Chapter 3
Regulus floated there in shock for a solid ten seconds, looking down at the convulsing body of his tenant.
What the fuck was going on??
Seizures.
Fuck fuck double fuck. Of course this would happen to him again.
The old man had also suffered from them, and Reg had gotten quite good at recognizing the signs of one coming on. He would either call someone, or alert Henry in a completely normal way.
The ghost rushed to James’ side and reached out to his side. Regulus’ hand passed through James like a small breeze. Regulus froze.
No.
James continued to seize, his head banging repeatedly against the ground. His teeth gnashed together, his lip got caught between them and began to bleed.
Regulus lurched forward, and without thinking stuck his hand into James’ mouth. He let out a cry as James unconsciously bit down onto him. He nearly yanked his hand back out when he realised that he had felt pain.
Actual real pain! James had bit him- almost as if he were corporeal. He poked at James with his other hand, and his hand hit actual flesh.
Well, more like t-shirts. But it was solid, and the first living thing that Reg had felt in years.
He nearly sobbed from the relief. It was lonely he had to admit.
The ghost? crouched next to James, slowly lifting his head into his arms. He couldn’t really remember what he was supposed to do in situations like this. He had never been able to touch the old man, he had only dialed 999.
He held James in his arms for an hour? half an hour? It could have been as little as three minutes (probably was tbh) but it sure felt longer. Terror had a slight grip on Regulus. He really didn’t want James to leave.
It had been a week and the stupid man had made him realize how quiet it was. Whenever James went to the store to get paint, or windex, or yet another bag of revolting veggie crisps; Regulus realised how alive the house was with James in it.
It was like a negative space without the man. There was life, but Reg didn’t notice it until it was gone. The hole that James had filled was only apparent when the house was quiet and empty.
He simply couldn’t allow James to leave, not in a malicious way though. More as in a I-might-sob-if-he-does way. Regulus walked into James’ bedroom and picked up his pillow, and placed it beneath his head.
He noticed his hand becoming more and more translucent so he quickly filled a glass with water and hunted through the cabinets for a paracetamol. He placed them beside the man just before he became fully transparent.
James had stopped seizing by then, and was sleeping. More accurately, his body was drained from the energy it took to have a seizure, and he was exhausted. Regulus stayed by his side, floating once again.
He had missed being able to walk, and it was so puzzling. What had caused him to become solid? It was a mystery for the ages he guessed.
~~
James cracked his eyes open, the dim light causing a splitting pain in his head. He groaned.
“Balls.” It had happened again, he would have to ring his doctor and inform him. That would require a trip to the neurologist and more medication probably.
He honestly couldn’t remember what had caused it, simply the vague shape of a wispy man and then nothing.
He sat up to find a glass of water to his left, and a small ceramic plate with a couple of pills on it. This raised many questions, most of them involving curse words and creative profanity.
After downing the pills he crawled his way up the stairs to his bed, his legs shaking too hard to walk properly. He slipped beneath the covers and proceeded to pass out yet again. When he woke up it was dark outside and the house was freezing.
He slipped down the stairs, hitting the landing hard. “Nggh h hhh hoilgfj” He said. Goddamnit this sucked. In the kitchen there was a sandwich on the table, a plate of cheese and crackers that he didn’t remember assembling, and a cup of lukewarm tea.
He sat down at the table to eat, and pulled out his phone to see if he had gotten any messages. There were no notifications other than an email about some promotion for a bookstore he frequented.
Low-key depressing not gonna lie.
When he finished his lunch/dinner he snagged a book from his growing pile of must reads and headed back up to bed. Hopefully it would help him recuperate.
He fell asleep with the book in his hands, and as he slept, James dreamt of a misty figure looking down on him with curious eyes.
~~
Regulus looked down on the delirious man, he was obviously exhausted, but was hanging onto consciousness by a thread. He stared at him, why the fuck was he such a persistant fellow? He had half a mind to shake him awake and introduce himself.
The ghost shook himself as if to physically knock some sense into himself. He picked up James’ book and sat down on the edge of the bed. He dogeared the page James was on, and flipped to the beginning.
~~
James’ subconscious drifted to his childhood, he remembered those spring days with his mother. They spent them in their gardens, weeding out the dying and unwanted plants, replacing the soil, and planting new ones. She loved flowers, especially poppies for some reason. James was more interested in carrots at the time, he loved being able to pull them out of the ground when they were ripe.
They would talk of nonsense and would trade advice. Hers were always the wisest of words, ones that stuck with James far after she had passed on. On the other hand…his mother learned how to make people sneeze without making it known, and how to best hold in a burp (when needed).
It was a good dream, one that he hadn’t had before. When he woke up, he couldn’t help but wonder if it had come as a result of his fit.
He sat up, looking around for his book. It somehow slid to the edge of the bed, even though he hadn’t thrashed about in his sleep.
He watched as the air shimmered, and the book floated up in the air and landed next to him.
“What?” James was beyond confused and slightly scared. This was insane, was he hallucinating? This wasn’t a side effect he had been warned about.
The air continued to move and warp, until the figure of a man with black hair appeared in front of him.
“Hey,” He said.
James stared at him in shock before whispering, “Hello?”
~~
James had woken up with a small smile on his face before looking around for his book. Reg wondered what he had been dreaming about, hopefully something pleasant, he sure deserved it.
Without thinking, he placed the book next to James. He only registered his fuck up when the young man had muttered a quiet query.
It was now or never honestly, was there ever going to be a better time to reveal himself? So Regulus went for it, he waved his hand and felt himself become semi-corporeal.
“Hey.” He said. It was the best he could muster. He didn’t want to freak the man out with a long winded explanation quite yet. He also didn’t want to appear frightening, let alone malicious.
“Hello?” James said, his forehead wrinkled, “What in the JESUS are you?”
Regulus laughed in surprise, “My name is Regulus Black, and I’m-” What was he? “I guess you could say I’m your roommate? Or maybe housemate is the better word for it. Well technically you’re my housemate because I’ve been here for ages longer than you.” He was rambling but he knew it, he became talkative when nervous.
“Huh. That’s not what I expected,” James replied. “What are you though? A ghost? or are you just my imagination- I haven’t been taking my meds lately.”
Reg smiled, “Yes, you could say that I’m a ghost, and you should seriously take your medication. Your grandfather forgot his all the time and look where that ended him.”
James paused, “Yeah that does seem like a good idea. Would you mind telling me exactly who the hell you are and what you’re doing in my house?”
Regulus frowned. He knew this was coming, but he wished to avoid it as long as possible. He looked at James for a second and slowly grinned, “Sure.” He then proceeded to blink out of existence.
~~
The ghost, Regulus, popped out of existence after giving James a flirty smile.
“Hey! Where’d you go?” Was James simply imagining all this? He rushed to the pill box next to his bed and swallowed a 100mg pill.
Hopefully they would make this all go away.