Author's notes: I'm sorry, but this is the last chapter in this wonderful story. I hope it takes away the questions you might have, and I hope you like the ending. Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought about my writing. Enjoy!
Part VII
Everything was blackness. Soft, gentle blackness. She was warm and safe and she could stay here for as long as she liked. But no. Kat knew there was a reason she was lying here. It was something she didn't want to think about.
"Kat? Kat, wake up."
Someone was talking to her, stroking her cheeks, patting them lightly. Kat recognized that voice, and a memory started moving back in her mind. She'd been walking home. Someone had grabbed her just outside the front door. She'd been pulled into shadows. Someone had put a hand over her mouth and turned her around.
Kat suddenly opened her eyes. It hadn't been a dream. It had been Casper she'd been looking at. Casper as a human. And he was sitting on her bed, looking at her with eyes full of worry. Kat quickly closed her eyes again.
"I'm dreaming." she mumbled.
"No, you're not." Casper whispered. "You're just chocked."
He stroked her cheek again, but Kat pulled away to the other side of the bed and opened her eyes. Casper was looking at her, hurt, confused. Then he sighed, rose from the bed, walked over to the window and looked out.
"I guess you got quite a chock, seeing me like this." He turned around and looked at her. He looked older than at the party, but Kat couldn't understand how. In fact, she didn't understand how he could be standing here at all.
She looked into his eyes, pleading to her to forgive him, listen to him, understand him, and she drew a deep breath.
"Tell me your story, Casper. Make me understand."
And then he smiled. "It if was the last thing I'd ever do, I'd make you understand, Kat."
She thought he'd come over and sit beside her on the bed, but instead he just leaned against the wall and looked unseeingly out into the darkness.
"I guess I should begin this story after that party, when I didn't talk to you. I know you looked for me, and I heared everything you said to yourself that day, because I watched you, followed you around. But I was too ashamed to show myself. I hated the fact that I...was a ghost." Casper closed his eyes both in pain and embarrassment. "I locked myself in my room in the attic, and I convinced myself that you'd be better of without me." he continued with his eyes still shut. "I heared when you came looking for me, Kat, and I wanted to open the door, but I couldn't, wouldn't let myself. Instead I left you. I wanted to leave without you knowing it, but I couldn't help but go to your room. And you woke up, the one thing I didn't want to happen." He opened his eyes. "When you called for me, I wanted to go back, Kat, but I couldn't. I thought it'd be best for both of us if I just disappeared. So I did. I flew for days, nights, untill I realized I didn't want to run. Besides the fact that you were here, Whipstaff was the only home I'd ever known. I was, wether I wanted to know it or not, a ghost, and people were scared of me. At Whipstaff I was safe, I didn't have to hide, even though I wanted to." Casper stopped for a moment and went and sat down in a chair. "I'd only been gone a month and a half, but it seemed much more. You were on Christmas-vacation, and I once again followed you around the castle. You didn't seem to miss me at all, never going to the attic or the library, never doing any of the things we used to, never even thinking of me. I was about to leave again, but then I flew past your room one night, and I heared you cry. Quiet sobs in your pillow, calling my name. And I realized I couldn't leave. Ever."
Casper stopped talking and Kat knew there'd be more. Even so, she couldn't help but ask: "But where did you hide all this time?"
Casper started and looked at her as if he'd forgotten she was in the room. But then he continued his story.
"I found my peace in the laboratory. None of you guys ever came down there, I was left alone. I only came up to check on you, or to borrow books from library. The years passed, and you went to college. I never thought I'd see you again. But you came back, and you went up to the attic and found the photoalbum."
Kat gave loud gasp, and Casper smiled.
"Yes, I was up there. When I heared you approach, I quickly hid in a wardrobe, and from there I watched your every expression. And then I went down to the laboratory and lived on that memory for days...untill you came down yourself. I watched you from the shadows all the time, Kat. I saw you almost start to cry, and all the time I wondered what it was about. I saw you put a paper inside a book, and when you'd left, I checked it out." He shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose you can guess the rest."
Kat nodded slowly. "You found the recipe and made the Lazarus-liquid. And then you used the machine." She felt tears gather in her eyes. "And now you are telling me that all these years you've been in this house, that you've been watching me? And you never once told me, or showed yourself." The tears were now rolling down her cheeks. " Don't you know how much I missed you, Casper? You were my only friend, and you left me." Casper rose from the chair and walked towards her, but Kat pulled back towards the wall, and he stopped in the middle of the room. "No, Casper, don't touch me. You left me. You just walked out of here without caring about anyone but yourself. Not even me. Do you know how that felt?"
Casper walked towards her again and sat down on the bed. He reached out and took a hold of her wrists and pulled her into his arms. Kat tried to fight him, but he was much stronger, and her sobbing protests were silenced when she was pressed against him. She tried to get her arms free from his hold, but it was useless, and when he began to whisper calming words, her defences broke. She lent against him and cried, and he let go of her wrists and put his arms around her.
"Sch, Kat, don't cry. I'm sorry, so sorry." he whispered and kissed her cheek.
Kat slipped her arms around his waist, tears still rolling down her cheeks.
"Please, don't leave me again." she whispered with a thick voice.
Casper slipped a hand around her neck and buried his face in her hair.
"I love you, Kat." he mumbled.
Kat didn't say anything. She just held him close and placed a kiss on his throat.
After a while, Casper pulled away. He gently removed her hair from her face and looked into her eyes.
"Forgive me?" he asked.
Kat nodded and slowly laid back on the bed. Casper looked questioningly at her.
"Lay beside me, Casper." Kat said softly.
Casper smiled and laid beside her with one arm around her waist and the other under her head. Kat put her head on his shoulder and took his hand. She heared his breathing grow calmer, and she knew he was almost sleeping. She turned in his arms to look at him, and his grip around her tightened. Kat smiled. This must be a sweet, sweet dream, she thought. I'm lying here in Casper's arms. Can life ever be better? She leaned up and kissed his lips lightly. He stirred and opened his eyes. Kat smiled again.
"Can I keep you?" she whispered.
Casper looked confused for a moment, then he smiled and pulled her even closer.
"Forever, Kat. Forever."
And then he kissed her.
Later that night, Casper laid awake, looking at Kat. He'd watched her sleep, many times before, but now it was different, because she was sleeping in his arms. This was a dream he'd dreamed so many times before, when he was a ghost and thought that it'd never be more than a dream. But now it was reality, and he knew who he had to thank for that.
There were parts of his story he'd left out when he told Kat. Parts she wouldn't understand, even if there was a reasonable explanation. Parts he'd promised others he wouldn't tell anyone.
When Kat had come knocking on his door that day so many years ago, he hadn't been alone. Kat's mother, Amelia, had been there with him. She'd somehow found out about Casper's plans on leaving, and had tried to talk him out of it. But it hadn't worked. He'd left anyway. But he had come back, and Amelia had come to talk to him again. She'd said that she could make him a human again, for the rest of his life this time, not just for one night. But there'd been one condition. Casper would have to let Kat live her own life first, and not interfere or show himself in any way, and he would never be aloud to tell her the true story afterwards.
Casper had agreed. To be able to live with Kat for the rest of his life, he'd do the things Amelia asked of him.
So he had waited. For years that seemed an eternity, he'd waited for Kat to live her life. And finally the day had come when he'd been able to stand face to face with her, talk to her like a human being again. And things had turned out better than he'd hoped. As Casper looked down at Kat again, he wondered what he'd done to deserve this. And he also wondered what would happen next. He wanted nothing more than to marry Kat and to live with her for the rest of his life, but if he asked her to mary him, would she?
Casper saw a red light flicker outside the window, and he knew what that ment. He gently let go of Kat, kissing her forehead, and rose from the bed. He went out on the balcony, where Amelia was waiting.
"Are you happy now, Casper?" she smiled at him.
"Yes, thank you so much, Ameila."
"And remember what you promised me. You can't tell her, whatever happens."
Casper nodded. "But how come you could do this for me?"
Amelia smiled. "The ones in the place called Heaven, aren't as bad as they seem to be. One day, you'll understand." She stroked his cheek, and then she looked at the sleeping Kat on the bed. "You'll take care of my little girl now, won't you?"
"You know I will." Casper stayed on the balcony and watched Amelia as she disappeared, and then he went back inside again. He laid down beside Kat on the bed, and decided that, from now on, he'd live life one day at the time.
THE END
Author's notes: So, people that's it. No more Kat or Casper from me. Thanks so much for all the reviews, DecidingBetweenGhouls, Shades of Venom, jedijaina, Shychick, Cammi, you made me continue. I hope you liked my story, and if you want more, I have written another one, not Casper though.
Thanks once again, so much.
Love, Sofia
