Page 22 of Can't Refuse Him
Watching a man go about his nightly unwinding routine was not the most bizarre thing I ever did. Plus, I am dead, so don’t judge me. Gotta know your enemy so you can successfully haunt them, right?
Mark brushed his teeth with the same aggressive enthusiasm he used to fuck me. It was rhythmic. Unapologetic.Rough. His gums bled, not that he seemed to notice the pain, and finished with a rough spit out into the sink. He can probably still taste the mouldy sandwich in his mouth.Good! I hoped it lingered.
As the water washed away his spit, so did another way to get a mental connection to him. This man was being extra cautious in his home. Something on top of my haunting must have happened to him since we last interacted.
I was behind the mirror, inhabiting a discarded tissue he left in the built-in cupboard part of the mirror’s vanity. I could see through things at will. The mortal physical realm was meaningless to me now that I had learnt how to travel across it once again.
He held up a piece of paper, and I peered through to see the intricate handwriting on the other side. It was from Lisa. She was his daughter.I don’t know why, but that made my heart flutter. The letter gave me much more insight into his life. Judy and he had obviously separated. I could only make out that they still love him but cannot accept that he has chosen ‘this lifestyle’.
Had he finally come out and accepted himself being gay?Well, at least he did something right for once.
I found my sea legs, so to speak, and now that he was vulnerable, this was my chance. But because I was sitting in the mirror, I could have some fun. I could alter the angle of the reflection ever so slightly. A normal person wouldn’t pick up on it. But when someone looked closely, someone who was vain? Yeah, they would notice their reflection was off by a mere fraction, lagging just enough that if you stared long enough, you’d feel queasy.
If this Mark is anything like the Mark I knew, he was still full of himself. It was only a matter of time before he noticed. He hadn’t yet, but soon he would.
“Are yousureabout this?” Grumble hissed. He’s also in the room, squatting on the towel rack with his bin-juice-dripping coffee-lid crown of glory tilted askew. “You really want to dive in now? This guy flosses like he’s punishing his gums for existing.”
He should have seen how he fucked.
“I’m not waiting anymore,” I murmured.
Grumble winced as Mark rinsed and spat again. “You haven’t even prepped the final phase yet. No fridge-rot. No closet whispers. No symbolic trauma breadcrumbs. You’re skipping straight to psychic confrontation and spirit-dong theatrics.”
I looked him dead in the eye. “He’s starting tofeelme. I can tell. I saw it in the twitch of his jaw when the mirror shifted.”
“Could’ve been gas,” Grumble muttered. “He ate beetroot salad with dinner.”
I ignored him and figured it is time to move. I drifted down through the air like forgotten lint and glided toward the laundry hamper. A plan was forming in my head: as well as rotting food completely, I’ve been told that once I have a strong enough mental connection, I can visit his dreams. That, followed by an echo of a manifestation, then maybe—maybe—some light possession to force him to picture me again and hear me say something like:
You murdered me, Mark, and now I’m going to make you pay!
Too much? Dramatic? Well, I’m sure after being murdered you would be too.
“You’ll regret this,” Grumble warned, hopping off the towel rack onto the bathmat with a squelch. “This sort of vengeance without proper prep, it doesn’t play nice. Once you’re seen, you can’t be un-seen.”
That’s the fucking point. Isn’t it? Is this what I want?
I shook my head. Of course, that is the point!
But before I could slip through the crack beneath the door to reposition, Muffin padded into the room.
She froze. Her neck fur rose. Ears flattened. She saw me.
Reallysaw me.
Golden. Fluffy. A betrayal in dog form.
Grumble bolted behind the laundry hamper.
“Oh, fuck no,” he whisper-screeched. “It’s a Golden-Retriever. They're like medium-grade exorcists with a waggy tail. I’ve seen one banish a Spectre just by looking sad.”
I always wondered if pets saw things humans never could–this confirmed it. If I were alive, I’d have been pumped.
Muffin growled. I stood my ground.
She charged. Not at me,throughme. Her incorruptible good-girl energy hit like divine bleach. My form flickered. I stumbled, destabilised, momentarily pure.
“Nope!” Grumble squeaked. “Nope nope nope!”
