“I mean, don’t try to lead me in a different direction from what we are talking about.” Yasmine didn’t really understand a lot of the slang that people from her generation liked to say these days. In a world full of outgoing and outspoken people, she was in the back, catching snippets of conversation while focusing on her own world.

“Oh… why didn’t you just say that, then?” Matt asked curiously. Yasmine let out a small scoff and looked insulted for a few moments, but didn’t say anything past the small noises of mock offense.

“B-because I’m twenty-two, and it's weird if I don’t.” At least, that was what some of Valerie’s friends would say about the way she usually talked. The way some of them had just spit out one new age slang term after another would be impressive… If it wasn’t so stupid. She had little to no desire to lose herself in that kind of world

“I see, well I still think you should sit down and rest for a bit. I will get you some water.” Setting the pills down, Matt swooped into the kitchen. The sound of cupboards opening and closing as he searched for a glass. "Ugh, these are filthy!" she heard him say to himself.

Without him holding the bottle, Yasmine quickly lost track of the ghost. With a huff, she walked over, sat down in the recliner, and leaned back. It was comfortable, and her head was still throbbing a bit. As the back of her head sunk into the plush fabric of the seat, she felt her eyes start to flutter closed. Not sure if it was the head injury or the exhaustion of moving that made her drift off to sleep. Was she really going to fall asleep with a ghost in the house? What if he stole her soul or something.

“No…Monty wouldn’t do that.” Were her last thoughts before she drifted off in just seconds. Images swirled in her head as she fell into a deep sleep. With everything that had happened today, it was no wonder that her mind was a jumbled mess. It wasn't until her brain finally decided to focus on one moment in her memories. It felt like a veil was being lifted as it did. The sound of cleaning in the background while she slept triggered something in her brain.

The dream was vivid and strange. In them, she was a kid again, probably around ten or so. She wasn’t completely sure. But in it, she was in her room, sitting on her bed, talking with a smile, seemingly to herself.

“How does grandpa keep everything so clean, Monty? All he ever does is sleep in his chair.” Young Yasmine said with a slight giggle.

“Haha, well, old people get tired really easily, and your grandpa is pretty darn old,” Monty said, sitting on the other side of the bed, keeping her company. "The truth is, I actually help him clean most of the time. I really hate dust and dirt in general, and he lets me stay here, so I figured it's the least I can do.” Yasmine’s eyes went wide at this.

“You clean everything? By yourself?” The ghostly figure just smiled and nodded to the child. “You shouldn’t have to do everything yourself, Monty. In school, we learned that doing things together makes things go faster. Let me help!” She said excitedly, hopping off the bed.

“Haha, Yazzie, it's fine. I don’t mind it, really, " he said with a soft chuckle. But this small child wasn’t having it.

“No!” She shouted, stomping her foot. “I wanna help! I’m gonna help no matter what!” With a determined look, she reached out and tried to grab Monty’s hand, but it phased right through. Yasmine looked shocked for a moment but then looked up at the ghost with a red faced pout. “Monty!” She complained loudly, letting out growls of frustration.

“Okay, okay, sorry, haha,” floating off the bed, he held his hand out to the young girl once more, and she grasped the now semi solid hand. The two proceeded to clean the house until it veritably shined. Yasmine didn’t realize it at the time, but this was one of her core memories. The joy of cleaning with her best friend, seeing everything clean, and the satisfaction of a job well done would stick with her for the rest of her life.

Yasmine’s eyes slowly opened as the sound of a chair being moved in the kitchen groaned against the linoleum. It was soon followed by the scrape of a broom sweeping. They almost lulled her back to sleep, but she forced herself awake, lifting her head from the recliner. Looking into the kitchen, she saw a boom moving on its own and the sound of someone humming a song she didn’t recognize.

A sleepy smile crossed her face as if the sight was comforting to her. It should have been terrifying, having a specter that could physically interact with the world. Wasn’t that like a poltergeist thing, where they would fling objects around to attack the living? But this ghost wasn’t attacking her; he was cleaning. Suddenly, he started to sing softly instead of just humming.

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“Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye. Yes, that'll be the day when you make me cry. You say you're gonna leave, you know it's a lie, 'Cause that'll be the day, when I di- Yazzie, you’re awake!” Matt said with a start, the broom suddenly phasing through his hands and clattering to the floor as he lost focus.

Yasmine couldn’t help but start giggling madly, having caught the ghost in such a vulnerable moment, lost in his own little world.

“You have a nice singing voice, Monty.” She teased him gently, almost imagining his flustered expression.

“Very funny.” He said with a soft grumble, picking up the broom and setting it in a small cabinet where all of his cleaning supplies were neatly organized and sorted.

“I was being serious. You shouldn’t be ashamed.” If someone had caught her singing like that, she probably would have died from embarrassment. But she liked hearing him sing, at least. She got up out of the recliner and walked into the kitchen. She wasn’t exactly sure what he was cleaning, though. The place was basically spotless.

“So uhh… you still like cleaning?” Yasmine said, looking over to where she last knew where the spirit was.

“Umm.” Matt’s voice started, making her head snap a bit to the right of where she was looking. Not being able to tell where he was, was getting old and fast. Maybe she could put a bell on him or something. The thought making her smile slightly.

“I kind of do it just out of habit at this point. It keeps my mind occupied and helps me stay grounded… Wait... still?” He stared at her in shock at this.

“Yeah, I remembered when we were talking about how grandpa keeps his house clean. And you told me that you take care of most of it. Then we went around the house hunting down every speck of dust and dirt there was.” The smile on Yasmine’s face right now was nearly blinding. It felt like he had to shield his eyes from it. She rarely had a reason to smile while living in the city, but this memory felt precious to her, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Y-you remember?” Matt said, stunned at the revelation. Just how did she remember? He was almost certain that he blocked just about every instance of himself from her mind. It was not an ability he had used before but one he somehow innately knew he had. It wasn’t something he learned, just something he already knew when he became a ghost.

“I do,” she said, nodding her head in response. “I think you are the reason that I love keeping things nice and neat in my own life. Also… Thank you, Monty.” She said, still smiling at him.

“H-huh, what for?” He could feel his dulled senses buzz with surprising life at the kindness directed in front of him.

“For taking care of my grandpa all these years, I’m sure he would have been lonely without you.” A slight flush came to Yasmine’s cheeks, she wasn’t good at this kind of stuff, but she knew that Monty deserved this. Even though she barely remembered him, she could feel it.

“Yazzie…” Matt said softly, staring at her in admiration. The two stood there for a long moment in silence, neither knowing what to say next. It was then that Yasmine’s phone went off, startling both of them.

“Sorry, that's me.” She said, apologizing as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. For some reason, it was Valerie calling. Confused, she answered it, placing the phone to her ear.

“Hey Val, what's up, I didn’t expect you to call so soon.”

“Yeah, hey, so as I was leaving for my shift, this guy stopped me to ask about you. Said that he had helped you this morning or something?” She said, sounding tired and not that interested.

“Do you mean Bryant?”

“Yeah, that's the one. Well, anyway, he was telling me that he was feeling like he messed up just letting you leave without asking for your number and wanted to ask if it was alright if I gave it to him. He’s cute an all, but this is all kind of weird, ya know?” Yasmine’s face flushed as the thought of being asked for her number sunk in.

“Oh, umm, well, I.” She stammered, not sure how to answer at this moment. She certainly couldn’t make a decision right now. “Tell him I will think about it. He’s nice and all, but I just don’t feel comfortable giving out my number right now…Sorry.” She whispered her apology.

“Yeah, sure, I will pass that along. I’ll let you know if I get any bad vibes when I do.” Unlike Yasmine, Valerie had plenty of experience with men, so she looked out for her when it came to guys who were bad news. If Valerie had felt anything off with Bryant, she would have just lied for her. The fact she called to ask was a sign that he wasn’t a bad guy, probably.

“Thanks, Val. I'm a little busy right now, but I'll talk to you later.” With that, she hung up the phone and stuffed it back in the tight pocket of her stretch jeans.

“Sorry about that, what were we talking about?” Yasmine asked sweetly as she looked around for any sign of the ghost. But she got no response to her words. “Monty?” She called out again, walking further into the kitchen, trying to see where he was. But there was nothing, nothing mysteriously floating, no brooms sweeping on their own, or dusters dusting. Just quiet.

“M-monty?” she said, unable to keep the fear from her voice. Being alone like this suddenly made her feel very vulnerable and scared. She wrapped her arms around herself and slowly started to look around, calling out again.

“Monty!?” she cried out, a sudden and desperate need for his presence weighing down on her. Just where could he have gone?