This is the beginning
1219 Words
The morning light crept through the half-drawn curtains, casting a golden line across the floor and over Elara’s face. Her head ached faintly not the kind that begged for painkillers, but enough to remind her of last night’s celebration with her new colleagues.
A groan slipped past her lips as she rolled over on the couch, clutching a cushion. “Never again,” she muttered, eyes half-closed. “Two glasses. I had two glasses…”
When her vision finally cleared, she froze.
A man sat across from her, one hand resting on his cheek, watching her with quiet amusement as though he’d been waiting for her to wake up.
Her heart stopped.
Then started again much louder.
He was unmistakable.
Adrian Ren
The same man who had died in front of her eyes.
“Good morning,” he said lightly, his voice calm, almost teasing.
Elara’s throat went dry. For a long second, she didn’t move then the realization hit her all at once. She screamed, loud enough for the walls to shudder.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Adrian winced and covered his ears. “Alright, that’s… one way to say hello.”
“Y-you—” she stammered, backing away, pointing a trembling finger at him. “You’re you’re dead!”
“Working on it,” he said
Her brain refused to process. “No- no, I drank too much, this is just- this is just a dream.”
Before she could convince herself, a sharp knock rattled her door.
“Ma’am? Are you alright?” a deep voice called from outside. “We heard screaming!
Elara threw the cushion aside and rushed to the door. “There’s a man in my apartment!” she cried, panic in her voice.
The security guard entered immediately, baton in hand. “Where is he?”
Elara pointed toward the couch. “Right there!”
Adrian sat in the same spot, waving lazily at the guard who blinked, confused, and saw absolutely nothing.
“Ma’am,” the guard said slowly, “there’s… no one here.”
“What do you mean there’s no one? He’s sitting right there, looking at me like I’m crazy ” she hide behind the guard
“I mean, you’re not wrong,” he said under his breath.
The guard frowned. “Ma’am, maybe you should get some rest.”
“I don’t need rest, I need an exorcist!”
The guard stared for a moment, sighed, and muttered something about “too much stress” before leaving.
Silence filled the room again
heavy, awkward, and almost unreal. Elara leaned against the wall, still catching her breath, glaring at Adrian as though she could force him to disappear by sheer will.
He sighed softly. “You can stop panicking,” he said, voice calm but tired. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Oh really?” she snapped, her voice trembling between fear and disbelief. “Because you’re dead, and you’re sitting in my living room!”
Adrian looked down, his expression quieting. For the first time, he didn’t try to smile or joke. “I know,” he said, barely above a whisper. “But I don’t even know how I died.”
That made her pause.
His tone was… broken. Not haunting human.
He lifted his gaze, eyes reflecting something raw and uncertain. “My memories are gone,” he continued. “Everything after one night… just vanished. I only remember having dinner with my family. That was in 2023.”
Elara frowned. “2023?”
He nodded, confusion tightening his features. “Yeah. But when I saw your calendar just now…” he gestured toward the wall, where the current date gleamed in neat letters October 2025. “It’s two years later.”
He let out a shaky breath, eyes distant. “Did I… end it myself? Or did someone kill me?” His voice cracked mid-sentence, a mixture of anger and despair slipping through. “I don’t even know what I did wrong.”
Elara’s heartbeat slowed. The sharp edge of fear in her chest began to soften replaced by something she didn’t expect: pity.
Elara rubbed her temples, pacing across the living room. “Okay… okay,” she muttered under her breath. “So let me get this straight you’re a ghost, you have memory loss, and now you’re haunting me?”
Adrian, sitting casually on the edge of her table as if gravity no longer applied to him, gave a faint shrug. “That about sums it up.”
She stopped pacing and glared at him. “What do you want from me then? why are you still here? why don't you go afterlife?
. “I wish it worked that way.” adrian ren said
Elara frowned, folding her arms. “What do you mean?”
Adrian looking at the wall, where she put photo of her family. “I tried,” he admitted. “I tried to move on. I walked through the streets, through people, through walls. Every time I reach the edge of the city, something pulls me back. Like… like I’m chained here.”
There was something in his tone a quiet kind of pain, something that didn’t belong to the supernatural but to a human heart.
He looked up at her, his expression tired but steady. “I don’t think I can leave until I know the truth.”
“The truth?” she echoed
“About how I died.”
Elara exhaled sharply, shaking her head. “You want me to investigate your death? I’m a lawyer, not a detective.”
“You work in the crime department,” he said simply, a faint spark of hope lighting his face. “You have access to evidence, reports, people who can tell you things I can’t find out myself.”
She stared at him, speechless. “You really thought this through, didn’t you?”
He gave a quick look and turned away. “I’ve had time.”
Her lips parted as if to argue, but no words came. Finally, she sighed. “Why not talk to your family? Maybe they know something.”
His smile faded. He looked away. “I tried. I went to our house.
Elara waited.
“They’re gone,” he said quietly. “Moved out. The place was empty no pictures, no furniture. Just… dust. And maybe they moved out.”
Something flickered in his eyes not anger, not sadness, but a hollow kind of longing. “If you could find them, maybe they’d tell you what happened. Or what they were told.”
Elara’s voice softened. “You want me to ask your family if you were depressed enough to kill yourself.”
He nodded slowly. “If that’s what the world believes… I need to know if it’s true.”
For the first time, she didn’t see him as a ghost or a stranger. Just a boy young, lost, and trying to make sense of his own end.
Elara took a slow breath, looking at him. “Fine. I’ll help you,” she said finally. “But once we find the truth, you’re leaving my apartment. Got it?”
Adrian’s lips curved into a faint smile. “Deal.”
But deep down, Elara had a feeling ,this was only the beginning.
- Writer
