“I saw your face and that’s the last I’ve seen of my heart.”
Name → Isaac Daniels “He Laughs”
Species → Human, Can See Ghosts
Occupation → Student @ BHU
Specialization → Film; Specializing in Cinematography
Neighborhood → Tennessee Williams Park, Dorm #11
+ Affectionate, Artistic, Cheeky, Sagacious
- Caustic, Quixotic, Pretentious
Isaac had always known he was different than most of the boys at school. While the boys were busy chasing after the pretty girls, he was looking at the boys doing the chasing. Isaac, however, was never ashamed of his affections and he never hid from them as many boys are prone to do. His upbringing had given him an open mind and an understanding attitude, letting him accept how he felt and move on. He was able to brush the insults away, not that there were many. Isaac had been blessed with a sharp sense of humor and a cocky wit that made people like and hate him all at once. They all want to be him, funny and absolutely loveable. This constantly let him walk in the limelight completely unmarred.
Isaac made his way through high school and the beginning years of college mostly unscathed. He coasted, getting good grades, but nothing spectacular. He got into BHU, not having any clue as to what he was going to specialize in, but it didn’t matter. It would come to him eventually, and it did. He decided to take a cinematography class, mostly just for fun, but in it he found what he knew he wanted to do for the rest of his life. And it was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life that brought him to Judah. He had just bought a new camera and as he was walking out of the store, he nearly collided into the ghost.
For weeks, Isaac had felt a pull towards something or someone he’d never seen or met before, but he felt something reaching out to him, felt something pulling at his heart. He looked everywhere he went, searched for that thing that wanted him so badly. And finally he materialized in front of him, this boy or man, he couldn’t quite tell, with messy hair and a shadow of a crooked smile. He started out as a shadow, a shimmer of something real, and then he began to flicker a little less and become a bit more substantial. This boy had chosen Isaac; they felt a connection that surpassed death and worlds. “Judah,” the ghost whispered. And then he was gone. After that, everything seemed to just fall into place.
Knowing Judah was a ghost, one would have expected his voice to boom and bellow, like in all of the movies. Ghosts were supposed to be devious and dangerous and have an aura of mischief around them. One was supposed to know that they were talking to something dangerous and other worldly, but Judah’s voice calmed Isaac down; he could see himself settling in the sound of his mumbles. And after a while, it wasn’t like he was talking to a ghost… they were just like normal boys falling in love. They could laugh and joke and whisper with each other just as any other pair could… it all felt normal, tangible, real.
Judah had told Isaac that his previous life didn’t matter, that what mattered now was the fact that he was here with him… but Isaac couldn’t help himself. His curiosity got the better of him and he researched who Judah had been before his death. He found out that he was a quiet soul in life, an artist who danced around the edges of society. He died in a car accident years before Isaac had even been born, making Judah older than Isaac had ever imagined. It was heart pounding, life changing, awe inducing information. That this ghost could reach out to him, that they could be something, despite the years separating them, was astounding. But he fought for it, feeling how real it truly was. In Isaac’s mind, nothing mattered except for their love.
Sometimes Judah would wake Isaac up with a kiss. Kissing Judah always felt fake and real at the same time, like it was a whisper away from being so potent the world would implode. But he always tasted a bit like dust, like something so unsubstantial it made Isaac want to weep. But he fell in love with that kind of kiss, wanted nothing except for that touch forever. And when it was gone, he lusted for that false promise of a touch. But Judah was a ghost and Isaac was alive; their worlds weren’t meant to coincide. This meant that their love would have to come to an end, as all good things eventually do. And one day, Judah just stopped turning up, stopped reaching for Isaac. When that happened, Isaac had no idea how to feel. After all those nights of falling in love with him—falling asleep with him lying next to him—he never even thought of the possibility that it could just end so abruptly. He should have seen it coming… he was a smart guy and relationships with ghosts just shouldn’t last, can’t last. So he should have seen it coming, but he didn’t. And it hurt him all the worse for it. Sometimes he meets up with him in his dreams, but that’s even more elusive than loving a ghost. Loving the ghost of a ghost is just pathetic.
Currently in Barton Hollow;
It was so hard to try and forget Judah. Issac can still feel the pain deep within; sharp and incessant every time he moves or breathes… like “there he is, curled up inside my heart and soul”. That kind of longing…it’s not good for someone. He knows he has to move on, because things like that aren’t healthy… and they never work out. Ever. Still, though, sometimes Isaac looks down, or sees his shadow in the corner of his eye and he thinks it’s him, it’s Judah. So he lets himself believe that, that maybe he’s watching over him even after they’ve finished. It’s comforting, this thought of having someone you love watch over you. But it’s never enough, always falling short of what he wants from the world. He can’t survive on scraps alone.
So Isaac forces himself to accept that Judah left. And even though Isaac feels a terrible absence in his life, he’s been able to use it to his advantage and put everything into his work. He created a film for the Barton Hollow Film Fest, and it spoke about loss and absence and life and death and what happens after… it won Best in Show. He still feels empty, but at least he has something to show for it… if he doesn’t have anything else, at least he has the memories.
Isaac is in love with filmmaking. He finds capturing events for others to see and presenting them in a new light peaceful.
Isaac tends to make jokes when things start to get too serious in the room. He has a sharp sense of humor and it’s hard for people not to love him. Sometimes his humor is too much though, and it can make quieter people feel uncomfortable, overwhelmed.
Isaac tends to be a dreamer. He likes to believe that everything will work out, no matter the odds.
Sometimes Isaac’s humor can get bitter, usually when he’s been thinking about Judah. He starts to get too sarcastic, too scathing, just simply, bitter.
Isaac can get cheeky with his teachers sometimes, tending to be a class-clown, even though he does take his study of Film very seriously. He just likes the attention being cheeky can get him.
Isaac tends to be a very good judge of character.
Judah never told Isaac that he loved him, because ghosts are doomed to repeat the past, and Judah had never loved someone before, didn’t have time to. So Isaac loved enough for the both of them, he made up for what Judah lacked… or thought he did. His soul was edged in grey by the time Judah was done with him. Their love was epic, one that Judah knew would burn Isaac away, not quickly, but slowly - only stealing from the edges. They loved each other completely, but a ghost and a human falling in a love can only end in disaster.
His face claim is Jamie Campbell Bower and he is currently played by Hannah in PST.
Song: I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy by Antony & The Johnsons (x)