Ghost

Next day.

It was another unusually rainy autumn morning, and Tremaine laid asleep in the facility, slumped like a tattered rag. Even he didn't know what kind of evil spirit came to him during the wee hours of the morning.

The God of War? Maybe. Since more than two hundred basketballs are strewn everywhere, leaving a gigantic mess in its wake.

The God of Darkness? It could be. Hell, it's so dark inside the facility that he couldn't have possibly practiced the whole night.

What the sleeping Tremaine Mills didn't notice was the appearance of another figure at some point during the night.

It was a female varsity freshman stuck in the same boat as him.

Somehow, just like him, the female point guard did not make the 13 women roster.

On the far side of the facility, at one of the small basketball hoops at the corner, she kept on practicing her pull-up jumper game.

Her long, flowing, black hair was swaying after every jump shot. Her shooting rhythm was electric, making her slight, perky frame move up and down fast.

The lady did not care about the corpse that laid on the other side of the facility. She had her own personal trouble to deal with after all. Besides, she doesn't even know him, except for him being a fellow varsity.

Tremaine woke up to the forlorn yet continuous sound of basketballs hitting the hardwood floor.

Tremaine thought he must've been dreaming, since there's no way anyone would be here at this hour, without opening the lights.

What almost made him scream was the fact that there's a person over there! He shook his head and blinked several times fast to make sure, before he screamed!

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! A FUCKING GHOST!"

In Tremaine's 37 years of life, he'd come face first with a Great White Shark under the sea, skydived from a moving airplane, played pro ball in a country torn by civil war, spoke in front of more than a thousand people in his high school reunion, dated a real, 3D girl... and had been in several crazier, and more life threatening situations himself… but he relished it instead of getting scared.

A damned ghost is a different matter entirely.

Tremaine sprang into motion, and ran towards the nearest exit at the fastest possible speed he could muster… he even suspected that he's faster than Usain Bolt at this exact instant.

"Is that guy high or something?" Without breaking her shooting rhythm, the woman laughed merrily. "Well, once he sees how dumb he looks, he'll be back for sure."

Meanwhile, right as Tremaine exited the door, he realized it was raining… and he's wearing only his underwear…

Do I really have to get back there?

I don't wanna!

He peered down at his body again and knew that he had no choice. The sun is already rising in the east… and he's in his rain soaked underwear…

Would he rather risk his reputation and life as a good, normal human being or risk his soul and get back there to clothe himself?

He breathed in deeply and opened the door…

Tremaine walked inside the facility once again, but the absence of the rhythmic basketball noise from earlier spooked him a lot more.

He tried to push the thought into the back of his mind, and rushed straight into Court A where hundreds of basketballs laid still on the hardwood floor.

He put on his shorts and T-shirt, before turning back and bolting for the door.

"Hey, don't you still have to clean this mess you made?"

Tremaine halted his steps, and froze. Then shivers raced through his spine.

"Who's that?" He didn't dare turn.

"Just your friendly neighborhood ghost."

"Shit!"

Once Tremaine Mills ran out of the facility again, the woman was even more convinced that her fellow athlete was either drunk, or at least still out of his mind.

"At least he's got some balls to drink liquor here."

Tremaine once again was outdoors, and in an instant, he was drenched.

Luckily for him, someone with a magical girl anime umbrella was arriving…

"Oh, Mills? What are you doing standing in the rain like an idiot?"

Why does it have to be the head coach's daughter!

"Uhhh… nothing much… Good morning, though, Cap Hannah."

"Let's talk inside." Hannah Roughan closed her umbrella and was about to open the door when Tremaine grabbed her arm in an attempt to stop her.

"No, don't!"

"What are you doing?" Hannah violently pulled her hand away from Tre's grasp, and leered at him like he's some kind of a pervert.

"There's uhhh…" Tremaine was not acting like a 37 year old, nor like a 17 year old.

"A what?"

"A ghost…" Tremaine's broad shoulders deflated in shame. It had always been something he hid from people, because it was completely against common sense and it was too embarrassing…

"A ghost?" Hannah smelled the air around them and sniffed Tremaine too. "Are you sure you aren't drunk? Or maybe high? If you're high I'm telling my dad, and you're out of the team."

"What? No! I'd never do that!"

"Said no one ever." Hannah still entered the facility and saw a laughing lady pointing at her wearing only a blue crop top and fitted sweat shorts.

"Oops…" The lady almost staggered backwards upon noticing that the guy who almost shat his boxers was with her captain…

"And what are you doing here, rookie?" Hannah's intuition was already pointing towards a conclusion about this whole perplexing ordeal. "Would you tell me what happened?"

"Don't tell me you aren't actually a ghost!" Tremaine was slowly questioning his life choices now. He didn't really think this through and was reckless and stupid enough to believe she's a ghost!

She has feet! Fuck this she isn't a ghost!

Tremaine's facial expression sank.

"I'm not, you shithead. Can a ghost be as beautiful as me?"

Tremaine finally got a proper look at her. She was undeniably one of the most beautiful people he'd ever laid his eyes on.

The woman in front of her had silky, fair skin. Her long, jet black hair was tied neatly into a ponytail. Her deep, blue eyes twinkled like freshly cut gemstones. That smile of hers framed her deep cheek dimples perfectly. And his bright, freckled face exuded the vibrant feeling of spring with just her presence alone. Her body… were like those sculptures that will force you to look twice.

Anyone would take a second look at her to make sure she's a real person and not fiction.

Tremaine thought she could be a supermodel without trying.

But why is it that she had no recollection of her in his past life?

"Tremaine Mills, this is our freshman point guard, Sofia Kuznetsov."

"I'm sorry for thinking you're a ghost." Tremaine stretched his right hand out in apology. He's absolutely embarrassed right now, but he tried his best to hide it from his face. "Friends?"

"My friends give me memes, will you give me memes?" Sofia also held out her hand but didn't shake his just yet.

"What?" Tremaine glanced towards Captain Hannah in confusion. Her captain nodded.

"Fine!" Sofia then shook Tre's hand after the affirmation, leaving Tremaine breathless.

Her hands were the complete opposite of his— soft, and tender to the touch, lacked the plenty of calluses he had, and was… as warm as her personality.

***

Extras:

4 AM.

Sofia was desperate.

She was not the kind of person that would go up before dawn to get extra practice before the sun's up.

But desperate times call for desperate measures.

She jogged her way to the empty practice facility, with her phone lighting up the street ahead of her. She doesn't feel cold at all.

Once Sofia reached the facility, he noticed a ball rolling to the door…

'There's someone inside?' Sofia noticed the utter lack of lighting inside, and entered as silently as she could.

What she saw was something that enlightened her.

A player drenched in sweat, shooting an abnormal amount of bricks, and was swaying like he's about to fall down at any moment.

"Now that's commitment." Sofia only gazed at him for half a minute before stealthily moving towards the far corner, before starting her short early morning pilates routine.

A few minutes later, Sofia heard the man slumping to the floor, and a small laugh came out of her beautiful face.