in quite an obvious way.

“I just… want to ask some questions,” I said.

He cocked his head as he said, “You get one,” he whispered.

I thought on it. If I asked one that was too deep, like what happened to him, he wouldn’t tell the truth. But if I asked something simple, like his age or name, or birthday, he’d probably tell me. He wouldn’t see any harm coming from it. Nothing I could really hold against him.

“Yes, think long and hard about it. You wouldn’t want to waste it,” he jabbed.

I swallowed. “Then… what’s your name?”

He face grew dark before his mouth opened and let out a huge laugh. “You’re joking, right? You have the chance to ask me anything in the world and you just want to know my name. My, how hysterical!”

I kept a straight face even as he was laughing in it. “You’d lie to me any other way,” I admitted.

“This will be a good fight,” he muttered. “Well then, I am your adversary, Oz Vazario,” he gave me one of the nastiest smiles I’ve seen him wear yet.

In a moment, he was gone, shifting through the ceiling in the blink of an eye, scattering anything that wasn’t in a box or tied down.

How obnoxious.