Ghost of the Past Chapter 2

Nothing really to say here. Enjoy the chapter.

"You're late, you two," Carla scolded Eren and Mikasa as they walked through the front door. Eren had bumped into Mikasa on his rapid sprint back to the house and literally dragged her back, afraid that the boy might be lurking somewhere near them. Had that really been the ghost?

It had to be, he told himself. The boy had appeared out of nowhere, and Eren was sure it was the one everyone talked about. He decided he should tell his parents about it and find out whether or not they believed them. Odds were: they wouldn't.

Carla ushered them into their seats at the dining table for lunch before closing the door and serving everyone. Grisha cast them a stern glance, probably noticing the sweat dripping down both of their faces as well as their disheveled hair.

"Have a little too much fun?" he asked them, eyeing Eren especially. Eren was still breathing heavily as Carla set his meal down carefully in front of him, revealing a ham and cheese sandwich with a glass of water; the usual.

Mikasa stayed quiet as she was also served and began to eat her lunch, obviously waiting for Eren to explain what had happened.

Between breaths, Eren managed to say, "I saw him."

"Saw who, dear?" Carla asked as she sat down next to Grisha.

"The ghost! He was right there in front of the grave!" The room fell silent. Mikasa put down her sandwich and stared intently at Eren, giving him her signature 'I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about-but-I'm-going-to-find-out' look.

Carla sighed. "I know that you may think that that old rumor is exciting, Eren, but I promise you there was no one there but Mikasa. It was probably just your imagination."

"It's true, I promise! He was right beside me by the two graves! He had big blue eyes, blonde hair, and—"

"That's enough talk about this 'ghost', Eren," Grisha interrupted. "He's not real. I know that you're just trying to cope with moving somewhere new again, but making up stories like this about seeing ghosts isn't okay. I want you to stop this nonsense right now," he commanded harshly.

Eren looked down at his food dejectedly, suddenly losing the appetite he had just gained. He muttered an "excuse me" and went upstairs into his room. He shouldn't have even bothered; it was obvious how that would have gone. The boy didn't even notice his sister until she knocked on the door a second after he had entered.

"What do you want, Mikasa?" he asked, letting himself fall onto the bed.

"Is it true? What you said about the ghost?" Mikasa replied, taking his question as an invitation in. Eren sat up just as fast as he had lied down.

"Are you calling me out on this too?"

"No, I'm just asking if it's true or not. I wasn't there so I wouldn't know."

Eren thought about what to say for a moment that would sound convincing enough for someone like Mikasa to believe. She couldn't be swayed easily; she would probably need hardcore proof that Eren had actually seen Armin. Or maybe she could just accept it this time around.

"Yeah, it's true," he said after some time.

"Then tell me what happened."

Eren explained how he met the figure right beside the graves after thinking he saw something out of the corner of his eye. After describing the mysterious person with as much detail as he could muster—which wasn't a lot since Eren couldn't get a proper look at him considering his image was very vague—Mikasa finally nodded slowly.

"So you believe me?" He asked, feeling a bit more hopeful.

"I guess you could say that," she responded, moving towards the books he had piled on his desk earlier. "Are you planning to read all of these?"

Eren nodded, joining her by them. "Yeah, they belong to Armin."

"Don't you mean 'belonged'?"

"Not anymore."


A week had passed since the incident by the grave, and Eren hadn't seen any more of whom he had been led to believe was Armin. Maybe it was just my imagination, he found himself thinking. He tried harder to convince himself that Armin was real, but found his hope dwindling. The more rational part of him always decided to remind him that he had only really been half-awake at the time and that he had been so desperate to see Armin that he just thought he had seen him.

But there wasn't any time for that this morning; he was starting school.

"Eren, Mikasa, are you ready?" Carla called from downstairs. Eren heard Mikasa's footsteps thumping down the stairs as she went down to meet their mom. He pulled on his normal boots and jumped down from his bed, nearly forgetting to grab his jacket from his desk chair before leaving his room.

"Eren!" Carla called again.

"Coming!"

Their house was about a mile and a half away from the school. Carla decided to walk with them to school the first day; then they were on their own.

After a good thirty minute walk, Carla waved goodbye to them as they stepped up to the school. It was bigger than most of the schools they had been in, except for the big city ones where there were many classes for the same age group. Here, they had been told, only had one class for each age group. Eren and Mikasa were both put in the eleven and twelve year old class with Ms. Hanji, whom was rumored to be a nutcase about science and learning.

As the pair walked into the class, Eren could already tell that certain groups had been established even if it was only a month into the school year.

In the front were the good girls; the ones who were quiet and rarely spoke or got in trouble. Annoying, as Eren would call them. In the middle were three rather scary looking kids that glared right at Eren and Mikasa as they walked in, along with some kids that were horsing around. And in the back, as always, were the kids that thought they were too cool for school.

Eren could tell immediately that he would not fit in with any of these crowds and that he should be rather thankful Mikasa was here with him. They took their seats in the back right corner of the room, getting mocking glances from the cool kid bunch a couple seats away from them that were oddly empty.

"Class, let's welcome our two newest students, Eren and Mikasa!" Ms. Hanji announced enthusiastically, gesturing for the two to stand up.

Eren grunted and complied, followed by slowly by Mikasa. He could tell that one of the boys in the middle of the popular group was eyeing her. He cast him a daring glance and looked forward again.

"Why don't you two come up and introduce yourselves?" Ms. Hanji said.

They walked up into the front of the class rather awkwardly; Eren bumping into one of the scary kid's desks as he walked past, earning him a glare from the short blonde girl who occupied it. After what seemed like forever, they finally made it to the front of the classroom where the teacher laid a hand on each of their shoulders, making Mikasa squirm uncomfortably. Eren knew she hated being touched by people she didn't know.

"Go ahead, state your names and two interesting things about each of you," she said.

Mikasa took the initiative and went first. "My name is Mikasa Ackerman. My favorite color is red and I love my family very much." Eren didn't miss the smirk that crept onto the boy whose stare followed his sister everywhere now. He had shaggy light brown hair and an irritating smirk.

"My name is Eren Jaeger. I'm a good runner and I—" Eren was cut off mid-sentence as something came into focus in his vision. At first, it was very blurry, but as he focused on it more, he could make out the outline of something. Or someone. "And I like to read," he finished quickly, walking at an abnormal speed back to his desk. Mikasa followed him at the same pace.

But before he could reach his desk, he stopped dead in his tracks. There was something sitting in the desk beside his, and it was becoming clearer what it was.

"Eren, what's wrong?" Mikasa questioned. She gave him a nudge. "Eren?"

The brunet realized he was making a scene and moved abruptly to his desk. Now the image was almost completely clear as if it were really there; a rather small, frail-looking boy reading a book right beside him. He hadn't been there before, Eren was sure of it. They had made sure they hadn't sat next to anybody. Mikasa eyed him strangely as he stared at the desk.

And then the boy looked up at him and Eren knew. Oh man, he knew. The same blond hair. The same translucent blue eyes. His eyes went wide as he realized who he was having a staring competition with.

"You're…" Eren stuttered.

"You can see me?" Armin whispered. Eren nodded, positive that it was Armin, mouth gaping.

"Eren, what are you doing?" Mikasa snapped beside him. Eren was indeed attracting attention. Some of the group closest to them snickered.

"Eren, is there something wrong?" Ms. Hanji said, noticing his strange behavior.

"He probably just pooped his pants and needs his sister to change them!" the light brown haired boy taunted.

Eren stood up immediately. "Shut your stupid horse-face!" He didn't know where the insult had come from, but it sounded pretty good. Maybe he would start calling him that from now on.

"Boys," their teacher warned. "Eren, sit back down. Jean, I don't want to hear another word from you." At that, Jean—the horse-face—rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat. The guy made Eren want to kill a man.

"Yes ma'am," he muttered quietly as he turned his head back to the front, trying his hardest to keep looking at the boy in his peripheral vision, but he didn't have to. Armin simply got up and sat in the desk ahead of Eren's and turned around.

"That was something," Armin said. "Can you hear me?" Eren nodded, not wanting to say anything to prevent getting called out again. The boy in front of him looked just as confused as Eren felt, if not more so. The brunet decided he needed to find out all about him.

Before he knew what he was doing, his hand shot up and he asked to use the restroom. Ms. Hanji nodded and instructed him where it was. As he walked out the door of the classroom he didn't miss the quiet laughter in the back of the room, infuriating him further. He turned down a different hallway and faced the ghost.

"Are you sure you see me?" Armin asked again.

"Yes, I'm sure! How else could I be talking to you if I couldn't?" Eren snapped back, being as loud as he dared. He realized he shouldn't have snapped; he was just annoyed from earlier.

Armin winced and took a step back, obviously hurt. "I'm sorry, it's just… I mean, I don't know. Do you know what I am?"

Eren hesitated before answering. "Are you a ghost?"

"I guess you could call me that; I don't really know what else I could be. My name is Armin Arlert. Your family moved into my house recently," he answered. Well that sealed the deal, Armin was the real thing. He didn't look very threatening for a dead person, though. Eren could tell he was very shy and would have been a target for bullies; somebody like him.

"Were you the one I saw at the grave on Saturday?" Eren asked, stepping a foot closer.

Armin nodded. "Yeah, I was afraid that you could see me because you were an exorcist or something and were here to send me down below," he said, pointing down at the floor.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Never mind," Armin said, looking away.

Eren didn't really know what to say; after all, he was talking to a dead boy. Did this mean he could see dead people? Was this some unfound power he never knew he had like the ones he pretended he had when he was a young child? Eren remembered how he used to love to pretend he could fly. In fact, he had loved doing that so much, he one time convinced himself he could and jumped out a tree, only to break his ankle from landing on it wrong.

Eren stretched a hand out carefully to the boy before him. His image was now clearer than it was before; it was like he was almost there. But no, he was still just a bit translucent and Eren could see the wooden floors of the hallway through him. His form seemed to constantly shimmer, threatening to take him away from the brunet's vision.

Armin extended his hand cautiously as well and grasped Eren's with full force.

"Ouch! Why are you gripping so hard?" Eren asked, pulling his hand back.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure if you would be able to feel anything," Armin replied, now nervously smiling. He scratched the back of his head.

"It's okay," Eren said to make him feel better. Silence. What was there to talk about? How long have you been dead? Aren't you supposed to be in heaven like the preachers say you should be? Did you do something bad? Luckily, Armin began to talk first.

"So I guess you're wondering if I'm a ghost why I'm in school and everything," he started. Eren figured this was a start. Nodding, he urged him to talk. Armin ran a hand through his ghostly hair. "I really like learning, as you can probably tell from the books in my room. I don't really have much to do now-a-days, it gets pretty lonely when no one can see or hear you, so every day that there's school I'll go in and sit down in my normal desk in the morning. They don't pray for me anymore, they stopped a pretty long time ago. I used to like to listen to those prayers and see what they would say about me, but it wasn't usually much. Just that they hoped I made it to the other side safely and all that. I had false hope that it would release me, but it never did."

"You mean you've been stuck here all this time, even though you're dead?" Eren asked. "I thought you were supposed to go to heaven when you died, not stay here…"

"Well, I thought so too. I don't really know what to think anymore; maybe every other person who's died is stuck here too because there really is no heaven or hell and I just can't see them."

The two boys stared at each other, trying to take in what had been said. So when I die, I'll end up like him? Going through my daily life as a ghost when no one else can see or hear me?

"I know you probably have a lot of questions to ask me, but we should probably get back to class. I wouldn't want to miss anything," Armin noted. "After all, it is your first day, too, right?"

Eren smiled slightly and agreed to go back only if he could write Armin notes and he would respond to them. Armin gladly agreed and led the way back to class. Meanwhile, Eren was thinking of everything he wanted to ask Armin.

"Eren, are you feeling okay?" Mikasa asked the brunet boy as he sat back down in his seat clumsily. She eyed the notebook he now clutched in his hands. They both sat still for a moment until Mrs. Hanji turned around, then his sister struck with full force.

"Hey, cut it out!" Eren whispered harshly as Mikasa tickled him. He heard a chuckle from behind him. The teacher was too busy writing things on the chalkboard up front to notice anything, but that didn't mean a couple of the kids around him didn't notice. The girl ended up being able to pry the notebook from Eren's iron grip and quickly sat on it. "Give it back!" he pouted.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong, can I have my notebook back now? We're starting class."

Mikasa sighed and seemed to think it over before she handed it back to him, muttering something about boys and how they were impossible to understand. Eren caught a glimpse of Armin smiling out of the corner of his eye.

"I wish I had a sister," he said. "I was an only child and my parents died when I was a little kid, so I was pretty much alone except for my grandfather."

Didn't you have any friends? Eren wrote on the first blank page of his notebook that he received from Mikasa. He instantly felt bad about the way he had worded it, but it was too late to erase it. He turned to see Armin shaking his head.

"No, just me. I wasn't exactly very popular, if you will. I was always the kid in the back of the classroom taking notes or reading," he sighed. Then, as if to take his mind off of his old life, Armin proceeded to begin naming people in the classroom.

"You see those three over there?" he said, looking over in the direction of the three kids Eren had bumped into earlier. "That's Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt. Those three like to keep to themselves. I was kind of friends with Annie last year, but not really. If you count a couple conversations as a friendship. Okay, strike that, we weren't friends."

Eren chuckled softly and tried to cover it up with a cough. Armin continued to name more people in the classroom; Sasha, Connie, Christa, Mina, Hannah, Franz, and more people Eren couldn't remember.

"And then there's Jean," Armin said with obvious distaste. "He's a real annoyance as you saw earlier. I wouldn't get involved with him. His best friend is Marco Bodt, who's actually a pretty nice guy. He would always apologize to me every time after Jean and the others were done picking on me. The girl is Ymir. Just another typical playground bully, though I'm pretty sure she has a soft side for Christa. The others are just the rest of his gang."

Eren didn't have a hard time imagining those guys bashing on a kid like Armin. The thought made him visibly angry. Armin noticed and made an effort to calm the young boy down. "It's okay, it's been a year now. It's not like they can really hurt me anymore."

But something about the way Armin said it made Eren even angrier. Gripping his pencil, he jotted down his next question in an effort to sooth his animosity. Where do you go after school?

Armin pondered for a moment. "It depends. Sometimes I go to the library, sometimes the woods, sometimes I go walking. There's one place I avoid at all costs, though—the new dessert shop. I can't stand walking by it and seeing all the stuff in the window. It's all too good."

Do you get hungry?

The blond shook his head. "Sometimes I get this hollow feeling where my stomach should be, but I wouldn't necessarily call it hunger. Even if it was, I wouldn't be able to eat anything anyways."

Eren went on to ask more questions, each more intriguing than the last. Armin never ate, never drank, never ate, and never got cold or hot despite his somewhat chilly aura he somehow emitted. As cruel as it sounded and as much as the boy fought the thought, he knew Armin had no place in the world anymore. It had moved on and left him stranded, taking away all of his humanly needs and leaving him alone.

The day went faster than Eren had ever expected. Soon enough, he was walking home with Mikasa and Armin, all of their hair being rustled by the wind. The wind somehow managed to sweep through Armin's thick, golden locks that touched his shoulders. He was reading while walking, brushing his bangs out of his eyes every now and then.

Eren found it amazing just to watch the ghost boy, wondered how he worked. He seemed human enough—the only thing that set him apart from the looks of someone alive was the fact that he was still partly see-through, even though he was becoming clearer and clearer to Eren with every passing hour.

"Eren," Mikasa said, "you've been acting strange today. Did you get enough rest?"

Eren turned away from Armin. "You're like Mom, Mikasa. Can't you just stop nagging me for one minute?"

A silence fell between them. The brunet heard Armin sigh from behind him, then felt a slightly cold, misty hand on his shoulder. "You know, Eren, you should be thankful you even had a mom to nag you. I can't tell you what I would have given for one moment of your life," he whispered.

With that, the ghost boy disappeared. Eren didn't even have to turn around to know he was gone. His presence had entirely vanished, leaving him with thoughts about what it would be like if his mom was taken before his very eyes.