"Tiny Maus! You have returned," a pleased voice hummed right in Beca's ear and the smaller woman jumped in surprise.
"Kommissar!" Beca whipped around towards the sound of the voice and saw nothing. Despite this fact, Beca knew there was still someone there. That someone just so happened to be a ghost. "Did you know sometimes it frightens me when you say my name and I can't see you?" she complained. "Will you ever learn to materialize before you speak?"
"But where is the fun in that? I like to make mein maus squeak from time to time," Kommissar said cheekily. Beca didn't need to see her to know that she was probably wearing the biggest smirk any face would ever be able to have.
"Impetuous woman, if that's what you really are!" Beca replied sharply. Kommissar only laughed, finally coming back into view. Over 70 years of being dead and she was still as young and fit as ever. She was still terrifyingly tall and incredibly intimidating. Nothing had changed about her at all. In fact, she was even still in uniform, just like on the night she died…
As she came into view, Beca wonder again what exactly Kommissar's story was. She had asked before, of course, but she never got an answer. Instead, Kommissar had only ever given smug grins or gentle shakes of the head. In fact, despite their friendship of about half a year now, the ghost still refused to even tell Beca her name. Instead, she introduced herself only as a Kommissar. That was as much of name Beca would ever get, though she wouldn't even know where or when Kommissar was a kommissar. There was so much mystery about this woman and Beca couldn't help but wonder.
Every day she would ask, "How many decades since you've climbed a balcony? Or do you do this every night with someone else? You tell me that you never leave, and I am almost afraid to believe it. Why is it me you've chosen to follow? Did you like the way I look when I am sleeping? Was my hair more fun to tangle? Are my dreams more entertaining? Do you laugh when I'm complaining that I'm all alone? Where were you when I searched the sea for a friend to talk to me?" but never did she get a real answer. Instead, Beca was forced to be content with knowing that although Kommissar was incredibly secretive, it was still Beca who had managed to secure Kommissar's heart. That was no small feat.
"I don't mean to pry, I'm just curious," Beca pressed again, but Kommissar only gave that annoying shake of her head.
"Maus, I have already told you that I wish to keep the past in the past. You have me now, am I not enough?" she asked and once again, Kommissar had succeeded into guilt-tripping Beca into being content with the little knowledge that she had. It seemed that Beca would have to be happy with knowing The Ghost of Kommissar Present instead of The Ghost of Kommissar Past.
But what of The Ghost of Kommissar Future? In a year where would she be? Beca herself had only come to Germany as a foreign exchange student for this year and she would have never imagined that the place she would being staying at would be haunted. Yet here she was today! Of course it had been strange, at first, to think that she was rooming with the ghost of an old soldier, but as time passed, a friendship had developed between her and said ghost and now here they stood, six months later.
"Is it enough for you to steal into my mind filling up my page with music written in my hand?" Beca asked. The pair had since curled up together on the couch. Beca was busy working on new mixes for her DJing and Kommissar was offering her own input. Old ghost or not, music had always been something she enjoyed and even though DJing was relatively new to her, Kommissar admitted that Beca was not the only DJ to stay at this place and that was why Kommissar had some knowledge on the subject.
"There was another man a few years back, just as enthusiastic about DJing as you are now," she explained. "Originally, however, I hadn't taken too kindly to the art. Stylistically, it was not my type of music. The awful record scratching, the annoyingly repetitive beat was something foreign to me and I hated it! It was nothing like the music I listened to in my time."
"Which was what kind of music?" Beca asked curiously, keen on having at least a bit of insight to Kommissar. "And who was this man?" Beca asked next. It was curiosity and envy both that drove this question, Beca, being somewhat interested in the others who once lived here, but also mildly jealous that there should have ever been a time in which Kommissar had curled up beside another.
But Kommissar knew exactly what Beca was trying to do and only shook her head playfully. Beca huffed in annoyance but didn't push further, choosing instead to turn back to her work.
"You know I'll take the credit for I must have made you come to me somehow," she muttered as she continued to mix track after track. Kommissar only let out another gentle huff of laughter.
"Libeling, I do not mind if you take all the credit, so long as you allow someone with actual talent to supervise," she said.
"Hey!" Beca snapped indignantly. "Just because you're a flawless German goddess doesn't mean you get to act like you're so much better than me, even though you are!" she cried. There was perfect silence between the two before Beca slapped her forehead. "Aww man! I did it again!"
"That you did, Tiny Maus." Kommissar replied in amusement, both of them referring to Beca's total inability to insult Kommissar. It had been one of the first things that attracted Kommissar to Beca.
See, Beca had moved into this rundown apartment not long after its previous inhabitants fled. They fled because Kommissar had scared them off. Why? She found them far too loud, rude and misogynistic. It didn't take much work for her to send them running for the hills with their tails between their legs. All she needed to do was scream a little and dance at the edges of their vision until they were thoroughly convinced that they were going insane.
But scarcely had she been allowed to enjoy the peace of an empty room again when Beca moved in. Initially, Kommissar had been so irritated by this that she went to Beca with every intent to scare her off, but when she made her first appearance, Beca was so awestruck by Kommissar that all she could do was accidently compliment the ghost. Suffice to say, Kommissar had been a little more than surprised at this type of reaction. Usually when she appeared to her unwitting roommates, they either screamed or passed her off as a hallucination. Never once had any of them every said:
"You are physically flawless!"
Except Beca. But from that first accidental, awestruck compliment, Kommissar was just as smitten. She was intrigued by the girl who was unafraid of her, despite her being nearly six feet of muscles and ferocity and a ghost, to top it off. Kommissar then spent the next week or so trying to frighten Beca only for Beca to become flustered instead, sputtering compliments about her gorgeous, flawless figure every time. By the end of that week, Kommissar was so amused by it all that she decided to allow Beca to stay and she never haunted the girl out of malice again. The rest was history.
A couple hours later, it was time for bed. For Beca, at least. For Kommissar, however, sleep wasn't necessary. Instead, she only watched as Beca put up her mixes and got ready for bed, turning away only when a blushing Beca requested that Kommissar not look as she changed out of her clothes. Then, as Beca curled up on her bed, she looked up at the dark outline of her friend.
"Please try to close the curtains when you leave at night, or I'll have to find someone else to stay and warm me," she joked. This was in reference to that first night when Kommissar tried to scare Beca by coming to her in the middle of the night. After Beca had uttered those fateful words, Kommissar backed up and vanished right through the window from which she had come. It had been the first time Kommissar ever retreated from anything. Now, she couldn't actually leave the building, but she could travel room to room and explore the grounds. She had spent the rest of the night on the grounds, wondering why this tiny maus was so unafraid.
"Don't worry, Maus, I don't intend to ever allow anyone else to warm this bed," Kommissar grinned down at Beca before sliding into the empty space Beca had left for her and kissing her as she did so.
"Good," Beca said. "Because I wouldn't really have anyone anyway. I mean, I would call Chloe because she's actually visiting Germany right now, but she's a huge blanket hog!" Beca cringed as she recalled every night she was forced to bed with the bubbly ginger. Although Beca loved Chloe dearly, Chloe was far too hyper for someone like Beca and she did have that awful habit of rolling around so much in her sleep that she ended up cocooned in all the blankets while Beca was left to shiver.
"Will you always attend my midnight tea parties as long as I set your place?" Beca yawned as sleep overcame her, turning her serious questions into silly ones. This was in reference to the many midnight adventures Beca and Kommissar had shared over the past six months. "And if one day your sugar sits untouched, will you have gone forever?" she asked.
"Do not worry, Maus," Kommissar replied, curling her misty figure around Beca. "I do not ever intend to leave you," she promised. Then Beca fell asleep and Kommissar stayed by her side the whole night just like she promised.
The next morning, however, Kommissar took leave of her living friend while her living friend got ready for school. As she finished up, she couldn't help but ask the absent ghost several more questions.
"Would you miss me in a thousand years when you will dry another's tears?" she asked. This was her biggest fear. She wouldn't be here forever, so what would happen when she moved back out? Would Kommissar forget about her? She didn't think she could bear the thought! But before the girl could muse any further about her ghostly friend and lover, her phone went off. She was going to be late for school! She ran out the apartment without a second look back.
Later that evening, however, Beca was back and as was Kommissar.
"Might I ask who you are dressing up for, Maus? Is it a suitor? Should I be jealous?" the ghost asked as Beca pulled out a fancy dress.
"Don't be silly!" Beca snorted. "It's just some stupid dinner the school is having and I have to go because, as a foreign exchange student, I apparently speak for the whole country now and of course the snobby old men running the show want me, a smarty pants, to come and speak their praises!" she added in disgust. "I'd much rather dine with you!" she said, turning to the ghost longingly.
"You say you'll never leave me," she said. "And I wonder if you'll have the decency to pass through my wall to the next room while I dress for dinner?" she added, blushing suddenly. Kommissar wanted to stay and laugh but she respected Beca's wishes and floated away while Beca hastily pulled on the uncomfortable dress and strapped on some heels and garish jewelry. She had a feeling that this dinner was going to suck.
She was right. The room and the food was lovely, but the company was not. The whole room was full of snobs, whether they be arrogant young scholars bragging of their own intelligence or the old fuddy duddies who funded this crap. They were equally boring and boastful, praising their own cleverness at starting this exchange program while the students kissed up to them like dogs. It was sickening to watch and Beca's longing for Kommissar doubled.
"When I'm stuck in conversation with stuffed shirts whose adoration hurts my ears, where are you then?" she pleaded as those students tried to sweep her off of her feet. What they didn't know was that Beca had no problem with kneeing them in the groin if they came too close. "Can't you cut in when I dance with other men? It's too late not to interfere with my life you've already made me a most unsuitable wife for any man who wants to be the first his bride has slept with!" she cried, laughing slightly as she said this. As modest as she was, Beca was no virgin. Not after meeting Kommissar.
Luckily, Beca was able to get out of the dinner early. She sped all the way home and cried out in relief as she stripped down and cleaned all the sticky makeup off her face. It was so liberating to be in comfy PJs now. The only problem was that Kommissar had gone again. And Beca knew that she wasn't just hanging around using her invisibility power because even though Kommissar was "unseeable" all the time, Beca had learned how to sense her presence. Right now, the room felt too cold and empty. Kommissar was not there. But where had she gone? Where could a ghost go?
"You can't just fly into people's bedrooms then expect them to calmly wave goodbye!" she cried. "You've changed the course of history and didn't even try! So where are you now?" she asked. "Are you standing behind me, taking my hand?" she turned around even though she knew full well that Kommissar wasn't really there. She still called out to her lover though. "Come and remind me who you are!" she said. "Have you traveled far? Are you made of stardust too? Are the angels or demons after you? Tell me what I am to do!" it was just so confusing and Kommissar was so very mysterious. Beca had no idea what to make of her and even though Kommissar never answered any of her questions anyway, the young woman couldn't help but think that merely having the ghost back would be enough. Seriously, she was dead! Where did she disappear off to? Was she visiting the afterlife? Was she simply ceasing her own existence for awhile? Were there other ghosts she was communing with?
Beca finally just shook her head. These were questions for another day. No matter how urgently she wanted the answers, they would only come with time.
"But until then, I'll save your side of the bed," she sighed. "Just come and sing me to sleep…" then she curled up under her covers and shut her eyes. Awhile later, just before she drifted off, she was sure she could hear a soft voice singing her a German lullaby.
AN: Inspired by the Emilie Autumn poem "Ghost". The story is that Kommissar was an aspiring singer when WWII got in the way of things and she chose to enlist in the army instead, ultimately ranking in as a kommissar. She is killed towards the end of the war and her spirit resides over the place that used to be her music school. It has since been built into a hotel where she has met and either befriended or haunted many inhabitants through the years, Beca being the most recent. Since Beca is American, Kommissar hides her past out of shame and that's why she's so secretive and mysterious.
