Ghost
When Fran went for his annual visit to his Grandmother, he wasn't expecting anything exciting to happen. Generally, he stayed for a week, ate bad cooking, was marginally more polite than normal, and left with a sense of relief. That was how it worked, it had happened like that every year since he was seven. He was not prepared for this routine to change.
So of course it did. Why should anything in his life be stable? He was greeted by his Grandmother as he walked through the door.
"Fran, sweetie! Your Aunt Anne-Sophie and your cousin Rene are visiting, come and say hello!" she called from the kitchen, sounding happier than Fran had ever heard. He supposed that he should feel bad that she never sounded so happy about seeing him. But he wasn't happy to see her, either, so it balanced out.
Besides, he had an Aunt? He had known intellectually that his Grandmother had children, because he existed, but to be confronted with proof was startling, and moderately disturbing. A blond, Japanese looking boy was sat on the sofa in the living room, next to a pretty blonde woman.
"Grandmother! My cousin has been replaced by a Japanese boy. Do you want me to drown him in the river for you?" Why was his cousin Japanese? Wasn't it enough that at least half the Italian Mafia was Japanese? Did it have to infect his own family as well?
"Don't be silly, Fran dear." Silly? That had been a perfectly genuine offer. Kind of. To be honest, he would probably have used his illusions to make the boy drown himself instead. Much more amusing, with less physical effort.
"Rene's father is Japanese, and he lives in Japan. He's just come for a visit," she explained.
The blonde woman smiled at him. "You must be Camille's son. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Her voice was quiet and whispery. So far Fran wasn't impressed. If he had to share the house with people while they visited, couldn't they at least be superheroes or something?
"What's your name?" Rene asked, smiling brightly. He looked so honest, it was disturbing.
"I'm Fran," he said. Obviously the idiot hadn't heard his Grandmother call him earlier.
"Fran wandered off when he was seven. Almost gave me a heart attack when he came back a year later, but since then he's come back for a week every year." Grandmother said that as if it was perfectly normal. Maybe he should introduce the fake-prince to her, next time he questioned whether his weirdness was genetic.
Rene looked worried. "What happened? Why did you vanish?"
"I drowned in the lake. I'm actually a ghost who is only able to interact with humans one week out of the year." Fran told the idiot.
"A ghost!" the boy squeaked, going pale.
Huh. He knew that it was hard to tell his joking voice from his sarcastic voice, his mocking voice, his teasing voice and his disinterested voice, but he couldn't believe the boy had taken him seriously.
He grinned. Well, kind of. His mouth twitched up a little. He would be able to have fun this week after all.