Janie cautiously turned herself. Standing behind her was the woman. She was around her height, had puffy shoulder-length ginger hair, dark brown eyes, and green pants to complement the blue shirt she was wearing. Janie's mouth dropped to the floor, eyebrows frowning into her bulging eyes as she looked at her. Her throat was holding back her scream, and her heart pounded in her chest loudly, the sound reverberating in her head. Gripping the paintbrush tightly, she threw it at the woman standing in her bedroom, only to see it pass right through her. The woman looked at her with annoyed eyes while Janie stared back with fright. Janie was ready to aggressively swing her paintbrushes at her, picking them one by one and throwing them at her. But once again, the paint brushes passed right through her. The woman sighed as she pressed her temples, rubbing them in a circular motion.

She parted her mouth to speak, "My name is Moranda, and that's my painting." She said while still rubbing her temples.

Janie paused. She was all ears now. The loud quietness in the room filled up Janie's ear as she anticipated to hear Moranda tell her her story.

Moranda sighed in relief, laying her arms at her sides, "You already, pretty much, heard the whole story from the guy at the shop. Yes, I was killed. Yes, that is my blood. No, I don't know who killed me." She closed her mouth, waiting for any response from Janie.

"............ YOU’RE THE OWNER OF THIS PAINTING?" Janie yelled, startling her poor mother sleeping in the next room.

Moranda flinched at the sudden yelling. Janie turned back to the painting, putting her face close to it, closely inspecting every detail before turning her head to face Moranda. She was still in dismay. Janie was not expecting to encounter her so suddenly, out of the blue. Her jaw still dropped to the ground, and she spun around quickly to start bombarding her with vast amounts of questions.

Each question was very insignificant to what she was expecting her to ask. She did confirm that she was the painter, and after that, just meaningless questions. Moranda was getting overwhelmed with her questions jabbing her.

She raised her hand, gesturing for Janie to shut up. Janie did. They both stood in silence, the buzzing from the light bulb seemed loud. Janie took a deep breath, ready to ask another question she knew Moranda wouldn't run away from.

"Can you teach me how to draw?" She asked candidly.

Moranda was taken aback by this. It's been a while since someone had asked her. Moranda was always cooped up in her own room, only going outside for necessities and materials she needed. Moranda nodded her head while Janie scanned her with her bulging eyes.

Janie was ecstatic, shaking her fist from side to side. Now, she can finally pick up drawing again, without beating herself over it, and maybe, before March came, she wouldn’t feel dead inside.

She asked Moranda if she wanted to start teaching her tomorrow morning, and she agreed. Janie was left feeling warm inside. The thought of her being better at drawing was enough to make her grin from ear to ear, even making her stutter, trying to talk to Moranda to see when they could start drawing together.

As Janie was about to start incoherently speaking to Moranda, her mother's voice could be heard through her door. She didn't realize that her mom had already woken up and started cooking dinner. Moranda gestured to Janie to go eat, leaving her frowning. Janie left her room sluggishly, stomping slowly downstairs while her little brother rushed past her. Her dad, surprisingly, came back home on time to eat. Janie watched the door open to reveal her dad on the other side. He, of course, welcomed himself back home and took off his shoes before dropping everything to see what his wife was making in the kitchen. She joined everyone late. Her dad and little brother were already eating the sweets her mom cooked before getting ready to gobble down dinner.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Janie casually sat down at the dinner table, where her mom brought the freshly cooked food to her. She picked up her spoonful, blowing on it gently, before shoving it into her mouth. At that exact moment, Janie got a message from the group chat. She continued holding her spoon while taking out her phone from her pocket on her right side. The phone turned on only to blind her. She got pissed off and turned her brightness down before looking at her notifications. Rosana had texted, asking if everyone wanted to hang out at an anime store tomorrow. Leona texted back, agreeing to come. She started talking about how she needed to buy another Vocaloid figurine to add to her collection. Annalise replied to her, saying, "Real" which automatically summoned Freya to text back, threatening to beat her up with her frozen pack of butter. Then she replied back to Rosana, agreeing to come too. Freya also had to buy something from there. Cindy joined the chat, only to send a picture of what she was watching. Janie zoomed in to see three half-empty water bottles on her table. She replied to the picture, bullying her for not drinking her water. Then Annalise joined in on the bullying, which, again, summoned Freya to tell her to shut the fuck up, which eventually instigated the both of them threatening each other. Istumi just sent an annoyed emoji.

Janie continued reading the chat while she shoved a spoonful of food into her mouth every 10 seconds, which made her choke on her food and start dramatically acting like she was dying for her mom to get her water. Janie was contemplating whether she should go because she knew that the minute she goes out with them, she'd come back when the sky is a hue of dark blue, or if she should stay home and have Moranda teach her. But she really wanted to buy something from the anime store, too. Janie gently placed her spoon on her now emptied plate and leaned back into her chair, her head dangling, puzzled about what to do. She decided she should ask Moranda because she had agreed to help her.

She got up from her chair, pushed it back onto the table, and headed upstairs, where Moranda was left alone in her room with her own painting she did before she got killed. Now, she wondered if that painting made her feel depressed. Technically speaking, she would at least be at least a bit depressed, because she was left alone with a painting she did before her death. That was the last time she ever painted. For Moranda to still be stuck to that must be hard on her. Now Janie's mood was down. She went from reading concerning messages of Freya and Annalise's fight to thinking about Moranda and her canvas stained with her own blood.

Janie stood in front of her bedroom door. She carefully opened it and saw Moranda sitting patiently on her chair, waiting for Janie. She wanted to ask her the question she had in mind, but she shut her mouth. Janie shut her door.

Moranda noticed that Janie came back and waved at her. She went back to staring at something, which made Janie curious.

"What are you staring at?" Janie asked.

Moranda looked at her, "Oh, nothing, I'm just looking at your bed."

"Why??" Now Janie was more curious. She held her hands behind her and shifted her weight to one side.

"It reminds me of my little sister." Moranda went back to staring at her bed.

"How so?" Janie didn't know Moranda had a little sister.

"The whole color scheme," Moranda waved her hands out, "It's the same as hers."

Even her bed is making her nostalgic.

She must miss her little sister a lot... Is she even alive? Janie thought to herself.

Moranda's gaze softened as she continued staring at Janie's bed. The white sheets with tiny patterns of flowers slowly disappeared underneath the green blanket lying on them, the plushies placed behind the pillow, and the decorations around the bed. It all reminded her of Inara, her little sister.

Janie noticed the shift in her mood and tried to change the topic. She asked if she could hang out with her friends tomorrow. She promised she'd come back home early to have her teach her. Moranda chuckled.

"You do know that I'm haunting you, right? Moranda looked into her eyes, waiting for the sudden realization.

Janie stared at her, "yeah?"

"That means I'm also able to follow you around." Moranda held back her laugh.

Janie paused for a bit before realizing that she could hang out with her friends and be with Moranda at the same time. Janie whipped out her phone and texted in the now dead-silent group chat that she could go too.