‘No Regrets’ - Ghost Boy

The nameless boy freezes from brushing off the leaves and branches of the bush he stumbled through. When he focuses on you, his eyes widen in surprise while yours widen in alarm.

“I’m Luke?” Luke curses at himself for how lame he sounds, but he was caught off guard. He still had to work on his teleportation skills if the leaf in his hair is anything to go off of. But the fact that you, a lifer - a cute one at that - could see him without any instrument in his hand definitely threw him off guard. 

“Hi Luke,” you say slowly, “what are you doing in my backyard?” you repeat, heart racing as the mysterious boy still hadn’t answered your question.

Wariness prevented you from looking any further than his rather attractive face. Was this boy trying to rob your house or something? Is he dangerous? He doesn’t seem dangerous. If anything, he seems more scared than you are. 

“Um, I live in the house behind yours and I’m trying to sneak back in…” Luke fumbles, trying to come up with a good lie, but only offering a small truth. It’s true that the house behind yours is the Patterson household. He frequently checks on it either by observing through the windows or literally going to his parents inside the house. He wanted to reminisce on how he would sneak out through his bedroom window that faced the backyard. How great that turned out. 

“I’ve lived in this house my whole life and I’ve never seen you before so you better tell me the truth or else I’m calling the cops.”

Ever since you were a child, you’ve never seen this boy around the Patterson household. You would’ve definitely noticed him from the amount of times your family visited the Pattersons for a quick holiday celebration. You watch the boy’s mouth open and close without any words coming out. Your shoulders were drawn up as the mysterious guy remained silent since he couldn’t give a good explanation for his sudden appearance. You were about to threaten him again, but something about him stopped you.

Luke was freaking out. He couldn’t figure out any way out of this. Either he told the truth and you were going to call the cops on a crazy lunatic in your backyard or he could lie and you were going to call the cops on a stupid teenage thief in your backyard. There really was no viable option and he was floundering, especially when you ask the next question.

“Do I know you?”

“Uh, I’m in a band? Julie and the Phantoms?” Out of all the things that he could reveal about himself, Luke promotes his band. He’s a performer through and through it seems. He internally scolds himself as he tries to figure out what the fuck was going on. Why can this lifer see him? How can he convince her to not call the cops? How is he going to get out of here?

“Haven’t heard of it.”

“Oh.” 

“You look familiar though. Do you go to my school?” Luke silently laughs and shakes his head. 

“I most definitely do not go to your school.” He takes a step forward, wanting to see the lifer more clearly.

“Please don’t hurt me,” you rush out, taking a step back in response to his step forward. Your hands are drawn up in a position of self-defense while his draw up in a way that he meant no harm.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not even here for you. I just wanted to see the house behind yours,” he sighs, looking up at the night sky for answers before looking back at you, “I was just checking in on the people that live there and then I was heading out. I accidentally tripped on the bushes that divide your houses and fell through. I promise I don’t mean any harm and I will leave you alone.”

“…so you’re a stalker.”

“What? No!” 

“Then why were you checking on the Patterson’s at night through their backyard window?” Luke’s mouth gapes again as he struggles to find a good answer. “Right. Well nice meeting you Luke, but I’m gonna call the cops now.” You turn to leave, trying to get out of this weird situation as fast as possible.

“Wait!” Luke calls out desperately to your back. His sigh prompts you to turn around. 

Luke resigns to tell you the truth. You seem harmless enough, and honestly, he wanted to know who you are and why you can see him. With that said, he looks at your awaiting eyes.

“I’m Mitch and Emily’s son.”

“Bullshit.”

Although it’s dark outside now, you can see that Luke the Stalker is not that much older than you. And Emily may look younger than her age, but she could not have had Luke only years ago and then hide her son from your family every time you came over. You also know that their only son died years ago - if he was alive now, he would not be a teenage boy sneaking around your backyard, and you tell him just that.

“The Patterson’s son died years ago and it’s fucked up for you to say you’re their teenage son.”

“It’s true! I’m Luke Patterson and I died 25 years ago. I’m a ghost.”

Now, it was your turn to gape. You didn’t know what to think. What he claims is so ridiculous that he’s either telling the truth and now your whole perception of reality is messed up or he’s a fucked up dude with some serious identity issues and questionable motives. Even in the dark, he can see your inner conflict that he knows will result in you running away from him, but he felt the need for you to believe him.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I can prove it.” Luke poofs out of your sight and reappears by your side in an instant.

“Oh my god!” you almost scream, momentarily thankful that your parents are at work. You involuntarily throw your arms out to push him away but your hands falls through his chest. Luke quickly steps away to give you space as you quickly draw your hands back to the safety of your body. 

“Oh my god,” you repeat in a whisper. It finally dawns on you why you recognize him. He’s the boy in the picture frames littered around the downstairs floor of the Patterson household. You remember because you thought he was an adorable baby and even thought he was hot in the more recent pictures, sad that you met this boy through picture frames and stories instead of in person. 

Well, that’s not true anymore.

“You’re Luke Patterson.” You take a seat at the bench you were previously peacefully sitting on before you were abruptly confronted by a real ghost.

“How are you here? H-How is this possible?” you whisper, not believing the words coming out of your mouth right now. Meanwhile, Luke watches the whole process of you realizing the truth. As much as wants to appreciate how soft your skin looks now that he’s closer to you, he figures that it isn’t the time to do so. 

“It’s a long story, but if you want, I can explain it to you. It’s the least I can do after I came here and scared you. Plus, I gotta prove that I’m not a stalker,” Luke jokes, now feeling lighter that the truth is out there and you haven’t ran yet. You feel your head nod before you realize it, and you watch Luke sit on the opposite side of the bench, appreciating that he’s respecting your space.

You listen to him talk about how he passed away and then appeared in this random girl’s garage. Your confusion matches his as he explains that no one else can see him and his friends except for Julie - and you now he guesses - and how they become visible when they perform as a band. He then vaguely hints to the terse relationship he has with his mom. Luke explains how he appears from time to time just to see how his folks are doing. He leaves out the part about dealing with the Hollywood Ghost Club and the evil magician; it’s not something you specifically need to know about. All along, you listen with rapt attention, slowly relaxing as Luke tries his best to stay linear with his story but going into tangents every once and awhile. 

Now that you’ve gotten over the initial threat and then shock of the interesting ghost boy beside you, you started to warm up to him. Saying that Luke was expressive was an understatement. You could tell just how much he loves his friends and Julie from how he talked faster as he tries to fit in as many words as he can within a minute. The way he talked about music was as if it was the only true joy in this world. And your heart ached when he touched on his parents. You understand now why he was accidentally here rather than in his parents house tonight.  

“Wow…that’s…crazy,” you struggle to find the words to describe what you just heard. He lets out a breathless chuckle at your choice of words but not disagreeing.

“Yeah…I’m sorry by the way for scaring you. I really didn’t mean to stumble into here.”

“If you’re a ghost, shouldn’t you just phase through the bushes instead of tripping over them?”

“That’s a good question. I don’t know what the rules are to the whole ghost gig. I know lifers aren’t supposed to see ghosts, but Julie and you can. I’m just taking it in as I go.”

“That’s not true,” you squint at him as he quirks his eyebrow. By now, it’s getting way too dark to see, but you can still see his hazel eyes wait for your observation, “I can tell that this whole thing is hard to deal with. Hell, I would be in a constant panic if I was in your situation. Even if you’re handling it well, it doesn’t hurt to admit that this isn’t just a regular walk in the park.”

Luke’s surprised to say the least. Here you are, this stranger who was ready to call the cops on him, now reading him like an open book and offering a nonjudgmental space for him to unwind. You were just as much of enigma as his current ghostly situation. Luke has to admit though, he’s looking forward to figuring you out more than the ghost aspect of his life - if you let him.

“Thanks,” he smiles. You smile back, respecting that he doesn’t want to reveal his anxieties yet (which is fair since the two of you are virtually strangers). Regardless, you’re about to offer more solace when you hear the familiar sound of your mom’s car parking in the driveway.

“I should probably head back inside before my mom asks why I’m out here in the dark talking to thin air,” you sigh, wiping your hands on your thighs before standing up. Luke stands up as well and scratches the back of his neck.

“My friends are probably wondering where I am by now too,” Luke felt awkward just standing there. He’s amused by his awkwardness. He’s usually not so…not put together around girls. Then again, besides Julie, he hasn’t been around them in about 25 years.

He steps away from the bench and walks back into your backyard. You slowly make your way to your house, admiring how different his posture is now that he’s more comfortable around you after your time on the bench. You wish that you had more time to get to know him, not knowing that Luke was wishing the same.

“Hey stalker!” you yell out, giggling at the huff Luke lets out as he turns to give you his attention. The way his jaw clenches in playful annoyance at your nickname sends little sparks of happiness in you.

“If you’re ever around, don’t hesitate to stop by alright? Maybe knock instead of tripping through my bushes.” If the idea of getting to know you wasn’t enticing enough, the smirk you send him pulls out his response.

“Next time, I’ll stumble through the front door instead. Is that better?” He feels his heart skip when you let out a loud laugh and gleefully nod.

“See you around Patterson!” You watch as he sends one last grin before he poofs away with the snap of his fingers. His smile lingers in your mind as you head back inside. When your mom questions just why you were outside at this time, you throw a lame excuse over your shoulder. While heading into your room, one thought passes through your mind along with the face of your new friend.

This curveball isn’t as bad as you thought. 

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A/N: yup def a practice fic. If you want another part let me know, but hopefully I’ll be on my way to fulfilling some requests that have been sitting in my box for ages. I can’t promise that I’ll be releasing fics as much as I used to but I’ll try my best! If you want to join my taglist, catch me up on what I missed (pls), or just hang - hit me up! - Titi xx