Ghost Boyfriend

ledge

This isn't right, I think as I pick up a bag and start stuffing things into it. We're back now at the house and over Mum's suggestion to go say 'hi' to the new neighbours and Dad grumbling about being denied souvenirs at Uncle Jin's party, I slip to my room and sling a rope out the window to help me down safely.

"This is hopeless," the boy scowls examining the rope. "It's about a forty metres foot drop below. Either you end up with all your bones broken or bash your skull upon the concrete landing. You choose."

I want to laugh hysterically like a mad man. That's better, a whole lot safer than agreeing to help a hallucination who isn't even thankful.

But I don't say anything as I keep stuffing. He hovered a bit over the window ledge, facing the whole city below. He's got a palm horizontally pressed to his forehead, trying to see farther off the distance. "We have a long drive ahead. Hurry up! Hurry up!!"

Okay, as you've guessed, I don't want to tell my parents anything. They'd just go into panic mode and burden me with a lot of questions. With Mum in tears, I'll feel guilty, even worse if they end up in the hospital due to a heart attack. I'll never be the same again if they die.

Which is exactly why I choose to swing off the ledge with a duffel overload. Well, luck is a b***h today for I never even made it with my two legs out when Mum caught on me.

Great. Throw open the gates of tears!

She's flummoxed. "Oh my goodness!" eyes shining like two huge glass balls about to burst, her chest gathering momentum to match her breathing like a volcano about to erupt. "Peter!"

It doesn't help that I'm hanging on with just a limb.

She starts crying (which is a very usual thing at play here) and breathing hard as she sits at the foot of my bed. The boy cries. "Go down! Go down!! Pay her no mind and go down!!!"

"No! She's my mother!!" I yell back and swing off back into the room. I hold her head gently to rest on my shoulder and began to pat her. "There, there Mum. Don't cry."

"You wish to kill me," she wails. "And you choose to achieve this through suicide. What were you thinking, wanting to jump off the ledge like that?!"

The boy pokes my nose contemptuously. "You're useless!" he cusses. "She's holding us back! Stop this madness and come with me!!"

"Get lost," I glare at him while cooing up at mother. Ugh, now I felt like Denise Robbins. "It's okay Mum, I'm fine. I have to do this."

Doubly sure I'm not making any sense, she focuses her large blue eyes on me. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm going back to Notting Hill. Mag's... brother...died!" I blurt out before I can stop myself. Crap. She clasps a hand over her mouth in shock. "Axel is..dead? When was this?"

These were times I wish to kick myself hard on the butt. "Um.. yesterday."

"This is awful. That boy... the poor child." Mum is wailing in ridiculous high pitched tones that threatens the whole building. Dad comes rushing up the stairs. "What in the world, Susan?" he's partly annoyed.

"Oh honey," Mum is grasping his shirt in a frenzy. "That kid who sent us a jar of biscuits and a Christmas card is now...is now lost to the hands of death!"

Dad's equally aghast. This is worse than all my sins put together. I'm shaking all over like I'm having a high fever or something. It's all so unbelievable yet existing. I didn't plan for my day to be like this; going to a stupid party, agreeing to be bossed around by my flippant boyfriend's ghost (which I'm not sure is real or just a figment of my imagination) and inventing a lie about my best friend's super cute brother who's very much alive and can't get his eyes off me.

"What happened?" Dad's gone to sit beside Mum, leaning out like I'm an old folklore storyteller about to narrate an event. I suppress a facepalm.

"Was it an accident? Stroke? Diabetics?"

"Dad!" I say chidingly. "Stroke is so gross. And it's for old people. Who the hell has diabetics these days?" they give me a doleful look. "Try and keep up with the times. It was an electricity wire he mistakenly touched and... burnt to death."

I realize I've lifted this exact story from the home movie I watched months ago when I feigned sick and escaped to the cinema.

Their expressions turn horrified. Mum's blinking, suddenly pulling at her hair and there's a whole lot of chaos.

I shrink back into my chair in shame. The boy appears again, full of news. "Mag's throwing a party!" he says breathlessly. "But that's not the point. Someone is attending who'd be perfect in drawing my murderers. Please help me. You're the only one who can see me."

"It's a murder mystery we're solving here?!" I gape at him while keeping my tone low to stall Mum and Dad from knowing what's up. "I thought I only had to help find your body!" I wail.

"Technically, that's not what I'm going for. We'll find my body and make sure it doesn't get burnt and is safe at the mortuary, then we'll hunt down those boys and bring them to book," his eyes gleam as he says this. "It'll be fun, you ninny! Hurry up now!!"

Gosh, he's so annoying.

I get up to my feet. "Guess I'll leave now to catch the tube."

Mum's pretty much calm and is sitting with a smile as if she's been putting up a show of sympathy. "Your father and I send our heartfelt condolences. When will you get back?"

Oh god, I realize. I've not even thought of that. How long do I need to help that hallucination twerp...hmm let's say three weeks. This should be enough, I mutter in conviction. "Three weeks!"

"Three weeks?" Mum looks stagged. "What about classes? You're going to become a doctor remember?"

"Mum, I'll take classes online. Don't worry about me." I pull the doorknob back, letting in the passageway' darkness. "Find some light and put it up here, I can't see," I suggest, having a flashlight brought over.

"Wait!" Dad's calling out. "Why don't you leave tomorrow? A cab to Notting Hill cost a fortune at night."

"I'll use the tube. If it's expensive I'll find a way. Love ya! Goodbye!!"

And with that, I'm gone.