A New and Spooky Home - Part 2

"I-I can’t move…" I whispered in fear.

My body felt incredibly heavy, and no matter how hard I tried, my efforts were useless. I was completely immobilized.

Could this be sleep paralysis? That was the first thing I thought, and hoping things would resolve themselves, I opened my eyes—but what I saw only made the situation worse.

After glancing around, my eyes eventually drifted toward the foot of my bed, where something hidden seemed to be watching me. It was a humanoid figure, very similar to the one I had glimpsed out of the corner of my eye not long ago.

My breathing began to quicken. There was no escape; I was completely at its mercy. I couldn’t stop staring at the figure, almost as if I were hypnotized, but when I blinked, it had changed places in an instant. Now it was on top of me.

Little by little, the figure leaned closer as it whispered words that I couldn’t understand at first. Eventually, it drew so near that I could finally see its face through the long, dark hair that concealed it, and the words that had until then seemed like incomprehensible murmurs began to make sense.

"Leave…" the apparition said in a spectral voice.

By that point, I had already stopped struggling. The uncertainty had consumed me completely, but, strangely enough, the fear had vanished.

The ghost remained motionless, surely waiting for some reaction from me. I began to feel my breathing steady, and it seemed that I would finally be able to speak, but what left my lips was anything but what one would expect in a situation like that.

"So cute…" I said unconsciously.

Moments earlier, when I had finally seen the apparition’s face, it turned out to belong to a cute ghost girl. The thought that something like that was trying to scare me away made all my fear disappear and, in its place, be replaced by a strange curiosity.

"…Huh?"

After hearing my response, the ghost girl was left speechless; she didn’t even seem to have understood me at first, but a few seconds later she realized what had happened.

She quickly backed away, scrambling across the bed until, with no more ground to support her, she ended up falling off, letting out a sharp and adorable shriek. However, it didn’t stop there—after hitting the floor, she began to float and fled, passing straight through one of my bedroom walls.

Once I was alone again, I was able to move my body normally, and both the chills and the cold sweat disappeared almost immediately.

I couldn’t fully understand what had just happened. The only thing I could do was lie back down and try to sleep, but before closing my eyes, a reckless idea crossed my mind.

"I think… I’ll stay a little longer."

After reaching that conclusion, drowsiness began to overtake me and, before I realized it, I had already fallen into a deep sleep. It was the first night since I moved in that I slept so peacefully.

***

The days continued to pass. The paranormal incidents kept occurring quite frequently, and the ghost girl even began appearing regularly. Things in the apartment still moved on their own, the lights and the television turned on and off, but now the girl’s presence became more noticeable, showing up in mirrors or even on the television screen itself.

However, just like on the night when I was able to see her up close, the fear had completely disappeared. In its place, and remembering how she had reacted when I called her cute, I decided to keep teasing her a little.

"Oh! Thanks!" I would say whenever she moved things I needed closer to me.

"Hey, I’m going to take a shower—could you step out for a moment?" I asked when she appeared in the bathroom mirror, nervously slipping out through one of the walls.

All of her reactions were unbelievably adorable. I never grew tired of them, and since that night, every day in the apartment had become quite entertaining.

Another important moment came when I wanted to watch the premiere of an anime I had been waiting for for quite some time, which led me to prepare some snacks to enjoy a good night. Before long, I began to feel the chills I had already grown quite familiar with, and without noticing, I curved my lips into a smile.

The ghost girl had returned with another attempt to scare me, and since I didn’t want to ruin her plan, I decided to let her try. To my surprise, the scare never came. Instead, I could hear small sounds resembling muffled squeaks or gasps of surprise.

"Oh!"

"Eek…"

"H-huh?"

Curious, I lifted my gaze only to find the most charming scene. In the middle of trying to scare me, the ghost girl had become distracted by the anime I was watching, and now she seemed completely captivated by the series.

Her face was usually hidden by her long hair, but because of the position we were in, I could see several of her expressions.

"So adorable," I whispered. Even so, it was audible enough for the ghost girl to hear me, and after realizing that I had noticed her and that she had become distracted by the television, she quickly fled through one of the walls, as had already become her habit.

However, even though she seemed to want to keep watching the anime, she slowly peeked her face out again to continue watching, only to retreat once more in embarrassment after realizing I was still looking at her.

Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for her, and then a reckless idea crossed my mind.

"Hey! Why don’t you come watch the show with me!?" I shouted into the air.

Seconds passed, but there was no response, nor did she appear again from the wall. I thought my attempt had been in vain and that she had rejected my proposal, but after turning my gaze back to the front, I felt something beside me. The ghost girl had appeared, and now she was sitting next to me.

Well, not exactly sitting. Instead, she seemed to be floating slightly above the sofa, but the point is that she was by my side.

After smiling at such a strange situation, I didn’t say another word and simply focused on watching the television. The premiere consisted of a special episode nearly an hour long, so this moment would last for quite a while, which made me happy, as it seemed I had begun to enjoy this peculiar company, strangely enough.

The hour-long episode passed in the blink of an eye. It was a great premiere, and the ghost girl also seemed to enjoy it very much. Her expressions were still delightful, and seeing her so excited made the night even more special for me.

Yes, the two of us ended up having a very good time together.

***

Once the premiere ended, I stretched. My body felt somewhat tense after having sat for so long.

"What a great episode…" I said with some difficulty while continuing to stretch. "It was fun, wasn’t it?"

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a reply. I knew she was capable of speaking from the many times she had told me to leave, but I didn’t think she would actually respond to me directly. I expected her to simply float away and for us to return to our routine. That’s why I was surprised when, instead of leaving, she asked me a question.

"W-why won’t you leave?" she asked in a spectral yet timid voice. Her tone was now very different from the ominous whispers of the first few days. "Why… aren’t you afraid of me?"

It seems I had put her in a difficult spot.

My calm and carefree behavior over the past few days must have confused her immensely, and after the time we had just spent together as if it were nothing unusual, her head must have filled with even more doubts.

She must be wondering how it was possible for a human to reach this point. It seems I’ll have to be honest if I want to answer her properly.