How to [Not] Jump to Conclusions 1
«Hey! Stop it right now!» the girl before me shouted, her emerald eyes blazing with anger.
She was a cute blonde, clutching a beach towel to her chest, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and fury.
We were in a small, wooden changing cabin, located by a lively river beach, nestled within a lush park in the heart of a bustling city.
I looked around, perplexed, but no, she was alone here… Well, I was here too, but I was a ghost, so she couldn't see me…
… Or could she?
«Don't twist your head, you evil spirit! I'm talking to you! Just you wait! Just let me get my clothes on and I'll dispel you into oblivion! You'll know how to peep at unsuspecting girls!»
… What?
It had been a week since I got stuck here, although it felt like an eternity. I couldn't recall how I died, but ever since my demise, I had been haunting this same cabin, growing used to the fact that no one saw or heard me. That’s why I figured I could watch girls changing in my cabin as much as I wanted… Until I got caught just now by some blushy, but quite violent young pani.
«Hey-hey, easy!» I tried to defend myself. «I'm not some evil spirit. I'm just your friendly, harmless ghost. And… who the hell are you?»
«I'm Äna!» she announced, trying to maintain her composure, still pressing her towel to her chest. Her green eyes sparkled with determination. «And as a witch, I don't tolerate pervy ghosts either!»
… A witch?… She must've had problems with her head.
«… Pleasure…» I said, keeping some safe distance from her, feeling the weight of her gaze as she stared at me. «… I'm Är.»
Äna frowned, cheeks flushed, determined to stand her ground.
… What a troublesome person.
«Look,» I said soothingly, trying to keep the situation from escalating, «I didn't choose to be here, but as I'm here anyway, what's bad in me appreciating the view I have? Given no harm done.»
«What's bad?! No harm?! What about the girls' feelings?» Äna yelled stubbornly, furrowing her eyebrows. «I understand you're not here by your will, but this is still wrong!»
Well, I can't just leave. Even if I wanted to.
Äna bit her lip as if considering something, her eyes narrowing in thought.
«I know what I'll do!» she finally said. «I'll make you my familiar, and take you away from here!»
Her familiar?…
I pondered the prospect for a moment. To trade my cozy cabin with its endless beauty parade for an angry witch threatening to dispel me?… Hm-m-m…
«No, thanks,» I turned away uninterested.
Äna's voice became sterner.
«I won't just leave you be, you know! And as you're not a human, not even a living being, I don't need your consent!»
She suddenly began chanting something under her breath, her voice filled with a fierce resolve. The air around her crackled with energy.
«… What are you doing?» I looked at her, alarmed, as the atmosphere in the cabin grew dense.
She didn't respond, too focused on her incantation, but before I knew it, a strange sensation washed over me, as if invisible chains were binding me to her. I tried to resist, but it was futile. I felt my connection to the cabin fading away.
«No! Stop it!» I yelled, but it was too late. She stopped chanting – the ritual was over.
Panting slightly from the effort, Äna said smugly, a triumphant smile on her lips,
«I'm not the strongest witch, but even I can handle a single measly ghost!»
She swiftly slipped into her bright strappy sundress, stuffed her towel in a spacy beach bag, and strode out of the cabin.
«Hey! Let go of me! Leave me alone!» I protested as my newfound bond with her tugged me along. «You can't just drag me away like this! I have rights too!… I should have!»
Äna marched on, brow furrowed.
«You're a ghost, remember? No rights. You're my familiar, and must obey your mistress – me. Besides, if I leave you there, you might become an evil spirit and harm people.»
«Why would I?»
«Because. A normal soul would have already found peace and dissolved. But something holds you back, right? Some unfulfilled desire, perhaps. Have any?»
I hesitated for a moment… because I did.
«Well, I used to love drawing,» I said, hovering after my new mistress. «Nothing serious, just a hobby, but there were so many things I wanted to draw, and now, as a ghost, I can't even hold a pencil.»
Äna glanced at me, eyebrows raised.
«That…» she said, «I could actually help with. Levitating small things like a pencil is easy. I could enchant one so that you move it with your mind!»
Really? I'll draw again?
I was genuinely excited about the idea.
«It would be… amazing!»
When we arrived at Äna's home, she led me straight to her room, which was quite… not messy, but rather cluttered. Spellbooks nestled beside teen magazines, potion bottles mingled with nail polish, enchanted crystals sparkled amidst scattered makeup palettes, while textbooks and pens formed haphazard towers, creating a magical chaos only a teenage witch could navigate.
Äna quickly found a pencil in this jumble and performed some witchy stuff to it: she scribbled some strange symbols on and mumbled some peculiar tongue-twister over it. Then, she turned to me.
«Give it a try. Just focus on it and imagine it moving.»
I did as she instructed, and to my astonishment, the pencil quivered slightly. After some practice, I could maneuver it effortlessly, just as I wanted.
That was when a cunning plan to return to my cozy cabin crossed my mind.
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«This is fantastic!» I said, smirking inwardly. «But, you know what? The only subjects I've ever drawn… are girls… in the nude. So, I'd appreciate it if you took me back to my changing cabin – my inexhaustible source of inspiration. I'll definitely find peace there. We wouldn't want me turning into an evil spirit, would we?»
Äna hesitated, biting her lip as she weighed her options. Finally, she came to a decision.
«No! I'm not taking you back to that cabin to continue your… your… voyeurism!»
I shrugged, slightly disappointed.
«Well, it's a shame, really. I thought I could finally find peace… O, no! I think I'm turning! Turning into an evil spirit! What should we do!»
Äna didn't buy it, but she still seemed conflicted. She took a deep breath and said,
«Alright, fine! You can draw me!»
«What?» I looked skeptically at the girl who'd been wrapping herself in a towel even while changing inside a cabin. «Are you serious?»
She nodded, looking away, her face flushed.
«Being naked is nothing for a witch,» she stated, her blush screaming the opposite. «Some rituals even require you to be naked, as clothes can dull your senses and emotions, blocking your soul's aura. Orthodox witches never wear panties for this very reason.»
… Intriguing…
«I'm not one of them, though,» Äna added quickly, then continued full of resolve. «Mom's not coming home tonight; she's at a sabbath with her friendines, so we have time.»
With trembling fingers, Äna slid the straps of her sundress off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. She then pulled down her panties, stepped out of them and neatly placed them with the sundress on a nearby chair.
I couldn't help admiring her tan lines.
«Well,» she mumbled, cheeks aflame. «I've never done this before. How do you want me to pose?»
Although she'd said it was nothing for her, her anxiety even got to me a little.
«An… Anything that feels comfortable will do. Just relax… And stop blushing, or instead of Le Portrait Nu, we'll get Nature Morte à la Tomate.»
Äna chuckled nervously and settled into a shy pose, sitting on the edge of her bed, awkwardly covering her breasts and pressing her legs together.
… Well… Good enough.
Her collarbones, shoulders, thighs, and knees made some interesting lines…
I focused on the enchanted pencil, guiding it across the paper with my newfound ability. As I finished my drawing, Äna took a peek at it.
«Wow, so beautiful!» she gasped, genuinely impressed and a little proud of her looks.
«Thanks,» I replied. «You're a great model, really. Wanna try another pose?»
Äna blushed again, still cupping her breasts.
«Maybe… Just one more…»
This time she was standing with her back to me, hands on her loins, head turned over her shoulder. Her face profile, her shoulder blades, the soft, slender curves of her figure, all were in perfect balance, asking to be drawn.
As Äna checked the result, her eyes sparkling, she readily agreed for "another pose". She even climbed on her bed, standing tall on tiptoes, legs apart, arms reaching for the sky.
She got so enthusiastic that when she tried to bend forward for the next pose, hugging her knees, her hair brushing her toes, she suddenly stumbled,
«Wa-a!»
and somersaulted off her bed so that only her legs were sticking out from behind it. It startled me badly, for it sounded like she'd hit her head.
«Are… Are you okay?…» I asked gingerly.
«I'm fine!» she waved her hand from under the bed. «No worries!»
She crawled back on the bed, hair ruffled, but beside that seeming quite alright.
«Phew!» she huffed. «Being a model is more dangerous than I thought.»
«Damn! You scared me to death,» I sighed relieved. «Let's take a break.»
«No! I said I'm fine!» Äna protested. «Let's go on!»
«You sure?»
«Sure!»
As I continued drawing and praising her efforts, she grew more and more confident, her poses bolder and more daring. Like, leaning against a wall, one leg bent, foot on the wall, arms folded propping her breasts; or squatting, knees splayed, fingers touching the floor; or kneeling and elbowing, back arched. Each line of her every pose felt so dynamic, fluid and strong, I had to admit, she was an excellent model – truly ideal.
As the morning peeked through the curtains, Äna gasped surprised,
«E-e?! I can't believe we did it all night!»
She lay in bed on her belly, legs playfully kicking in the air.
«Time flies when you have fun,» I replied, still drawing her. She wasn't posing anymore, but she was still naked, and I couldn't resist capturing her lines.
«Yea, it was quite fun… Unexpectedly,» she glanced at me with a naughty smile.
She rolled on her back, a stack of drawings we'd made through the night in hands, and flipped through them, her eyes twinkling with admiration.
«I love this one!» she gushed, holding up a particularly good sketch. «It's so lifelike! And this one too! Do I really look like this from behind?»
«You look much better, if you ask me,» I said, and she giggled.
«How did you learn to draw so well?» she inquired, genuinely curious.
«Well, I've been drawing girls for as long as I can remember,» I explained. «Practice makes perfect, you know.»
Äna sighed dreamily.
«I'd love to see your old drawings. I bet they're amazing.»
«Actually, they're nothing special,» I said humbly, feeling a tinge of pride. «But if you're interested, I think we could have a peek at them.»
Her eyes lit up at the suggestion.
«Really? That would be wonderful! But how?»
«Easy. By sneaking into my parents' house, of course.»
«… Your… parents?»
The thought that I had parents too, didn't seem to cross Äna's mind until now. So I got scolded for not mentioning them earlier, and how they might feel after losing their only son, and that she might pass my words on to them. I had to talk her out of the latter because, knowing my parents, they would just chase her away if she came and said she could talk to their late son. But the realization of how little I thought of them after my untimely death made me feel a little guilty. In the end, we agreed that we should at least go and check on them.
It was still morning when we made our way to my parents' house. Mom opened the door. She looked as usual, maybe a bit more tired.
Äna quickly made up a story.
«Hello! I'm Äna, Är's friend. I lent him a book a while ago, and I was wondering if I could have it back?»
My mom, always the gracious host, welcomed her in.
«Of course, dear, come in, come in. Ärik's room's to the right. See if you find it there.»
My room appeared untouched, frozen in time. A worn-out beanbag chair nestled in the corner, a wooden bookshelf brimming with novels. Movie posters adorning the walls, lending a sense of familiarity. The neatly made bed sat against one wall, a sketchbook peeking out from under it, filled with my drawings. Stacks of magazines, featuring models, cluttering the desk beside the creaky computer chair.
Sunk in my beanbag, Äna leafed through my old sketches. Soon, however, she got a bit jealous.
«Who are these girls? Those poses are obscene,» she said, pouting.
«O, they're just models from magazines,» I explained, trying to appease her.
«Hm-m? Then, draw me like that too!» Äna demanded, unwilling to lose to some magazine girls. «Yea, right now!»
Perhaps, feeling adventurous, Äna quickly pulled off her sundress and panties and struck the most impressive pose I've ever seen – half-lying on my bed, leaning on her elbows, shoulders pushed forward, emphasizing her breasts, legs spread wide and bent at the knees, feet on tiptoes, head thrown back, chin up, eyes closed. It was a symphony of lines – straight and curved, the familiar ones and the ones I'd never seen before. The view was so mesmerizing, my mind unconsciously reached for the pencil, eager to capture it all before it vanished.
«You know,» I said, laying the first strokes on the paper, «I think this pose is my favorite yet.»
«Really? I'm glad!» Äna replied, her face slightly flushed, but also smug.
As we continued chatting while I drew, we got so absorbed in the process that we didn't notice the footsteps approaching the room. Äna heard the door creak open last second, and barely managed to slip her sundress back on, fumbling with the straps as my mom entered the room.
«Dear, did you find your book?» Mom asked, puzzled by Äna's bustling.
«Em-m, n-not yet, sorry,» Äna stammered, fixing her sundress, trying to look innocent.
«No-no, it's fine,» Mom hurried to assure her. «It's just… I'm going to visit Ärik now. Would you like to come along?»
Hearing that, I vividly imagined a gravestone with my picture on it… I wonder which picture they chose…
Äna should have imagined something equally grim.
«V… Visit Är?»
«Yes,» Mom said. «The hospital he's in is just two blocks away.»
«The hospital?! ×2» Äna and I shrieked together. Mom couldn't hear me though. Obviously.
To be continued…