There’s a ghost that lives in my house. At first he was barely there. Nothing more than a couple of faint footprints scattered across the floor. Or a few broken dishes that he’d sweep behind the couch. Sometimes he’d mess with my stuff. I’d come in my room only to be greeted by my old soccer ball floating. I’d try to take it but he’d swipe it out of my grasp giggling eerily every time I attempted to grab it. Or I’d be in my living room, sunk into the couch trying to get my homework done and one of my old toy guns would pop out of the hall closet and start pelting me with darts. For a while I pretended he wasn’t there but I knew he wasn’t going to go away. Sometimes he gets bored and floats in the corner of the empty room at the end of the hall staring out the window like he has somewhere else to go but most of the time he’s being a bother. Yesterday, I was doing my laundry I leaned over to throw my clothes in the washer only to pop up and find him with that stupid chess board in his hand the pieces all lined up to play a game.

         “Play with me”? He asked. 

         “Not right now” I avoided looking in his pale ghost eyes. 

         “You never wanna play”. He whimpered.

         “Uh huh” I mumbled as I kept my focus on tossing my clothes.

         “I know why you don’t wanna play Connor, you just don’t know how to play chess”.

         “That’s not it” I promised him. I could already hear his laughter ringing in my ears. It was creepy but almost comforting.

         “Ok, if you say so”. He floated away but he kept laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. His laughter echoed off the walls as he slipped through them.

         He wasn’t back again until after dinner. I made a pan of lasagna and brought a piece to mom, who was sitting by the window with her photobook in hand, flipping through the pages breathlessly. I also brought a piece to dad who was in his office scribbling away at some overdue bills. 

         “You want anything to drink”? I asked him after I handed him the steaming plate.

         “No Connor, thank you” He sounded tired but not as tired as the previous days. I felt the tiniest bit of hope arise in me. But it quickly disappeared as I reached my room and there he was floating beside my dresser staring at my lasagna. I knew exactly what the little monster was thinking.

         “Hey, that’s mine if you want your own you can go downstairs and get it”.

He still stared at it just blinking, the steam complementing the tone of his misty body. I ignored him as I slipped the plate away from him and gently tossed it onto my bed. I sat down my head resting up against the headboard, still pretending I didn’t feel his presence. A chill traveled up my spine as he smiled with his pale ghost lips.

         “Connor I don’t know why you keep making extra food for me you know I can’t eat”. 

I kept my head hung as he drifted closer to me.

“Yeah I know”. 

He kept giggling as he whisked himself over to the blinds. He has this habit where he flicks his fingers across the shades and they make this clicking sound that’s quiet but loud.

“Could you stop that I have things to do”. I gritted my teeth to let him know I’d had enough which was stupid and pointless cause I knew he couldn’t take a hint.

“Stop what”

“You know what”.

He turned away from me but I saw his cheeks rise forming a devious smile. He flicked his finger across the shade slower so that when it clicked back into place the sound was louder. 

         “That’s it get out”! I shot up from my bed and he took off silently floating down the hallway. I chased after him like I could catch him.

         “I’m busy ok. I don’t wanna play with you. I don’t wanna talk to you so just leave me alone! You-” he disappeared before I could hurl another insult at him. I stood in the empty hallway listening for his obnoxious laughter. I took soft gentle steps so I could hear any inch of him through the walls but all I heard was the creek of the floorboards beneath me. I carefully made my way back to my room and crashed onto my bed groaning at the thought of him coming back to pester me later. After I finished my homework I ate my lasagna that was now cold. When I brought my plate back down to the kitchen the TV was on. I couldn’t see him over the edge of the couch but I knew he was there. It was his favorite show. 

         “Connor” He whimpered. He knew I was mad at him. 

         “What” I said without turning my sight to the couch.

         “You wanna watch with me”?

I lingered for a bit above the sink staring down at the stainless silver before I sighed and joined him on the couch. His pale face lit up as soon as I slumped down next to him. He made the couch feel heavier even though he was weightless. I could feel his joy ripple throughout the room. We watched till sunset. The sky’s gloomy gray was painted over with a fiery orange and the ghost, drenched in bewilderment floated over to it. He loved sunsets more than anything. I remembered that he once told me that he found it beautiful that the sky erupts into a huge flare of color and then fades out into complete darkness. 

         “It never goes away” He said staring out the window.

         “What doesn’t” I stood up and followed him to the window.

         “The sun, it never really goes away. You think it does but it’s still there floating around in the universe”.

         “Yeah”. We were both wrapped up in the haze of the colors.

         “It comes up goes down, comes up goes down. It always has.”

         “Yeah”.

         “What if it didn’t come up Connor”?

         “Huh”?

         “I mean the sun, what if it didn’t come up”. He stood in front of the window so that the orange illuminated his entire figure. 

         “That’s crazy the sun always comes up” I told him.

         “I don’t know, maybe one day it just won’t”. 

He drifted away from the window and disappeared when he reached the kitchen without saying another word. By then it was completely dark. The house was still and only moved when I crept up the stairs. The creak of the old wood rung out and stung me with loneliness. I performed my nightly routine, brushed my teeth, stared at my frizzy copper hair in the mirror and then climbed into bed. My sheets were freezing even as I pulled the blankets over my face. I kept thinking about what the ghost said. There were no stars in the sky only the moon dimly glowed through the clouds trying to conceal it’s light. A single tear ran down my cheek. I kept thinking of the sun and it’s warmth and how it was always there. It didn’t matter if it’s rays blazed your skin and left you sweating and complaining and wishing for winter because winter was cold. Winter was empty and the sun isn’t nearly as warm. I can’t remember when I fell asleep but the next morning the sun broke through my windows shining it’s familiar blinding light on my face. I made my way downstairs to the kitchen and found the ghost holding a cup of coffee in his hand. 

         “Why’d you make that for I thought you couldn’t eat”.

         “I made it for you” He said softly. We stood there silently for a moment his eyes beaming with pride, his little ghost hands wrapped around the mug that was steaming hot. A wide smile plastered across his face. I dropped to the ground crying my head engulfed in my hands. My tears leaking through the space between my fingers and trickling down my arms. 

         “Why are you here, why do you do this to me”? My words shook.

         “You know why I’m here Connor”.

         “No” I shook my head “No no I don’t”.

         “Yes you do” He said brightly but it only sounded sinister.

I felt him drift closer to me. He placed the coffee mug on the table next to us.

         “You know who I am, you know my name”.

         “No” I cried harder “No I don’t”.

         “Say it Connor”.

But I couldn’t say it. I knew as soon as I muttered his name he’d float away and melt into the sun and the sun would set and never come up. The house would be silent. The tv would almost never be on. I’d never walk in my room to and see stuff floating all around me. He wouldn’t pester me to play chess. I’d stop making extra food for him. The room at the end of the hallway would be closed forever. He tried to caress my shoulder but his little ghost hand slipped through my skin. I felt his emptiness inside me which only made my skin grow cold with desolation. 

         “Connor I’ll always be here”. He told me.

         “No no you’re not. You’re gonna leave me”.

         “Don’t be silly I could never leave you. You might want me to sometimes…”

         “No” I tried to grab onto his tiny arm but I fell through and plummeted to the floor. “No I don’t want you to go away”.

         “Connor you’re not listening” He flailed his arms but kept his smile. “I’m always gonna be here. Even when you don’t think I am. I am”.

         My eyes shifted from the chilly barren floor to his eyes and got lost in the misty swirl of them. Wet, heavy tears no longer dripped from my eyes. My body stopped shaking as I spoke to him

         “Like the sun”?

         “Yeah” he kept his face lifted with a soft comforting smile. “Like the sun”.

I locked eyes with him one more time when he looked back after floating to the window

         “Take care of mom and dad ok Connor”?

         “Ok Eddie”. 

In the gleam of the morning sun I watched him fade away.