[September 15, 2042]

As slivers of purple light entered the room, Cal opened his eyes to find that half of Mel’s torso was sticking out of his waist.

“Hey,” he said aloud, attempting unsuccessfully to push her incorporeal form away from himself, “you’re sleeping in me again.”

“Hmm?” Mel opened her blue eyes and rubbed them in drowsiness, “oh hush, you’re so loud in the morning. Your body is nice and warm. It’s way more comfortable than sleeping in the drafty open air.”

Cal shook his head in disbelief. “Do you understand how surreal it is to wake up to see someone else sticking out of you? This is happening every morning now. How do you even end up like this?” He tried again to push the body of the ghost out from his chest, predictably only managing to make his hands disappear into her body. “Come on, get out. I need to take a shower.”

“Mmm,” Mel grunted, rolling out of Cal’s body sideways, twisting until she was floating in the air next to his bed. “What’s the issue? My body doesn’t feel cold and uncomfortable when it touches you anymore, right? And your body is the most comfortable place for me to sleep.”

She grinned. “We’ve grown acclimated to one another.”

Cal shook his head again, though he internally acknowledged that Mel was partially correct. When they had first met, just accidentally grazing Mel’s body would be enough to send a horrible shiver down his spine and start a sinking feeling in his stomach. Now, sometimes he couldn’t even tell when their bodies interlapped. If he felt anything, it was only a faint, familiar warmness.

Pulling on his slippers, Cal wondered when the change had occurred. It had happened without him noticing, but he supposed that things had felt different after the night of the 5th, when he and Mel had gone outside together for the first time. It was a thing they had done a few times since: these late-night walks, where Mel would float around in the sky and Cal would watch her from the ground. Mel seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with staying outside Otter Manor for longer stretches of time, which Cal thought was a good thing.

“You’ve been getting up even earlier than usual,” Mel remarked, fixing her hair in the small mirror that Cal had bought yesterday and placed atop his wardrobe. “What’s the hurry? You barely sleep enough as it is.”

“It’s Bridget, the attendant of that would-be princess,” Cal said, his eyes shining with passion. “Even though it’s my responsibility as caretaker to cook and clean for everyone, she still gets up to make breakfast before me! It’s ridiculous, and she won’t stop!”

“What a difficult life you lead.” Mel patted down some hair that was sticking out behind her ear, and then looked at him. “Why does it feel like this is the most energetic I’ve seen you talk?”

“Because she’s being silly!” Cal angrily grabbed his towel and a change of clothes. “She ought to sleep in and rest. She has her hands full already, taking care of that would-be princess. Besides, it’s my job to handle meal preparation. I’m going now.”

Mel raised a hand in farewell. “You know, I miss taking showers. Not that I can get dirty. Just another perk of being an adorable, ephemeral ghost.”

“Uh-huh.”

When Cal returned to room 01, his hair still wet from the shower, he found Mel still in front of the mirror. She was looking at her own reflection (how does she have a reflection, Cal wondered for the first time) as if trying to discern some greater meaning from it. Her hand was slightly in front of her, the finger out-stretched as if she was seeking to touch the frame of the mirror. However, as a ghost, such a feat would be impossible.

“What’s up?” said Cal, discarding his dirty pajamas into a laundry bin by the door. “Admiring yourself in the mirror?”

Mel didn’t answer for a second, ignoring his teasing. Then she turned to him: “Hey, can you sit on your bed for a moment? There’s something I want to try.”

Cal stopped mid-step and acquiesced. “Okay, but only if it’s really for a moment.” He sat down on the bed. “What do you need?”

“Just stay still for a second.”

Mel floated up to Cal, until she was only a few feet from his face. “I was being literal when I said I felt as if we were acclimating to one another. It’s why time is passing so much more sequentially for me, and why when we touch, it doesn’t bring you discomfort. And your aura.”

She lowered her eyes, almost shyly. “I’ve never mentioned this to you before, but I can see the auras of people. Their energy. Consider it one of my ghost powers. It’s a thin colored wave of light that pulsates from them. Everyone has one.”

“And that includes me?” Cal asked.

Mel nodded. “Yeah, yours is weird, though. Most people’s auras are bright and colorful. The princess has a red and golden one, and it pulsates aggressively. The robot has a calming blue, like an ocean wave. Yours is… colorless. Neutral. Almost invisible. Except there’s a dark line that sort of encircles it. It’s very strange.”

“I think I follow you…” said Cal, uncertainly, “but where are you going with this?”

Mel played with the hem of her dress, still not looking up at him. “Well, I guess because we’ve spent so much time together, your aura feels stronger to me. I’ve become used to it. Its properties. And when I’m close to it… I almost feel… more here.”

Cal bit his lip in thought. “So, when you’re close to me… you feel more anchored to the physical world?”

Mel looked up at him in excitement. “Yes! Exactly. I feel stronger. And the more time I spend with you, the stronger I feel! Almost as if I can reach out and touch you… so…”

Her blue eyes are shy but determined. “I want to try it.”

Cal’s mouth suddenly felt very dry for a reason he couldn’t determine. “Try? Try what?”

Mel leaned in even closer. He could count the freckles on her nose. “I want to try touching you.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“But… that’s not possible, right?”

“I’m not sure,” Mel said. “But it feels possible to me, because I’ve become so acclimated to your aura. So if I concentrate really really hard, and you stay very still…”

“You could touch me?” Cal tried to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

“Yes… so keep still for a moment.” Mel raised both her hands and held them close to Cal’s head. “And don’t say anything sardonic. Just don’t say anything, actually. Just keep still.”

“Clearly, we’re acclimating very well.”

“Hush, let me concentrate.”

Furrowing her brow, Mel began to move her hands very slowly towards Cal’s head. Cal, not sure where to look, glanced towards the ceiling of the room. There was a palpable tension in the air as her hands moved closer and closer towards the sides of Cal’s face. Cal couldn’t be sure, but he felt as if he could hear a slight hum in the air, like electricity. He felt himself holding his breath.

Mel’s hands were barely an inch from Cal’s face. It might have been his imagination, but it was as if he could detect the warmth coming off of her body.

The fingers sank threw his face, not solid, only warm.

Mel didn’t react for a moment, not moving the tips of her fingers that were sticking into Cal’s cheeks. She looked at him in the eyes, and Cal looked into hers in turn. He thought he saw something like despair swimming within.

“Sorry,” she said, her voice heavy, “I was being stupid. Forget about this. It was…”

The ghost slowly drew back her hands, and then nervously intertwined her fingers. She floated before Cal, looking down at the floor in shame. “I thought maybe, since it was you…”

Mel couldn’t get the words out. She shook her head, partially in shame, partially in frustration. Her jaw was clenched, as if she was trying desperately to maintain her composure.

Cal looked at her in concern, which only served to make her hide her face even more by looking at the floor. “Mel,” he said, “I’m… sorry.”

“Sorry?!” Mel suddenly whipped her face up to stare directly at Cal again, and this time her blue eyes were angry, though not anger directed at him. “Can you explain what exactly you’re sorry about?! What exactly did you do wrong?! It was my idiotic idea, okay?! Just mine.”

Her jaw clenched further, and her voice distilled into a hiss equally incensed and melancholic. “I forgot. I’ve been enjoying myself the last couple of weeks so much that I forgot. I’m dead. So I’ll never touch anyone ever again.”

Cal watched the painful contortion of her face and felt a strong tug into the middle of his chest.

“It’s just…” Mel continued, steadying her voice and looking at Cal with an imploring look, “Do you have any idea what that’s like? I never thought I was the type of person to care about physical contact that much, but now that I'm unable to touch anyone, not able to hug or lean against them… It’s horrible, it’s really horrible. I’m just now realizing that.”

“Don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying!” Mel stamped her foot in the air, the ends of her toes entering and exiting the bedspread. Then she wiped her face with an arm. “These are tears of passion! I’m going to find whoever made me a ghost and demand some upgrades! Proper ghosts should be able to physically touch others whenever they want… I’ve seen it in some movies.”

She took a few deep breaths, then attempted to smile. “I’m okay, Cal. You wanted to start breakfast early, didn’t you? If you don’t go downstairs soon, that perfect maid will beat you to it. Go on! I’ve kept you too long. I know you must be annoyed with that.”

“What are you saying?” Cal stood up from the bed suddenly, which caused Mel to flinch backward in the air with shock. “You’re more important than that right now.”

“Huh?” For a moment Mel’s pale face was confused, and then it erupted into a scarlet blush. “HUH?!”

She practically did a flip in the air, hugging herself defensively against Cal’s sudden declaration. “What?! Um, what do you mean?”

“Let’s try again. I’m going to try touching you this time, okay?”

“HUH?!”

“Why are you acting so surprised?” Cal said. “This is your hypothesis. I think we should try it again.”

“I know, I know.” Mel was now self-consciously playing with a strand of her short dark hair, “but when you word it like that…”

“I think you were onto something when you were talking about the two of us acclimating to one another,” said Cal, “but it probably needs to go both ways. If physical contact is possible, both of us need to make it happen.”

He winced apologetically. “I’m sorry. I was skeptical about the whole thing. I didn’t understand why it was important, and why it’s better if it’s possible. But I do now. So let me try and touch you.”

“Eh?!” Mel made a nondescript noise that sounded like a startled animal, and she leaned away from Cal's outstretched fingers which were moving toward her.

Cal grimaced. “Why are you moving away? Come closer.”

“I get it!” Mel said in frustration. “Just… let me prepare myself, okay?”

She took a deep breath, and slowly drifted back towards Cal, until she was within arm’s reach. She seemed nervous but determined. “I’m ready now.”

Cal didn’t want to do the movement slowly, as Mel had when she had attempted to touch him. He had a feeling that building anticipation would only make the act seem more ridiculous, more impossible.

Cal reached over, and gently laid his palm on Mel’s cheek. Her skin felt warm.

For a moment, neither of them moved or breathed. Mel’s eyes were wide and blue, and Cal could feel through the contact of their bodies that she was shivering very slightly.

Finally, Mel sought to speak. “I can feel you,” she said, her voice small and hushed.

“I can feel you, too,” Cal responded simply.

Mel was trying to grin, but the lump in the back of her throat was making it difficult. “The tips of your fingers are still a little damp from the shower,” she said slowly. “ I can feel the moisture. I forgot what that sort of thing felt like.”

“And you’re warm,” Cal observed. “Before I met you, I never imagined something like a ghost would feel that way to touch. But now, it seems to make perfect sense in my head.”

Mel exhaled a shaky breath, and her small body quivered. She tentatively reached her hands forward and poked Cal’s cheeks.

“Ow,” he said, though he was trying to hide a smile despite himself, amused at her unexpected behavior. “Why did you do that?”

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Mel replied, looking into his eyes earnestly, “you have a serious face, and you don’t make a lot of jokes that are easy to catch. You give off the impression that nothing matters that much to you, in how you move, in how you speak. I suppose you have what others would call a “cool and collected” personality, yet you simultaneously seem to easily change how you speak with others depending on the person. It’s like you wear a mask for every different acquaintance… But then sometimes, that mask falls, and at the most opportune times, as if by accident, you say the exact right thing to make someone feel better. You’re a weird person, and I don’t think I understand you.”

She poked his cheeks again, this time breaking out into a wide wolfish grin. “But I see. You’re the type of guy to let a cute ghost poke your cheeks and not do anything to prevent it. Maybe you’re not as complicated as you pretend to be.”

“You’re being kind of annoying.”

She giggled, and moved her hands again, this time laying them on top of Cal’s outstretched hand, as if pressing his palm more securely against her cheek. “I know. Thank you for always playing along with the dumb things I say sometimes.”

Mel closed her eyes and stayed motionless in the air, though ensured her hands stayed where they were, holding Cal’s hand. As another minute passed in silence, she almost seemed to be asleep.

Cal coughed. “Um, Mel. As nice as this is, and as significant this must be for you, I actually do need to go downstairs and make breakfast.” After a moment, he added, “we can do this later tonight, if you’d like. If you want to get used to touching a person again.”

Mel nodded, satisfied, though still didn’t open her eyes. “Good, I’m glad you understand your position. Just stay still for a bit longer. It’s all so interesting and nostalgic. Like I can feel your heartbeat through your hand.”

“How much longer do you need?”

“About a million years.”

“How about another five minutes?”

“Mmm,” Mel murmured, adjusting her face so it more easily fit into the contour of Cal’s palm. “I suppose that’s an acceptable compromise.”

And for the next five minutes, neither of them moved or spoke again.