Pairings: pre-romantic analogical
@sanderssidescelebrations
Done for the ghost!side prompt for sanders sides spooky month!!
Logan didn’t believe in ghosts.
To him, they were clearly just things people made up to try and explain the unexplainable, just things that existed in the human imagination. He didn’t believe any of the ghost stories that he was told by friends and even family, especially the ones about his new house.
His house was seen as a prime area of paranormal activity. He didn’t understand it, he was sure that everything that had and would happen in that house could easily be explained by logic.
He didn’t believe in ghosts. Not until he was staring at one with his own two eyes.
He moved in only a week ago, and so far nothing seemingly notable happened. There were still boxes left everywhere, and the furniture wasn’t all built, but that was expected when moving into a new house.
He had been working into the late hours of the night on his uncomfortable air mattress, and decided to get up and get a drink. He had groggily stumbled into the kitchen, flipping the light switch on as he took off his glasses to rub his eyes. When he had finally got most of the sleep out of them and had his glasses back on, he looked up and almost fell over when he noticed what was sitting on the counter.
A man was there, cross-legged, humming to a song that Logan couldn’t recognize. He looked around Logan’s age, but the weirdest part about him was that he was completely translucent. Like a ghost.
Logan gaped, and the man seemed to notice him there a moment after, being as startled by his appearance as Logan was with his.
“W-Who are you?” Logan asked. “Or, I should ask, what are you?”
The man faltered. “Wait, wait, you can see me?”
“Yes…?” Logan assumed he was hallucinating from lack of sleep, there was no way in his mind that a translucent boy was sitting on his countertop and asking if he could see him.
“That’s definitely not right, why?”
“Why is it not right that I can see you? Not that I believe you are real, I am... I am presuming I am hallucinating at the moment.”
The man let out a huff of a laugh. “I have no idea why the hell you can see me, because…” The man paused. “I am a ghost.”
Logan’s eyes widened. “There is absolutely no way that is factual, ghosts are not real.”
“I still don’t believe you, that is completely impossible.”
The man dropped off from the counter, still seeming a bit shaken from the fact that Logan could see him, but nonetheless shrugging. “They shouldn’t be real to humans, but apparently you don’t apply to that rule.”
“What?” Logan was confused by this development. “I have never seen any apparition in my life, you must be just some form of my imagination. Ghosts aren’t based in reality.”
“That’s… really weird you can’t see any other ghost though…” The man looked away from him, his mouth quirked to the side in thought.
“Okay, well, since you seem like a ghost based on how I’ve heard them being described, and you keep insisting you are one, what are you doing here?”
The man looked back at him. “I just live here.”
Logan shook his head in disbelief. “I have to be hallucinating right now.”
“Sadly, you aren’t. I’m just as real as you are, though not as alive, obviously.”
“Hmm?” Logan raised an eyebrow.
“My name is Virgil. You didn’t ask, but I would prefer to be called that instead of ‘ghost’.”
Logan took a deep breath and looked away from the ghost. “Well, Virgil…”
Logan couldn’t think of anything to say. He was rendered speechless by just some mere hallucination in his eyes. The ghost looked at him expectantly.
“Well, Virgil, I still refuse to believe that you are in fact a ghost, so I am just going to sleep to hopefully rid myself of my hallucinations.”
Logan left the kitchen, rubbing his temples. He believed he would go to sleep, and in the morning it would turn out that the whole interaction was just a dream or something he imagined, and that ghosts aren’t real. The next night he would be able to get a drink instead of having an odd conversation with something that did not exist.
That was definitely not what happened.
Logan woke the next morning with barely a recollection of what happened, focusing too much on trying to get out of bed to go to work. He managed to, making his way to the kitchen to start making coffee so it would be ready by the time he was done with getting dressed and prepared. He stepped into the kitchen and again almost slipped. Virgil was still there.
He was sitting in a different position, now lying across the stove and counter on what Logan assumed was his phone.
“You’re still here?” Logan asked, mostly speaking to himself, Virgil glancing at him.
“Yeah, I’m not gonna leave,” He said, almost playfully. “Nowhere else to go.”
“So… ghosts are real,” Logan said, looking downcast. “Ghosts are real and I can see them.”
“For some reason, I still haven’t figured that out.” Virgil sat up, his legs now hanging off the side of the oven.
“Why can I only see you? And now? And why are ghosts even real? They don’t fit into any science or logic, it doesn’t make sense…”
Logan looked back up at him. He was slightly see-through, but he could still see the color of his skin and clothing, still see his eye color and hair. He could still see the little mole that was dotted on the right side of his lips and the eyeshadow that was drawn underneath his eyes. Logan had to admit, he was fairly pretty.
He got stuck there momentarily, gazing at him with skepticism and a slight amount of fascination.
“Why are you real, then?” Logan asked after a moment of silence.
“That is a good question that I don’t have an answer to,” Virgil said, swinging his legs back and forth.
“I presumed so. I… I apologize for how incoherent I am, I just cannot fathom that ghosts are real and that I am speaking with one right at this moment. It is almost unnerving in a sense.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Virgil said. “You are the most coherent person I’ve met in my afterlife.”
“Oh, alright…” Logan then glanced at his watch, freezing when he noticed the time.
“Ah shit, I’m going to be late for work,” He mumbled, rushing into his room. He quickly slipped on his clothes, brushing his teeth and hair not as long as he usually would, and ran to the door, quickly unlocking it. He noticed Virgil in the corner of the living room, supposing he should at least say goodbye to the newly found apparition.
“Goodbye, Virgil, uh…” Logan said, Virgil waving.
“See you later. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna destroy the place.” He spoke with a slight grin, Logan smiling back before walking out the door.
He closed it behind him, running a hand through his hair and breathing slowly. As he walked to his car, he thought about everything that had happened.
He found out that ghosts are real. He found out that he could see one of them, and communicate with them. He discovered that he lived with one of them. It was not very much frightening to him, more so of fascination and wonder at the ghost. He thought that he could perhaps ask Virgil some questions about paranormal activity and other things, because he didn’t have any answers to almost any of the questions that floated about his mind.
He especially didn’t know, however, that he would grow quite fond of Virgil over time.
