The Proposal
“I didn’t know someone lived here…My apologies.”
“You're drenched. You should come in and dry yourself and maybe rest a bit.”
“N-No…I'd better excuse myself.”
“You can stay the night. That's why you came here in the first place, didn’t you? I live alone, you see…I can totally use some company.”
Hesitatingly, he stepped in. An ice-cold hand grabbed his hand drenched with rainwater.
“It’s dark, so let me lead the way.”
“Why is it so dark?”
“You see, I'm blind. I don’t need light.”
“Does that mean…there is no light in this house at all?”
“No.”
“That's…scary…Maybe I should just go…”
“Stay the night. I'll keep you company so you won't get scared.”
But you are kinda scary yourself, he swallowed those words, not wanting to offend his host.
“Would you like a change of clothes? I wish I could make you a cup of tea to warm you up, but I am incapable of it.”
“Thanks, but I'll only stay until the rain stops. I don’t want to trouble you.”
“Why do you keep insist on leaving? Am I that scary?”
“You might be comfortable living in darkness, but I am not…”
“Are you sure this darkness and my presence is scarier than the world you live in?”
He was stunned.
“H-how do you know?”
“Just a wild guess. Why else would you run to a desolate house in the middle of nowhere in this pouring rain?”
“I-I could've got lost and taken shelter here temporarily! Why are you jumping into conclusion by yourself?”
“Is that the case…My apologies for overthinking, then…”
“But you know what, you're right. Actually…I ran away from home.”
“So I was right.” I actually saw your memories while we were holding hands.
“I have a proposal for you. It’s entirely up to you whether you accept it or not…It's just that I want to help you.”
“What is it?”
“Would you like to stay here with me?”
“W-What?”
“I mean it. Would you like to?”
“We don’t even know each other…”
“Like I told you before…I’d love some company in this darkness. It’s been so many years of being alone, I’ve lost count…”
“Years…?” But why do you sound like someone of my age?
“If you haven’t realized yet…I’m…a…what you call…ghost.”
“EHHHH?!”
He screamed and jumped away from the stranger.
“My apologies if I have startled you.”
“I-I'm leaving…”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I…can’t possibly live in this house with an unknown-years-old ghost in pitch darkness…”
“So…you're going to leave me too,” the stranger mumbled.
“On top of my blindness, I have another condition that doesn’t allow my skin to withstand sunshine.”
“Is that because you're a ghost? Are you…a bloodsucking vampire? Is that why you invited me in, so that you can suck my blood?”
“No,” the stranger chuckled, “I have had that condition since birth. You see, that condition is why I was made to live in this desolate place, away from other humans…”
“That's sad.”
“They called me moonchild because of my condition. They feared me. Like you, many of them thought that I was a vampire. So my family built this house out of nowhere and left me here…”
“Left you?”
“Originally, they took turns staying with me here. That continued until I was eighteen. They were growing tired of it, I guess. So one day they came to this mutual agreement to abandon me.”
“Abandon…?”
“Yes. I couldn’t go outside since I didn’t know the roads and I could've been in an accident…I stayed here and waited…waited…waited…I called but no one answered, I was starving and there was nothing to eat at home…At one point I was desperate enough to attempt to go out but the door was locked from outside…I got so weak that I couldn’t break the door, so I lay there on the floor…in and out of my consciousness…until one day I fell into a long, deep sleep. When I came to, I felt better but my heart wasn’t beating anymore…”
“Stop…I can't listen to it anymore…”
“Sorry. It wasn’t a pleasant story…I knew it but I still rambled on…”
“You…really went through a lot…”
“This is my first time telling this story to anyone. I never had anyone to share this story with….”
“Poor you.”
He had given up on life long ago. The family who adopted him didn’t care enough worry about his disappearance. He had no dream or goal to live for. Being with this unnatural presence in darkness seemed much better to face the shitty world outside. Darkness was scary, but outside world was scarier.
If he could make this stranger happy by keeping him company, why not?
“It'll hurt a bit. I'm really sorry about that,” he felt a cold arm wrapping around his neck in that pitch-black darkness. He closed his eyes and surrendered, but his body wouldn’t. It struggled and fought to keep him alive, to pull him back to the world of living until the very end. Until he became one with the darkness.
“Are you there?”
“I'm here.”
“Welcome to my world. From now on, we'll never be alone, we'll never be in pain. We'll be together, always.”