The Floating Boy

The crowd of people bustled on the sidewalk, sometimes accidentally bumping a young male who wore a black hoodie in which the hood covered his somber, blue eyes; dirty, brown hair and pale skin. He was hunched over with his hand tucked in his pockets while staring at his jeans and the torn shoes that looked like they were clinging to dear life.

He kept walking and a car horn sounded before he suddenly got drenched in water from a puddle after the car that had honked passed him. He sighed as the water that wet him dripped down. He then heard laughter.

"This day couldn't get any worse," he thought to himself as he looked around for the source of laughter. That's when he saw it:

A young boy who barely looked older than fourteen was sitting on top of the edge of the rooftop of a building that stood not too tall, compared to the other buildings next to it. He had pale blonde hair with dark red splotches that resembled blood, and a pair of goggles with the left lens being shattered. One showed an innocent blue eye while his other eye was obscured by the lens. He wore a dark red coat, a black sweatshirt that only covered his chest, cargo pants and a pair of combat boots with a pair of fingerless gloves.

"You look so dumb!" He laughed at the young man as no one passing by bothered to acknowledge him or even seemed to know he was there.

The young man sighed as the younger boy jumped down onto the road and made his way to him. He never got hit by a single car.

Surprisingly, he was the same height as the young man of whom looked back down and noticed something... The stranger's feet weren't touching the ground. He was floating.

He stepped back, scared as the young boy floated forward to him as if he was flying without moving his body.

"What are you?!" He asked, evidently afraid while the young boy simply smiled in an innocent way.

"I'm a ghost!"

He gulped as if hearing the words of something forbidden.

"A ghost?" He asked. The strange boy nodded while still smiling. "Right. Let's just say you are a ghost and I haven't gotten completely nuts. How'd you die anyway?" He asked, trying to hope this was all just one bad dream. The floating boy seemed puzzled, but looked as if he remembered something.

"I don't fully know, but it might have something to do with this," he told the other one and removed his goggles, showing a brutal bullet hole where his right eye should be. The sight of it caused the other boy to turn utterly green at the sight.

"Okay, I believe you. Please put the goggles back on, before I throw up." He gagged and swallowed something before standing up and freezing in place. He should be waking up... It should've been just a bad dream, but everything happening was too real. And the sick feeling was also telling him otherwise.

"Okay, they're back on!" The younger boy told him, showing that his goggles were back on properly. The older boy nodded before walking off in silence, completely horrified.

As he walked, he noticed the ghost boy following him closely behind. He stopped and turned his head, making the boy stop. Though, when he walked, the boy followed as if he was his shadow. The young man inhaled deeply and then shouted as loud as he could,

"Stop following me!" He practically screamed that out. Most turned to look at him with concerned and weirded out expressions. Some even speed walked past him. The ghost boy then whispered in his ear.

"I think only you can see me," He told him and realization struck the male while his cheeks turned pink in embarrassment. "So, to everyone here, you just screamed at nothing."

He ran as fast as he could away from anyone to his apartment, fiddling with his keys before unlocking the door and slamming it shut once rushing inside. He locked it and heard the 'click!' when he did. As if that was going to keep him safe, he sunk down onto the floor with a relieved smile.

"Hi again!" A familiar voice sprang up, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. Turning his head, the head of the ghost boy was sticking through the door as if it was just air. "Are you okay?"

Thinking fast, he grabbed a water bottle and chucked it at him, only for it to go through his head and spill a puddle of water all over the ground once it hit the floor.

They stared in silence for a few minutes until the ghost boy finally spoke up.

"Aren't you gonna clean that?"

He sighed and got up to grab a rag and started cleaning the puddle as the ghost started swarming around him.

"Are you done?" He asked, repeating himself only to switch on repeating if he's gonna hurry up.

"Shut. Up." He told the ghost, trying to not yell as he tilted his head.

"Huh? Why?"

"You're making too much noise."

The ghost boy pouted and floated away since he got distracted by something.

"Don't ignore me!" The young man shouted as the ghost boy was staring at a coffee cup and stuck his hand through it.

"Huh?" He blinked, sticking his hand through the mug multiple times before tearing up. "I wanna touch it!"

He cried. The young man walked to him and tried to place a hand on his shoulder only for it to go through. The coldest feeling went up his spine.

Acting quick, he pulled his hand back and shivered.

"The hell?! Are you a Dementor from Harry Potter or something?!" He shouted before sighing. "Hey, what's your name bud?"

Wiping what must've been tears, the ghost boy looked at him.

"I don't know my name, but there's one I do know. Anthony." He smiled cutely as the young man seemed shocked. "What?"

"You're a dude?! With that clothing I thought you were a girl!" He shouted as the boy nodded before sighing. "Fine, I guess I can tell you mine. It's Adam. Adam Carter."

The ghost, now named Anthony, smiled and giggled.

"Nice to meet you, Adam." He smiled cutely as Adam looked a bit creeped out. "What?"

"First off," Adam told him while holding up a finger. "How the hell can I see you? I'm pretty sure I'm not the protagonist of an anime or have a sixth sense, so how am I seeing you? Actually, why only you?"

Anthony seemed puzzled as he made a face as if he was using his deceased brain for hard thinking for once. He puffed his chest, pulling a serious expression.

"I have no idea." He sighed out as Adam tried to punch him in anger. Though, his fist went through the ghost boy's head.

"Great. Friggin' great," He moaned, kicking his sofa in anger as Anthony watched him. "I can see the ghost of a... Wait, how old were you when you died?"

"Fourteen."

"Of a fourteen-year-old who has amnesia and doesn't know how I can only see him!"

Adam sighed and gave his couch one last kick before yawning and looking at a clock on his wall.

"I'm going to sleep. Don't haunt anything," He told Anthony before going to his room.