Eye for the Odd

"We shouldn't be here!"

"It's too scary!"

"Would the both of you shut up?" Nora scowled as she continued into the house. "It's not my fault you two decided to tag along and chicken out at the last minute... I just want to explore this place myself, learn about the town, you know?"

"But what if this place is h-haunted?" Her eight-year-old sister, Alice, hid behind the older sibling's heavy backpack.

Alice's new friend, a local named Wyatt who had showed her around school, nodded. "Yeah, like ghosts and werewolves and vampires and Frankenstein!"

Nora rolled her eyes. "Frankenstein is the scientist, not the creature... Unless you look at it symbolically, I guess. I doubt you do much thinking, though."

"Hey!"

"Whatever- Why don't you two go play a game in that living room, or something. 'I Spy', mayber. Just stay out of my way and try not to touch anything."

"No, don't split up!" Alice had grabbed her backpack now, making it slightly more unbearable to carry. "That's how the monsters will find us!"

"This isn't some Scooby Doo rerun." Nora groaned. "And I wouldn't care much if a monster 'found you'. I mean... Just stay where you are and be a little louder than you usually are if something happens, okay?"

It was Alice's turn to groan at this as she went back to plop down on the living room's dusty, creaking floorboards. Wyatt shrugged, joining her. Nora left to venture into the abandoned kitchen area, taking pictures of any old objects she found on the tables or places where the sunlight hit the windows just right. She was part treasure-hunting, part photography class assignment-working.

Wyatt started the game. "I spy... with my little eye... something white."

"The candles! Or, the spider webs?" Alice moved back from the cobwebs in the corner of the room.

"Candles was the right one. Your turn!"

"I spy... with my little eye... something gold."

"Ooh, the fan!"

Alice snickered. "That's not a fan, it's a chandelier. I had one in my old house."

"Oh, right-" Wyatt had been laughing with her, but stopped. His breath caught in his throat when he looked back down.

He could that Alice could see it too by how silent she had also gotten.

"I spy..." He barely whispered to her. "with my little eye... something grey?"

Before them, floating just above the broken floor near the fireplace, was a boy their age. He was dressed like the actors on local tours that Nora and Alice had been to, but his face was black and white to. He looked just a suprised they did when they made eye contact.

"A ghost!" Alice shuffled back on the ground, not caring that her shorts were picking up dirt.

"Wait!" The boy spoke, but his voice sounded distant, like they were hearing it from a seashell found on the town's beach. "Boy, girl! You can hear me?"

"Uh, sort of..." Wyatt gulped. "Are you going to kill us? Or possess us? Or-"

"God, no!" They both jumped when the ghost raised his voice. "Forgive me. I would do no such thing to others my age. In fact... could I truly?"

The boy glided over to the shelf with candles. With an experimental swipe, his hand passed through all of them without slowing down. "If I cannot touch these wicks, I cannot touch you both. As for possession... I am not quite sure what that is. If it is a heinous act, I will simply not do it."

"So you're a good ghost?" Alice asked.

"Tis as if you are asking 'are you a good person'. I was, thank you very much. A little spoiled brat, according to the maids, but not some criminal. Had the illness not gotten me, I may have made a fine gentleman."

"Illness?" Wyatt furrowed his brow. "Like a cold?"

"Yes, something of the sort. The doctors hadn't a clue what, but within days I was bedridden with a terrible fever. Not even the Frenchman could find proper treatment!" The boy's face darkened suddenly. "So they put me out quickly to lessen the pain..."

Wyatt looked down to where the ghost's frail hand tugged at his dress shirt, where there was a small hole no bigger than a dime.

He didn't quite understand, but could see that they needed to change the topic. "Oh, we haven't said our names! I'm Wyatt, and this is Alice."

At the mention of her name, Alice finally scooted back over to where they were, having retreated to the corner of the room. She had been considering what Nora had told her to do, but ultimately decided that the ghost wasn't dangerous, or all that scary.

When she came back, he introduced himself. "Ah, I am called Tobias Wright-Moore Evans, shortened to Toby."

"That's a pretty name," she replied. "did you used to live here?"

"Live here?" Toby chuckled like the laugh track of the old sitcom that Alice's parents watched. "My family, the Evans and Moores, owned this land and a fishing business here! Notice that fish net-" He pointed to the mangles mess of rope over the mantle. "and there used to be a few lovely paintings of our boats too, but some robbers may have come in when I was wandering someplace else."

"Oh, we can keep playing the game like this, Wyatt!" Alice caught a metal glint on one of the tables. "I spy... with my little eye... something pointy."

He glanced around before seeing the same table. "Wait, are those- fish hooks!"

"Right," The ghost confirmed. "I forgot, there are some of those laying about too. By the way, what is this spy game? Spies, as in espionage?"

"Not really," Alice explained. "You find something around you that the other person hasn't seen yet and say 'I spy... with my little eye... something-' and then you describe it without saying what it is. Then they try guessing what it is."

"I'll have my hand at it." Toby turned in a circle to look around the room, hovering in place. "I spy... with my little eyes... something brown."

"The floor?" Wyatt guessed.

"No."

"That table?" Alice tried.

"No."

"That chair?"

"The door?"

"Wrong and incorrect."

After a few minutes of aimless guessing, they gave up. "Ack, what is it?"

"Ha, I tricked you both, it's my trousers! I only looked around the room to throw you off!" Toby flew around triumphantly.

"That's not fair!" Alice whined.

"Yeah," Wyatt seconded. "You're not even colorful- Your pants look darkish grey to us!"

"Oh?" He looked down, then back at them almost comically. "Hmm, I did not notice. I figured that I wouldn't need to check, so I was basing my choice off of memory alone. In fact, this is the first time it has occurred to me that I appear this way... I am sorry."

"That's okay." Wyatt shrugged one shoulder. "But now it's my turn. I spy..."

***

By the time Nora returned, it was getting dark outside and they had named just about everything in the room. When she came in, her backpack (now stuffed with stolen items) dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Who-" She looked Toby up and down, glaring at the one-inch space from his feet to the floor. "W-What the hell... I thought I told the two of you- 'yell if you s-saw anything weird!'"

"It's okay," Alice protested when her sister took out her phone's flashlight. The ghost grew more transparent when she shined the light in his face. "His name's Toby and he's a friend."

A loud clicking noise went off as she took hundreds of photos, Toby throwing his arms up in response. "Oi, enough!" Nora's phone flew out of her hand. "I see your rucksack over there, are you a robber?"

Her eyes widened. "No! Well, yes I- I want to b-bring these to the antique shop- m-maybe the museum- nearby for money. It's n-not like you need this sh- these things for anything, r-right?"

He crossed his arms, looming over her with a sour expression. "These objects belong to the Evans estate and I would prefer it be kept that way."

For a moment, it seemed like Nora would resist the notion of putting everything back, but then Wyatt heard her groan and mumble under her breath: "Dammit, I've seen enough horror movies to know I can't win... and that the photos won't even come out..."

One by one, she retraced her steps and put back each belonging until she was back at the living room. "There. Now you have no reason to kill or possess me."

"Why does everyone think that I am malebovent?" Toby sighed. "But thank you, and good night..." His silver outline began to turn to fog, melting into the shadows of the dimly-lit room.

"See you later, bye-bye!" "Will we get to play again..." Wyatt and Alice's voices became distant to him and they were dragged away by the disgruntled Nora, but the boy heard them loud and clear.

He smiled sadly as his mouth turned to moonlight and he too could go out to explore in the cool autumn night.