The Ghastly

Sansa Stark saw ghosts.

She didn't know exactly why she could see ghosts. She'd seen them for as long as she could remember. Seeing people that no others could, hearing them, even able to touch them if they would allow her. Her parents thought she was insane. The therapist said that it was imaginary friends, a normal part of childhood.

You couldn't touch the imaginary.

They were everywhere. Not as populous as the living, no, but there were many. Sansa would see a sidewalk and think it was crowded and then half of the people would pass straight through her. She grew used to it eventually. People would avoid her if they needed to. It was better they swerve around her than for them to see her swerving around an invisible spirit.

They didn't look any different than the living. Most were in their mid-twenties or thirties, always resetting to their prime age, and always wore the same clothes as the day they died. Some would have bloody clothes, some would have a hole through their head, she'd even seen a ghost with a machete straight through their chest. Most were just normal people. Usually alone, but occasionally in pairs or trios. She'd seen two friends gossiping about the cutest boys from the 1920s, men talking about wars from as far back as the Revolutionary as if they were going on now.

It was crazy. Insane. But it was also really fucking cool.

Most of them ignored her. To them, she was just another human, blind to the ghosts of the dead wandering around them. But she wasn't. They would walk through her without paying attention to the side glances she gave them over her shoulder. It got annoying, but somehow it was better that way. She could be publically alone if she wanted to. She'd done it before; go to a place where only the dead reside. It was almost a relief.

At least, until her.

She had to be the most stubborn spirit ever. The most stubborn person ever, probably. This girl was almost too much.

Her name was Daenerys. And she died at eighteen.

"Hey." Sansa heard it. It came from behind her, with the slight reverb that always accompanied the voice of spirits. She ignored it. It wasn't likely she was being spoken to. She never was. Especially not while she was standing in her backyard watching her little brothers play. "Hey, can you hear me? I thought you could hear us. Or, at least, see us. I don't know."

Sansa turned around. "Are you talking to me?"

"Of course, dumbass." The spirit was a young girl with a black leather jacket, white, flowing t-shirt, tight black leggings, and combat boots. Her hair was a beautiful silver and done up in intricate braids that looked a bit frizzed up at the ends. All in all, she was beautiful. Except for the bruises. They were scattered across her exposed arms, blues and purples. She had a large one over her left cheek and her neck was entirely purple. Sansa couldn't help but stare.

The girl didn't seem too bothered. "Hey. Eyes up here." Sansa tore her eyes away from the damage to meet the emotionless eyes of the spirit. "You can obviously see me and hear me. What's your name?"

Sansa hesitated. "How do I know you're a good spirit?"
The girl snorted. "I won't murder you, if that's what you're asking. I just want a favor."

Sansa raised an eyebrow. "A… favor?"

"Yeah."

Sansa was genuinely curious now. "What is it?"

"I want to live again."

Sansa covered her mouth to keep her laughter back. "Excuse me?"
She looked dead serious. "You heard me."

Sansa was grinning now. "I don't think you understand how death works."

The girl groaned. "I understand perfectly. I just think I wasn't meant to die yet."

"Oh, really? Then why are you dead?"

The girl pursed her lips. "Because there was a mistake."

Sansa snorted. "Was your death not dramatic enough for you?"

"No, my death was too early. No one should die at eighteen, much less by- how I did."

Sansa raised an eyebrow. "And how did you die?"

"None of your business.

"You're asking me to bring you back to life. I think it is my business."

The girl scowled. "You're even less helpful than I thought you would be."

"Whatever."

Rickon skid to a stop beside her, tugging on her shirt. "Sansa, can we play with the dogs?"

"Sure." She shot the spirit a hard look. "You'd better leave before they're back."

The girl smirked. "Sure, whatever you say." Then she was gone.

Sansa didn't like the way she said that.

Frustration

That goddamn spirit just wouldn't leave her alone.

Being only seventeen, Sansa still had school. It was the third period, her English class, and the teacher was at the front giving a lecture about how to format an expository essay when the book sitting on her desk began to slide toward the edge and then fell off with a loud thump. The girl sitting closest yelped and scooted her chair back and everyone stared at the fallen object.

A spirit shimmered to life beside the desk, looking quite smug. Sansa cursed internally. It was the same exact one that had pestered her a few days back. She coughed into her fist to gather attention. "Can I, uh, go to the bathroom?" The teacher nodded, composing herself and reaching down to pick up the book. The spirit grabbed the book before she could and set it right where it used to be. Sansa sent a harsh glance toward her as she slipped out of the room.

The spirit appeared in front of her right as she closed the door and Sansa swore she almost punched her in the face. "Who the hell do you think you are?" She hissed. "You can't just do that in front of my entire class."

The spirit said nothing, only narrowing her eyes at her. Finally, she said: "Daenerys."

Sansa was taken aback. "What?"

"You asked who I thought I was. Well, there you go."

"You weren't supposed to take that literally," Sansa sighed. "Daenerys, why did you have to do that in front of my entire class?"

Daenerys shrugged. "I thought it would be fun."

"Fun? You freaked them out!"
"Exactly. Fun."

Sansa groaned. "Why must you be like this? Can't you just leave me alone?"

"Listen, witch, you're my only hope at life. No, I'm not going to leave you alone."

Sansa felt insulted. "Witch?"

Daenerys shrugged. "I don't know your name and your power is sort of magical. Witchy."

Sansa rolled her eyes. "You could've just asked my name, but okay. I'm Sansa."

"Sansa." Daenerys's face curled into a lazy smile. "I'm sure you'll be of help to me soon."

"I will not!"
"Sure, sure." She flickered out of existence. Sansa took a deep breath and re-entered the classroom.

It only took her a few hours to come back.

"For the last time, I can't help you!" Sansa snapped, pacing back and forth in her room. Daenerys had draped herself across her bed and was now relaxing against the pillows. "I don't know how to bring you back to life! Even if I did know, I wouldn't!"

"That's incredibly rude. How could you say such a thing?"

"Oh my fucking gods," Sansa collapsed into her desk chair and put her head in her hands. "Can you just leave me alone already?"

"If you give me what I want."

Sansa felt like screaming. "I've told you so many times, I can't help you! What don't you understand about that?"
"I mean, you know how to talk to me. How'd you figure that out?"

"You sound just like a human. I don't need to drink a potion or whatever you think I do to talk to you."

"So no witch. Sad."

Sansa stood up. "Get out."

Daenerys made a pouty face. "Already? I just got here?"

"Yeah, that's how goddamn annoying you are. Leave."

Daenerys rolled her eyes and disappeared.

Unseen

"How did they do that?"

"What?" Sansa turned around to see Daenerys standing beside her bed, fixated on the TV. There was some stupid show called Game of Thrones on with dragons and zombies and shit. "What do you mean?"

"That dragon? How did they do that?"

Sansa furrowed her eyebrows. "It's CGI. They made it on a computer."

"Computers? You mean those things that engineers use?"

Sansa was incredibly confused now. "Most people have computers now."

Daenerys's eyes widened. "But they're so expensive!"
"They're only a few hundred dollars each."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I have one on my desk over there."

Daenerys didn't even bother to walk the short distance, teleporting right beside it. She probed at the laptop. "This thing?"

"Uh, yeah."

"But it has no screen."

Sansa walked over and opened it up, hitting the power button. Daenerys gasped as the screen flickered to life. "That's amazing!"

"Well, yeah. It's no different than a phone."

Daenerys looked at her weirdly. "But phones don't have screens." Sansa grabbed her phone off her nightstand and turned it on. Daenerys looked like she was about to faint. "But- how?"

Sansa just sighed. "So you didn't die recently, I guess."

Daenerys looked back up at her. "What year is it now?"

"2019."

Daenerys let out a long breath, her form flickering. "Holy shit."

"Definitely not recently." Sansa closed the computer. "So I'm guessing you've got questions?"

Daenerys gave her a long look before nodding. "A lot."

"Then we might as well sit back down."

Sansa sat back down against her pillows as Daenerys curled up at the foot of the bed. Sansa nodded to Daenerys to begin whenever.

She went straight for technology questions. "What all can your computer do?"

Sansa shrugged. "You can type up documents, you can play games, you can read, you can talk to your friends, you can even paint on them."

"How?"
"I'm not entirely sure, I don't paint. Or draw. But usually, they have a touch screen and a pen."

Daenerys furrowed her eyebrows. "Touch screen?"

"Yeah." Sansa turned on her phone and adjusted so Daenerys could see. She pressed her finger over the home button and it unlocked. Daenerys gasped. Sansa tapped on Google and typed up 'computers.' She opened the images and gave it to Daenerys to look at.

Daenerys carefully took the phone. "You can just… click on it?"

"Yeah." Sansa nodded toward the phone. "Swipe up."

Daenerys did as she asked and looked confused at nothing happened. "Should it do something?"
"I guess it doesn't pick up spirit fingerprints." Sansa swiped up and watched the images roll by. "It scrolls."

"Holy shit." Daenerys sat back. "The world really has grown."

Sansa crinkled her face. "Sort of?"

"Sort of?" Daenerys gave her a shocked face. "You kidding? This is amazing!"

"I mean, people thought we'd have self-driving cars by now. I mean, we sort of do, but they really only do auto park and other stuff that is usually pretty dangerous with the current models."

"Still!"

Sansa laughed, and for the first time found herself enjoying the company of this persistent ghost.