Hey, there!

This is a stand-alone one-shot but could also be related to both "Gone" and "Grief" (two other one-shots in my profile).

Anyway, hope you like it!

Home

Blue always seemed to make her feel warm and at ease, despite the color's cold nature. It reminded her of room she shared with her sister when they were kids and the blue cups of hot chocolate her grandma gave her during the winter holidays. Maybe that's why she felt the living room was the best room in the enormous house, surrounded by tall, indigo walls that seemed to go on forever.

"Here's the last box, baby," her husband happily announced as he placed a small cardboard container next to her, mostly full of books related to their ongoing work.

The woman smiled and picked a silver frame from the stack of items her spouse just brought in. The younger faces of her two children grinned back in the candid picture she took of them last Halloween. They had always wanted to move into a bigger house, so they were ecstatic with the idea of having a big backyard were they would be able to play and maybe even have a pet. This place was perfect for all of them.

"We should probably start unpacking their things first," she said. "They have class tomorrow and they'll probably be exhausted."

The burly man nodded. "I'll check out the basement! Imagine all the work we'll be able to do down there!" He gave her a peck on the cheek and ran downstairs with a couple of boxes on his hands. His child-like excitement made her giggle.

Making sure she wasn't missing anything else to place on her kids' bedrooms, she headed upstairs with only a small bag full of her son's clothes. He was probably still outside playing with his bigger sister and some of the kids who showed up to welcome the family. The mother of two thought it would be better for them to socialize rather than start unpacking right away. She could take care of the bigger things, like their beds and drawers.

She wanted to start with her daughter's room, who had chosen the room at the end of the hall. It was appropriate since she loved the pink decorations in her new digs. The previous owners probably had a girl with the same tastes.

As she walked past the first room, where her younger child would be staying, she saw movement in there from the corner of her eye. A chill ran down her spine when she turned around and saw nothing but piled boxes. It was probably just her imagination, the exhaustion from hours of driving, lifting, and moving things around. It could've just been the boxes and a trick of light. That had to be it.

Despite her tension, she walked into the room to leave the bag she had brought upstairs. The room was surprisingly colder than the rest of the house. A heater would be needed to keep her son warm during the upcoming winter if this was the usual temperature. She walked next to the boxes to drop the bag and noticed one of them was open. Her hands immediately released what they were holding to pick up broken shards of glass from inside the container. Had they been so careless handling that box?

The item inside had been a framed picture of the whole family, sitting together a year ago during a picnic. It had been such a wonderful day...

"You're moving?" a soft voice spoke from behind her back and made her jump with an energy she didn't think she had left.

Trembling in surprise, and fear, the young woman slowly turned around to see a boy standing by the door, dressed in blue jeans and a white t-shirt. His pair of red Converse shoes looked just like the ones her father used to wear. She didn't know who the kid was, but there was something unnaturally eerie about him, not to mention he had no business being in her house to begin with. The alarms in her head began to blare, deafening whatever coherent thought was left in her mind.

When words failed to come out of her shaking lips, the boy gave her a sad look and began rubbing one arm with his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner," he continued with a quiet tone that somehow seemed to echo. "Fun fact about ghosts? Obsessions are there to keep us from moving on."

The now pale woman gasped in horror. Ghosts? Us!?

"You know," the kid continued unfazed by her reaction, "at one point I forgot what was keeping me here. I spent so much time fighting other ghosts that I couldn't even remember who I was..."

She had to get out of there. She had to call her husband. Maybe this kid wasn't really a ghost, but he was definitely not sane, and who knew what he was capable of doing. Their own kids were in potential danger. There had to be something she could do...

"W-what are you d-d-doing here?" she managed to ask. For some reason she felt so cold she could even her see her ragged breaths. The room began to feel smaller as an otherworldly darkness seemed to crawl down the azure walls...

The boy looked hurt and she wanted so badly to avoid his gaze. "I... I figured it out," he replied, his words not making any sense to the petrified homeowner. "I have to tell you the truth. It's the only way I can move on." The kid closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, glowing green pupils replaced his previously blue ones. "Mom, I'm Da-"

"Jane, you're not going to believe what I found in the basement!" her husband's voice boomed in the hall as he made it upstairs. He came into the room and saw his wife shaking like a leaf against the window. Her eyes were as big as plates and continued staring at the door. He glanced over his shoulder to see what was over there. Maybe he had missed a big spider or something; he knew how much Jane hated them.

"Are you alright?" he questioned, his tone full of worry.

Finally looking at him, Jane shook her head 'no' and pointed towards the door. "T-t-there was a kid... a-a-a ghost..." she blurted, still not in full control of her own mouth.

The skeptic man frowned and hugged her. "Look, I know it's been a stressful week, moving to a new town, leaving our old life behind-"

"Mike," she interrupted with more determination in her voice. "I know what I saw! I... can't stay in this house. I'm not leaving my kids here, either."

Mike stared at her in complete shock. "Are you serious? We haven't even settled in."

Jane grabbed her husband's hand and led him quickly out of the room. "C'mon, we can still find an hotel room, maybe we can call the real estate agent on the way there..."

With a firm pull, Mike made his wife halt halfway down the stairs. "You want to sell the house? Honey, I'm sure there's a logical explanation to-"

"Please... don't go," the boy spoke again from the top of the stairs, making the couple turn in his direction. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Jane began to urge her husband to continue down the stairs, but the bigger man stared at the kid in anger. This was probably just a dumb kid trying to prank the newcomers. Since his wife was too jumpy, that was definitely a bad combination. He would make sure the kid's parents heard about this, hopefully grounding him for eternity.

"Look, kid, you got three seconds to get the hell out of our house before I call the cops," Mike threatened.

The teenager looked heartbroken and took a step back. "You can't mean that."

Mike crossed his arms and gave him the same stern look he would usually give his children when they were in deep trouble. "I'm dead serious," he said firmly, and somehow Jane felt sickened by the terrible choice of words.

The same chilling sensation from before began to fill the room, while a shadow once again surrounded them. If this was the result of the boy's strong emotions, Jane was sure her husband made a terrible mistake.

Ice began to form underneath the boy, traveling slowly towards the stairs and the walls. Mike, who had been resolute the whole time, realized too late Jane was telling the truth and took a few steps away from the kid. "You said this would always be my home," the ghost whimpered as an ethereal glow surrounded him. "I just needed to tell you the truth. I swear I'll be gone, but you need to know. You need to understand..." Suddenly, the image of the black-haired teenager with an almost ordinary appearance faded into a paler figure with white hair and the same glowing green eyes that petrified Jane minutes before. "I'm still your son. I'm still Danny."

The couple didn't waste another second and took giant leaps to reach the bottom of the stairs, bolting out of the front door as soon as they reached it. They didn't look back; the need to get as far away from that place as possible was stronger than any heroic attempts to vanquish the specter.

As they made it to the street, the door slamming shut behind them, several neighbors stared at the scene with mild confusion. "Erin? Jake?" the terrified mother yelled for her children.

Upon hearing the frantic calls, two kids no older than nine dropped the gear they were using for their ongoing baseball game with other children from the neighborhood. "But moooom..." Erin whined as she dragged her feet slowly towards her parents, unaware of what was going on.

"Get in the car quick!" Mike urged them, already starting the engine of their small SUV.

Erin and Jake exchanged confused glances and shrugged as they ran towards the vehicle. They knew better than questioning their parents when they yelled like that. "Later, guys!" the smaller child shouted at their playmates.

The rest of the kids stared unfazed as the small family sped out of view. A small girl with short, red pigtails blew her purple bubble gum. "Told you we shouldn't invite the new kids," she said out loud.

Another boy took off his baseball cap and threw it to the ground. "Aww, man... Just when we had the right amount of players..."

"Pfft, that place's been cursed for more than fifty years," another girl responded. "What makes you think they were going to stay long, anyway?"

"Guys," a smaller boy whispered urgently. "He's looking our way."

All the kids froze and turned towards the haunted house, glancing at the upstairs window. They could barely see a black and white figure floating among the shadows, his ghostly green eyes casting an odd glow in the bedroom. The small baseball players knew better than to stare at the ghost too long. After all, he would be out of sight as soon as he felt seemingly abandoned. At least until a new family came along.