Chapter 1
I was crouching at the staircase quietly at the old house wondering when Rose would be back from school. My mother and I had escaped from her body a few months back when she had to move back to Japan because her sister Lisa was selected as a foreign exchange student at her collage. Our escape nearly killed her. Still, it was a strange thing that she and her sister Lisa decided to stay despite our presence in the house.
I was still thinking about all this when I saw Rose come through the door. I quickly hid behind a wall to prevent her from seeing me. It was amazing how much Rose had grown in the past few months. She had grown taller. Her red hair had brought out her rosy cheeks. And her dark eyes helped her stand out among the rest of us.
I still watched as Rose went into what used to be my bedroom and put her purple Tinker Bell backpack on the bed. Suddenly she looked over to where I was hiding. She took a few steps over and saw me.
"Toshio?" she asked in her child like voice.
"Crap," I thought to myself. "She saw me."
"Hello Toshio," Rose greeted smiling.
"H-hi Rose," I greeted back. "How was school?"
"You wouldn't believe it," Rose said. "The new girl from Yokohama, Akira Saguache, kept bragging about how her family was better than mine because their house wasn't haunted."
"What did you say about that?" I asked. I felt like her opinion mattered to me. I don't know why, but it just did. " Well," Rose said, "I told her that that was a bunch of lies. Those ghosts were nice to me. And if she ever said anything bad about them again I would have them show her that you were real alright."
I knew what she meant by that. She would send us over to Akira's house to kill her. I was sure my mother would like that. She hadn't killed in a long time. I wouldn't like it though. I was an annoyer, not a fighter. Okay, so I drowned one person in the bathtub, so what? The only reason I did that was because the fucker had it coming big time.
"Rose," Lisa called, "It's time to start doing your homework." "Okay Lisa," Rose called back down the stairs. "I'll talk to you later Toshio." Rose went down the stairs and I was back to my lonely self. My mother, Kayako, held down one arm and signaled me up to the attic. It was almost always dark in the attic. The only people that went up there were Kayako and I. When I closed the attic door, Kayako lit a match so I could see.
I stared at my mother and I wanted to cry. She used to be such a sweet young woman with her whole life ahead of her. But ever sense she was killed by my father, Takeo, hatred and darkness for all of humanity consumed her fragile soul.
Kayako had also found a way of communication. She was not able to speak due to my father breaking her neck. All that came out was a terrifying death rattle. But recently, she had found many notepads and pencils in the attic, and communicated by writing down what she wanted to say.
Kayako had passed a note to me. She had written on the letter, "Why would you fall in love with somebody like Rose? Don't you remember that we can't trust any human?" I rolled my eyes at her. This was a typical note. She hated every human in the world, and I was the only exception. Other than me, she even tried to kill children. "Why can't you just accept the fact that I don't completely hold a grudge against all humanity?" I asked.
"Why can't you just realize we won't go on to another life until humanity's gone?"
"Maybe I like haunting the house. Going on to another life just sounds so blasé to me."
"Well I don't know about you, but I would LOVE to go on to another life. So I suggest you forget about Rose and help me out here. The sooner the better for me."
"I don't need this today! I'm going to see what Rose is up to."
"Whatever. Go have fun with your 'girlfriend' and leave me be."
I switched into my cat form and obeyed Kayako. I didn't need any advice on how to live my ghost life. The way I saw it, my life wasn't hers to control. I trotted down the steps and looked around the corner to see Lisa helping Rose on what I suspected was her math homework. I went up to Rose and rubbed up against her leg. "Hey there kitty," she cooed. "How's my little buddy doing? You know they say when a black cat crosses your path it's bad luck. But I don't believe that. You've always been the greatest of luck to me."
"I sure have" I thought to myself, "I sure have."