Prologue
The girl screamed and fell off the chair. Her eyes wide with shock, she looked around a moment before scrambling to her feet.
"Maçã? Are you okay?"
A few soft thuds drifted into earshot; the sound of her mother's slippers against the linoleum of the stairs.
It took her a few seconds to compose herself enough to reply. "I'm fine, Mum!" she called. She dusted herself off, feeling very embarrassed for imagining things. "Just… tripped over, is all."
Maçã carefully reached for the remaining apple on her desk and lifted it to her mouth. Again, the fruit whisked rapidly through the air for a split second before disappearing. She stared at the spot where it had vanished, thoroughly confused. Eventually she calmed down enough to look back at her desk, to the drawing she'd done. She was about to continue with it when the pencil lifted itself into the air and began floating around. She watched it with something between fascination and fear.
"Hello? Is there an invisible somebody there?" she asked quietly, her voice barely more than a squeak. "Are you a friendly somebody?"
The pencil paused in mid-air a moment, then began scribbling over her drawing. She looked down at it curiously, watching the colourful strokes materialise on the page. It was of an anthropomorphic smiling apple.
"Do… do you like apples?" she broached. "Are you trying to say you want more apples?"
The pencil drew a line between the curve of the drawing's lips, turning it into an open-mouthed smile.
The girl took this as an affirmation so hurried downstairs and gathered together three more apples. She returned to her room, making sure to shut the door behind her, and put the red fruits on her desk. One by one, they quickly disappeared.
"I don't think I can get any more for you without my mum realising," she said.
There was no reply.
"Maybe I can get you something besides apples?" she suggested.
No objects moved to signal a response.
She tried communicating with the invisible being a while longer before giving up, soon heading to bed.
The majority of the next day was spent wondering about the brief visit, and she paid little attention in class. When Maçã arrived home, she collected an apple from the kitchen and went upstairs to her room, hoping that she could bribe the 'ghost' into reappearing. She placed it in the centre of her desk and sat there watching it.
Nothing happened.
She sighed and was about to move the produce, thinking maybe she'd dreamt the whole thing, when a piece of furniture shifted behind her. She turned around instinctively toward the noise, and when she looked back to the desk the apple was gone.
"So it wasn't a dream," Maçã said happily. She was about to speak again, but was interrupted by a thin black book landing in her lap.