. Paranormal .
She groaned with relief as she stepped through the door of her apartment, pausing only to hang her keys on a hook near the front door. She stepped right past the messy entrance way, yanking the ponytail out of her hair and running her fingers through it as she made her way towards the kitchen. She stepped over an overturned wooden chair, not even bothering to pick it up just yet, and dropped her purse onto the bar with a mumbled, "Damn it, you freaking jerk, if you're going to make a mess, you could at least pick up after yourself."
The answer she received came in the form of her purse sliding straight off the counter and onto the floor.
"Are you freaking-" She threw her hands in the air. "Seriously?"
A pause, and then the ponytail snapped at her wrist.
She scowled. "Don't make me go get Levy."
If someone had told her that renting this apartment meant dealing with a poltergeist that thought he was the funniest thing on Earth, she would have turned right back around and left without another word. But because the owner of the building, a man by the name of Gajeel Redfox, had conveniently forgotten, this was what she dealt with.
And Lucy Heartfilia was not one to turn and run at the first sight of trouble.
Nope.
Where most people would have flipped out and run screaming in the other direction, Lucy had taken it upon herself to deal with it and move on.
It wasn't like he was a bad ghost. He didn't try to kill her in her sleep. He wasn't creepy in any way. He just thought he was hilarious and messed around with her quite a bit. He liked to playfully mess with her hair at times, he liked to scare the hell out of her by picking up things and dropping them near her, and he sure as hell liked to rummage through her fridge, but never in her entire six months at this building had he tried to purposely hurt her.
And he was kind sometimes, particularly after she had nightmares and whenever she was mourning for her recently deceased father and her long dead mother. When she'd come home from her father's funeral in tears, she could have sworn she'd felt a gentle hand stroking her head. But when she'd lifted her face to look, there had been no one, and she'd been left with the feeling that her head was on fire.
As strange as it sounded, the ass had been her only friend until a month or two ago in this town, when she'd been working intently on hunting down a new book to read at the local library. She'd bumped into a petite woman with blue hair pushed back by an orange headband by the name of Levy. After a few minutes of discussion, Lucy had learned that her name was Levy McGarden, that she lived three doors down, and that she sure as hell wanted to hang out again.
After a few meet ups and visits to Levy's place to try and escape the craziness of her pesky poltergeist, Lucy learned of Levy's love for exploring other worlds.
In other words, Levy specialized in the paranormal.
Levy's first night over had been the first time she'd learned of her company's name.
Levy had been serious in using a ouija board - Lucy would never again do that, and not because it freaked her out. Because it didn't. It was actually kind interesting to talk to the one that inhabited your place but couldn't leave. It wasn't fun hunting down the board after the one you were talking to had decided to hide it when you went to sleep.
The poltergeist - whose name they had learned was Natsu - had given no more information other than his name and a few playful tugs on their hair before going to play around with Lucy's poor cat Happy. She thought the Russian Blue liked Natsu sometimes, but most of the time, he only succeeded in pissing him off.
Like she was now.
"Natsu!" Lucy hollered, placing her hands on her hips as he began to play with her hair as usual, lifting it up and down until she tucked it behind her ear. "I wasn't kidding. I will go get Levy if you don't cut it out."
After Natsu had seriously pissed her off one night, Levy had taken it upon herself to learn a simple prayer that would "banish" Natsu for a few hours at a time. So far, they'd only used it once, but on some occasions…
Lucy wished Levy wasn't at her job at the library at the moment.
Damn, her neighbors must have thought she was psychotic with the amount of screaming she did some days…
Sighing, Lucy picked her purse up off of the floor and set it back on the counter. She rummaged through it for a few moments, snagged her iPod, and went over to where - thankfully - her untouched docking station sat, cranking her music up to a volume that worked for her and her neighbors. Humming along, the blonde woman swept her hair back out of her face and into the ponytail she'd undone a few moments before. "Bastard," she called to him, preparing to clean up the mess he'd made.
His answer came in the form of a few books falling out of the bookcase to her right.
If she'd been able to see exactly where the poltergeist was, she would have kicked at his ankles...or something.
She took her time, cleaning up her apartment with a thoughtful look on her face as she contemplated just how much pain she'd enjoy putting him through if he'd physically been beside her. He helped just a teeny bit. She discovered that a few objects had "magically" turned up beside the place they belonged in, and the chairs were replaced back in their original place. She still had to move the table, of course, but…
When she was done, Lucy folded her hands behind her head and took a look around, relieved that it was finally clean. "You should stop making a mess every single time I leave. Go pester someone else for a change - ow!" She grimaced when a sharp tug of annoyance on her hair showed just how he felt about the matter. "Okay, okay, I get it."
Lucy dropped down onto her couch, yawning. "Need a break from your messes tomorrow...I'm working a few extra hours to make up for my time off next week. Could you not be a jerk tomorrow? Please?" She received no responses, and she hopefully took it as a yes.
Lucy squirmed across the couch, snatching up the remote and turning on the TV in hopes that she'd be able to get some TV show watching done before she got up to make dinner. Levy had agreed to come over, but wouldn't be off for another hour or so, so she should have been good to watch it.
Natsu appeared to have other ideas.
"Stop," she moaned as the channels began to flip. "I just want to watch TV, why do you have to be a jerk!"
They only flipped faster.
Lucy rolled onto her stomach, pressing her face into the cushions of the couch. The apartment fell silent and she found herself suspicious, suspecting that Natsu was waiting to figure out what would piss her off the most.
Lucy wrinkled her nose. She'd asked Gajeel about him once. The slightly terrifying man that looked the other way the second Levy stepped into the room had been surprisingly against the belief that there was a poltergeist pestering her - and it didn't help that Natsu stopped doing things the second he was in the room. Mind you, she didn't always mind Natsu's presence. He was like a guard dog in some ways, always ready to start throwing things around if someone broke in. But she was interested in just how the building had ended up with such a being.
So she'd done some digging. She'd come up with a few different violent deaths in the building that was nearing its seventy-fifth year, but none of them had included the name "Natsu", so she figured he was either lying about his name or he hadn't truly died here. When she'd questioned Levy about it, the small woman had informed her that sometimes, ghosts weren't locked onto a location all the time. Sometimes they were attached to possessions or people.
Lucy didn't really think it was either of those things, though, because wouldn't she have known if she was haunted before moving here? Or if she'd had some weird possession that was haunted by a ghost?
Still, she'd only shrugged and moved on.
She was haunted by a weird poltergeist who knew when it was okay and not okay to be a jerk that was...currently working on edging a few books off of her shelf!
"Oh, no you don't!" Lucy threw herself off the couch and slammed the books back into the shelf. It became a game of whack-a-mole as she struggled to keep all of the books on her shelf before he was able to rip them off. "Cut it out, Natsu! Now!" she snapped, ignoring the sudden heat that flared up around her.
Yep. He was definitely there.
She glanced over her shoulder at the sound of her front door opening followed by a familiar voice calling, "Lu-chan!"
"Levy!" Lucy wailed in relief, beaming excitedly as the amused woman stepped into the living room of the apartment. "Help!"
Just like that, Natsu was gone. The heat around the young woman disappeared, and she sighed, stepping away from the bookshelf. Levy giggled as the headband she wore began to lift itself off of her head, and she yanked it back on. "Hello, Natsu. Bothering Lucy today?" She flinched just slightly at a flash of heat that Lucy could feel from across the room. "Yep. Okay. Could you go haunt the couple next door then? We have some business to discuss. Once for yes, two for no, please."
As if he was a trained dog, Natsu agreed by tossing one book to the floor. Levy gave it a moment and then beamed at Lucy. "You shouldn't be so harsh on the poor guy. He's dead after all."
Lucy gawked at her. "How!" she demanded. "I've been trying to get him to chill out for like half an hour!"
Levy winked. "Practice, Lu-chan. You aren't nearly nice enough to him. He's just bored half the time, and you know it. Anyways...you'll never guess what happened!" She grinned, dark eyes sparkling excitedly.
"Hm...let's see," Lucy teased, moving to sit on the couch. She crossed her legs, cocking her head to the side as Levy flounced over to join her. "Gajeel finally ask you out on a date?"
Levy's face turned a brilliant red. "N-no, stop that. You know that we don't...damn it, woman, no." She scrubbed a hand down her face, then was back to her usual self, eyes sparkling. "Those new books came in at the bookstore. Here, I got one for you." She pushed it into Lucy's hands after pulling it out of the purse she'd set beside her.
"Thank you!" Lucy squealed, beaming at the book in her hands. She lovingly caressed it with her fingers, smiling excitedly. "I might have to come over to your place or go to the library to read it though...Natsu's never going to give me a moment of peace."
Levy shrugged. "Read after ten. He doesn't bother you after that time, right?"
"Because I'm in bed trying to sleep," Lucy said bluntly. "I have to work double shifts tomorrow. And not even he's that cruel." She leaned back, yanking the ponytail in her hair back out. She ran her fingers through it, thoughtful. "We still on for tomorrow at lunch? I have an hour long lunch break, and coffee will be the best thing on this planet at that point."
Levy winked. "Of course, Lu-chan. I'll let you know if anything fun happens at my own job, okay?"
"Thanks," she breathed, her eyes flashing with happiness. How she loved her friend. Lucy suddenly gave Levy a sly smirk, dark eyes twinkling with mischief as she leaned closer, teasing, "So...anything happen with Gajeel yet?"
Levy's cheeks turned a brilliant red. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lu-chan."
"So that nice little coffee you gave him after stopping at his shop the other day meant nothing?" Lucy batted her eyelashes innocently as Levy squeaked, leaning away. "I mean, that was your one free coffee for the months."
Lucy wouldn't lie. She was fond of their landlord. Gajeel was scary to most people at first glance, being tall and muscular alongside a wild mane of black hair, crimson eyes, and several piercings that dotted his face and arms, but he had a good heart. The grumpy man had a thing for Levy - Lucy knew it was for certain, because no matter what both of them said, she saw the looks on their faces when the other wasn't looking - but he was more often than not found in Lucy's home rather than the "Shrimp's", as he was fond of calling Levy.
Despite Lucy's claims and Levy's support that it was the pest of a poltergeist that didn't know when to stop, Gajeel constantly complained about her seemingly constant breaking of appliances. Yet he didn't make her pay - something she was entirely grateful for.
"Shut it," Levy muttered, her cheeks turning an interesting shade of red. "How's that boyfriend of yours working out?"
Lucy's smile vanished. "No. We're...working things out."
Not.
After catching him tangling tongues with another girl, she wasn't exactly looking to spend any more time with the bastard.
"I'm sure it'll turn out alright in the end, Lucy," Levy soothed, patting her friend's hand reassuringly.
The two chatted for a little bit longer, until Natsu came back and started smacking books off her shelves again. Lucy scowled, but Levy only laughed and teased her about it, amused by what was happening...until the smirking blonde mused about how Natsu might have gone to her apartment.
Levy left after that, promising to see her for lunch the next day.
"Don't you dare come in," Lucy called to her permanent roommate when she went to go change. "If I realize you've come in when I'm changing, I'll make sure your exorcised right out of this place. Got it?"
The ponytail at her wrist snapped at her flesh once.
Lucy slipped into the bathroom, pajamas in hand. She tugged the tank top and the fuzzy pants on quickly after shedding the day's work clothes, and then tossed the dirty laundry into a hamper. She quickly washed her face free of makeup, and then took a look at herself in the mirror.
She huffed out a soft breath, puffing her cheeks as she poked at her belly. "Need to lay off some of those sweets...damn. I guess I won't be having any cake tomorrow…" She shook her head at herself. She wasn't usually so concerned about such petty matters, and she scolded herself about it. She was fine with her shape.
It was that pathetic excuse of an ex-boyfriend commenting on it that made her so worried.
Thank Mavis that was over with.
Lucy slapped her cheeks, and then exited the bathroom, propping her hands on her hips as she contemplated what she wanted to do next. Did she go to sleep despite it only being eight o' clock in the evening, or did she read? Natsu was silent, not making a mess, and it was early…
Lucy grabbed the book off of her couch and dropped onto it to make herself comfortable beneath a fluffy blanket that she loved almost more than life itself. "Am I reading out loud tonight, Natsu?" she called.
She'd learned that sometimes, if she read to the damn ghost, he'd shut up and be good for the rest of the night, and it appeared luck was on her side now, as he rapped a sharp knock on one of the walls.
So, without further hesitation, Lucy sank further into her couch and opened the book, beginning to read out loud.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN MY LOVELIES! I absolutely love Halloween. I don't go out and gather candy with children anymore and I don't dress up (moreso 'cause I'm broke and can't do anything), but I hand out candy. This year, however, I'm watching a bunch of scary movies with my friends while devouring what must be ten pounds of candy that my mother purchased for us. ANYHOW! I give you Paranormal! This idea came out of my recent obsession with ghosts. Don't know where it came from, as I'm usually scared as hell when it comes to such matters, but yeah. This will update once a week (Saturdays), and it's more of a fun thing for me to write then plot focused (though I do have that, of course). Happy Halloween, see you next week!