Sorry for the late update, had exams and shit coming up so yea.

Chapter V

Polly was making her way towards school and her mind was preoccupied with the talk she had with Alex this morning. She grew very attached to her ghost neighbor this past month, she got so used to spending time with him and his happy go attitude that this morning was quite a shock to her seeing him so down. As time went on they started to learn things about each other however they never really talked about their tragic pasts. As she was walking, she couldn't help but wonder what happened to him on that day which was 1st October 2015. All Polly knew about Alex's past was the fact that he grew up with mostly his sister and mother and that he was a college student at some point in time but due to his father's death he as well as his sister were forced to find jobs relatively early. Whatever may be the reason for his death, Polly was sure that she will be there for him and listen to him, she wanted to get closer to him, mostly because Alex was the only person Polly truly felt romantic towards, of course she had one-night stands and a lot of experience but none of them had any real value, it was mostly for the sake of lust and boredom.

Polly arrived in the classroom and mentally facepalmed, she totally forgot that she had a exam today in the subject called ambush finance. She looked over at her friends and was quite amused to see them moderately annoyed at the piece of paper in front of them. Vera was doing the exam with ease which was no surprise considering she had a hunch for anything money related especially if it had something to do with violence. Brian was easily struggling and was looking for ways to cheat, it was no surprise considering his attuited, he was lazy and laid back so naturally he said fuck it and decided to cheat off from Liam's exam. While on the topic of Liam, he along with few people was on top of the class, since he was super old and experienced things like this didn't faze him at all. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about Damien since Polly threw a glance at him and he was furiously burning the exam paper and much to Damien's annoyance the teacher kept replacing his paper which caused others to laugh.

Miranda was not worried since she has private tutors and furthermore, she could buy her way out anyway, as for the rest of the class people were doing fine. Polly was struggling since she didn't study too much and besides, she had other things to worry about anyway.

After finishing the exam Polly and rest of her friends namely Damien, Liam, Vera, Miranda and Brian were making their way towards the cafeteria to eat. During the lunchbreak some random dude started throwing food around which caused the whole cafeteria to have a food fight. Polly was always the number one person to enjoy random shit like this, but she just wasn't feeling it today, her mind was still wondering about her potential ghost boyfriend back home. Couple of her friends noticed that she was a little out of it, spacing out quick each time someone would start a conversation, so they asked her what's wrong. Polly chose to remain quiet about Alex, it would be wrong of her to talk about his personal problems to other, however Brian was the first to notice that Alex was absent, this wasn't that much of a surprise since there were days that the ghost decided to not show up at school, however what was weird is the fact that he didn't show up to the lunchbreak.

"Hey Polly, where's Alex, it's really weird that he didn't show up here at least to chill with us." Brian said lazily.

"Yeah, I just noticed he was absent as well." Liam said.

All of the eyes were on Polly, since she was unofficially his girlfriend and they spent most of the time together. Polly decided to lie and say he wasn't in the mood, though technically she wasn't lying since Alex was literally not in the mood, but it was more than that.

"He didn't feel like coming today." Polly told them quickly while looking at her phone and avoiding eye contact.

"Riiight." Brian said skeptically.

Everyone knew Polly was lying but none of them wanted to press the issue further, who were they to say anything anyway, most of them were skipping class themselves. Soon the group of friends left the cafeteria and decided to go to the outdoors to see what was happening. As they figured there was a party, and the DJ was blasting some good ass music and everyone decided rather then to get bored to death in class they will party out here instead. Polly was enjoying her time but she was still wondering how her neighbor was, it felt weird for her to dance and party while he was home hurting. After 20 minutes or so Polly decided to skip the rest of the school day and head home and find Alex, she knew there was no point being at class or with her friends if she couldn't even concrete when someone was talking to her. She started flying through the crowd to find her friends and let them know that she's leaving, Polly figured it would be better to tell them then for them to figure it out on their own, she didn't want to ditch them without saying anything, that wasn't cool at all. Most of her friends were confused but shrugged, it was unlike her but it wasn't the time and place for them to question her, most of her friends only nodded while Miranda and Liam were somewhat interested and concerned, they never saw their ghost friend this uninterested before, anyone who knew Polly knew that she was the heart of the party and was the loudest person in the whole school, seeing her this quiet and lost was something none of them were prepared to see today. Soon after saying goodbye to her friends, she made her way towards her apartment. Polly decided to take a quick shower and change clothes before talking with her neighbor aka her soon to be boyfriend.

After exiting the shower, she chose to wear a simple purple t shirt with gray shorts and slippers. She begat levitating and slowly making her way in Alex's home, she spotted him watching TV and he looked like he was on another planet, the way he stared at the TV was really fascinating, Polly could swear she never saw anyone look so uninterested in her damn life, it appears that Alex was watching some dumbass action movie, you know, the ones that don't really carry any weight with story or whatsoever, the ones that you watch because you're bored out of your fucking mind. She deiced to speak up softly so she doesn't freak Alex out, being ghosts they both could just enter each other's homes with ease but they both decided to at least be respectful about it and announce each other beforehand, because randomly appearing in someone's house without their knowledge is not fun or it can lead to very awkward situations in the very least.

"Alex." Polly said in soft voice, hoping to get his attention.

"Hey Polly, you're surprisingly early."

Alex said in a very strange voice, it's like he was both bored and happy at the same time, which was understandable, it seemed like he was going through a mini depression, everything he enjoyed doing felt unsatisfying for him on this particular day, he couldn't even bother to get stoned and play video games or watch any meaningful shows or anything. Everything felt boring to him or rather he TRIED to go through this day in a semi normal way but everything he did kind of brought him back to those damn memories of him. As time went on, he remembered less and less about the details regarding that night or rather those few days of confusion and anger that he felt after he found out he was murdered and was so unfortunate to still walk the earth. However, some memories were harder than others, Alex knew for sure that even if 1000 years passes, he'll still be able to remember the man he murdered, John Lacey. Even today couple of years after that night, Alex couldn't help but to wonder if he did the right thing, now being older and wiser and looking at the things from a different perspective, Alex concluded that he was rather selfish and cold blooded during that period, especially since his actions affected others, he most certainly ruined and traumatized John's family, particularly John's daughter, a little girl that was probably no older than 9 years old. This sickened Alex to some degree, however he kept telling himself that it was justified due to the pain his own family went through, it was just a never ending cycle of pain and hatred caused by a shit world where you needed to hurt another person so you could save the ones that are precious to you. So, all in all, there were no winners here, two innocent people died and their families suffered a big loss, it was a truly lose-lose scenario.

Clearing his thoughts a little bit, his mind wondered to the last month of his life or rather the afterlife, he could really say for the first time since his death that he was truly satisfied with where he ended up, this city was nice, he made new friends and educated himself with subjects and ideas that could make a normal human question their sanity, but the biggest thing he found noteworthy in all of this was the very same girl that was right now in front of him, Polina Geist aka his neighbor, potential girlfriend and as well as best friend. Alex wasn't stupid he was very well aware of his feelings for the girl and vice versa. He knew she felt the same way, both of them never admitted it out loud however they both got the same idea through subtle actions, these were small gestures and traditions they made along they way, like smoking weed before bed, having coffee early in the morning together, going to parties, doing dumb shit with their friends. All of these actions were the result of them becoming closer together, and they both knew someday very soon they'll end up together, they are just waiting for a right time and place to make it official. Alex's train of thoughts immediately stopped as he heard Polly's voice.

"Yeah, school was boring today really, we had an exam too tho it wasn't really hard but I just couldn't concentrate."

Polly said in her usual voice, Alex just sighed because he assumed that he was the reason she was so deconcentrated today, he hated when others hurt because of his actions, still Alex knew that if he chose to remain silent about this day to Polly he would suffered more than this, it was truly a blessing to have someone listen to your problems and help you thought them, not a lot of people have that luck, some even take it for granted unfortunately.

"I know I'm the reason you felt like this today, I'm sorry Polly." Alex spoke apologetically to Polly.

"Don't worry about it, it was just a stupid exam from ambush finance."

She spoke while laughing. Alex was glad to hear that despite everything going on, she was still able to laugh and ease up the atmosphere. Before Alex could say anything, Polly continued talking.

"Are you ready to talk to me about your past, I understand if you need some more time, like I said I'll be waiting."

Polly said while smiling at him and patting his back.

"Thanks Polly, and to answer your question, yes I'm ready to talk about it, tho maybe we should do it at night, ya know it's more atmospheric that way, it would feel weird talking about something like that during daytime with all the noise and stuff."

Alex finished while chuckling a bit, he loved how Polly managed to make him feel at ease so effortlessly, he swore that girl was a godsend. Alex looked at her and she was smiling which meant she would agree to his proposition.

"Sure, sounds like a plan, should we get some drinks too, maybe something to smoke up too, cause why the hell not?" Polly asked.

"You read my mind girl."

Alex replied while slightly smirking at her which in return caused Polly to smirk as well. It was amazing how easily they were able to read each other, they both guessed the reason for it was the fact they spent a vast majority of the last month together, even when they were not in school they chilled at their apartments doing random shit.

After their little talk both ghosts decided to kill some time watching tv, after a couple of hours Polly decided to take a nap in her apartment while Alex was getting them something to drink for tonight.

Alex found himself in a store and was quite amusingly choosing what to drink, Alex himself loved the vast majority of alcoholic drinks, he had all the time in the world to try every last one of them anyway.

He settled on buying a red wine and a bottle of Johnny Walker , he also bought cigarettes for himself and as well for mixing them with weed tonight. He quickly returned home and noted that he still had a couple of hours to burn before they met up at their usual stop, the balcony or terrace whatever the fuck you want to call it. Alex settled on playing some video games for the time.

As Alex was finishing playing his game he looked over at the window and observed that I was night time, it was around 10 PM. He quickly went to the kitchen to get his drinks and glasses so they could start the deep conversation they planned on having. After getting all the necessary supplies he quickly found himself at the balcony and Polly was already there waiting for him. They decided to ease up in the conversation by talking about usual stuff they were always talked about before diving in the serious shit.

After half of hour of so Polly decided to break the ice and asked Alex if he was ready to tell his story and he only nodded in response. But before he began talking, he decided to roll up a joint to make the atmosphere feel more relaxed and easy considering he still found talking about this specific topic quite challenging despite him being the confident individual he is.

He began his story from the start, talking about his family and childhood, he told Polly how he terribly loved his family, and that his old man was like a hero to him, he began saying how his father was a hard working man that did all he could in his power to make sure his children's wishes were fulfilled, Alex also started talking how his father worked as a team leader for a programming firm. Alex also revealed that his father had a respectable pay and that they lived quite securely. Alex they began talking about a specific unfortunate event, that all changed as one day his old man was diagnosed with a serious illness, he said that his father was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 48. Alex began talking about how this affected his family. His family mainly his mother and his twin sister did everything in their power to help his father and to provide the income for all their basics such as food, rent, medication etc. Alex began talking how he and his twin sister Lucy were forced to get jobs almost immediately, they were both 20 at the time still attending university, so they had a tough time doing both the studying and working. Alex quickly skipped to the point where after 6 months fighting leukemia, their father passed away and they were forced to change their lifestyle, Alex said that he then found a new job that was paying faintly better, he began talking about how he was an assistant manager in a small time firm while his sister worked as a chef in a well performing restaurant. The ghost began saying that things started to look nicer for their family however the problem was all that came with a price of their time and exhaustion.

After stopping to drink some more and smoke he noticed that Polly had a very sad look on her face, but Alex didn't want to stop talking, he though that it would be better off to say all in one go then have Polly question him and comfort him. Alex started telling Polly how he didn't have time for anything anymore because of his work during those days, him finding time to go to that gig with his friends that day was a rare occasion. Alex paused for a second and sighed and continued talking and saying how as more he grew up the more he understood his father and how hard it is to make a decent living, he then began to slightly tear up saying how he terribly missed his old man and would do anything to talk with him again, Polly noticed the pain in his eyes so she flew over to him and hugged him silently form behind, Alex appreciated this wholeheartedly, nevertheless he began talking again eager to get this off his chest.

Alex decided to start talking about his encounter with his killer, the one and only John Lacey. He began depicting the last minutes of his life that felt like hours really. Alex told Polly that he continued walking in the path towards his house, it was around 2 AM at the time and the temperature was quite icy and the fog also managed to get thicker, Alex said that it made him feel anxious particularly since then he was making his way through small back alleys that led to the main street at which his home was located. Alex began describing how he slowly walked through the fog and that he felt a chilling effect and a feeling of uncertainty hit him hard in the chest, he said that he kept glancing behind him as if he was expecting someone to follow him, he didn't see anything because the fog was so thick, he just kept walking quicker, hoping that his gut feeling was wrong this time.

Alex closed his eyes for a second because the next part of his story was quite brutal, but he swallowed hard and began saying how about a minute or so while walking in front of him he saw a figure emerging out of the fog. Alex then tried to describe John as best as possible so Polly could have a better understanding of the situation, Alex said it appeared to be a man in his late 40s, and from what he could see at the time, he looked homeless. Alex explained that the man had a creepy vibe to him, Alex said he kept his eyes on the man and he noticed that the homeless middle aged man had his hand grab something in his coat. Alex shivered at the memories as he was telling his story to Polly, he once again continued explaining how he was panicked but he knew running wasn't an option, that there were no space for him to avoid the man especially if he had opened fire on him, the only thing Alex could do during that time was continue moving forward and somehow get past him without getting himself killed, which ultimately happened anyway. He began saying that as he was getting closer to the man, he succeeded to make out how he looked more clearly, besides now years after all these events Alex could still not forget how John looked, he began describing John to Polly, Alex said that John had a gray beard, that he was bald and he looked like he didn't sleep for a long time. Alex once again found himself quiet for a couple of seconds, he still felt Polly hugging him from behind, he also felt her small breathing in his neck, to this day for Alex, it was still truly a horrific experience. Alex once again began explaining how John stopped in front of him and pulled out a gun from his coat and how he aimed at him, this was exactly what Alex was afraid of at the time, he knew he was going to get jumped one way or another by that homeless guy, but one question Alex still couldn't figure out was why did he have a gun, how did that even make sense. Alex then later learned that John was struggling financially yet he still had money to spare to buy a handgun and ammo.

Alex returned to his story, he said that he couldn't run past him, if he had tried to fight him he would die for sure, so in that moment what the hell was he supposed to do, he couldn't fist fight a guy that had a fucking gun, for all Alex knew then the gun could have been easily empty, but Alex didn't feel like taking a chance like that and risk dying ,no, Alex began describing how he decided to talk him down at least enough so he could come up with a better plan.

Alex then began recalling his conversation with John and he told Polly exact words that he and his attacker exchanged that moment. He also told Polly about the way his body and mind was acting at the time, he told her that his body was shaking and his mind was calculating hundreds of different scenarios that could happen at that time, Alex also mentioned that while observing John, the man that attacked him was on the verge of breaking down, his body was also shaking and he looked unsure how to proceed, Alex also strongly believed that he was under effects of some drugs seeing his appearance, he looked very out of it. Alex then began telling Polly how he questioned the intent of the man in front of him and as Alex suspected at the time, John was trying to rob him. Alex then told Polly that John ordered him to hand over his belongings mainly his golden watch that his father left him as well as his wallet.

Polly honestly felt so heartbroken to hear this part of the story, the thing she hated the most was the fact that she couldn't do anything to ease up her neighbors pain. She could only stay in silence and listen to Alex tell her this in a tough voice, the voice that was so painful to listen to. Alex then progressed to talk about how John was equally forced into the whole situation, Alex noted that John explicitly said to him the following words "Please I don't want to do this anymore then you do boy". Polly just remained silent while hearing this, she felt awful listening to this especially as she noted that both of them, Alex and the person that attacked him were victims of the terrible world they once lived in.

Alex then started explaining to Polly that he was in no position to try and fight John, he had a gun that would undeniably hit him if the tried anything considering they were literally few feet apart from one another. So the only thing Alex could do at that moment was hand over his things to John, Alex they started describing how he tried to approach the said man, he firstly announced that he was about to make his way towards him because he didn't want to freak the man out even more then he already was. What followed next was something that even to this day years after his death, Alex could not still figure out. A sudden sound of trash bags was heard which in return caused paranoid John to blindly and thoughtlessly open fire on Alex, killing him instantly.

Alex stopped talking for a few seconds and turned around to see Polly crying behind him, he didn't say anything since no words needed to be said, he only hugged her back and they stood still like that for what seemed to be like a eternity.

Polly was the first one to break the silence, she looked up at Alex while wiping away tears that formed in her eyes, she then began talking.

"Thank you for telling me this, I know how hard it must've been for you, and I'm so sorry you had to go through such an awful fucking experience."

Polly told him in a concerning voice and Alex only nodded and weakly smiled in return before he began talking again.

"That's not the whole story I'm afraid." Alex said while sighing, which caused Polly to be confused.

"What happened next, do you want to talk about it?" Polly said in a soft and quiet voice.

"There are things I want to keep to myself only, I'm sure you understand, but I'll tell you that those days after I found out I was still doomed to walk this earth as a ghost were one of the most painful days ever, seeing my family so heartbroken, my friends and co-workers too. I didn't show up to my own fucking funeral, I just couldn't withstand to look at everyone crying their eyes out for me."

Alex sighed once again as he finished telling this but before Polly could interrupt him, he quickly began talking again.

"That's not the worst part at all Polly. The worst part is that I was so angry and obsessed with hatred that I felt towards the man that killed me to that point I hunted him down and planned to take avenge upon him."

Alex paused for a second and began shaking slightly as the images of killing John occupied his mind, Polly noticed that Alex became uncomfortable, so she held his hand for support which in return caused Alex to feel at ease a bit, nevertheless he continued talking in a shaking voice.

"I k-killed him Polly, I c-choked him to death. He had a family, a wife and a little girl, but I still did it, I was so angry at the time and confused and I believed that my actions were justified due to the fact that he made my family and loved ones suffer, I was just returning the favor, eye for an eye, but now I doubt if I did the right thing, I should've been a better man and move on and accept it without making further harm, now his wife is a widow and their daughter lost a father."

Alex said this in a distraught sounding voice. Polly only remained silent for a couple of minutes trying to process the information and pain that Alex tried to deliver to her. She herself was debating whether Alex's choice was acceptable, she however concluded that there was no right answer here and that no one was truly to blame, they were both hurt individuals doing what they were forced to.

"It's not your fault Alex, what you did maybe wasn't the most morale thing to do, but there was nothing else you could do, I can't even imagine what you must be going through dude, but know that I'll be here for you and so will the rest of our friends."

Polly said reassuringly to him which caused Alex to smile in return and embrace her much to her surprise.

"Thanks for being with me through this, sorry if I'm acting weird, maybe it's the alcohol or weed but I hope you know how much I apricate all that you did for me up until now Polly."

"You're welcome and you know I'll do anything for you, besides you're my favorite cool neighbor." Polly said while laughing, hoping to make the atmosphere more relaxed.

"Damn, I didn't think it was this late, it's 3 AM now." Alex said this in a surprise tone while glancing at his phone.

"You feel like going to sleep?" Polly asked Alex.

"Nah, you?" Alex returned the question.

"Nah." Polly just said.

Both of them stayed in silence for a couple of minutes looking at the view of the city from their balconies, everything was dark, all of the residents of the city for the most part went to sleep and the streets were quiet, no one was walking through the park at night as well, it's nothing strange considering that this day was in middle of the work week, if it were a weekend then people would stay up late and walk the streets, now it was kind of quiet and peaceful. Alex was the first one to break the silence.

"Do you want to have a sleepover, we both don't feel like sleeping anyway, we could play some games or talk more."

Alex asked Polly in a calm voice, a sleepover was nothing unusual for the two of them, for the past month they spent a lot of nights together, surprisingly as carefree as they were, they never rushed things when it came to dating or even sex for that matter, as they both saw it, it was only the matter of time before they got together and one thing's for sure, this night was defiantly the one that made them even more close than they ever were.

For the next few hours, the soon to be couple were playing video games and drinking more booze and just did all stupid shit they could think of, the atmosphere really turned from serious to goofy. It was a good night for both of them, not only did Alex manage to talk to her about the most troubling part of his life or rather the end of his life but they also despite the seriousness managed to have some fun as well. At one point during their sleepover they were just laying on the sofa together drinking whiskey and they got so comfortable with each other to the point that were almost ready to jump one another in a sexy way, but for whatever reason they decided against it, they probably thought that there were bound to be more appropriate times for that occasion. Alex and Polly also figured to spend the next day home too, they really didn't feel like going to school. Around 8 in the morning of so Polly figured to go back to her apartment next door, but Alex only playfully pulled her back on the sofa and asked her if she wanted to sleep here in his place, because in all honestly if they spent all this time together there was no point of splitting away now, Polly only laughed at Alex while he was holding her close to him on the sofa, Polly loved moments like this, they were acting like a couple already and they both knew it, and soon the duo went to Alex's bedroom to sleep, they quickly feel asleep thanks to being stoned out of their minds, Alex only wrapped his hands around Polly and they both enjoyed each others company and they quickly drifted off to sleep and just like that the most painful day in Alex's afterlife turned to one of his most precious days thanks to his favorite girlfriend neighbor.