Kiku hadn't wanted to move in the first place. Really he hadn't. His apartment at the time had a leaking roof and a hole in the window frame but even so he liked it. He had settled into it nice and he was, either by grace or curse, a creature of habit and simply hadn't wanted to move. The friends that he had would say that he was stubborn with a small chip on his shoulder about something but he didn't see it, simply a man of habit and strict wants. The whole reason that he ended up in the apartment on Oak street was because of his pay cut at work.
Oak street was a old neighborhood that probably existed before his grand parents had been born. Most of the charm was lost on him. He had settled on the apartment because of the location near enough to shopping and it allowed pets, the last thing he would do would be give up his dog and cat. It was a brick house, two stories, each floor having been turned into separate apartments. His dog instantly loved the green space that came with the rent. It was a small garden, surrounded by iron fences. Even as his cat claimed spots as his own to sun bath in. His upstairs neighbor was a quite man, originally from Canada. They would exchange some conversations in the mornings waiting at the same bus stop. Mathew quickly became a plus. He hardly heard a peep from the man at night, they seemed to be perfect people to share space. Even so, Kiku maintained his stubborn displeasure at the whole situation.
...
When he had finally finished unpacking all his things and started a routine in the morning he finally saw her. So distracted by unpacking and dwelling in his situation that he hadn't at first. He had that problem, being so self reflective he often missed things right in front of him.
She was a young woman, thin and youthful in the face, so her age was hard to guess. Dressed neatly and perhaps a little old fashioned compared to the woman he's seen at work and around town. She was playing with Pochi.
She would throw a stick and his dog would fetch it. He hadn't been able to get his dog to play fetch before. He wanted to find out who this stranger was. Mathew hadn't mentioned any girlfriend or daughter. When he opened the sliding door he was distracted by the chiming of his clock, instantly he looked at the clock, and when he looked back out to the garden she was gone.
…
She would appear most mornings. The first thing he realized was that she never changed her clothing. The second thing he realized that each time he tried to walk outside something would distract him and she would be gone by the time he would look back for her.
On the tenth day he finally had to ask Mathew, while they waited at the bus stop.
"Oh? You mean Elise?"
"So you know her?"
"Ah, sort of." He sips his coffee, still half asleep. "She's dead."
His look of disbelief must have been obvious.
"She was the daughter of the family that lived in the house, she died and now she haunts the garden. I guess her father made the garden for her or something like that but she got sick fast and hard and from what I can tell she must want to make up for lost time."
That day at work Kiku had to try and grasp the concept that there was a dead girl in his yard and that his neighbor was completely complacent with the idea. If she was actually dead and not a trespasser that was really good a disappearing and never changed her clothing.
Somehow both ideas we equally crazy and all he can think of is how much he hadn't wanted to move in the first place.
The next day he has off from work, a holiday he hadn't payed attention to but now offered the opportunity to watch her.
She played fetch with Pochi and then walked around. Able to manipulate sticks, the fur on his dog, bushes and furniture in the garden.
She didn't float, or go through things or anything you'd expect from stories. No typical ghost behavior. She didn't seem mad or vengeful, she seemed aimless. It actually bothered him, never liking to waste time or watch people be wasteful or idle. She was sitting on the grass and had her eyes closed when he decided to go out.
He walked out quietly, resisting his urge to run at her. It this way that he was able to approach her and hear her humming a tune. He didn't know it but if she was really a ghost it was probably old.
"Excuse me-"
she was gone.
…
From here it became a type of contest for himself. See how long she would stay around him. Sometimes he would get up early on his work days and play with his dog in the garden and wait. He put things in the yard and watched from a distance if she played or used them. She didn't show up everyday, but he felt somewhat vindicated when she did.
His behavior didn't go unnoticed.
"So I see you are trying to engage our house guest." It was said with a slight teasing tone. Both Mathew and himself bundled up waiting for the bus on a rainy morning about a week into his experiments.
"Yes, it must be boring being a ghost. She doesn't even flip the furniture around or smash anything."
"Most people would find that to be a good thing."
He thinks about this, for most people that would be true. Especially with all of those horror movies about haunted houses and demonic spirits and such.
"Just don't make her mad. She's still a ghost after all."
He didn't want to anger her, though at least then she wouldn't be a boring spirit. He isn't sure what he's doing, or completely why.
...
His experiments go on for a few months until one morning he's washing his morning dishes and hears a tapping on his sliding door. He doesn't know what he expected to find but the spirit of a dead lady holding his dog was pretty low on that list.
She waved at him and seemed to try and smile at him.
She steps back from him when he opens the door and steps out.
"H-Hello."
"Hello."
She shuffles her feet and pets his dog.
"You...uhm..." He never knew ghosts could blush but she was.
"So, are you Elise?"
She nods.
A silence hangs between them, then she hands him his dog and disappears.
...
He spends his lunch time looking up information about her. Through old newspapers and the help of the librarians he had been able to piece together her life...well, more so her death. As she hadn't done much in her short 16 years of life. Some minor notoriety for working on the student council and working in the greenhouse. She had lived during the 1950s, so that explained her clothing, she had been an only child. Died of a type of leukemia, after her death her father seemed to take it the worst. But her family didn't appear to be mentioned again after her death. Faded away from record. It wasn't enough, he felt as if there was so much more that should have been written about her.
…
He starts to leave her potted flowers. When he comes back from work he finds them planted in the yard.
"She seems happy at least." Mathew tells him at the bus stop, the location of all their great conversations which have started to become habit.
"You think?"
"Well...I don't know her personally but I hear her singing more."
There was something very pleasing about the small idea that he might be making her happy.
He pays music that he thinks she might have heard when she was alive when he's at home. His experiments are different now, using what he learned to try and entertain her.
She stays around more and more. Tapping on his door or window, braver and more talkative. They don't have long conversations but it's enough for him to get to know her a little.
"He's such a good puppy! Papa wouldn't let me have a puppy, Mama was allergic."
"I loved birds the most though, I always wanted to see one of those, ohhh...uhm...I think peacocks? With the blue bodies and big ol' tail feathers..."
"I wish I had some siblings like you Kiku. I had a friend that had a big sister and she would do our hair, siblings are good for stuff like that...but I guess hair stylin' wouldn't be a perk for you..."
He likes hearing her small stories about life. For once in his memory he enjoys small talk.
...
It doesn't escape him that she died a young 16, in and out of hospitals and missing out on many things and he was an old 25, having to grow up fast and perhaps bitter. That was the biggest difference, it isn't as if she doesn't know she's dead, she talked in the past tense all the time, but she wasn't sad about dying. And he realized one day that he was a bit sad for living. Maybe that was how she always was or perhaps being dead for 57 years did that to a person. Made them optimistic and cheerful.
In that way she was older than him, or at least wiser. He found that when he woke up one day that he would try to be more like her, be more positive about the world, his cynicism about people couldn't be shed so easily but he thought that he could handle trying to imagine a storm leaving a rainbow instead of just puddles.
…
Elise was the element that allowed him to become friends with Mathew. Kiku can easily imagine a world were they wouldn't have talked nearly as long or much. If at all but now they kept updating each other on the condition of Elise. Slowly though, the topics expanded. Soon they were chatting about their jobs and parents and families, something Kiku hadn't really had before.
Mathew was a good listener, as much as Kiku liked his friends that was one thing they were not. Things felt different. But maybe by having met Mathew and Elise, Kiku had become something different.
Kiku wasn't sure but he thought this was the start of a good friendship.
When Kiku wasn't around Mathew would keep Elise some degree of company. Mathew wasn't as comfortable around the girl but had taken up his habit of playing music for her. And leaving things for her in the garden.
"But I'm pretty sure she likes you more. She doesn't talk to me or play with my cat." The pout on Mathew's face made Kiku laugh.
…
Elise sat at the small table and chair set that they put out for her and she had his cat on her lap. It was a chilly day, the season turning into autumn already and Kiku was working on a project on his laptop.
"Kiku..."
He looks at her and stops his typing.
"What..." She picks up his cat and puts him on the ground. "What are we? I'm not sure what to call this."
Good question.
"Haunter and Hauntee?" it's a joke but it makes her frown.
"I just... haven't had friends in so long...I'd..."
Oh. That makes him stumble over whatever it was that he had been thinking of a moment ago.
"I think...I'd call you my friend."
That really makes him unable to speak.
"I think...I'd like that, Elise."
That makes her smile.
…
Kiku hadn't wanted to move. No, he had been quite content in his leaky, drafty apartment. He had been content with his pets and his friends that knew to give him some space. But he had moved, and it was, in his new home with it's creaks, new friends and the smiles he found on his face, exactly what he needed.