"Leo, I'm not gonna be overly concerned if my group mate wants to take credit for my work. I'll just make sure that the team leader knows the correct information."
"Haha, yes, that way, he won't be able to take any credit, wow, Jay, you are the same as always. You sure, you don't want to come stay with me?"
Jay threw the dish rag and walked to the window of his room, turning the loudspeaker off he wondered if his answer was going to change this time.
"No, Leo, I don't want to leave my home. I'll keep doing my freelancing stuff and see if my family comes back home."
"Okay, but if you need, I'll help you. Okay, I gotta go. My coffee is here."
They lived on opposite sides of the world now, but Leo was Jay's best friend growing up. Leo was the only one who understood him. Not every kid would want to play with someone who didn't want to go out in the sun to play.
It wasn't like he couldn't stay out in the open during the day, but he just didn't like it. He could stand outside when it was raining, but something about strong sunlight made him uncomfortable. Leo had always answered that his sunscreen was bad, but Jay thought it was something else. Maybe he had some medical condition?
And it didn't help that his sisters all worked the night shift. He had six sisters, and they all worked during the night.
He sighed thinking of his sisters. They all just disappeared one by one. Left a note and then, gone.
Only he knew how he handled being alone. Leo was gone the day he turned sixteen and Jay became a total recluse after that.
It was his sixteenth birthday today and he hoped for a miracle. All the books he read had something special happen to them on their birthday. Maybe it could happen to him too. Like his family would return and they would all celebrate his birthday.
He watched the moon in the night sky and marveled at its beauty. The slow breeze fluttered the curtains. The midnight sky slowly turned into a shade of purple and he felt it was out of the ordinary.
"Good god! You look like a vampire."
Jay turned back and looked at the speaker, speechless.
A floating blanket with two holes for eyes and one for a mouth was hovering before him.
He opened his mouth to yell.
"Stop, no yelling!"
Was he continuing his action of yelling or was he going to listen to this hovering ghost?
A ghost. He saw a ghost. Oh god, he was supposed to be freaking out now.
"I'm your Ghost Familiar and boy, I have been living here before you were born."
He somehow found a smug expression on the blanket's face. And this made everything feel scarier. Thinking that you have been watched by a ghost all your life made you feel worse, especially since the privacy part was really questionable.
"You are a ghost?"
"Are you slow at comprehension or what? I'm a Ghost Familiar, so I'm obviously a ghost."
Two hands- blanket hands emerged and the ghost put them on the blanket waist as if trying to intimidate him. It looked rather funny.
"Then why did you appear now? You could have told me earlier."
"Is it my mistake? It's because of you stupid witches who get powers at sixteen that I had to wait. It's like waving at a blind man for me."
"Wait, you were here all along?"
He finally got the confirmation and now that he got it, he felt that it was useless to act shy and embarrassed now. The ghost had seen him bang his head when he lost at Sudoku and yell at the breaking tiles games. What could be worse?
"Who did you think was drinking milk in the fridge? Who collected all the trash? And who checked your homework?"
Jay thought his pet cat Milo was doing all that- not the homework part. He then remembered that his home was always spotless when his sisters were home. He thought they were clean freaks but it looked like they were outsourcing chores. He looked at the pitiful ghost who did all the work.
"Okay, then why are you here now?"
"Of course to go back home. You don't want to stay here your whole life, right? And don't you want to look for your sisters?"
"Where are they?" Jay was curious now.
"I'm sure they are lurking in some part of the magical world. I don't know where!"
Jay chose to believe the ghost. There was no other choice. He wanted to find them.
"But you have to protect me."
Why was his ghost familiar with saying the opposite words? The ghost was supposed to be protecting him, right? And now, he was going to protect the ghost?
"Why? I'm just a kid."
"That- I'm a wanted ghost over there. So you protect me."
"Why don't you stay here then? You aren't wanted here?"
The ghost slumped in a sad way.
"Because once you leave, without your family magic, anyone can sense my presence and I'll be arrested. Being with you in the magical world is safer than being here without you."
If only, a person was saying these words. The ghost was making this as awkward as possible for the teenager.
"Okay, then let's go."
"Uh, wait, are you scared of ghosts?"
Jay felt that this question was fifteen minutes too late.
"Not cute ones like me. Sinister ones like from the haunting movies that like to kill or possess you!"
"I'm not scared."
"Okay, okay, I'm taking you from the ghost domain. Here we go!"
At the centre of the room, a doorway appeared.
Jay needed to pack.
"Huh? Why pack, let's take this house with us."
"The neighbours will get suspicious!"
"Nah, they will think it's demolished, a little magic will make them forget, don't worry."
The ghost walked to the corner of his room and peeled the wallpaper. There was a Lily painted there. And Jay didn't know about it. The ghost put a palm on it, Jay couldn't see the palm, and then the house disappeared. He was pulled towards the door, and he saw colorful light everywhere.
If someone asked him about the experience in portals, he would say that it was worse than amusement park rides.
He landed and promptly fell to his knees, his insides threatening to vomit.
"Ah, we are here. Now let's go through the Walk of the Dead."
Walk of the Dead? He was a living person. Was he allowed to do that?
"Don't worry, you are with me. I'm sure the Dead officials won't ask for your soul."
Before Jay could answer, he felt a chill.
"Soul, ghost brothers, let's have a feast!"
His ghost familiar got him here to get killed.