It was a dry Saturday morning and I spent my time playing on my 3DS, trying not to dwell on the quietness of the apartment since my family had gone to work. Though I usually enjoyed playing games, today they only served to annoy me. So, I switched to browsing the web on my laptop. After some time, I stumbled upon a post about these cute little ghost tissues from Japan that were supposed to ward off bad weather or something. Intrigued, I looked around the house for the items I needed to make A ghost charm: rubber bands, tissues, a marker, and a ball.

Finding the first three items was easy, but the ball stumped me. I searched my mom's drawers, and my dad's toolbox under my bed, but I came out empty-handed. Suddenly, I remembered the big rubber band ball that was thrown at me during school the previous day. At the time, I thought it looked cool and added it to my collection of oddities. Now it came in handy. I soon started putting the little ghost together, one step at a time. The rubber ball was a little too big, so I had to remove some of the rubber bands to fit my idea. After a bit, it was done, and all I had to do was draw a face on it, and it could become my little friend.

Taking a black, bold marker from my pencil case, I started to scribble the face. But when I finished, I realized how depressed it looked. The smile I had planned out looked more like an unhappy glare at me. And the noose-like string wrapped around the neck didn't help. If it looked like this, I doubted hanging it up would be a good charm for anything. The sudden realization made me glance away, and I took a deep breath, feeling the stress grow from my chest to my face. I whispered to myself, "Did I really think I could make myself a friend? I'm not that crazy."

Even though it was a simple sentence, I could feel my eyes protest and water instantly. What was this sudden feeling of loneliness that hit me? It couldn't be getting this bad, could it? Before I could question it, I started sobbing, sitting on the floor with my laptop in one hand and the ghost in the other. It felt like hours before I started to calm down. I got up and wiped my tears with the ghost's head since most of it was made out of the tissue. Then I walked over to my shelf and left the ghost charm on the top shelf before walking away to lay on my bed and sleep away the numbness I now felt after I cried.

Laying in the bed made my eyes heavy and made me drowsy instantly, and I soon fell asleep staring at nothing but the image I daydreamed of having someone to hold. But a sudden thud echoed in my room as I jolted awake, looking around. It came from inside, and it sounded loud. My heart was racing; I was home alone, scared, confused, and worried. Was it in my head again? Is Mom home? Are there rats?

As I got out of bed to check, my foot touched something squishy on the floor, which made me yelp and bring my foot away instantly, looking down in fear. But my eyes widened as I froze, noticing it was the ghost I made earlier. It must have been what made that noise when it fell from the shelf. I leaned down from my bed and picked it up, sighing as I lost all energy and motivation to get up now. I just stared at the ghost and realized something weird: the ghost that was once sad and glaring was now smiling like it was the best day in the world. I was confused, but I looked up at the ceiling and giggled to myself, thinking if I just imagined things before messing it up, but then I heard it.

"Owen," it was a soft, faint tone, as I looked down slowly at the ghost charm. Then again, it spoke to me.

"Owen, I love you."