When the Sun Shines

CHAPTER 1: An Unexpected Interaction

His Point of View

She is home!

There is always a wave of excitement in me upon the opening of the door; I don't feel lonely anymore... Although I think she doesn't exactly know I am here, living with her.

I can see her struggling to find the light switch as she removes one of her shoes simultaneously, “where is it?” she asks herself in a rather angry tone.

Upon finding the switch, there was a loud noise that echoed around the room as she slammed her palm on the poor thing. The moment the lights were on, we both made eye contact that lasted for a few seconds.

Sometimes, I wonder if she can see me.

She was the first to break the contact like what was expected. She made her way inside the small apartment, just leaving her other shoe on the floor on the way towards the small, old couch. I was quick to stand from my place and I made my way towards her.

She sat on the couch aggressively and wiped her face with her palms out of frustration.

“What’s the problem?” I talk to her the first time as I crouch beside her although I, myself, expect no response from her.

She ignored me and stood up, going to the shelves with little to no books to get an old notebook where I always see her write about her bills and payments. She wrote in big numbers “12,500” and encircled it, writing beside it “broken car window, stupid dumb ghost”. Even though I was confused by her odd attitude today, I remained silent and continued to observe her.

I jolted from my position when she suddenly threw out of nowhere her bag and I held onto my chests.

“What’s gotten you so mad?” I asked her again and I saw how her grip on the pen she was holding tightened and she ppause for a while. “I probably should leave you alone,” I said as I felt the need to. Just as I was about to leave, that is only when I noticed that she was also bringing home a plastic bag with bottles inside it. I changed my mind immediately and stayed beside her as I was intrigued even more on what was the issue that happened to her today.

“Hmm. Is it about work?” I tried to guess, even pretending to place my hand below my chin, imitating a man with a beard.

“No… Is it some love problem?” I talked to her even more, “but I never even saw you with a man. It doubt it,” I say to myself as I continue to think. Hmm but it’s probably related to money problems, so it should be about other conflicts.

As I positioned myself comfortably beside her to keep on telling guesses, she moved and got one bottle from the plastic bag beside her. Beer? She’s drinking beer today?

“This is the worst,” she says as she opens the bottle.

“Another problem, given by somebody else.” She runs both her hands on her face as I can hear her sniffs in between. “I hate it so much. And I don’t even get something back?! Isn’t this unfair?!” She yells and then proceeds to drink.

“Ahhh… This feels good once in a while.” She tells herself after gulping a large amount of liquid in one go. “Who’s ‘somebody’?” I question as if I am chit chatting with her. I frown upon no response, now I’m really curious about what happened. This is the first time I remember so far seeing her so angry.

She slams the bottle on the small center table harshly and faces down on the floor with her eyes closed, as if waiting for her body to feel the wave of drowsiness then just knock down on this couch, forgetting all the problems today for tomorrow to solve.

“Do I have to go through this each week?” she talks to herself again, trying to get her feel better through words.

I’ve never seen her this devastated in the past six months of living with her. To be honest, her actions today make me anxious.

There was a moment of silence between us for a second before I thought of maybe patting her back to soothe her when I forgot about my situation. As my hands slipped through her back, I pouted. It was completely no use. That is when I started swinging my hands on her head repetitively out of the blue as I watched my hands just completely pass through her like thin air.

What happened after is what caught me by surprise that I fell on my backside; she whipped her head towards my direction and stared at me seriously with her eyes shooting sharp daggers. It all feels too real, she is looking at me. Can she see me? Is she seeing me? Is she aware of my presence all this time?

“Will you stop doing that or I’ll knock you down? I’m not having a great day, can’t you see?!” she said in a harsh, emotional tone before diverting her attention off me. I was still in surprise of what just happened that my mind seemed like it failed to function. I was only brought back to consciousness when I heard her groan loudly.

What - she talked to me! A human talked to me!

“Ughh! I hate this,” She says as she massages her nose. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you,” she apologizes but I couldn’t care less as my brain is still trying to figure out the situation. Is she really talking to me?

“M-Me?” I say mindlessly as I point to myself, “a-are you talking to me?” I asked for clarification.

I saw her take a deep breath and took her bottle of beer to gulp everything inside of it in one drink.

After a series of deep breaths and drinking another whole bottle of beer, she turns her whole body to face me. “You know what? Since you’re here, can you listen to me for a while?” She tells me, “l-listen?” I was still confused.

She sniffs before talking to me. “You see, it was just very frustrating,” she begins her story, even creating hand movements to emphasize things more.

“Getting through the whole day while acting normal is hard enough for me,” she continued, even wiping her nose with her arm.

“D-Do you need some tissue?” I ask and she breaks down into tears. I panicked and rushed to the kitchen, to realize that I physically do not have the ability to give her some tissues to wipe her nose and tears.

“T-There’s a tissue box here!” I say and I can hear her respond with hiccups, “yeah, I know… I know… Thank you.”

All I did then was to come back and sit beside her, she looks like she badly needs a friend. “As you can see, I’m broke,” she states honestly and I coughed unconsciously causing her cries to get louder, “I - uh, I’m sorry! P-Please don’t cry I-I did not mean to!” I tried to calm her as I panic.

“Why are you laughing, I’m sad right now – no, no, I’m mad! You don’t have to be mean!” she exclaims between sobs and her voice is different than usual, sounding like a child whilst putting emphasis on the word “mad”. Since I cannot initiate any form of physical contact, all I can do is let her feel my presence and that I’m listening to her.

“I’m not laughing-” I cut myself; going against what she said would probably make her feel worse. I don’t know what did I do though, did she think my cough was a laugh? “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was terrible for doing that. C-Calm yourself first before you talk, I’ll listen to everything you say! I promise!” I reassured her and she nodded and it felt as if she’s telling me she’s taken no offense.

“B-Because why does this have to happen to me?!” she queries loudly as she stares deeply into me. I froze in my spot, not knowing what words would make her feel better.

“I-I don’t even try to mess with them, I pretend they don't exist, I do anything so they'll leave me alone but - but - why are they messing with me?!” Her eyes were red already and the sleeves of her shirt were already visibly wet due to its dark color.

“M-Messing with whom?” I asked her.

“With!” A hiccup interrupts her, “with ghosts!”

Ghosts?

She sees ghosts?

Obviously dummy! She’s just talking to you right now! I scold my own obliviousness.

I paused, not knowing what to do or say. Does she see me this whole time? Was this only recent? Did she try to ignore me all this time? I felt disappointment in me for an unknown reason.

“I know, I know what you’re thinking-” Another hiccup, “I’m sorry I ignored you living in my home the whole previous months!”

“I-It’s okay, I’m not mad…” I try to ease her feelings; guilt would probably make her cry even more and give her a heavier burden inside.

“B-But that’s what I need to do if I want a peaceful life without souls following me here and there! Even if I was genuinely feeling empathy for them, I’ll keep losing if I keep letting them use me for their unfinished businesses. I want to win even at least once!” The room is filled with her sobs and sounds of her trying to catch her breath.

“W-What about me then? I don’t want to keep paying and paying for things I wasn’t aware my body even did!” She brushes her face with her hands harshly, even the skin around her eyes is turning to another shade already.

“Don’t do that, y-you’re hurting yourself,” I say as I attempted to stop what she was doing.

“I-I don’t intend to be selfish! It’s just too much to carry!”

“I know, I know, you can't always be too kind.”

“Thank you! Y-You understand that, right? That doesn’t make me bad, does it? Am I bad for ignoring you?” she asked me with sad eyes sparkling due to her tears flowing and I just remained silent for a while, thinking of what to respond. “No. It doesn’t make you a bad person,” I answered honestly and she acknowledged it.

“And now I don’t know where to acquire 12,000 more pesos out of the blue! Do you think I have money?” I didn’t expect her to be so near me, leaving me frozen, “exactly! I have none; I just mentioned I’m actually broke! I’m not rich - I’m far from wealthy!” she answers herself upon my silence.

“And - And you know what?” She continues her complaint as I fix my position to be more comfortable. “W-Where’s my beer?” She halts her storytelling as she rummage through the plastic bag sitting beside her. She drinks a portion of the last bottle before she focuses her attention back to me. “T-There’s a time in elementary…”

“There was this ghost…” I nod as she tells me her story, “he asked me… something.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know exactly, I can’t communicate to ghosts – I don’t know how am I even talking to you-”

“B-But anyway, that - so - so what happened is, I thought that he was asking me to go to his house when he was alive and take something from it - which is what he actually wanted!”

“It’s so sad! I thought he will buy me ice cream or something after that because he pointed one poster of it and I was stupid to think he’ll actually do that! So I took the little car he crafted himself and brought it to his grave far from my place which he requested. He was happy of course, and so was I! But he then disappeared to go to the afterlife.” She sniffs and wipes her swollen eyes, “I was not mad - just felt betrayed there was no ice cream, but then! I realized I lost all my allowance for the week! If I didn’t waste it for traveling towards his grave maybe I could’ve bought the ice cream myself! My aunt was so mad and plus, I got no ice cream I thought he promised! I was never able to taste that!” She pouts, still wiping her eyes harshly, “it was petty but that’s when I realized I’ll be a loser if I keep helping them!”

“I don’t wanna keep losing; I want to keep something for myself… I need things for me too…” she faces away from me, bringing her knees near her body to hug it and rest her head on it, “ but they never stop; I can’t continue life like a normal person. There are always souls who are always behind my back, messing with my life.”

“I want it to stop; I want them to leave me for some peace. Is that too much to ask?”

It was silent, I did not respond, I just sat near her to let her feel that she’s accompanied by someone; she is not lonely this time.

“I don’t know where to start; I don’t know where I can get money. I barely have money for my bills, what else for other stuff?”

“Hey…” I finally spoke after a minute of silence.

“I don’t know what I can say that will help ease your heavy feeling…” I look at her with concerned eyes, “but just know that there will be no one to judge, j-just let yourself cry out all those things you kept for so long.”

“Thank you…” She replied and I gave her a small smile, “as long as you feel better after… t-that’s… good then. I’m s-sure things will fall back perfectly and you’ll get through this.” I spoke honestly which suddenly got me embarrassed that I unconsciously avoided her eyes. To ease the awkwardness, I tried to pat her back, at least.

And then… my mind stopped after I felt a little odd feeling on the palm of my hands, as if I was touching something. My eyes darted towards my hand to see it just pass by her back again, like what will happen no matter what. I was probably just imagining.

She lifts her head from her knees to look at me and let out a little laugh. “You know ghosts can’t do that, right?” She chuckles when she notices my small attempt to soothe her. I made eye contact with her for who knows how long before she cracked into a fit of laughs as I stayed in place, embarrassed.

“Thanks a lot again, by the way. This meant a lot to me,” she mentions, looking at me before passing out.