meeting

He laid out a set in front of him. He shuffled the dice – three dice pieces – in his left hand, shaking them as he threw them slightly middle of the air and onto the board.

The three dice rolled on the board until they abruptly stopped. Stopped in three zodiac signs. A sign looking like an M, another like a VS, and another an arrow with a cross.

"Those are the wrong signs you're thinking," a voice said out of the blue. "They're not Gemini, Aquarius, not even Taurus, you idiot."

The man looked behind him in shock. For all the time he's been there, he has been alone. He was alone. He ran away to this isolated location as he graduated with his college degree at the age of twenty. For the day, he has been alone in this winter home in a vacation suburb in Australia.

For all intensive purposes, he was a runaway. He really was one. He ran away from home once in his teens but suddenly had to go back. Rather, his escape plan of climbing their high fence in his home was botched when it opened and his older cousin pushed the gate he was latching on to. It was quite understandable at that point that he was in trouble in life, whether he tried to escape it or not.

"Look," the voice's body came into full view as the man became stationary in shock. Stunned from moving or even breathing properly, the man sat still and neck arched towards the boy or man – he looked quite young yet with some age in him. "If you are going to play dice with some stupid signs, you should at least know how to read them."

The voice and the man were quite irritable. Annoyed, the boy found it odd that some college-age man was playing with things like spirited dice which could actually lead to some worrying consequences.

"A boy like you should be mindful," he reminded as he stared unperturbed with the man staring at him in visual shock. "Mindful, and well, be with a little bit of tact because these dice," he pointed, "are not some game you shuffle around in your hand to simply guess the future."

He looked at the man, who was now breathing calmly. His shock has dissipated and replaced with a quite cross attitude given that he was now fully seeing the voice in question.

"You're a kid," he said as he caught up with his breath.

"And you're an idiot," the man replied as he characteristically placed both his hands on his waist and tried to look sarcastic at the man.

"I'm older than you."

"I'm quite fifty years old already, stupid."

"Stupid?"

"Yes," the man answered. He then grabbed the dice one by one and laid them in front of the man. "Quite too since that's the first thing you noticed instead of whether I am alive or a real human being."

The man could only stare at him. His facade was quite clear. Baffled, he asked.

"Are you a ghost?"

The man smiled a quite mischievous smile. Gently turning his head in a very stressful direction, he stared at the man with that look. The man felt quite scared but, in a moment of daring, he touched the boy by his waist and his hand slipped through. He immediately retracted his hand from the man as a cold feeling swept through his fingers at their abrupt contact.

"You know, as a ghost," the man started, standing all upright in front of him. "I could do things to you."

The man came closer, just as the man came bounding backward away. He dropped from his chair, as he stumbled on the leg and ended up on his arse on the floor. Still staring at the man, his only recourse was to push his body back with the palms as his entire body tried to stay still in shock.

The man then stopped in front of him as his body reached a wall. He was sweating in fear. The man then crouched his body down towards him and came face to face to him.

The man stared at him back. Looking deeply into the man's eyes and suddenly, a spur of action came from him.

He kissed the man.

On the lips.

The man, boy, or ghost simply tried to slap him as he felt disgusted with the action. He stood straight right away and tried brushing the back of his right hand across his lips.

The man sat down on the floor felt cold on his lips as he stayed there in utter shock with what he did. The ghost simply disappeared into the air and the man sighed in relief until he heard a voice coming from beside him.

"Idiot!"

The past happenings became quite odd for him as he tried to go to bed. He anticipated that with everything that's happened it was exhausting. Exhausting that it leads directly to a good long slumber.

But as he laid there, he couldn't close his eyes without being jolted awake with nothing. Unsleepiness as he could think of it, he was restless as he rolled side to side on the bed.

"Are you alright?"

The voice came again.

"Hey!"

He ignored it and tried to close his eyes hoping to be brought to some half-baked slumber at the very least.

"Ignore me all you want but I am already beside you," the voice whispered in his exposed left ear as he faced the right side.

He sighed, there was no getting out of this one.

"What do you want?"

The ghost giggled as he stared at him. The ghost's only reply was to bring his shoulders up and down as a sign of not knowing.

The man rolled his eyes as he started to speak.

"You know, I am not at the best of my life at the moment so please if you are just here to be anno— Stop that!"

"Stop what?"

The ghost laughed as he replied ignorantly to his question. Midway through his little statement, the ghost, in a bit of fun gazing at him, decided to retort back at him by reciting an IKEA customer service operator spiel as he went on.

"Don't be an asshole!"

"I'm not," the ghost huffed quite playfully that the man did get a small twitch from the corners of his mouth. "See, you had fun judging from the up-ing of the sides of your lips."

"Up-ing?"

"Shut up," the ghost turned his back in embarrassment. "I'm not native to Australia."

"Well, most of its people aren't anyway," he huffed but immediately a curiosity sparked as he realized what the ghost said.

"Where are you from then?"

The ghost turned to face him in some devilish playful look to tease him. The man sighed in annoyance.

"Oh, don't do that, you idiot! I'm finally getting a conversation out of you!"

The ghost simply laughed.

"Fine, fine."

"So," the man faced him on his right elbow as the ghost faced him completely in an Indian seat. "Where are you from?"

The ghost looked down at the man who was now intently waiting for an answer.

In their now-calmed down states, the man slowly noticed what the ghost was wearing. A white stained shirt with a collar and flared jeans, barefoot, he found it odd that he was wearing something so old and demure in a way. In retrospect, the ghost also noticed that the man he was looking at was not wearing anything on his upper body as well. Given that it was winter in Australia at the moment, the house was not properly heated at all so hair standing up at attention from his torso was evident.

"You might want to bundle up since it's winter, you know," he remarked, trying to dodge the question at hand. "You don't have a heater."

The man looked down on his chest and back at the ghost. Sporting a playful teasing smile, he wiggled his eyebrows at him as the ghost simply rolled his eyes and felt a bit bashful for having said anything at all.

"Whatever," he huffed and continued. "I'm from where you come from."

"Manila?"

"Yeah," the boy replied sighing. Looking out of the window, the man took notice of how his entire aura changed at the mention of Manila. Real curious, he gently pressed on with a question on the ghost.

"What happened? Did you die there?"

"Yeah," the ghost looked back down at him and asked of his own. "Why did you run away?"

"Runaway?"

"Yeah, run away," he said. "You know, from home and all."

"I did," he slowly said. With a sigh, he looked down from the ghost's prying eyes, seeming to try to guess what's in his little head. "I just graduated."

"Graduated. Well, shouldn't you be looking for a job?"

"I don't know," the man answered innocently. "I—"

"You didn't know what to do so you got into a program thinking that everything would come full circle but once the whole circle was drawn, you busted out and tried to make life do the choices for you?"

The man only nodded as he took it all in, then in an instant moment of realization, he felt quite offended at being read out loud by some nobody's spirit in their moment of acquaintance.

"That was unnecessary."

"It's true then?"

"What do you want?"

The man stood up from the bed as the ghost's eyes followed him. As he stood, the ghost realized that he was staring at a naked man having a gruff at his own circumstance. He immediately bowed his head as he became bashful at which he found himself in.

"I didn't know! I was fucking 16 years old then! What was I supposed to do? Choose between being an astronaut and being an actor? I don't know!"

The man's voice raised a tone as each word passed his lips. The ghost could only look concerned at him. The man, who might not even be that aged in life, is still confused about his life.

The man finally huffed down and sat at the edge of the bed. After his long tirade of how stupid his life has become, he was exhausted. Anchoring his head on both his hands as he bowed his head in front of the window with falling snowflakes seen from the outside, he sighed.

The ghost sat beside him, looking through the window. He was reminded of how he was when he was young and quite naive in life. How everything was very much possible and good, in a way.

In a soft voice, the ghost slowly spoke.

"I'm sorry and I do want to help you and all," he started, still staring at the wintry landscape just outside. The man looked up and towards the ghost.

"How long do you plan to stay here given this was illegal trespassing on private property?"

The man's eyes grew wide as heard the sound of the garage door going up and a muffled scene happening with children's voices and mature adult ones.

The ghost simply took to standing and the door was heard opening.

"Bathroom," the ghost pointed towards the left side of the room. "Bring clothes."

The man looked down at his naked self and quickly tiptoed the freezing hard cement towards the bathroom. He stumbled into the bathroom with the ghost already packing stuff into a run-down duffle bag.

"What are you doin'?"

"Making sure that you don't freeze to death outside."

"Are you insane?"

The man looked behind as the family staying was busy unpacking things from their massive car. And boxes and grocery bags echoed into the empty vacation home, as the children and the adults all brought them in and placed them into the shelves.

"Those aren't even mine."

"Well, tough luck for them though."

The man looked frantic as the ghost stuffed the bag with winter clothes and toiletries.

"Shit," the man heard footsteps from outside the door.

"Don't worry, they won't come near for a bit. Now, where was that pasty thing? Ah, there it i—"

The man scuttled towards the door and closed it frantically, a sound that echoed passed through the bedroom and into where the vacationers were.

"You idiot! Now they know we're here!"

"Sorry," the man held his hands on his head as he became quite shakey and alarmed at what is happening. Sounds of footsteps were heard as the people outside the door became alarmed. The ghost sensing that they're coming in, immediately stuffed anything even tampons and a lot of cologne into the bag. Seeing that the bag full to the brim with clothes and "survivables," he zipped it up. Looking back at the man, he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Why aren't you fucking dressed yet?"

The man stood in horror as he looked at his still naked self and then, towards the sorely irritated ghost.

"You know, you are so fucking stupid," the ghost frantically opened the cabinet and found only a white satin nightgown. Sensing that they would be either way dead if he tried to find anything else, he threw the nightgown at the man.

"The fuck's this?"

"Wear it now!"

The ghost emphasized the now as he spoke. He went to close and lock the bedroom door. He then went to lock the bathroom, all the while passing through the walls.

"I can't wear this?"

"Fat chance," the ghost retorted as he threw the bag at the human. "They're already fumbling with the door outside, idiot!"

Sounds of doors and an angry man were heard from their place in the bathroom. Hearing all the hard curses the man was spitting all the while he was desperately trying to unlock it, the college boy swiftly put on the nightgown as he soon heard kicks on the door outside.

The ghost's eyes grew wide in fear as the man bust open the door, the bedroom one, and was at the bathroom the same second he went.

"Quickly," he said exasperatedly said as the man outside started threatening them with the police. The college boy tied the gown by the waist, hands shaking all the while, and looked at the ghost as he went to the window.

"You ready?"

"I should be asking you that, you're the one who might freeze to death."

A playful grin grew on their faces as they recognized something in what was unfolding in front of them. The ghost pointed towards the window and the man pushed it up and threw the bag outside.

"Thankfully, white people have large windows people could escape through," he stated as passed through the wall. The college boy jumping through the window, simply hoping to not break any bones at all. Unfortunately, his balls hit the snow and in an instant, he recoiled in pain, numbing pain at that.

"C'mon," the ghost hurried him as he tried to lift him up out of the ground. "We need to hurry!"

The college boy stood up as soon as he heard the bathroom door burst open, a few hard curse words at the mess in the bathroom, and then, the snowfall around them became increasingly heavy.

"Shit," he could barely see. The ghost glowing quite well in the greying surroundings. "You alright?"

"I should be asking you that!"

"Yeah," he said, then he asked. "You ready for this, ghostie?"

"Fuck off!"

"A name?"

"A name?"

The ghost was stunned. He hasn't used his name in a far long time. Nobody to talk to, nobody to introduce until now, he found it endearing and lovely.

"You first," he said as they tumbled from the fence as the college boy jumped off it. They figured that the people in the house could barely see in the heavy snow, so they slowed down a bit in their run.

"Names's Kyle," the college boy introduced himself. Looking back with a smile, although with the immense cold, it was shaking a bit.

The ghost thought about it for a second. He looked at Kyle and said, "name's Archie."

"Short for?"

Archie thought about it for a second. He never really liked that old-fashioned Spanish name his parents gave him. Quite tacky for somebody who grew up in the 70s to have such an un-modern name. So in his great sense of humor, he simply replied in the most characteristic phrase of himself.

"Fuck off!"

At that, they laughed maniacally — crazily at that. With a screaming man hollering threats and whatnot from the window they just escaped from, and there, their adventure started.