There was a bright light. Alice could sense it streaming through her bedroom window despite her closed eyes. The light was that bright. Perhaps it seemed brighter, even, because she was so adamant to keep her eyes closed and remain sleeping. Then the loud beeping of Alice's alarm clock sounded and Alice was forced to open her eyes.
The first thing she noticed was the silhouette of a man, sitting elegantly along her windowsill. He sat facing her, an elbow propped on his knee. The morning sun shone through the window behind him, illuminating him in an angelic-glow. In the instance Alice had spotted him, she could have sworn she'd seen an angel. But what was he doing here?
"You're awake," he said, his voice velvety smooth.
Wait, she wasn't dreaming? Or was she?
"Wh- who're you?" she asked, heart hammering at the sight of this stranger. How the heck had he gotten in? And how long had he been sitting there, staring at her? Alice pulled her duvet sheets close around her, as if the thin layers could do something to protect her from this stranger.
"You called for me yesterday."
"What?" Was he crazy? A lunatic?
"You made a wish."
Alice blinked. Was she hallucinating? Delusional? Who was this angelic-man and how did he get into her room? Wish? What was he talking about? Alice took a deep breath, the questions suddenly making her feel very light-headed.
"Who are you?" Alice demanded, "And how did you get into my house?"
The man stared at her unfailingly.
"You made a wish to be with your boyfriend again. At the cost of your own life."
Alice felt all the blood drain from her body. How had he known? Was he stalking her? But she hadn't said anything out loud last night.
"Wh-what're you talking about? How did you know?" she whispered.
"Call me a wish master, a spirit, whatever you will, I came here to grant your wish."
"What?"
"You wished to be with your boyfriend for the price of your own life. I came to take that and grant you your wish."
Alice sat frozen, watching as the man hopped off from the windowsill and strolled towards her, though with the way he looked at her, it seemed more like a prowl – like a predator eyeing its prey.
"Wh-what're you doing?" Alice stammered, backing away from the man, though the bed would only allow her to back so far.
"Claiming your life and granting your wish."
"Stay back or I'll call the cops!"
The man stopped walking and laughed, "Sure, call the cops, but they won't be able to do anything."
This man was crazy.
"You know they won't be able to see me."
"Wh-what?"
"You made the wish. Only you can see me."
The shrill sound of Alice's alarm clock sliced through the air, startling her from her fear. With the man's gaze still pinned on her, Alice dared not move to silence the alarm. It stopped a minute later.
"Look, I don't care what you say you are, but this- this wish you're talking about, is a mistake. I'm giving you ten seconds to get out of here or I'm calling the cops. I mean it."
The man simply smiled. Oh God. Was he going to leave?
"Ten, nine…"
The man continued staring at her, the smile still across his face.
"Eight, seven…"
He still hadn't moved
"Six, five, four, three, two, one."
Suddenly the man whirled in a semi-circle. And with a swish, he'd disappeared. Just like that. A spark of light flashed beside her and Alice turned to look, her eyes falling on the talisman. She gasped, picking it up. How had he just disappeared like that, like water evaporating in the air? Had she been delusional? Was it some sort of magic trick? With the talisman clasped tightly in her hand, as if by holding it somehow could protect her, Alice scrambled off her bed and surveyed her bedroom. She tiptoed towards her wardrobe, opened the doors. Nothing. Turning back, she tiptoed back to her bed, lifted up the bedcovers. Nothing. Alice crept out of her room and tiptoed all the way around the house. He'd really disappeared. Despite not finding him, Alice couldn't help the eerie feel of someone watching her. She quickly got ready for work and left the house.
For once in her life, Alice was glad that her existence was somewhat unnoticeable. Due to the whole debacle this morning, Alice had slipped into work ten minutes late. Walking past her colleagues, no one paid her any attention. When she finally dropped into her chair, her neighbouring colleague, Christine, slid her gaze to Alice. Alice simply smiled and Christine had gone back to her work.
Not five minutes into the workday, Alice was called into her boss's office. Again, she took the walk towards his office. The walk of Doom, she called it. Because every time she took it, her head filled with the worst case scenarios of what was about to happen. They were often over-exaggerated, she found, however that didn't stop her from thinking those thoughts, all the same. It was a conditioned fear, Alice supposed.
This time, she was almost certain her boss was going to tell her off for being late. And what would her excuse be? That she'd woken up to some lunatic sitting in her room? Only to have him suddenly vaporise into thin air? That would certainly pass well. Maybe an article for the OddBods section? Alice shook the thought off. No, she'd most certainly been delusional.
Arriving at the tall brown door, Alice knocked three times.
"Come in," came the gruff voice from the other side. The voice of authority.
Alice pushed open the door and plastered on a smile for her boss. Hands clasped together atop his bulging pot-belly, Alice's boss leaned back in his chair and smiled a toothy grin.
"Come in, come in."
Alice straightened her skirt and took a seat opposite him.
"You wouldn't guess what I'm calling you in for."
Oh, but she bet she could. Alice continued to smile politely.
"You've outdone yourself this time, Alice."
"Pardon?"
"You've outdone yourself. A most outstanding article! Scandalous Secret? Most popular, indeed! I knew you wouldn't disappoint."
He wasn't going to tell her off for being late?
Her boss leaned in towards her. "I think we may have found your niche. Celebrity articles – we're going to have you as a regular. You should be proud of yourself, you're going to be getting regular articles to write, now! Aren't you happy?"
Alice grimaced. Was he really giving her this job? He couldn't be serious. The only reason she'd written such an article was to impress her boss. She'd spent ages labouring over it, and, ironic as it was, the fruits of her effort had paid off, in a way.
"I – I really don't think it's worthy of-"
"Nonsense! You're being modest! You should be proud of yourself!"
"Well, I-"
"Next time we have more celebrity news, I'll have them pass it onto you."
Before Alice could say anything, the phone had rung and her boss was engaged. Excusing herself with silent gestures, Alice left her boss's office.
After leaving, Alice wondered whether she was truly being delusional. Had she really just been called in to be praised? Yet why did she feel so awful?
Alice collapsed back in her seat, deflated. A moment later, her phone rung and she checked to see that it was Stella calling. She sighed, supposing she owed them an explanation of yesterday.
"Hey Stella."
"Hey you. You never picked up my calls or Veronica's last night. What happened? Let me guess, did you and Adam get it on last night?" she giggled.
Alice sighed, feeling the pang in her heart, "We broke up."
There was silence on the other end, before Stella spoke again.
"What?!"
"I told you, we broke up."
"I heard you the first time! But how come? How is that possible! Oh my goodness, explain!"
"Stell, I'm at work at the moment, I can't exactly give you all the details."
"That makes no sense! That old woman predicted a union."
Alice gave a bitter laugh, "Yeah, well fat load of truth that was."
"I'm so sorry," Stella whispered. "I'm so so sorry. Veronica was right! I was leading you on the other day! I shouldn't have-"
"Stella, forget it. It's not your fault."
"I'm so sorry though. Are you ok?"
Alice sniffed.
"You must be shattered. That's it, I'm giving Veronica a call and we are coming over tonight."
"Stell-" Alice protested.
"No buts!"
Alice smiled, "Well, alright, if you insist."
"And promise to explain everything then, alright?"
"Alright."
The rest of the day passed quickly for Alice. Before she knew it, it was time to go home. Perhaps it was precisely that – her fear for going home and seeing what she didn't want to, that the day had decided to fly on her. Life had its ways of playing games like that. After parking her car inside the garage, Alice sat in the silence of her car for a while. She didn't know what she was waiting for. Or maybe it was what she dreading. Eventually she gathered enough courage to head inside the house.
Again, she scoured the house – every corner of it, before she could be certain that she was alone. When she'd done so, she heaved out a huge breath. That man was gone. Perhaps she had been delusional this morning. Afterall, what human just suddenly disappears into thin air, right before someone else's eyes? Alice laughed at the crazy thought. It suddenly seemed so outrageous, her fear. She'd been so certain he was real, too.
A couple of hours later, the doorbell sounded and Alice opened the door.
"Alice," her best friends greeted, presenting bags of junkfood.
Alice laughed and Stella reached in to give her a hug.
"I'm so sorry," she sympathised.
Alice smiled, "Come in."
"Ice-cream, cookies, chips, chocolate, we bought the whole junk food section of the grocery store," Veronica announced, placing the bags on the kitchen counter. "We even bought your favourite ice-cream, orange chocolate."
"You guys are the best. I think that's just what I need right now."
"Here take these into the lounge and I'll grab some plates and bowls."
Alice handed Veronica the food.
"Ugh, I need to pee," Stella announced.
"You are so pregnant," Veronica called from the lounge.
"Shut up!" Stella snapped as she wadded off to the bathroom.
"And hormonal, too!" Veronica shouted back.
Alice couldn't help but laugh as she opened a draw to grab some spoons. As she did, movement caught the corner of her eye. Alice turned and dropped the spoons. Her jaw dropped, too.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed at the man from this morning who was now standing beside her. "And how the heck did you get in here?" She could have sworn she'd checked every corner of the house.
"Everything alright, Al?" Veronica called from inside the lounge.
Alice eyed the man before saying, "Ah, yep, I'll be there in a sec."
The man looked over to the lounge where Veronica was then back to Alice.
"Ah, I see I've come at a bad time."
"How did you get in?" she hissed.
The man let out a chuckle, "I'm not exactly human, if you haven't already figured out by now."
"So what, you just randomly materialise and vanish whenever you want?"
He shrugged.
"What do you want from me?"
"I told you, I'm here to grant your wish."
"So what, you're like a genie? Look, I didn't make a wish, okay?"
"Oh, but you did. You wished to be back with your boyfriend at the price of your own life."
Alice grated her teeth, "Fine. So I might've been thinking that but I didn't make the wish!"
"Well, like they say, be careful what you wish for."
Rubbing her temples, Alice shook her head.
"I can't believe this is happening to me. Look, right now, you need to get out of here. It's enough that I think I'm going crazy, but there is no way I'm going to explain you to my friends."
The man looked amused, "You do realise, I'm not human-"
"You made that pretty clear a minute ago," Alice snapped.
The man chuckled, "I don't think you get what I mean. Your friends can't see me. No one can. No one but you."
"What?"
"You made the wish so only you can see me. Don't believe me?"
Not in the least.
At that moment, Veronica walked in. Alice's eyes widened and she let out a gasp.
"What's taking so long?" she asked. "Need help?"
Frozen, Alice stared at her friend. Standing right beside her, the man leaned against the counter, smiling as he watched.
"See, I could say anything about your friends and they wouldn't even know," he grinned.
Alice's jaw dropped as she stared at the man, then looked at Veronica. She gave Alice a funny look.
"What's wrong with you?"
Could she really not see the man? Or was she pretending?
"Still don't believe me?" the man asked. He stood up and walked over to Veronica. Reaching two fingers out in the shape of a v, he pointed them towards Veronica's eyes. Alice's eyes widened.
"Veronica!" she warned, staring in horror as the man's fingers went straight through Veronica's eyeballs, straight through her head.
"Alice, are you ok?" Veronica asked, a frown marring her face.
Was she ok? Was she ok? She'd just seen a man – no, a ghost poke his hand right through her friend's face. And she hadn't even reacted.
What in the world was going on?
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