The little ghost was a massive contradiction.
The mother was a wraith; the departed vengeful soul of a former woman who'd been banished to the confines of the Underworld. As she glowered at the living from the bowels of damnation, she found joy in tormenting the living men who viewed her through reflective surfaces.
They lusted for the beauty in the mirrors and glasses. She stole their breath away, and with it, their souls. They wasted away and died, wanting to join her. When they approach her as dead, she rebuked them, and shattered their hearts. They joined the countless masses who grieved for themselves and prayed for another chance.
One man caught her eye.
A mortal seafarer with chiseled features buys an antique mirror. Upon gazing, he catches her eye. The two stare for a bit and the man touches the glass with his fingers. They do not connect on the other side.
"Tell me," He says, "Tell me how to be with you."
She smiles horribly as she begins to wonder if there were any point in wasting such an able living creature away. No, she will have him alive.
"Seek out the tome, my dearest. A magic book," She forms a wispy image as she speaks, "Hidden in the dungeons of Europe. Seek the spell to connect you an me for eternity."
Without clear destination, driven by pure determination to touch that beautiful ethereal body, he searched tirelessly for years. Then in Gumbaldnowigbattleaxeninja, he finds it.
A velvety wrapped tome of horror. The librarian told him it was overdue from the libraries of the Underworld itself. Of course, whether he believed that or not was irrelevant. Now all he needed was the correct spell...
And under the chapter "Do not use in any circumstance", he found the spell necessary for the living to touch the dead. Standing before the mirror at sunset, she appeared, her face pressed lingeringly against the confines of the mirror.
"Dearest," She whispered, "Let us be together."
He saw her arms outstretched and fervently read the spell:
Tangerent Mortuos
He felt a change wash over him. An invisible force attracted him to the mirror. His hand phased through. He could touch her.
Then he saw it.
Behind her, the glow of the Hell and the screams of agony and the faces of the souls. Realizing his mistake, he tried to pull back, but she wasn't about to let go. She pulled him in. And he was hers.
The first night, he sullenly asked to leave. She showed him the mirror from whence he came. But when he tried to leave, the barrier locked him in. He was trapped. His spirit broken, she had her fun with him that night.
He forgot his humanity and began to wither. Locked among the dead, he became like the dead. After she was through with him, she tossed him aside, never to abandon her philandering ways.
One day, she noticed a heavy feeling. To her surprise, she could see a pulsing light of a soul inside her lower spiritual body. Impossible. She'd conceived from him.
The spirit grew larger in size and the dead souls were attracted to it. The child of the dead and living. She sought to dispose of it.
"Be warned, miss..." Hissed an old ghoul, "That which is borne belong not here with the dead, but with the living."
Who cares, she thought. It's not like I asked for a child anyway.
The father saw the birthing. It simply was like if you took a yolk out of the egg. Their daughter was in the form of a ghost. But she wasn't rotting or withering. She looked like she was … mortal.
The mother named her Carrie, and, upon feeling the old seafarer's gaze, she gave her the man's last name, Kreuger. He slowly came forward. His new daughter, Carrie, looked at him with blank intrigue.
"This is your father, Carrie."
He forces a smile. He didn't know this daughter of his at all. Her birth was only a little bit before. Now she was to be sent away to the living world. But she was a ghost! Borne a ghost, but still! Would she even remember her parents? Did the mother care at all to have decided this so hastily? He began to wonder what made him love her in the first place.
The bowels of the Underworld twisted and gurgled. Carrie was suddenly catapulted straight up. She passed the green vortex of souls and popped straight out of the soil. She finds herself in the newly erected Elmore Cemetery, est. 1970.
…
"Grandma? What am I?"
Scratch, scratch, scratch, went the old withered hand.
"Grandma" is the term applied to a remain of the old woman. She was mother to Carrie's mother before she died. When her time came, they say her hand twitched at her funeral. Others say it detached and hopped off on it's own. For whatever reason, it remained in this haunted manor it had inhabited and when Carrie came, it took her in. Of course, it's no conversationalist.
"You're so lucky Grandma," Carrie stares, "You're flesh. I don't know what I am... Am I a ghost? But I have spirit... and I was born a ghost."
Without much more to talk about or listen to, Carrie floats outside. It's sunny out and she doesn't burn into ash, more proof of her mortality. She liked being around living flesh; they made her feel miserable, a feeling she desired. Also, they were fun to play around with. Possession, haunting and teasing them in general was a taste she'd acquired from her mother. But she also loved their culture. She rented Lazer Video DVDs and punk rock CDs all the time.
This time, however, she was feeling a little off. She decides to explore. There were places she'd yet to see and try to feel. Like City hall, or the hospital. She'd seen ghosts float out of there, saying they've died from botched surgery or something.
She teleports casually up to a third floor mirror. Inside this room are multiple beds. All are empty except for the one closest to the window. A girl is crying under her covers.
"What's wrong?" Carrie asks.
The girl peeks out from her covers and asks, "Who are you?"
Carrie notices a skull barrette in her hair,"I'm a ghost."
"Oh..." She seems to think a little, "What's it like?"
Carrie shrugs. She'd never been anything else so she had nothing to compare it to.
"I'm... going to become one soon maybe. I don't know. The doctors can't fix me..."
"I'm sorry," Carries says with minimal emotion, "Was there something you wanted to do?"
"They keep me here, all locked up. I don't want that. I want to go outside and run and play and eat and …" She pauses then says with a wry smile, "The food is terrible here."
"I wouldn't know. I've never eaten."
"You should try it."
"How? I don't have a body or guts to process like flesh does."
"Well, you're a ghost right? Can't you possess someone and eat it? It's kinda the same thing."
"Huh. I've only used bodies for frightening people up until now. Never thought of that."
"Here, try it on me."
Unhesitating, Carrie entered the body. It was always cramped with two souls in the same body. She looks gingerly at the plate of food the nurse set down. It's a hamburger deluxe. The fries are steamed and floppy, and the patty is gray and unappetizing. Eyes closed, she takes a bite.
Now, how a ghost discovers flavor is a mystery. It is their first experience of such a thing, not to mention breathing and feeling. One may feel excitement for return of their sense after so long. Others may feel everything tastes good due to lack of idea as to what is bad and good.
Carrie was the latter. She thought it was delicious and says so.
"Really?" The girl says after Carrie leaves her body, "You like it?"
"Yeah. It gives me a sense of filling up. I'm usually pretty empty..."
"Say! Why don't you come visit me more often? You can eat my food for me!"
Carrie doesn't see anything wrong with the agreement and promises to come for a couple more days. And sure enough, she ate everything everytime. The girl looked forward to her visits and the two became good friends. They shared many secrets together.
"So you're half human and ghost?"
"Yup."
"How does that work?"
"... I don't know."
Once the girl tried to comb Carrie's hair
One day, Carrie bought her favorite mix tape. The girl is pale and sleeping. She only turns and opens her eyes halfway at the sound of Carrie's voice.
"What's wrong?"
"I think … I'm dying..." She rasps a little.
Carries feels another bout of misery. But it came with another feeling. Sorrow. What was it? She'd experienced it before, when she was separated from her parents. But it was so long ago.
"Here," Carrie holds the earphones near the girl's ear, "This is my favorite music."
"I'm Stranded" blared through the earpiece. Carrie didn't see the girl's face change. A single tear merely slid out of her left eye. She said something, but Carrie couldn't hear over the music.
"What?" Carrie shut the music off, "What did you say?"
"I love it, Carrie..." More tears slid down her face, "I'm leaving soon … and I love that music..."
She covers her face as she sobs. Carrie looks at her, a little sad and uncomprehending.
"I was ready to go, Carrie. But now … I don't know anymore..." She whispers through tears, "I like it, seeing you everyday and having fun..."
"Well, you'll still see me...! Probably..." Carrie didn't know extensively if she could see her, "I can visit the Underworld, I just can't stay..."
"... Take me away, Carrie," The girl looks at Carrie, tear-streaked and determined, "Take me far away from here, Carrie. If I'm going to die... I won't die here. Please."
Carrie felt her little ghost tail twist in knots. Sighing, she enters the body.
When a ghost enters a mode of possession, they are eliminating all the physical factors of the owner. So the girl became perfectly able to jump from the hospital window and run far away from the bustling streets.
In a grassy field a little away from Carrie's house, she lay down in the dying body. She slips out and looks at the girl's peaceful face in the grass.
"Thank you, Carrie..." She smiles and closes her eyes, "It's been a while since I've ever laid in the grass and soaked in the sun..."
She laughs, clear and beautiful laughter. Then, smiling and open-eyed, she died staring at the sun. Carrie bit her lip.
The girl's spirit rises slowly from her body. She looks at Carrie tenderly and gives her a final hug. Then, she plucks her ghost barrette and puts in in Carrie's hair, much to the little ghost's surprise.
Carrie, speechless and on the verge of tears, tries to look on without crying as the girl, smiling sadly, begins to sink into the Underworld.
"Goodbye, Carrie."
…
"So..." Gumball looks dubiously at the old newspaper clipping in the school library, "She was just found dead at some grassy knoll?"
"Ahh, that's too creepy, dude!" Squeaks Darwin, who never had any stomach for the supernatural, "Let's do this article instead..."
"Augh... Figures Miss Simian would make us do some stupid assignment on finding old newspaper stories!"
"Hey, wait, lemme see that," Darwin snatches the clipping and squints at the picture, "Isn't that barrette... where have I seen that before...?"
"Oh, hey Carrie!" Gumball waves cheerily to the passing ghost, "You got everything for the assignment?"
"Yeah, ghosts don't age, Gumball. I'm my own newspaper," She flips her hair coolly, "Let me guess, you need help?"
"Pshh. Naw. But if you happen to remember any interesting things from the previous turn of the century, let me know!"
"Ugh, just give me that."
As Carrie is talking to Gumball about the assignment, Darwin notices the barrette in her hair. After school, on the way home, the goldfish can't hold in his curiosity and pours his discovery onto his brother.
"Wait, so you think Carrie was the girl from that time?"
"Hmmm... You don't think..."
"..."
"Nah."