Ghost story - Part 1 - 1st draft

A Story by Marztothemoon

A short story I'm working on about a ghost and the people around her. This in in no way a finished product

“Bye, Mom!”, shouts a small boy as he runs out the door.

“Ryo!” his mother shouts back, “Get back here! You haven’t finished your chores!” But it was too late. The boy had already escaped the house and made it halfway down the road. “Tsk.” She puts her hands on her hips and turns to an old woman, who is quietly knitting in a chair by the fireplace. “You know, this is your fault, Mom. Filling his head with all those stories.”

“Just because you don't believe it, doesn’t mean it's not true.” the old woman replied with a small smile.

“It would have been fine if you’d just kept them to yourself. Why’d you have to tell him? Ryo’s a kid. He’ll believe anything you say.”

“He’s the one who told me about the things he sees. I didn’t tell him anything he wouldn't have figured out by himself.” The mother heaved a sigh and shook her head. She knew it was pointless to fight, but she couldn’t help but want to berate her mother for teaching her son about such senile fantasies. I mean, seeing ghosts? It was nothing but useless nonsense.

As the new dawn approached, the green hillside was bathed once again in warm sunlight. A small, time-worn shrine stands at the very top of the hill. Its wooden frame, pale and weathered, it is obvious that it has fallen into disuse. Across from the path and away from the shrine sits a little girl. Normal humans will not be able to see her, but very few people choose to visit this shrine anyway. Her semi-transparent form sits perfectly still, staring straight ahead at the mountain ranges and valleys surrounding her. Her expression is vacant. The sunlight crawls its way to the top of the hill, and as the sunlight reaches her feet, her form wavers for a moment, but quickly stabilizes.

“Momiko!” Ryo shouts at her from aways down the mountain path. His brown hair bobs up and down as he runs towards her. “Momiko! Momiko, look what I brought you!” She turns her head towards him, still expressionless. Ryo reaches her and stops to catch his breath. After a moment, he extends both hands towards her, offering a small seedling. “You see? It's a bellflower seedling, Momiko!” She stares blankly at the plant, then looks back up at Ryo. “I thought we could plant it here on your hill, Momiko! That way, you can watch it grow!” Ryo pauses for a moment to study her face for a reaction. Finding nothing, He decides to ask. “So? Do you like it?” The girl takes her time studying the plant, and Ryo waits patiently. Finally she looks at him and nods. Ryo looks overjoyed. “Com'on, then! Let’s plant it together!”

Each and every day, Ryo brought Momiko a new seedling to plant. Bellflowers, Hydrangeas, Iris’ Chrysanthemums, camellias, violets; any flower or seedling he could get his hands on, he brought up the hill to her. He planted them all around where Momiko sat, so that any way she was looking, she could always see them, and watch them grow. To an outsider, it might seem that Momiko was indifferent to this change. After all, whatever flower he bought to her, her vacant expression never seemed to waver. However, Ryo could tell that whatever face Momoko made, she really loved having the flowers and watching them grow. He could tell by her eyes. For as the hill filled up with more and more flowers, so did her eyes seem to shine more and more. Once, he brought a cherry tree sapling to plant next to the old shrine, and he could swear that he almost saw the corners of her lips curl up, just a bit.

© 2021 Marztothemoon

Author's Note

This story is sort of inspired by a manga I was reading at the time so the names and the setting will reflect that lol. This is not a finished product and I will revise it and add more.

Please tell me what you think of it, what you would change, ect. Expecailly if something is unclear I want to know about it and rework it so the reader can understand the story