Ghosts Can Get Scared, Too: Part 2
"ICHIGO!"
'A…Alex?' The shriek that just reached his ears sent chills down his spine. Did that yell really come from her? No, there was no one way she would get scared to the point where it sounded like bloody murder… Unless…her fear of the dark was never outgrown, and she was still terrified of being alon—. "DAMMIT!" Ichigo bolted in the direction of the scream, using Alex's spiritual pressure as a guide.
How stupid and reckless could he be? Alex had even told him herself that it was his presence that gave her peace when in the dark. It was because of him that she no longer had a reason to fear it. And he just let her out of his sight…knowing full well that something could've happened to her. If anything did…he would truly never forgive himself for allowing any harm her way. But, even so, why did it matter to him this much? Wasn't she just a friend that he wanted to protect, just like the others? Why was it that Alex seemed more important than the others, even when she would usually get on his nerves?
Right now wasn't the time for questions, though, because Ichigo had to hurry and find her. She was calling him, and he just had to be so damn far away from her! 'Dammit, dammit, dammit! I swear, if those friggin' actors did something to her…'
"Please, help me!"
There it was again. Thankfully, though, it didn't sound as intense as before. Plus, she sounded pretty close… However, there were a few sobs that could be heard in her pleas, and sobbing could only mean that she was…
"I'll beat whoever did this into the ground!" Ichigo hissed through clenched teeth and narrowed, bronze eyes. Said orbs widened a bit at the sight of another up ahead before narrowing again, picking up speed as he grabbed the young man by the collar. "You!" his booming voice sent shivers down the poor boy's spine. "A girl dressed up as a Renaissance Ghost, where is she?"
"S-she ran off into the room right over there," he answered, pointing in that same direction with a shaky finger. "One minute, she was asking about how to get to the exit, then she's frozen like a statue, like she saw a ghost or something! She kept mumbling something about some guy wanting to kill her, saying, "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die!" I was only trying to help her, but she wouldn't listen and stormed off, crying and calling out someone's name."
Ichigo's eyes grew small in fear. He released his grip on the boy before dashing off to where he could sense Alex's spiritual pressure the strongest. He ended up in a guest bedroom, looking around left and right for the fear stricken girl. Quiet, muffled sounds of whimpering and sobbing could be heard coming from an antique wardrobe. Ichigo hurried over to it before swinging the doors open, finding a girl curled up in a ball as she held her head in her pulled up knees. She continued to cry while whispering Ichigo's name, desperately asking him to help her and not let her die. Just the mere sight of her brought both relief and guilt upon him. He was glad to see she was unharmed, but he bashed on himself for letting this happen at all.
To her know everything was all right now, Ichigo quietly whispered, "Alex…"
A head full of brown and white streaks of hair shot up to see who had said her name. Her eyes were probably the most liveliest he had ever seen. Rivulets of tears streamed down her cheeks as they took off some of the white make-up, but she didn't care about the costume anymore. She was overjoyed to see Ichigo, standing right there in front of her as he had rushed over to rescue her. "I…Ichigo…" Slowly did her body uncurl from its previous position, while her arms would reach up and eventually wrap themselves around him. Alex buried her face in his neck, holding him even tighter. "I'm sorry, Ichigo… I'm sorry I got mad at you… I'm sorry I just walked off like that… I-I'm so sorry…"
Ichigo did nothing but embrace her, never wanting to let her go in fear that she would leave his sight yet a second time. Closing his eyes, he decided after a while later to pull back and wiped away the tears that stained Alex's face. How he hated seeing her like this, like the time in the rain when Rukia left for the Soul Society… "Are you all right?"
A meek nod was Alex's reply. "Y-yeah, I'm fine… I guess I'm not completely over my phobia just yet…" she tried to smile sheepishly, trying to ease the tense mood.
He played along but just had to shake his head at her while quietly chuckling at how reckless she could be at times. "Guess not… Hey," Ichigo started, grabbing Alex's attention, "why don't we get outta here, grab Rukia, then go trick-or-treat—wah!"
"Really? You seriously mean it?" she said while hugging him again. Just like that, she was like a child on Christmas morning, as bouncy and bubbly as ever. This brought a warm smile to Ichigo's lips.
"Just don't eat all the candy at once. I wouldn't want to see a full-blown, hyper version of you anytime soon."
"Yeah, yeah, just get me out of this wardrobe," Alex said, rolling her eyes at him with a smile.
Ichigo gladly obliged and carefully took her out the piece of furniture before gently setting her down on the floor. Soon after, though, she felt light-headed and could barely stand. Thankfully, Ichigo was able to keep her up. She chuckled meekly before thanking him. "Sorry about that. I guess that scare took its toll on my body… I'll try to be more careful from here on out."
"You sure?" Ichigo wanted to make sure of this as he kept his hold on her, keeping her steady on her feet. "I wouldn't want you actually turning into a ghost."
"I'm not sick, ya know," she looked at him through a comical, blank stare. "I was just shaken up, is all."
He returned her stare with one of slight annoyance. "Calm down, I'm just being concerned about your well-being."
"Okay, and? That doesn't mean you gotta treat me like I just got some kind of fatal illness!"
"Well, excuse me for being worried about you!"
"I didn't ask for you to be worried!"
Things were apparently going back to normal. And, just as Ichigo promised, after exiting the haunted house attraction, they found Rukia—who had happened to be carrying around at least five, giant, stuffed bunny rabbits from different booths—and headed for many neighborhoods with lots of treats. Along the way, they had even ran into Orihime, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo. Orihime was a sort of pumpkin spirit, Tatsuki was a cat, Mizuiro dressed up as a policeman, and Keigo as a mummy. When they were all done for the night, considering their bags were quite full, Uryu and Chad tagged along, with the former as Dracula and the latter as his casual self.
Once the whole gang was there, Alex had an idea. "Well, since I know some of you were hoping for a Halloween Bash…why don't we throw one of our own? Just our own little party of nine? We'll even watch some scary movies!"
"Yeah! Party, party!" Keigo started to chant as the rest of their group nodded in excitement.
As they headed for Alex's house, they stopped at a supermarket and movie store to rent a few movies and buy some food for their small party. Once there, Keigo eagerly searched for a radio to play any Halloween stations on that night. Almost everyone got into the music. Of course, being the kind of person he was, Ichigo stayed back and watched in the sidelines. And, knowing Alex, she dragged him out on the dance floor against his will.
The dancing went on for quite a while. Afterwards, they would simply enjoy the music while chatting with one another. Nearly all of them, save for Ichigo and Rukia, asked if she was supposed to be a sorrowful ghost. At first, she questioned why they thought this. She then remembered what happened at the haunted house, and that she had cried. Apparently, the black from around her eyes got mixed in with the tears and covered up where the white make-up was. Alex would simply smile and nod, saying that it was exactly what it appeared to be.
Off to the side, Ichigo would overhear these conversations, building up the guilt he felt when he found her in the wardrobe, crying and calling out for him to save her… He clenched his fist at the image in his head, pushing it away from his mind, so he wouldn't spoil his friends' party.
Both the chatting and music went off as it was late enough to watch the movies they picked up. One of them was a classic, the second pretty cheesy (which made it funny), and the last one truly frightening, even making Chad jump once! One could tell it was that scary if something like that happened.
One glance at the clock told everyone that it was time to head on home and call it a night. Everyone had said their goodbyes, making sure not to forget their bags of candy on the way out. Some of them offered to return the movies on their way home, but Alex insisted that she would take care of that the following morning. But, since it was Tatsuki and Orihime, she couldn't say no. After the last goodbye/good night was said, Alex closed her front door with a tiresome sigh escaping her.
It was pretty quiet in the Rosewood Manor. Rosa was out with a few of her friends at a costume party, and her mother and father were out trick-or-treating with Botania. So, she was pretty much alone…
The spade-shaped locket that never came off her neck emitted a faint, blue glow. Alex reached up to gently touch it, feeling its warmth pass on to her. 'Ichigo…' A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts, wondering who it was as she turned around to answer it. Opening the door, dark eyebrows went up in surprise to see the person she was just thinking about outside. "H…Hey…" She tried her dear best to suppress a blush from showing on her still white cheeks.
"Hey…" Ichigo replied, for some reason in a nervous manner. He scratched the back of his head while staring off to the side. "Is it if okay I stay over for the night? You know, just to make sure you're all right after the whole "haunted house" incident…"
Green eyes blinked a few times to register what was happening. Was he really that worried about her? Is that what the locket was responding to…? "Sure," she answered, allowing him to come in. A smirk then found its way on her lips as she realized something else. "I don't think that's the only reason why you're here, now is it?"
A flashing sign appeared over Ichigo's head as he knew he was found out. A sweat drop rolled down the back of his head as he said, "Can you blame me for not knowing how to get this stuff off?"
Alex chuckled at him, smiling as she shook her head and motioned for him to follow her upstairs.
Ichigo let out a heavy exhale of breath as he plopped down on his friend's comfortable bed. It was like lying down on hundreds of pillows. No wonder why she would sometimes be late coming to school in the morning… He was glad to finally get all that make-up and whatnot off. Because he didn't bring any with him, Alex was nice enough to let him borrow some of her dad's old clothes for the night. "Thanks again, for getting the stuff of me and for letting me wear your old man's clothes." Said articles were a black T-shirt and gray pants.
"Don't mention it." Alex exited her bathroom whilst drying her damp hair, wearing a red, long-sleeve shirt and long, black shorts for bed. "You can keep them, if you want, though. They're too small on him."
"Oh! Thanks…"
"Hm?" Looking over at him, Alex noticed something off about him. As expected, she saw that he was mentally beating himself up about the whole haunted house ordeal again… She bore a saddened kind of look while sighing and heading over to lie down in her bed next to him. Don't get the wrong idea, now. He was only making sure she would sleep soundly without any nightmares. "Ichigo, it's not your fault, so quit telling yourself that, all right?"
His brown eyes were filled with guilt and regret as they rose and looked into green ones. "I let you out of my sight…made you angry with me…then I bring back your worst, childhood nightmare. How could I not think about it being my fault?" he argued, quietly at first.
"Ichigo—."
"I made you cry, Alex! How the hell am I supposed to deal with that being on my conscious from now on? I can't forgive myself for letting something like that happen, let out alone ask for your forgiveness…"
Alex's eyes softened as they lowered. Closing them momentarily, she reopened them before going over to bring him into a hug. The action surprised Ichigo by the looks of his widened eyes. They soon relax as he snaked his arms around her small figure, compared to his, bringing her closer to him.
"…Sometimes," she began, "you have to think about the good that came out of situations like this. For instance, I didn't pass out like I thought would happen from past experiences, and it's because you were there to keep me conscious. Another thing, I'm alive. That is because you came for me, doing everything in your power to find me and make sure nothing and no one hurt me… And for that, I'm grateful." Pulling away, her eyes met with his again, a smile on her face. "Isn't that enough to be happy about and not sulk over?"
Ichigo didn't know what to say, or at least how to respond at all. He could only stare into her glistening emeralds as they were so close to each other… A chuckle then vibrated from his throat as his lips formed into a small smile of his own. "Yeah… I guess you're right about that."
"See? Now that wasn't so hard to realize."
"Whatever," he laughed, lying back down on the bed. "Let's just get some sleep, all right?"
Alex nodded happily. However, something important was nearly forgotten, which showed in her facial expression. "Oh, wait! I almost forgot!" She quickly got out of bed and hurried over to her bedroom window, opening up the curtains to reveal the star filled, night sky above. Shutting her eyes close, her lips parted open to sing her most treasured lullaby to ward away the nightmares she used to get every night. All the while, Ichigo was comforted by her soft, gentle voice. And like that, he was out like a light!
She returned to bed minutes after he was fast asleep. Shaking her head at him, she then climbed in from her side, getting comfortable next to him as he slept soundly. Emerald eyes tiredly close for the night as Alex's breathing slowed to a relaxing level. Not too long afterwards, she felt a pair of strong arms pull in her toward something warm. Alex cracked open a single eye to see that it was Ichigo as she felt him breathe in her hair. All this soothed her to the point where she practically forgotten why she had shed tears earlier that evening…
As the two slept, the spade in between them acted as a beacon of a faint light, responding to what they both felt at the moment…
End.
