Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:31:47 -0800 (PST)
From: Sebastian Fforde <sebastianfforde@yahoo.com>
Subject: Kai and the Ghost Boy Chapter 1

Kai and the Ghost Boy

Copyright 2008 Sebastian Fforde

(BB, fantasy, romance)

This story is completely fiction. Well, most of it is, anyway. If you
aren't interested in reading an erotic love story about a boy and a ghost,
then you can stop right now. But if you ARE interested, then read on.

This is another spooky one in the same vein as Jonathan Casts a Spell.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

***

Chapter 1

"I saw you and your mom unpacking yesterday," the boy said to Kai. "I'm
Bryan. I'm your downstairs neighbor."

The boy was wearing jeans and a heavy ski sweater. His face had the
wholesome look of the kind of boy modeling the back-to-school fashions in
the Sunday sale papers. Kai couldn't help but notice that the boy was very
handsome. The boy was leaning against the fence in the front yard
overlooking Tumbledown Street.

Kai was caught off guard. Where had that boy come from? He hadn't noticed
Bryan when he sat down on the front steps. He and his mother had just moved
into the apartment on the top floor of the old house.

"Oh, hi. My name's Kai."

"That's a nice name," Bryan said.

Kai extended his arm to shake hands with his new neighbor. He was a little
surprised when the boy avoided the handshake by putting his hands in his
pockets. For some reason, Kai got the idea that the boy wasn't trying to be
unfriendly. Maybe the kid's one of those germ freaks or something, he
thought.

Since the boy didn't want to shake hands, Kai awkwardly put his hand down.

"My mom just got hired to teach math at Jack Parsons High," Kai
explained. "That's why we moved here."

"My mom's a teacher, too. Semiotics, semantics, linguistics or some damn
thing that has to do with words up at Arkwright College. It's just me and
her. So it's just you and your mom, too?"

"Yeah."

"Where's your dad?"

"I dunno. In Houston somewhere. Drunk or dead, or maybe dead drunk."

"That sucks," Bryan said.

"Yeah," Kai agreed. He really didn't want to think about his father that
much.

"You gonna keep the dog?" Bryan asked.

"Huh?" Kai turned around. There was a white and grey husky curled up asleep
under a horse chestnut tree in the front yard. The dog looked up, and then
came over to the Kai and started sniffing his crotch.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Kai giggled, trying to shoo the dog away. Then he
turned to Bryan. "I don't get why dogs always do that," he laughed.

"Maybe cuz it turns them on!" Bryan laughed. "In any case, he sure does
like you!"

"Well, I hope he doesn't start humping my leg!" Kai laughed.

"I'll bet that humping your leg would turn him on, too!" Bryan
grinned. Then Bryan shot Kai a very serious look. "You gonna keep him?" he
asked.

"Looks like he's a stray." Kai said. "I don't think my mom would let me
keep a dog in the house. Maybe a doghouse in the yard, though."  Kai patted
the dog's head and scratched under its ear.

"Maybe your mom will let you keep him out in the yard, then," Bryan added
hopefully.

"Why don't YOU keep him?"Kai asked.

"Can't. Mom won't let me. You know how moms can be."

Kai decided to change the subject. He moved a bit closer to the part of the
fence that Bryan was leaning on. "Tumbledown Street is really nice, isn't
it?"

"Yeah, it's kinda cool" Bryan agreed." The houses here are all
colonial. Can't do anything to the outside of your house without checking
with the historical society first. Not that you're really going to do
anything, since you're just renting."

"I guess not."

"Hey Kai," Bryan said, moving closer to Kai and looking deeply into his
eyes, "you have really beautiful eyes! You know that, don't you?"

"Thanks."

It felt strange for Kai to have another boy look so deeply into his eyes
and tell him that they were beautiful - but he didn't pull away as Bryan
came closer. Kai shivered a bit when Bryan put his face close to his.  Kai
could see himself reflected in the other boy's eyes.

It wasn't really that strange for Bryan to comment, since everyone noticed
Kai's eyes eventually and felt the need to comment on them.

"I'm serious, Kai. They're absolutely remarkable!" Bryan said
breathlessly. "I've never seen anything like that -- well, not on a
person, anyway. I had a dog with eyes like that once. One eye brown and the
other eye blue. I just didn't know it could happen with people, too."

"Yeah, I guess it's kinda rare."

Kai's mom called from the top of the stairs to the second floor
apartment. "Kai! Oh, there you are! Listen honey, I haven't unpacked the
dishes, so what do you say we just go explore the neighborhood and find
some place to eat tonight?"

"Sure Mom."

"What are you doing right now?"

"Oh, nothing. Just talking to the boy who lives downstairs."

Then Kai turned around to introduce Bryan to his mother. But the boy was
not there. Bryan must have wandered off somewhere, or gone back inside his
apartment. Kai decided that there would be plenty of time later to
introduce Bryan to his mother.

"That's nice, dear," she said.  "You know," she added, "you can't keep that
dog."

"Huh?" He hadn't realized that the dog had followed him as he walked up the
stairs to join his mother. "Oh, I guess he's a stray. I didn't even see him
come up with me."

"Well, take that beast outside while I find my purse and we'll take a walk
up Burgess Avenue and see what we can find to eat."

After dinner, Kai spent most of the night arranging stuff in his new
bedroom and listening to music. Shortly before bedtime, Kai's mother
knocked on his bedroom door.

"Kai, what did I tell you about that dog?"

"The dog's still outside, isn't he?"

"No, it's in the living room. It was staring at me. Now how did it get in
if you didn't let it in?"

"I didn't let him in. I left the dog outside and closed the gate so he
couldn't get back in." Kai explained.

"Well, how did it get in the house, then?"

"I dunno," Kai replied. "I didn't let him in, that's for sure."

"Would you please take it back out and make sure the door is locked this
time?"

"Okay, okay. You don't have to make a big deal out of it," Kai grumbled.

The dog was excited to see Kai. Kai scratched the dog's ear and walked him
outside.

On his way out, Kai noticed something about the dog.  "Hey lookit that," he
said, "one eye brown and one eye blue, just like me!" Then he crouched down
and looked the dog in the eyes. "Maybe you were meant to be my dog after
all!" he said, stroking the dog's fur.

The dog followed him out as he lead it back through the front gate, locked
the gate, went back inside, locked the front door, went up the stairs,
locked the apartment door and went to bed.

Kai wasn't in bed five minutes before he heard the sound of claws scraping
on the floor. He felt completely disoriented. There was no way that dog
could have gotten back into the house and into his room without being let
in!

"How did you get back in here?" Kai asked the dog. "You must be pretty
smart to know a secret way back into the house. I'll bet your owners used
to live here! C'mon, I'm taking you back outside."

"Mom," Kai said, "The dog got in again. There must be like some sort of
hidden entrance or something. Like maybe there's a doggie door somewhere."

"Look, Kai," his mother said, looking exhausted, "I don't know if you're
playing a game or what, but I really can't deal with this right now. I'm
simply not going to let you keep that dog. I've got to get you registered
for school tomorrow and I have to get my syllabus prepared and approved. So
put the dog out again, if it gets in again we'll try to find out how it's
getting in tomorrow. Got it?"

"I know you think I let him back in, but I swear, Mom, I didn't!"

"I didn't say I didn't believe you. Now put the dog out and go to sleep!"

Once again, Kai took the dog outside. This time he carefully looked around
the house to see if there were any openings or hidden entrances. When he
got back to his room the dog was already sitting on the braided rug near
his bed, waiting for him.

Kai had a lot of trouble getting to sleep with the dog sitting there and
staring at him all night. Instinctively the boy knew that the problem
wasn't with the dog. The problem was with the house.  There was something
very wrong with the house. Kai was starting to dislike being in that house
immensely.

Kai could hardly sleep that night. He kept opening his eyes and checking to
see if the dog had gone. Every time he looked he saw the dark silhouette of
the dog sitting at attention by the foot of his bed.

That night Kai tossed and turned, half awake and half dreaming. He kept
dreaming that he was taking the dog outside over and over again. It just
kept playing over and over in his mind. Mixed up in his dreams of the dog,
Kai also started to have another kind of dream -- a dream about the
handsome boy that lived downstairs.

To Be Continued

Are you enjoying my story? I hope you are. If you like, you can check out
my other stories on Nifty: Jonathan Casts a Spell in the High School
section, Tanner's Talent in the Adult/Youth section, Where's Willy? in the
Encounters section, Smelly Sneakers for Skyler in the Young Friends section
and Skyler Gives a Foot Rub in the Adult/Youth section.  If you want to get
to know me a little better, feel free to email or chat with me, or check
out my MySpace page, which is http://www.myspace.com/sebastianfforde. My
Yahoo ID is sebastianfforde.