1Ok, I am so bad. I am so, so sorry! Oh my gosh I never intended to go this long without updating! Life just took over- I'm a freshman in college now. Ha, yeah let's not go there. 'Stressed out' might as well be my middle name.
Well I had some free time today and instead of doing research for my final paper, I decided to write the rest of this chapter. Mind you, it's not up to my best quality (I actually am usually a pretty good writer, especially if you ask my English professor) but I just wrote for the sake of writing and enjoying it. Not my best work and I bet there are mistakes everywhere, but I just wanted to get it up on the site so you can read it! It's a little bit longer than the first chapter too, as an apology. So please accept my apology in this form, and I hope it's not too bad.
Enjoy and I hope everyone in the US had a happy Thanksgiving!
Oh and I gotta say...(Yes We Can!!! =D) teehee
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it. Or Casper would be human.
Yep, it's still Friday. December 8th , 1999.
Sigh.
Yes, another sigh. Followed by another. Kat was starting to become annoyed with herself. Seriously, when did she, of all people, lead such a boring life. She freaking lived with ghosts; it's practically forbidden to feel boring in such circumstances. Or it should be at the very least.
When Kat opened the door to Whipstaff Manor, everything seemed in place. There was that same, vague musty scent in the air that existed no matter how times James Harvey used the latest Plug-it in. The same cobwebs that Kat endured a screaming match over with Stretch; they made her sneeze everytime she walked by yet she couldn't dust them away because Stretch was friends with them. Don't ask Kat; if you do, she'd just tell you these misty jerks were nothing but the figments of a bad imagination gone wrong when Dad hadn't stopped her from having imaginary friends until the age of 9. Yep, totally his fault.
But really. Everything was just as it had always been to the naked eye, but Kat had rapidly developed an eagle eye since living at the manor. You just didn't go around the place naively. And that is precisely why she noticed the silence. Total, eerie silence. And it sent a shiver of fear down Kat's spine.
"You'd think living with ghosts would be enough to send me over the edge with fright. But no, I'm scared shitless because the ghosts are quiet...just as dead people should be. I make no sense," Kat muttered to herself on the way to the kitchen. "Casper! I'm home! Do you want to-Casper? Casper, I told you, it's not fair when you go invisible on me!" She threw herself into a chair at the table and ripped her gloves off, pouting. How pathetic was it when her best friends were out on their one year anniversary and her she was pouting because a ghost was hiding from her. Kat Harvey was lame. With capital letters. Bah.
Tapping her fingers against the table's surface Kat huffed angrily and then laughed at herself derisively. What was she doing? This was a total waste of time! Obviously she was alone in an incredible house, and that hadn't happened in years. No really, Kat could not remember the last time she had actually been alone and while that is good and all for some people, this teenage girl had felt like exploding for some time. She could visit Casper's old playroom, look through the family library, maybe even take a shower without Casper sneaking a peek (he really was becoming quite the rascal! Thinking he was so clever but she saw him and decided to take revenge by moaning "Oh Casper!" Needless to say if a ghost could blush, Casper would have been redder than red when she met him later on downstairs cheerfully). Or maybe a nap; now would be the appropriate time. But alas, she was Kat Harvey, and did not have quite the reputation of doing the proper thing.
Grabbing a cookie Kat bounded out of the kitchen and made her way into the library, one of her old time favorite haunts in the entire house. The first year of living at the manor Kat had practically lived solely in the library itself. An avid reader, Kat had been thrilled to find old editions of novels such as "Vanity Fair" and "Gone With The Wind." Such days that she could spend endless hours reading were long since gone; that was what high school did to you.
"This is so weird...no wonder people get freaked out by this house. I'm freaked out right now." To be sure, there was nothing to worry about at the moment. But the memory of people who lived out their lives in both happy and sad times lingered on and touched each room. Kat smiled sadly at a low shelf in the corner of the room, dedicated to children's stories. Casper's old story books had long been pushed to the side in an attempt to downsize the misery, and Kat never had the courage to approach them. She could, however, picture the little boy Casper crowing with joy as he learned to read on his own, with his parents offering happy praise. God, she had to stop. Forcing herself to remember why she had come in, Kat sunk into a old-fashioned, deep cushioned chair right by the lamp-stand. The third Harry Potter sat just where she had left it the week before. Surely it was easy reading, but that was part of the story's charm, no?
Sure enough, within no time at all Kat fell into a deep sleep. The end of a very busy week makes for a very tired high school senior, and it is never a mystery when they end up sleeping the entire afternoon away. For all her naps in school, Kat never felt quite caught up on sleep and as she was wont to do, ended up dreaming of Casper. This would have irked Kat if only she had been conscious...
Kat remembered when she had first become aware of Casper's tendency to be a peeping Tom whenever she took a shower. It wasn't clear just how long he'd been at it, but she caught him nevertheless. Just a few weeks after last year's Halloween party with the...interesting interaction they'd had. So of course, things were awkward; Casper was moody and Kat was jumpy. It was starting to look like nothing would return to their standard of normal when Kat had come home after a trying night at work and decided to treat herself to a long, hot bath...
James Harvey had made an effort to update certain parts of the manor and Kat's bathroom was one of them. She was now the happy owner of a jacuzzi bathtub and would sometimes disappear into the bathroom for hours if she could find a good book to occupy herself with. This night had been one of those nights, and the bathroom got particularly steamy on this occasion. In fact, it still surprised Kat that she ever even saw Casper; he had really almost blended in with all the steam. But there he was, visible in the corner of her eye, staring at her like there was no one else on the earth. Now, Kat wasn't sure if she should be flattered or horrified. She already knew that he wanted her; that much was evident on Halloween. And she knew that sentiment was reciprocated on her part, so could she really get mad? "Yes and no," Kat told herself, "but I can get even."
Maybe it wasn't the most tactful tactic, given their history, but Kat couldn't think about that at the moment. So she just threw her head back and let out a long moan, "Oh Casper," she said softly enough that the sound wouldn't travel too far, but loud enough for Casper to notice. A telltale swishing sounded and Casper disappeared the minute Kat lay her eyes on him. And as soon as she was certain she was alone, Kat burst out laughing. Oh but she was mean!...
"Kat?...Kat? You're laughing through your nose again and you'll choke. I can't do CPR if you haven't noticed." Suddenly there was a cool breeze on Kat's face and her eyes shot open as she jumped up. Did she fall asleep in class again? Wait, no...it was the weekend! Right. Hm, Casper, speak of the devil.
"Ah so you're finally talking to me again, are you?" Kat questioned, a bit testy. It was true though; Casper hadn't said so much as "Good morning," and "Goodnight," to her for the past week. A girl could only take so much moping from the friendly ghost that they secretly adored, and Kat reached her limit on day one. Thankfully, Casper had the grace to look sheepish.
"Sorry, it's just the time of year. Most beings get more cheerful as Christmas draws near, but I find it more depressing than being dead. I'm pretty weird, huh?" Casper tried to crack a joke and funnily enough, it actually did make Kat smile. He talked of being depressed but looked a million times happier than he had for the past two weeks. Even a little mischievous...could be cause for suspicion...
She couldn't put a finger on it and continued to look at Casper, obviously bemused and unaware of his uncomfortable yet intense stare in return. "Umm, can you stop staring at me? I'm just a big white blob; nothing unusual in your life," he chirped. Kat blinked rapidly and shook her head, laughing. "Very funny mister! But to start with, you've been pulling a regular disappearing act for the last week or so; I must get myself reacquainted with your 'big white blobness', so to speak. And you do look different...in fact you look longer! Casper what happened?! You're almost as long as Stretch!" It was true; Casper was no longer short and round. If it was possible for a ghost to do so it had happened; Casper had filled out, growing much longer. But he was still the same friendly ghost.
Casper looked at Kat, perplexed, then gazed down at his misty figure to find that he had indeed, sprouted. There was a minute of silence and then Casper shrugged as he looked back at Kat with the expression that told Kat he was about to go into one of his weird ghosty stories.
"Oh, yeah. Well, last year after the events of the uh, Halloween party I had to go with my uncles to a ghosts Halloween party; it's tradition every year to go! They're great!...but anyway. This will sound so corny, but there are ghost elders; ghosts who have been around for centuries. They are sort of like leaders for us, they provide guidance for us younger ones. But I get along real well with one of them, Reginald, and he tricked me into talking about you. I'll cut the whole story short; because of what happened between you and I, I'm starting to, well, grow. It's been in minuscule amounts this past year until these last couple of weeks where, as you can evidently see, I've grown a lot longer. It's weird, but good. Stretch can't beat me up as easily now!"
Kat just stared at him incredulously. "Ghosts have Halloween parties? That is so not Hollywood; all the ghosts in movies take out their misery on living people by scaring the crap out of them, there's no celebrating being undead. Just how much of a ghostly culture is there?"
Casper sighed. "Is that really all you got out of the story?
She giggled. "Of course not. I just love giving you a hard time, you know that! But that doesn't make any sense, why would you have grown just because of Halloween? It's not as if we..you know..." Went all the way she finished in her head. Well this was awkward; there had not been a single, direct conversation with Casper that involved this rather touchy subject in over a year. Kat had finally given up venturing toward the topic on the occasion that Casper glowered at her. There was nothing frightening about Casper whatsoever until he delivered one of those looks and it made Kat question why the thought of living with ghosts didn't send her quavering under her bed. So for him to bring it up even indirectly was a surprise. It had been even longer since Casper had stared so intently into Kat's eyes, as though he could look straight into her soul. Kat forgot how to breathe as she blushed due to the intensity of his gaze.
The sound of a clatter broke the stillness and both looked around in wonder, then resigned amusement as the cackles of Casper's uncles sounded ever closer. The conversation Kat so wanted to have would evidently have to be put off once again. It was especially frustrating that Kat could blush so profusely because of a ghost who was once a man that made Kat want to do inappropriate things that would give her father heart failure if he only knew and that said ghost could render her speechless with a simple look.
***
It had been a very long day, Kat realized very suddenly as she hung up the phone from a long talk with Laurie. Certainly the day had dragged itself out needlessly. After her very important conversation with Casper was interrupted, every minute had taken its time in passing, or so it felt to her. Dinner had been a loud, noisy affair just as it always was at the big weekend dinner before they all went off to do their own things. Stinky had accidentally set himself off and killed the already bad pasta salad James Harvey had attempted to make in the latest round of his hobbies: cooking. They changed from year to year. One year it had even been knitting. As it was December, James' cooking would soon end. That was something to be grateful for on Christmas.
The whole evening had irritated her though. Kat had wanted nothing more than to go to bed since the moment dinner was over, but it was not to be. Almost immediately following dinner Kat had been challenged to a snowball fight and if it were not for Casper she would have had to go it alone. But for Kat Casper had given up his dislike of the winter weather to team up with her and send the mad trio flying into the distance. As soon as it was over though Casper zoomed off, gasping offhandedly that he was in a bit of pain and that he'd return shortly. Kat had shrugged and gone up to her number one favorite place in the house; her bathtub.
Nothing like a nice, long, hot bubble bath to soothe the day away. Amelia had always said this when Kat was growing up. Every winter on a snowy day after they'd finished playing outside, Amelia would fill the tub to nearly the rims and then put in lavender scented bubbles mix. It was the exact scent of Amelia's perfume and so by the time Kat would finally emerge all prune-y from her bubbly haven, she would be comforted by the smell of her mother all around her. To this very day Kat always insisted on lavender scented bubbles and as Kat sank into the tub sighing with relief, she smiled at the memories of childhood. Settling in, she grabbed her Harry Potter book and settled in for relaxation.
Instead of reading though, Kat found herself thinking about Casper. Today had been a step in the right direction; he had broached the subject of last Halloween all on his own without any prompting on her part. Definite progress there, and there was no doubt that event was something they needed to discuss eventually. It was such a hard subject for them both, him especially. She knew Casper didn't think Kat took it as hard, but it sucked. A lot. That night a little over a year ago, Kat would have had no problem giving her virginity up to Casper; she honestly couldn't imagine there would ever be a person she'd want to share that moment with more. But stupid Casper had to go all noble-said it wouldn't be right, that she deserved better. So they'd ended up laying there talking softly until Kat fell asleep. Then when she woke up he was gone, without any sign of having ever been there.
It had been so awkward; she woke up late the following morning to find Casper in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for her. She hadn't been prepared for this kindness and tried to thank him, only to receive an apology for his actions before zooming off and leaving her to eat in confused silence. Kat'd had enough of that confused, awkward silence that was always there between them this past year, even when they both seemed at ease together. It was always there. Kat knew he was disappointed to find himself a ghost again- she didn't even know how he'd managed to become human again that night; it was just further proof of a lack of communication. And it annoyed the hell out of her.
She didn't know what it was, but Kat knew something in her had come to life that night. Casper had just had such a profound effect on her. It wasn't fair, the way he'd taken her by surprise. He was tall (definitely not fair), gorgeous, funny, courteous, and head over heels for her. Not to mention a damn good kisser. It would be fate's hand, of course, that he just couldn't stay human. "It's official. I've finally gone bonkers; I'm obsessed with a ghost," Kat declared to her audience of bubbles. They wouldn't question her.
It was a good thing that Laurie was sleeping over the next night; Laurie was a brilliant chemist and Kat was going to need all the help she could get in correctly creating the Lazarus formula. Casper's days as a ghost were numbered if she was going to have anything to do with it.
***
Kat shivered into consciousness. It was 2 am and having finally made her way into bed a few hours ago, she'd proceeded to fall asleep with her book on her face. Very hard for breathing, but mind you it was the cold that woke her. The wind blew harshly into her room and Kat sat up quickly. When had she opened the balcony doors? She loved fresh air as much as the next person, but she preferred to be able to feel her toes. Muttering to herself, Kat mustered her way out of bed and pulled on her sweatshirt from the floor before going to close the doors. Doing so she rubbed her arms and shivered again, looking outside. She didn't like sleeping alone Casper's room. Ever since last year she'd made that distinction; it was his room, not hers. It felt odd to be here without him now. But it was way too late for deep thoughts; sleep was supposed to be full of shallow and happy thoughts. Or it would be in a perfect world, Kat mused as she got back into bed, never noticing the lump under the covers. Curling up into herself, Kat tried to will herself back to sleep when she suddenly felt hot breath very close to the back of her neck. Oh God there was someone in her bed oh God oh God oh-
But before Kat could scream, strong arms curled around her waist before reaching up to clamp a hand over her mouth. A deep voice chuckled softly. "Are you always this jumpy when you're barely conscious? Or am I just lucky to have the excuse to get this close to you?"
Kat would recognize the mischievous timbre of that voice anywhere, even if she'd only heard it once before. Eyes wide she spun onto her back and stared at a human Casper incredulously, his blue eyes twinkling with laughter, before attempting to shout his name. She never got the chance though, because Casper hovered over her and kissed her deeply, apparently intent on showing her just how damn good a kisser he was.
A/N: Oh I'm evil to end on that kind of cliffhanger, huh? So...this story is starting to take a different shape than I'd intended. But I think it's a more of a twist than Kat just doing it all on her own and then her and Casper living happily ever after. But yes, Casper is a human right now; that was an idea I came up with just as I was writing it. I'm actually pleased with the chapter; it's a bit more of a filler chapter than anything in my opinion, but I still think some good stuff is going on. Again, I apologize for the long delay and I hope it isn't too bad. I haven't had the opportunity for creative writing in close to a year! So this was very refreshing.
Two things: Who wants to be awesome and help me come up with a list of ingredients for the Lazarus formula? I always like when other authors include their readers (I think it's a sign of appreciation) and you had great feedback on the first chapter and "Once Again," so any ideas would be very welcome! And 2) I kinda threw something out there about a ghosts' Halloween party. Would people be interested in reading a short companion piece dealing with that? I don't want to write it if there's no interest, but I am interested lol and curious to find out more about that myself.
So R+R and I PROMISE not to take so long on the next update. I am in fact writing out the plan for the next chapter before I pass out momentarily and will go from there.
