The Boy on the Other Side

by Aki_kaze

  “Are you the new guy?” A girl spoke to him. He looked up to see her but then continued his reading.

  She sat across him, speaking in low voice, “I heard about you from Alice.”

  He didn’t respond. He didn’t know what to make of those words.

  The library’s silence made the sound of his beating heart clearer. He did want to get to know people, but other students shunned him, whereas all those he shunned wanted to be his friends.

  “Hey, can’t you hear what I’m saying?”

  The girl grabbed his arm. He jerked, pulling his arm back. She could touch him; she was not one of them.

  “You’re really weird.” He could see it in her eyes: the girl did not want to talk to him anymore. Before he could say sorry, she left.

  The bell rang. Today’s school class was over. Empty aisles were now filled with students. Lively chats filled the air. Keith walked to his locker to put away his books. He felt a bit guilty about what happened in the school library during lunch break. If he had paid more attention, he might have noticed that she was a real person who wanted to get to know him, not another school ghost.

  But what surprised Keith even more was that he was still safe. No bullying, no name calling. Perhaps they got bored of him and found another prey. He was wrong though. As he was trying to open his locker, his hand lay on a sticky substance, some kind of glue. He went down the aisle to the bathroom as laughter roared around him. He paid it no mind. He was used to it, nothing but a buzzing noise from a TV.

  As he concentrated on cleaning his hands, he didn’t notice a group of people walking towards him from behind. When he knew it, it was too late. They put a black sack over his head and clasped his arms behind his back. They dragged him away from the bathroom, but to where he couldn’t tell. All he heard was their voices. He struggled, demanding to know where they were taking him. They tightened the sack around his head as a response, making it harder for him to breathe.

  They threw Keith down on the floor. His back hit a hard object, causing sudden pain. Someone pulled the sack out of his head. But before he could see their faces, they left, closing the door behind. He sprang up and rushed towards it. It was locked. He did everything in his power to pry it open but failed.

  “Let me out!” Keith shouted, pounding the door. It was no use. He searched for his phone but realized it must be left in his bag in the bathroom.

  He turned to look around. A storeroom. He saw a steel shelf with various kinds of cleaner on it. Brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, and other cleaning equipment. All were kept in order.

  He turned his attention back to the door. He tried shouting for help and opening the door again. The result remained the same. A few more minutes and the bus would leave. He hoped someone might notice he was missing. Perhaps Alice would know and would go to search for him.

  When his escape attempt bore no fruits, he sat down on the floor, hugging his knees. He peered at the light shining through the door gap below. The room was not too dark or too small, but he started to feel anxious. He bent down his head and tried to control his breathe. It didn’t help much.

  “You’re going to be okay, Keith, you will be out soon,” he mumbled to himself, “someone will come to save you. You’re going to be okay.”

  “Don’t be afraid, dear”

  He heard his mom’s voice. At first, he thought it was really her voice, but he soon realized that it was from his memory. In his childhood, many times he got woken up by nightmares. His mom would be the first to come and console him with gentle smile and warm embrace. She always said to him: “Don’t be afraid, dear. Nobody can harm my son.” The scared child believed her. Her word soothed him and put him back to sleep.

  He held onto those memories tight. He tried to evoke her voice, her image. But it worked only briefly. Fear always found its way to one’s mind.

  A smell of burnt tires hit him. He started to feel nauseated. White smokes rising. Keith was no longer in the storeroom. He found himself trapped inside a car. All the pain throughout his body prevented him from moving. His mom and his dad were still in the front seats. No one responded to his desperate call. He kept screaming for help. Again and again. Until his throat started to feel sore.

  Sweat dripping down his face and his body. The air became thinner it was hard for him to breathe normally. He couldn’t keep his sitting pose. His body fell onto the floor, curling into a ball. His breath got shorter and shorter. Self-comforting no longer helped. He no longer registered where he was. All he wanted was to get out of here as soon as he could.

  “Help…” Weak voice left his lips. His consciousness wavered. Suddenly, out of the hazy darkness, a boy’s face appeared. Keith’s heartbeat started to slow down as it sensed familiar comfort.

  “…Sam…”

  Bright light poured into the room as the door opened. Two pairs of feet walking in were the last thing he remembered before everything went dark.

  Chapter Nine

  Invisible Support

  Keith’s eyes fluttered open and were greeted by blinding light. It was too bright he had to avert his eyes. He then noticed Diane beside him.

  “Are you alright, dear?” She asked, relieved. She held his hand and repeated her question.

  “What happened?”

  “You had a seizure. In the storeroom. If the janitor had found you just a bit later…” Her eyes started to fill with tears. “Good God. Who did this to you, Keith?”

  “I don’t know.” The boy’s eyes traveled the room, trying to look for a certain someone. He failed naturally. He was in the hospital, and Sam couldn’t leave the house. “I want to go home.”

  He tried to sit up, but Diane stopped him.

  “You need to rest. And the doctor has to make sure you’re fine.”

  “I am. I want to go home.”

  “I’ll go talk with him about this, okay?” She gently stroked his hand before leaving the room.

  He sat up. He found his bag on the chair nearby and felt relieved he didn’t lose it. His eyes examined the room. Every hospital gave him the same feeling. He wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, afraid of being sent to the psychiatric ward. He knew for sure that it was not his doing; he didn’t lock himself in that room. Someone else did even though he couldn’t identify whom.

  The room door opened, and he saw a doctor of late 30s. His hand held a tablet which probably had Keith’s medical record. A nurse and Diane followed him, closing the door behind.

  “Hello, Keith. I’m Doc Holland. The results showed that you are fine. I’m happy to say that you can go home soon.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Regarding the incident, the investigation was under the school’s authority. But if you find something bothering you about it, our personnel are more than ready to support you.”

  He understood perfectly who those people were. “It’s fine. I’m alright.”

  “Okay. Well then, I’ll have all the necessary document prepared for your leaving.”

  After the staffs left, Diane approached him.

  “I’ve reported to the school about this. They will find the culprit and bring them to justice,” She said with a caring tone of voice, “you sure you are alright? If you are not okay with it, or if you want to transfer to another school…”

  “No,” he insisted.

  When he was questioned about the culprit, he shook his head helplessly because he, too, did not know. And even if he did, he didn’t think anything would get better for him now.

  Diane and he took a bus home. In the nighttime like this, people were rarely seen on the sidewalks. As he went further away from the city, all he saw were but buildings with no light on and open fields. Not until his familiar neighborhood came into view.

  Diane opened the house door and announced her arrival. Hector walked out from the living room. He went to talk to Keith, worried. Alice half-rushed down from her room. He assured both of them he was fine. When he turned away, he found Sam standing on top of the st
airs, face showing deep concern. Keith smiled at him, but then realized that they were not alone.

  “I’m going back to my room,” he said and headed up the stairs. Sam was not there anymore. But the boy knew that the spirit would be waiting in his room.

  Nonetheless, when he reached the bedroom door, he halted in hesitation. He didn’t know what face he should make or what he should say.

  “Aren’t you going to come in?”

  He was shocked, seeing the other boy’s face going through the door to greet him. No word escaped his gaping mouth. He needed to regulate his breath to calm down. He would have died so many times today had he had heart disease.

  Sam was blocking the way, his eyes trained on him. The only way to get into his room was to walk though the other, and he didn’t want to do that so often.

  “I’m alright,” he said. But Sam stood firm, something reflected in those eyes. Keith could see it in the blue pair. That sense of worthlessness, that feeling of being useless when someone was in need of help. “I’m really alright, Sam.”

  The spirit offered him his hand. It was true they couldn’t really touch each other. Still, Keith reciprocated. He placed his hand over Sam’s. One of them taking a step forward into the room; the other, a step back. Hand in hand, they walked into the room together.

  The spirit guided him to the bed, still not letting go. Keith’s eyes fell on the gap between their hands. He tried to move his hand closer, to touch it, to close the gap between them. It went through.

  “I’m sorry,” Sam said, as if it was all his fault that they couldn’t touch each other.

  “Don’t,” Keith said, “don’t say something like that.”

  The blonde gave him a faint smile before asking, voice gentle.

  “What happened?”

  When he was with other people, he wouldn’t feel like he wanted to talk about what had happened. But with Sam, he could tell everything with ease. No anxiety. No shame. No feeling of being judged.

  “I’m not really afraid of the dark or small spaces. But I couldn’t help myself back then.”

  “Come here.”

  Keith blinked in surprise. It was obvious what Sam intended to do. But they couldn’t touch each other. It made no sense.

  “Oh come on. I will make you feel better.”

  Keith let out a laugh. “God. Please don’t phrase it that way.”

  He leaned himself toward the spirit, resting his head on the other’s chest. He didn’t dare to completely let himself go, knowing there would be nothing but the bed to catch him. Sam wrapped his arms around his neck. The boy felt a stirring sensation at the back of his head.

  “Are you stroking my hair?” Keith asked as he could not turn back to see what was happening.

  “I can’t do much.”

  “But you could even sit on me. I could feel your weight.”

  “But you can’t touch me, Keith. I don’t have a body.” Something hinted in his voice. Something Keith totally understood.

  “I want to hug you.” Keith’s voice was no less desperate. Sam let out a soft laugh and whispered into Keith’s ear.

  “You can’t. But I can make you feel it.”

  After the accident, Keith had encountered many spirits. Some of them just wanted a friend, some wanted to do him harm. All of them though approached him because of their own egocentric interests. But Sam was different. Perhaps partly because he was trapped inside this house and it was better for him to be on good terms with the living residents. But there was no reason for the spirit to listen to his problem, to comfort him, to care for him.

  What Keith felt wasn’t a normal embrace. It wasn’t physical, but a rush of tender warmth enveloping his soul. His body was now trembling under the other’s cold presence, but his heart was kept warm. He wrapped his arms around the other’s neck, as if hugging him back.

  “Keith.”

  “Hmm?”

  Sam didn’t continue. But Keith knew what the other would have said.

  “Me too,” he said.

  The other laughed softly. Keith tried to fight back the happy smile on his lips. His face heated up like never before.

  A knock on the door startled both boys who quickly disentangled themselves from each other. Sam told himself he was overacting. Nobody else could ever see him anyway.

  “Keith, can I come in?”

  He was surprised. John had never come to his room. Not even once. In fact, he would never come to this side of the floor except to see Diane.

  “Come in.”

  John quietly opened the door, as if afraid of being caught in the act. He stepped inside the room, seeming awkward. There was a look of concern on his face, the expression Keith had never seen. Sam got to his feet and moved to observe from the desk.

  “You… You okay?” the visitor asked. Keith was yet to reply, but John cut in, voice even louder, “What happened today was not my doing. Yes, I don’t like you. But I know what… you had been through. So, I would never do something like that. If I know who they are, I will make them pay.”

  He didn’t know what to feel about John’s words. But being on good terms with this cousin for once might be good.

  “Thanks.”

  John’s concerned face then turned grumpy. “Well, that’s all I want to say.” With that, he left the room.

  Sam threw the boy insults as he walked away. Keith told him to quit it.

  “You know, it took great courage for him to come to me.”

  “But that doesn’t make it even. You have suffered because of him. A lot.” His voice serious.

  “Anyway, you said you have something for me.”

  “Oh right!” He clapped his hands, his eyes gleaming. “Let’s go to the attic.”

  The boy raised his eyebrows, curious. The other flashed him a naughty smile. Keith got off the bed, taking with him the smartphone to use as a flashlight.

  When they left the room, they saw that the aisle’s lights were still on. Hector and Diane’s voices could be heard from the first floor as the boy walked past the stairs. He headed towards the attic. He intended not to turn the attic’s light on but used the phone instead. He didn’t know what to say If Aunt Diane found him here at this hour.

  “Sam?” he mentioned the other’s name. The spirit was nowhere in sight.

  In daytime, sunlight coming through the semicircular window would light up the room. At night, however, everything was pitch black. His vision completely relied on the smartphone’s flashlight beam. He started to feel nervous due to the recent claustrophobic experience. His eyes frequently darted back to the attic door; he feared someone would close it.

  “This way.” Sam’s calling brought back comfort. Keith walked towards the other and found one big box. It held many things, among which was a backpack.

  Keith looked at the spirit as if asking for permission. Sam nodded. He picked up the bag and opened it. Inside, he found a camera.

  “It was mine. Old model, but I think it still works. It’s also very easy to use.”

  Keith gawked at the spirt, still not believing what the other wanted to convey.

  “You can have it.”

  “But…”

  “I can’t use it anymore,” Sam said before he could protest, “and I also can’t leave this place. So, it’d be better that you use it and show me what I can’t get to see.”

  Keith looked back and forth between Sam and the camera.

  “Thanks. I promise I’ll take good care of it.” He said, warm tears brimming without him knowing why.

  “Of course, you will. If I know you break my camera…” Keith nodded fervently, not needing Sam to finish the sentence.

  Keith didn’t expect that the incident would spread so wide at school. The principal called him to ask about it, which he couldn’t provide any further information except for what had already been said. The school publicly announced the news and demanded the culprit submit themselves to authority. Keith’s school life wasn’t getting better though. Some people
didn’t believe what had happened and called him an attention seeker.

  At lunch, he had never been more of the subject of attention. Eyes full of pity, some full of disgust. He tried to pay them no mind. He sat down on the same table. Soon a group of boy students came to sit on the table nearby, making a scene. One of them went down on the floor and mimed having a convulsion, gaining a fit of laughter over the canteen. Others’ eyes were trained on him with contempt and derision.

  Keith then got up to return his food tray although he just started eating. He noticed John and his friends. Even though the other agreed to find out the culprits and take care of them, Keith knew he shouldn’t take it that seriously. He understood well that anyone involved with him would become a victim as well. Nobody would want to suffer the same fate. So, he didn’t blame John for doing nothing.