Chapter 4 

I take a step back from Cash- I may be a fairly explosive person but I actually don’t like conflict and getting shouted at by a ghost is scarier than it sounds. “Listen I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to summon you or form the contract, I just- I don’t know what I’m doing, ok? And I know it’s shitty of me to scam people, and I’m sorry I scammed your mum. But also I didn’t technically scam her because now I have spoken to you. I told her to go visit your grave, by the way. If you want to see her, you should go there. I think she’s going tomorrow.”

Cash’s expression softens slightly and he sits down on my bed, pulling a cushion into his lap. I frown slightly before deciding to just let it go. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I’ll ask around some of the other ghosts and see if there’s a way to break the contract or something.”

I blink a few times before frowning. “Didn’t you say earlier that it’s a good thing for ghosts to enter a contract? Can’t you just ignore me and I’ll ignore you and we can both reap whatever these benefits are?”

Cash shrugs, playing with his shirt sleeve. Oh hang on, why is he even wearing clothes if he was in a bath when he died? Not an important question, I’ll ask him later. “Well, from what I’ve heard, once a ghost becomes contracted then their spiritualist has certain powers over them. Like, you can just summon me by calling my name or something like that. And I don’t want to be tied down to you, you’re not even a proper spiritualist.”

I frown again, crossing my arms. “Hang on, can’t I just ignore you and never summon you then? Like I’m down to get this thing annulled or whatever but I’m just wondering about these supposed benefits. I mean, what do I even get out of this?”

Cash looks at me like I’m stupid before gesturing to himself. “Dude I’m literally a ghost, I have magical powers. There’s a lot I can do.” 

“Ok then, so what about this benefits you then?” 

Ghost-dude leans back on my cushions, getting himself comfy and looking surprised at how good my mattress is. I know, I have a lovely mattress. I click my tongue at him when Cash starts rearranging all my pillows.

“Well, ghosts can normally just disappear at any time. Sometimes we’re known to reappear, and sometimes, that’s the end for us. But a contracted ghost can’t disappear. What do I get out of this? I get a safety net. An assurance that I won’t simply cease to exist one day. Plus in theory, I should be more powerful because I share some of your power, but I literally feel the same as before. Maybe you really aren’t powerful in that case?”

I roll my eyes, kicking him in the ribs. Cash grunts, grabbing my ankle and tugging me towards him. I let out a little yelp as I’m dragged across my bed before I hop up and scramble away back to the far side. Cash just smirks as he tries to hold a laugh in.

“What about us being able to touch then? Is that a contract thing?” I ask, side-eyeing Cash from my end of the bed, knowing better than to try and kick him again. The ghost just shrugs, picking at his nails. 

“I’m not sure, I’ll ask around tomorrow. I would go now but I genuinely want to watch a movie, so. I’ll even be courteous enough as to let you choose the film.”

I just snort, getting up off my bed and grabbing my laptop. We scroll through some different options and in the end I decide to show Cash my favourite movie, because it sounds like the kind of thing he would’ve watched if he’d died like a year later.

In the end we’re pushed right up next to each other because my laptop screen is fairly small, and for us both to be able to see it clearly Cash is squiggled right up against me. If he was a regular ghost, this wouldn’t matter, but now I’m sitting in bed watching a film with a dude and I can feel him sitting next to me, which is new, and if he wasn’t so much of an ass, I’d probably enjoy myself a whole lot more.

Still, I fall asleep halfway through the film because it’s been a long day, and when I wake up, I realise that Cash is gone. And my laptop is carefully charging on my dresser and I’m tucked up in bed. 

Maybe he’s not too much of an ass after all?

—————

-Cash-

As soon as- wriggly? Nah, that’s probably not his name. Anyway, as soon as he falls asleep on my shoulder I know I have a problem. I mean, I’m gay, he’s attractive, and also I haven’t touched anyone is two years.

Ghosts can’t touch each other, we just phase right through each other like humans do when we try and touch them. But Wrigley? (I worked it out after checking his desk and finding a letter to him) Well, Wrigley is warm. And he’s a little shit, he’s so stubborn, but I don’t hate that I’ll be honest.

I’ve always enjoyed arguing and honestly I’ll take any interaction I can get after this long. The ghosts are chill, but most of them are really sad about how they died or the people they left behind. And I am too, I miss my family a lot, but at the same time…I’ve sort of made my peace with what happened.

I used to be a carefree person in life, and I guess that transferred over to in death too. 

Wrigley squirms in his sleep, chucking his arm across my lap. I gently pick up the appendage, letting myself feel warm again after two long years of coldness. It feels nice. It feels really nice.

Still, I pause the film and close the laptop, picking up Wrigley and manoeuvring him into bed. I pull the covers up right to his chin, just in case he gets cold easily, before carefully bringing his head up and pushing his hair to one side. From what my mother and sisters always used to say, lying on long hair would sometimes cause them to pull their hair and get it more tangly, and they used to complain about it a lot. 

And once Wrigley’s room looks fairly normal again and like there was never a ghost here at all, I start my hunt for information on contracts.