It all started on a cold December day. I decided to finally move out of my parent’s house and start living independently.

I got tired of my parents’ complaints about me being an art major. They wanted me to become a doctor, like them, but I knew from the very start that being a doctor was not for me. When I was in high school, I applied to many universities that were out of state to get far away from my parents. But when it became time to receive the news if I was accepted or not, my parents kept all the incoming letters about my admittance from me. That didn’t stop me though. Once my other friends were receiving their letters, I called each university directly, and got my answer.

I was unfortunately rejected from all them except one; which makes me think why my parents even bothered to keep the letters, if they were rejecting me anyway. The university that I got into had scholarships available for students and I received one of them, having almost everything paid for.

Anyway, right when I was all packed and ready to leave, never to look back, I got into a car accident. I suffered traumatic brain injury, and I was in a coma for half a year. No one expected me to make it. I proved everyone wrong when I was slowly improving. But then on December 19th, 2013, I suddenly and officially died at 5:32 a.m.

I don’t remember much about that time. All I know is that it felt as if I was asleep. I didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, or the tunnel. It was all black and nothing else.

I was dead for at least seven minutes. When I came back, I saw my parents on my bed crying hysterically. They told me a bunch of things about how they were going to change, and let me do what I wanted in school.

When they mentioned school, I asked about what happened, since I’ve barely just woke up from the dead and coma. I had no idea what was going on.

“_____, you’ve been in a coma for six months.” My mother told me.

“W-What? Why?! What happened?” I asked in shock.

“You were in a car accident, and you’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury. You were in a coma and you’ve died—”

“Wait, I died?!”

“Honey, let your mother finish,” my father interrupted.

“Yes, you were dead for about five-six minutes, I don’t know, but all I know is that you’re here and alive. And that’s all that matters.” My mother said petting my hair.

I was shocked and didn’t know what to think. Well, I guess it made sense. Since it was very hard to try to move my body at all. I was weak and every movement caused a small dull ache.

“_____, you shouldn’t move, let the doctor come in and check on you,” my father said.

I now noticed the doctor behind them, awkwardly standing there.

“I was going to immediately check on you, but decided to give you a bit of family time at first.” My doctor said, now coming to me, to check my vitals. “I know I’m a doctor, and shouldn’t say this, but you coming back is a miracle.”

I just nodded, and was in a daze throughout my whole stay at the hospital.

Then after two years, I was out and healthy.

I was with my parents because they promised me they would change, but they didn’t. They stayed the same and complained about everything I did. My parents would still ask me to become a doctor, that I still had time. But they didn’t understand that I was not interested in becoming a doctor or any of the sorts.

After a while of being in their care, I decided to move out. I had a bank account filled with all the work I’ve done since I was in high school, and it would give me about one or two years in an apartment, if it was cheap. My parents didn’t know about this account, which I was grateful for because who knows what they would’ve done.

I looked for cheap places and, surprisingly, I found one. It was a small apartment for one, and it was furnished. It seemed perfect for me, since I didn’t like big places. I asked the realtor agent why it was so cheap and her answer made me roll my eyes.

“Well Ms. _____, someone died in this apartment two years ago. He was murdered in cold blood (, by an ex-girlfriend, I believe. Also, the tenants who stayed in after that had their lights turning off and on, and in pictures, there was always a black smudge covering their faces. So if you still want this or want to see another, I can still—”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t believe in ghosts or spirits anyways. So I should be fine, but thank you for your concern. Any other person wouldn’t have told me, so I really appreciate it.” I gave her a warm smile causing her to smile and blush. “And none of this ‘Ms.’ stuff, it’s just _____.”

“Alright, ______,” she said with a smile.

And with that, I moved out of my parents’ house into my new apartment.

For the first few weeks, nothing happened. I laughed at this apartment’s rumors about it being it being haunted. Instead of thinking about that, I was looking for a job. After searching for three weeks, I was able to get a job at a nearby library. The job was very easy, and to be honest, the perfect job for me since I loved books and reading. I helped people check out books after training for a week, and was able to organize books to where they belonged. My job started at twelve p.m., and ended at seven p.m., except on the weekend which I would leave at five p.m.

One day after work, things started to get weird. When I would shower, I would hear a noise in my bedroom, as if someone was knocking on my wall. I ignored it at first, thinking it was probably squirrels inside the building or something like that. But then the lights started to flicker on and off, and I rolled my eyes and thought of what my realtor agent told me. There must be something wrong with the electricity, I thought to myself and continued to do what I was doing, which was drinking hot chocolate. But then the weirdest part of it all was at night. I was peacefully sleeping when a man’s cries woke me up. That part scared the hell out of me. It sounded very close, as if he was crying right next to me.  I closed my eyes, and couldn’t sleep at all that night.

The conclusion that I came up with was that I probably got a new neighbor right next to me and was crying because something happened. That’s what I told myself anyway. My room was the last room on the second floor I was in, and the only assumption I had was the room next to mine was the cause of the noise at night.

I went to my neighbor’s room, and knocked. But nobody answered. I called the owner of the apartments, which was my landlord, and my blood ran cold with what she told me.

“_____, nobody has been in the room next to yours since thre years.” I quickly said my thanks and hung up. I didn’t know what to think. Were the rumors true, and was this apartment haunted? I started biting my nails when I decided it shouldn’t bother me. I would take more hours at the library and come home less.

And I did just that. I came home less and the only thing I had to go through was hearing the cries and sobs of a man while I slept. After a week, I got used to hearing the weeping at night, and was actually able to sleep well in a long time.

Then things changed after I just got comfortable with the cries at night. While I slept, I got woken up by someone grabbing my leg, or the feeling of a hand grabbing my arm. I almost cried that night. Things would also be out of place, but that didn’t frighten me. More like annoyed me, but I ignored it once again.

My coworkers at work were becoming worried about me. They seemed to notice how I never wanted to come back home. Me, always being at the library had forced my boss to give me a two weeks’ vacation. So I could either go back to my apparently haunted apartment or I could beg and try to return with my parents. A haunted apartment is way better than being with my parents. So I decided to it up, and I headed home.

Once I arrived at my apartment, I looked up and saw my window from down below. I don’t know if I was imagining things but I was sure I saw a face staring back at me. I was shocked and did a double-take. It was indeed a face. It was a male face staring straight at me.

What I did then still surprises me.

I smiled back at him.

After I smiled at him, things have seemed to calm down. The lights didn’t flicker, and I didn’t hear the man’s cries anymore at night.

Not hearing his cries kept me from sleeping. I guess I got used to hearing it, that it made me feel uncomfortable when all I heard now was quietness.

Since things seemed to calm down, I called my boss asking for less hours at work, which she happily agreed.

It has only been four days, and everything was normal. It made me feel lonely. Like even the ghost didn’t think I was worth haunting. But whatever.

On the fifth day of my two weeks’ vacation, I stayed at home and watched horror movies in my living room. I was laying down on my sofa when I felt someone staring at me.

I turned slowly to where I thought it was coming from and I found the same guy who was staring at me from the window just standing there. Staring at me.

I slowly reached for the remote, or any other object I could easily throw.

“C…C-Can I help you?” I asked in a whispery tone.

His stare now turned into a glare. Getting salty in my house? Oh hell no!

I threw the remote at his head and saw it go right through him.

No one said anything.

“D-Do you want some food? Coffee?” I asked after the long and awkward pause, standing up to go to the kitchen when it hit me. “How did you get inside my house? Are you the one who always cried at night? Are you perhaps a g-ghost?”

He was about to answer when I interrupted him.

“Oh my god! A ghost! I’m going crazy for even thinking about it! Ghosts aren’t real. I’m losing my mind, aish. Wh—”

“Let me talk for God’s sake!” The man said making me stop talking. Seeing how I stopped my rambling, he continued. “Why didn’t you leave? How can you see me? Nobody has been able to see me.”

“W-What do you mean?”

He looked annoyed, “Why didn’t you leave this house? Why weren’t you scared? Why aren’t you scared now? Again, nobody has been able to see me, but when you did, you had the audacity to smile at me!”

“Leave this house? I already paid in advance! If anyone should leave, it’s you. Do you pay the bills? No, you don’t. And about seeing you, I don’t know. Maybe I’m losing my mind. After I died, strange things keep happening to me,” I said the last part to myself.

The man looked shocked by my answer.

“Also, who said I wasn’t scared? I was, but then I got over it. Trust me, living with my parents is way worse than your hauntings.” I said while looking at his offended expression. “No offense.”

“It worked with the others,” he replied almost childishly.

“Yeah, so about that coffee… Can you even drink or eat things?”

He shook his head no.

“Well, I’m about to eat. You can join me if you want.”

After that encounter, I got to know the one who was haunting my apartment. His name was Jin (he wouldn’t tell me his full name), and he was indeed murdered in this apartment. He lived here with his girlfriend of five years. He told me he was in, what he assumed, was a loving relationship, but his girlfriend actually was mentally disturbed. His girlfriend was frequently jealous and kept accusing him of having affairs. Jin knew she was having problems and suggested getting professional help, and promised her he would stay by her side. But she took it in a negative way, thinking he was calling her crazy. Then when he was sleeping, his girlfriend came and shot him, then she jumped off a bridge, killing herself.

After his death, he woke up in this apartment about a year later, and found out it was occupied by a couple. Jin noticed the similarities between the girl and his girlfriend, and scared them away. He then thought that scaring everyone off from this apartment was his purpose. That was until he met me.

“You’re so stubborn! I mean who would stay after hearing me cry at night every single day. I even grabbed you at one point!”

“I know, I know. And look at me now. Talking to a ghost. A cute one at that, ha!” I said, joking around.

“W-What?”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyways, why did you tell me all of this?” I asked while stuffing my face with ramen, getting soup all over my face.

Jin looked like a worried mother when he saw me. He grabbed at my face and started to wipe away the mess I made.

“God can’t you be—”

“Hm?”

“I-I can touch you!”

“Yeah, I got that when you grabbed my arm and leg that one time.”

“No, you don’t understand. I can’t touch anything if I don’t put much strength into it, and once I do, I have to wait about a long time to do it again. And I just wiped your face easily!” Jin said, looking excited.

“Oh,” I said, nodding my head as if I was in deep thought. “Try touching something else.”

“Okay!” He said while trying to grab my bowl of noodles, to only have his hand go right through it. “Oh, must be a fluke then.”

“Hm, here.” I said while giving him my hand.

He looked at my hands with a dejected look and put his hand in mine. He was probably not expecting to feel anything. But his hand didn’t go through mine, I was holding onto his hand pretty firmly.

Once again, he looked shocked. “What is this? Does this mean I can only physically touch you?”

“Do you know what this means?!” I asked excitedly.

“What?!”

“I can take revenge for all those nights you scared me at night, come here you little !” I said while grabbing his head in a headlock.

“Hey, wait—,” he said while trying to get out of my grip.

But it was futile. What could I do?

A smile came across my lips once the idea came to me.  

I quickly tried to put him on the floor, and once I did, I straddled him and put my hand over his face.

“What are you doing?” He asked breathlessly.

“This!” I said and finger flicked his forehead so hard, it left a mark.

Jin and I have been getting along quite well. We had this routine of watching movies and TV shows together when I got home from work. I also kept making food for two, but I would then remember Jin doesn’t eat. I probably gained a few pounds from eating food for two, but it happens.

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