Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Surprised?

A/N: Well, time to speed up some things here. Don't you agree?

My thanks and many sugar cookies to gamegirl07 for beta-reading this chapter.

The Ghost Beside Me

Chapter 7: Haunted

It could not be; he promised to himself not to talk about it again, yet he found himself talking about it. And at his own request. His curiosity had gotten the best of him once more.

It was the first time that Rusl mentioned anything about his past in front of him. The mention of his mother's name by the mustached man sounded weird; but at the same time it sounded natural, as if he was used to say that name.

Link stared blankly at his feet trying to conceal his thoughts from the man by his side. He caught Rusl looking at him with the corner of his eye. When he noticed he was staring at him, he broke eye contact immediately.

"Uli told you," Link stated.

"Yes."

Of course she told him. They were spouses after all; they can talk about anything.

"Link, sooner or later I was going to know about your visit to Uli some days ago." Rusl said after a moment of silence. "Please don't blame her."

"Wha-what? Blame her? No! But why? She did nothing to me." Link gasped. As much as he wanted to blame somebody for the bad mood he had endured for some days now, Rusl's wife was not to blame for anything in any way.

"She told me the news made you a little distracted. Now I mention it and I have to say that she was right. Your reaction now is no different." Rusl said.

Link closed his eyes. He inhaled as much air as he could through his runny nose. Now every one had noticed he was acting out of character. He needed to calm down before saying anything else.

"It's-" He sniffed and scratched his nose. "It's… Aw, I don't know what to say."

Rusl moved closer to him. He offered him a warm smile. "Look son, I know that this was not the best way to learn about your past, and I understand that you may feel confused about it. That is why I won't force you to talk about something that makes you feel so uncomfortable right now."

Link looked at him and listened.

"All she told you is the truth and it's real, but I am not telling you that you must believe it, Link. But, I must tell you only one thing: it is what you want it to be. We can tell you what we saw, but we cannot force you to accept it, since it is so attached to you in so many ways."

Rusl paused to see if any expression was shown on the young man's face. But he knew that Link - being Link – would not let his feelings be reflected on his face so easily.

"You just have to look deep inside your mind, Link. Only then, after all your doubts are gone and nothing else clouds your understanding, you will feel better."

Link was taken aback by his words. In all the years that Rusl had mentored him in language, battle and philosophy, nothing had struck him so hard than what he just said.

"I will pray for it to happen soon," Link said, and smiled a little.

Rusl smiled back and patted his shoulder slightly. By that time, his eyes itched and felt like they were burning. He rubbed them with both his hands.

Rusl sighed. "Now do me a favor, go to your house, drink your potions, and lay your head to rest would you?"

Link smiled a little. "I hate to admit it, but it's starting to sound like a good idea."

Link got up from his spot on the porch and said his good bye to Rusl.

"Do you need some company on your way home?" Rusl offered.

"Don't worry, I'm heading straight to my bed form here. I'm going nowhere else." Link assured him.

"I will be here if you need to talk, or anything for that matter. Uli is willing to help you too. You can always count on us."

"I know."

Link splashed some water over his face from a clay basin. It felt refreshing and brought some relief to his now firing eyes and cheeks. He watched his reflection in the mirror in front of him. He had to admit that he looked pale and sick. He just drank another sip from the bitter red potion, but this time it did little to his worsening condition. It made his throat feel better, but his headache continued to mount with each passing minute. He resolved that if he didn't feel better by the next morning, he would set his pride aside and ask Uli for some remedy, or Ilia for some more sweet tea.

His headache and weariness made his head heavy and too tired to think clearly, and for that he owed his cold. Once again his mood was dampened for the rest of the day by the mention of his mother and his past. It was too much for him. He felt so uncomfortable around that topic to the point that any conversations with him was destined to end up unpleasantly for everyone, and he couldn't let that happened. It wasn't his way to act with the world.

He knew that he needed to overcome those things because he couldn't let himself go ballistics to everyone that mention the word "mother" to him. But he didn't know how. Someone says that and his mind and understanding somehow closed shut to anyone around him. At least there were people who understood him, and those people would never turn their backs to him. But in his mind he knew that he was the one creating that wall of isolation and not anyone else. And so the task of bringing that wall down was his and his alone.

He grabbed a towel nearby and dried his face of the excess water. He took one more look in the mirror, and he saw that he was not alone.

He gasped when he saw a creature behind his mirror's reflection. The creature seemed to be a lot taller than him. An old and ratty cloak covered it from head to toe. There was no face inside his hood; it was black, hollow, and the only thing that protruded from it was two disgusting yellow orbs that resembled two eyes.

Link's heart pounded painfully in his chest, and the sudden burst of fear in his belly made it hard to breathe. The creature seemed to be staring at him intently in complete silence, and he felt like its eyes-orbs were burning his soul bit by bit.

He turned immediately to face the monster behind him, but no one was there. There was no trace of anyone being at his house and he felt no presence of anyone whatsoever. He was alone.

He turned again to the water basin and the mirror, panting. But there it was again, the same thing was still reflected in the mirror; its orbs never leaving Link's image. He looked again behind him, but nobody was with him. Nothing and no one was behind him. He stumbled back in a coughing fit hit him; if it wasn't for the night table behind him, he would have fallen down on his behind. But the fact that he stumbled into nobody behind him was scaring him even more.

The creature was still there, watching him from the mirror, unmoving. It was the scariest thing he'd ever saw. After he regained control of his breathing and his coughing stopped, he watched its appearance for some seconds until it was too much for his eyes and mind to endure. But then, he recognized the monster in front of him. He'd seen it before.

Two brilliant orbs floated where the eyes should be…

It had no face; it was a hollow, endless void beyond the hood…

They were frighteningly hypnotizing, and the boy wanted to look away, but he couldn't…

"No…" He muttered. He rubbed his eyes furiously; it was – it had to be – his imagination. He could not accept that, after pulling through so many difficult days, he was finally losing his mind.

It was the ghost from his nightmares.

Breathing heavily and head pounding, he stumbled forward until he was facing the mirror again. He paid no attention to his image, but to the monster there. The monster moved his head slightly but its gaze never left Link's direction, making another pang of fear to jump inside his chest. Link touched the mirror with a hand where the monster was. His hand only touched a hard, smooth surface. He then rubbed his hand across the surface, trying to erase the foul image.

But the ghost was there, out of his dreams and inside his mirror, inside his house. His sacred place.

"Who are you?" Link asked out of breath. He didn't mind if he sounded like a crazy boy because he wasn't. That thing was right in front of him and there was no one that could convince him otherwise. "Answer me!" He raised his voice as loud as his sore throat allowed him.

He heard nothing. His question was rewarded with silence.

The fear inside him was morphing slowly into frustration. This ghost, wherever it came from, was not showing any signs of menace to him. It looked like he was there to scare him, or to say something it had not said yet. Whatever the reason, Link did not welcome it, not in his nightmare and certainly not in the real world.

"What do you want from me?" Link asked the creature in the mirror. The ghost straightened up in its spot, but didn't say anything; not that it had a mouth to talk, but the silence reigning there was enough.

"You are not answering me," he whispered. "You are not answering me? Okay then."

He turned to the night table and grabbed and empty flower vase that stood there. He gripped it firmly and aimed to the mirror in the distance while muttering the same words over and over again. His sight was becoming blurry by moments and came back relatively clear. The mirror and the ghost inside seemed to move farther away from him by the second.

"Get out of my house." Link gave the ghost an ultimatum. The ghost remained unmoved by his threat. "Go away! You are not welcome here!"

It was then that the creature moved. It moved closer from inside the mirror. It looked like he was going to come out of it. It moved forward until its torso and hooded head filled the frame completely.

Link would not let that thing come closer to him. Summoning some strength to his weakening arms he threw the vase towards the upcoming creature. The vase, along with the mirror, exploded in pieces immediately. The blue and white ceramic pieces of the vase and the shards of the mirror fell noisily onto the floor.

Link approached the broken shards cautiously and looked over them. There was no creature to be seen there; just his boyish image was reflected a dozen times in the broken mirror pieces on the floor. He sighed wearily, now he had to clean up the new mess. But if breaking some of his belongings made the ghost to go away and his mind to fall into place, then it worth the panic tantrum.

A shiver ran down his neck. He felt some warm air kiss the back of his neck, making the short hairs from his arms to rise up. He brought a hand to his back neck and at the same time he turned, just to be faced by the nightmarish ghost.

He gasped once more at it, stumbling back and failing to keep his balance. He fell close to the mirror broken shards. He looked up. The ghost was looking at him but did not move an inch.

He did not let another wave of fear to engulf him again. Feeling dizzy, he stood up quickly and tackled the creature in front of him.

Or so he thought.

He felt forward, landing on his hands and feet. It was weird; he swore he had it right there, but he felt like he tackled – or touched - nothing at all.

He grunted as he stood up slowly, frowning at how heavy his limbs felt. He looked around wildly until he spotted the quiet yet menacing ghost figure. It was right behind him, standing over the broken mirror shards. If it had any feet, they were completely covered by its long cloak.

Link almost roared with fury when he threw himself into the monster again. When he reached it, the ghost disappeared from his sight, and Link forced himself to halt before colliding into the wall and table in front of him. He turned and immediately spotted the ghost once again. The hooded thing was standing near the door and was staring at him.

Frustration began to course through him. He watched as the creature stood nailed in place, unwilling to leave his spot. Link felt mocked and humiliated by the horrible uninvited guest. It was taunting him for no apparent reason. And if it wanted to play, he was in no mood to play along with him.

He had enough. He crouched and grabbed the largest mirror shard from the floor. It had a pointy end and sharp edges to use the piece as a knife-like weapon. He was breathing heavily; it was getting harder to breathe through his nose and a warm feeling ran through his bloodstream. He tried to dismiss it, but the effort was costing him some energy. He raised his hand and threw himself towards the creature once more. He brought the shard down with enough force to stab it. Link wanted it to be dead, to be gone.

But he stabbed nothing. Link saw in awe how his hand penetrated the ghost's body as if there was nothing but air in front of him. He felt no force or matter for his makeshift weapon to cut or stab. He stared at the shard; it was clean, no blood or any kind of fluid was covering the glass.

Link looked at the creature. He felt his yellow eyes staring at him, as if admiring the young man that lived there. His stare was burning him, but the same burning sensation gave some kind of warmth to the cold environment. Yet, he denied to think that whatever he was witnessing was a cruel joke made up by his own mind. He waved a hand through the thing's body, but touched nothing but air. He waved it a few times more but the results were the same. The ghost was there and not there at the same time; and the impossibility made him shiver from both cold and mounting panic.

No way. This is impossible…

"Wh-what… what are you…?" He managed to say, his uneasiness was reflected in his voice. "Just what-?"

Suddenly, the ghost made a step back, not turning its eyes from Link. Then another step back. Link frowned. He cautiously took a step closer to the ghost; the wooden floor creaked softly under his feet. But at the sound of it, the ghost turned its back violently at him and walked at an unnatural speed through the door…

…through the closed, locked door.

Link blinked and opened his eyes wide. He just saw a ghost, a real ghost. It had to be, there was no other credible explanation. It was the weirdest thing he'd ever experienced: he broke his mirror trying to get rid of the thing inside his house, yet it only took one step and a creaking sound to make it go away. And it must had been the one who left the water mess and the footprints on the floor earlier in the morning.

But… Do ghosts have feet? He thought as he scratched his head absently.

Either way, it was gone. Away from his house. He should be happy now that calm had returned to his home.

But he was not.

The ghost was gone, but it left leaving an uncomfortable aura about him. Link felt that the ghost was still there; not entirely with him but away from him. The sensation was making him feel somehow dirty. And that, mixed with his cold was too much to handle.

Rubbing his temple, he debated whether he should clean up the broken mirror and vase or to do it later and go to sleep. He exchanged looks from his bed to the mess on the floor. Then he looked at the closed door. He unlocked it and stood on the porch.

"Gods, it's cold." He thought aloud.

The light, cold breeze blew through the place. The seas of snow covered the ground and the rest was accumulated on the tree branches and leaves. It was snowing lightly. The full moon stood up high in the sky; its light filtered weakly through the fog that the condensed water and cold weather created. It gave a bluish tint to the environment outside.

Link looked down from the porch, and noticed a set of footprints pressed over the snow. They started at the foot of his ladder and continued the way toward the outskirts of the village. Away from his house.

Indeed, ghosts have feet.

He knew he was not gone yet, his aching gut was telling him that. He had to be sure that it was gone once and for all.

He made a decision. Between the bed and the mess, he chose the door.

He searched for his winter cloak and boots. He took the oil lantern from the table and checked for the oil level. Half of the oil was already consumed, but it was enough to last another two hours. He lighted up the lantern and headed towards the door. He was risking his health by going out in the night in such unstable weather and low temperature. His condition could worsen just by showing his nose out the window. But he was determined to search for the truth, and if he had to make some sacrifices in order to obtain it, let this little cold be the one.

With lantern in hand, he climbed down the ladder and followed the footprints embedded in the snow. Wherever they led, Link was sure he was going to find his answers.

A/N: From now on this will take a sharp U-turn to the Angst genre but will keep its T rating. Be kind and sign a review if you get a chance and let me know what you think.