The boy tugged playfully at the girl’s plaid pleated skirt as they were making out. A TV show of some sort was playing in the background, but neither person paid it much mind, or any at all, really. They were both engrossed in the taste of each other’s tongues. 

The girl pulled at the navy wool sweater covering the boy’s shirt. He slipped it off, then continued kissing her, moving his lips away from hers and down her neck. A small moan escaped from her, so he kissed deeper. He pulled her shirt off; she unbuttoned his. He unzipped her skirt and slid it off. She unzipped his pants and pulled them down. All that was left between them were two thin layers of cotton underwear. 

Through his panting, he asked, “Should I go grab the condom?” 

She nodded quietly, unable to suppress the grin on her face. He snuck out of the room. Her parents wouldn’t be home for a few more hours, but the secretive air to his movements was all the more exciting. She smoothed out the pink blanket that covered her bed and pushed some pillows around. The lavender velvet pillow to her right, and the fluffy white pillow to her left. She chose the silk cheetah print to prop herself up on, since it was inarguably the most alluring. 

She looked over and saw the ragged stuffed bunny that she had loved since her first birthday. By this point, it was torn and missing an eye, and there might have been some dried food stuck to its arm. Alarmed by how childish her prized possession now seemed from her recently matured point of view, she hastily grabbed it and threw it off the bed.  

With a quiet thump, the bunny hit the K-Pop poster hanging on the wall. There was a dark ring around the lead singer’s mouth—a result of the countless times the girl had used the likeness to practice kissing. The repudiated rabbit, in one final bid for attention, knocked over the girl’s trophy for second place in the middle school science fair. That was the first time the award had been moved since she had received it four years prior. 

The girl lurched to restore her possessions to their rightful order, but she paused when she heard the boy’s footsteps coming up the stairs. She hastily arranged her hair in the sexiest way she could, fanned out over the silken print of her pillow. She wasn’t sure about which pose she should make because she had never gone this far with a boy before, but she didn’t mind not knowing. She was going to have fun. 

The footsteps continued round the corner and stopped in front of her door. She could see the shadow of his feet behind the door. Through the small crack, she watched him shift from one foot to the other. She giggled to herself. Images of what poses he might be striking came to her mind. She was just about to call his name when she heard a peculiar sound: another set of footsteps echoing up the stairwell as someone else ascended to the landing.  

The girl’s stomach dropped. Fear gripped at her heart. Her body froze. 

Her parents must be home early. 

The steps slowly approached the door. It was all over. She would instantly be sent to the all-girl’s school by her aunt’s house in Kumamoto Prefecture. No doubt they had already found her near-naked boyfriend fishing around in his backpack for the condom. The shame was mortifying. 

As the door creaked open, she quickly remembered to rip the blanket out from under her and cover herself as best she could. She was still working out how to cover her bare shoulders when she saw her boyfriend hop over the threshold. 

“Ooh,” he purred, “do you want me to unwrap you like a sexy little present?” 

The girl chuckled halfheartedly. “Did you just get to the door?” 

The boy scratched his head in embarrassment. “Oh, yeah, it took me a while to remember which pocket I had the condom in. Sorry for making you wait, but,” he lowered his voice, “I thought the suspense might turn you on.” 

“Yeah, yeah, it did.” She said this in an effort to convince not just him but also herself. 

“So… where were we?” He climbed onto her bed and pulled the blanket off of her. Her mind quickly returned to the matter at hand, and she found the butterflies returning to her stomach as they began kissing again.  

Her eyelids fluttered open for a moment. They closed, then shot back open. There was nothing out of the ordinary past her boyfriend’s head, but the girl could have sworn she saw a shadow being cast against her wall, as if someone was in the room watching them. She broke the kiss, and the boy took this as a green light to press on. 

Before the girl’s concerns could be voiced, the boy expertly slid the last bit of clothing off her body. His boxers followed suit. He put on the condom and straddled the girl. He leaned close and asked, “Are you ready?” 

Nervousness and excitement rushed to her brain. She looked deep into his eyes. “Yeah,” she whispered. 

She inhaled sharply as he entered her. It felt good. Just good. Maybe a little painful, but tolerable. She tried not to get hung up on her mild disappointment and willed herself to kiss him deeper. He kissed her back, and soon she started to enjoy the rhythm of their bodies. His hands ran up and down her thighs. Fingers ran through her long black hair. She paused, though not sure why, when again she felt the boy squeeze both her legs, while a hand simultaneously brushed her head. She jerked up, slamming her chin into his forehead. 

“Ow,” the boy whined as he nursed his head. “What was that for?” 

The girl ran her hands through her hair again and again. She looked behind her. There was nothing of note among the colorful pillows and the white, wrought iron headboard. The boy took the girl’s chin and turned her face towards his. He kissed her gently and asked, “Babe, what’s wrong? Is this too much for you? Am I too-” his eyes glanced down to his penis, “Am I too big for you?” 

“No, no,” the girl answered. A look of disappointment flashed across the boy’s face. “I don’t know, I think I felt something in my hair.” The girl gripped the boy’s wrist tight with two clammy hands. “Do you think there’s someone in my room?” 

The boy laughed and tried to calm her down. He assured her they were alone, but she insisted that he check around the bed. 

“Nothing under here,” he called out from under her bed. 

“Look in my closet,” she pleaded. 

He looked at her and considered if all this effort was worth it, but then he glanced at her breasts and decided he would play along a little longer. He walked over to her closet and turned back to the bed to watch her as he turned the closet doorknob. The slatted door creaked open to reveal… 

“Nothing.” The girl let out a sigh, followed by a quiet laugh. “Sorry, you must think I’m crazy.”  

“Yeah,” he replied as he walked back to the bed, “but crazy girls are hot.” He climbed onto the bed, grabbed the girl by her small waist, and flipped her over. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly with her legs straddling him. He grabbed the back of her head and sent his tongue deeper into her mouth. The boy reentered the girl and slowly guided her body down. She began to gyrate her hips uneasily, but her eyes still darted around the room.  

The boy lifted his hand to the girl’s chin and directed her attention back to him. “Let me see those tits,” he growled. 

The girl smiled and arched her back as she continued to ride him. The bed squeaked with her movements. She actually began to enjoy herself and she brushed the sweaty locks of black hair out of her face with a feigned nonchalance. She rolled her head to the side when a loud gasp forced its way out of her lungs.  

There in the corner stood a tall, thin woman in a long, white kimono. She faced the wall, and the long gray tresses of her thinning hair crept down her back and hung motionless by her knees. There was an unnerving stillness to the woman, as though her presence caused the rest of the already static room to freeze over. The girl’s eyes remained transfixed on this apparition in the corner, and she sat motionless on top of the boy. 

“You finished already, huh?” He sighed as though this was a common inconvenience for him. 

“Do you see that?” the girl whispered. 

“See what?” the boy asked dismissively. His air of incredulity crumbled when he followed the girl’s gaze and saw the tall, pale woman in the corner. He threw the girl off him and, as she tumbled to the floor, he cried out, “What the FUCK?” 

The girl stood up and, though the ghost faced the wall, she awkwardly tried to shield her nipples. The boy jumped off the bed to join the girl. They both backed up slowly until the girl felt her back press against the wall. The boy maneuvered her to stand in front of him so that now she felt the cold sweat of his body press against her back. 

The ghost in the corner jerked her thin, bony fingers in unnaturally quick movements. Her overgrown nails scratched the paint off the walls. The stringy grey hair swayed against the soiled silk of the woman’s kimono as her head began to turn. With her body fixed in its position, her neck cracked loudly as it continued turning until the ragged locks of grey were replaced by a pale, sunken face. The flesh of her neck was twisted grotesquely as the spirit gazed directly at the nude couple. 

“Obaa-san?” the girl asked. 

“What?” demanded the boy. 

“That’s, um,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “that’s my grandmother.” She reached down to grab the stuffed rabbit slouching against the wall and shoved it backwards into the boy’s hand. “Cover yourself,” she ordered over her shoulder. All reason left the boy’s mind. He nodded blankly and did as she said. 

The woman’s feet pointed towards the corner of the room. She lifted her foot, her heel forward facing the boy and girl. She moved her foot back and took a lurching step towards the bed. With a thud, her other foot hit the ground as she took another strained step. Her head lulled from side to side with each advancement. A long, straight lock of grey hair fell in front of the dark shadow her browbone cast over her sunken eyes. As she approached, the boy could make out only the shine of her pupils sitting deep within her hollowed eye sockets. 

The girl scrambled to grab the boy’s clothes and she tossed them in his general direction. She hastily pulled on her skirt. He tensed up, afraid to take his eyes off the ghost. His gaze darted to the pile of clothes, then back to the woman. She took another step towards him. He waited for her to get stuck on the bed, but her leg glided right through the mattress as though it were made of air. He whimpered and put on his clothes, turning back every few moments to make sure the woman was still coming. She was. 

The girl grabbed the boy’s hand and hurried him out of the room, down the stairs, and to the front door. 

“Sorry,” she said breathlessly. 

“Wha—” the boy said. His eyes looked glazed over. 

The two could hear the pounding of bare feet as the ghost staggered down the stairs. 

“My grandmother—she died two years ago. At her deathbed, when I was saying my last goodbye, she was adamant that I promise to stay a virgin until I’m married. It was weird, but she seemed pretty serious, so I promised. I didn’t think she was this serious.” 

The boy let out a whine when he saw the ghost approaching from behind the girl. 

“I think you probably better go home,” the girl said, “but, hey, I’ll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?” 

The boy nodded quietly. His face was vacant of any particular expression. He turned to go home but stopped. He turned back to the girl and the ghost. He gave a brief bow to the spirit and quickly muttered, “Owabi moushi agemasu. I am so sorry,” then hurried out the door. He went home, masturbated, and fell asleep. He did not go to school the next day. 

————

Analise Chambers recently graduated from the University of Alabama, where she studied Spanish and Computational Linguistics and minored in Creative Writing on accident.