Star Crossed by Sammisawr (online e reader txt) 📕

Star crossed.

"I love you, Helen. Always will. But now... it's time for me to go." He said, running the ghostly hand down her cheek in which she could feel the coldness and nothing more. "You're young... and you're free. And it's time for me to leave... off you go, Helen. Make me proud. Live your life for us both... alright?" 
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Helen Watson is a young girl at the age of fifteen who lived with her father, Dr. Charles Watson.  
 
William is a sixteen year ghost, trying to find a way to pass onto the next plane of existence.  
 
Summary of story: When Helen moved to the Mayson Mansion with her father, she never knew the real meanings of life and how to appreciate what she has. With a successful doctor as a father, Helen could be said to own everything, but as she met a ghost in her house, not only was she to learn about life, she was also about to pull the ghost away from his dark and sinister thoughts, eventually falling in love...  
 
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"Welcome to your new home, Helena." Dr. Watson said to her daughter gently. "The servants will perk this place up once I actually pay for it, but no worries. I think it's a grand house."  
 
"It is beautiful..." Helen enthused. "Mind if I walk around inside?"  
 
"It's your home." Her father smiled.  
 
With a nod, Helen stepped into the mansion and climbed the stairs, inspecting the dusty place with her emerald-green eyes. Her steps echoed around her and as she was about to enter one of the rooms, she saw a sudden flicker of light from the corner of her eye. Helen stopped in her tracks, curious, yet surprised. She then started to advance forward, ignoring the noticeably amount of dust which started to gather at the hem of her dress. Reaching the door, she placed her hand onto the wooden frame and pushed. 
She gasped as the door showed a beautiful room, no doubt the master bedroom. The bed was a four poster king size, its lacy covers coated with dust. A top the four posts was lace, hung about in a very lazy, but crafted way.  
 
As she moved further in she noticed the windows were the same kind of lace that lay on the bed, old and dusty, but elegant. Moving forward to look out onto the lake which could be seen from the window to the left of the bed another flicker of light came from the closet, this time, closer.
Helen knew that the house was old, and this was starting to get to her. She was interested, excited and at the same time scared out of her mind. She knew that she was coming close to discovering something, but now there were questions running around inside her head. What did she keep seeing? Was someone in the house? Was she in danger? Was this all her imagination? She finally went to inspect the closet and what she saw took her breathe away. 
A pearly-grey form of a human teenager stood with his eyes as wide as hers. Helen backed off with her mouth half-open; her voice dying on her lips. Icy blue eyes met her green ones and she fell down, crashing onto the floor. Her hand knocked over a few dusty ornaments as she fell, creating echoes of the crash throughout the mansion.  
She had never imagined that she would run into something like this. Helen didn't believe in ghosts, but what else could it be that stood in front of her. She felt so frightened that she felt sick to her stomach. Helen wanted to scream but nothing would come out. If this was a nightmare she wanted to wake up now.  
The ghost glared down at her, "I know that you’re supposed to live here now, but I want you gone all the same. This is my house."  
When he seemed to be floating to her she finally regained her legs and fled the room.  
"Helen?!" Her father called. Helen ran downstairs and straight into his arms, shaking with fright. "Helen? My god, Helen, what is it?"  
 
"I don't want to live here..." She answered, tears pouring down her face. Dr. Watson clutched her daughter, not understanding the message she was trying to give. Before he knew it, his daughter fell limp in his arms.  
William looked after the girl as she fled his room. She was almost as white as he was when she caught sight of him. Sitting on his bed he sighed, another group of humans, another time for him to watch as they either move out, or die off.  
But there was something different about this girl. He normally didn't get attached to humans, this quickly, or even at all. But he could tell even now, this wasn't going to be like any of the other times. 
A little doll sat on a dusty but silky velvet seat. Its hair was of fine horse hair. Her little cheeks were painted a rosy color to give her a smile. Though she seemed like a little doll to other people, she was actually...a holding place...a sanctuary...for a ghost.  
 
Helen gasped at the sight behind the wooden frame. A doll sitting there welcomed her presence.
She smiled as she picked up the doll.  
 
"Awww how sweet!" Helen was about to put the doll back down when a voice rang out.  
"What do you want?" 
Williams head shot up as he heard that voice. "No...Human stay away from her...” he muttered getting up and running through the walls to get to them. If the Human got too close...who knows what she would do to the human.
Helen dropped the doll in shock, her eyes widened in horror. She backed off in an instant in surprise but as soon as she did so, the ghost she had saw a few days earlier came from the walls, looking around. He looked straight into her eyes and Helen clutched the side of the table, frightened.   
 
William's glare softened as he stared at Helen's frightened figure. He turned away from her and hovered over to the dropped doll. Picking it up, he brushed the dirt and dust off the doll and placed it back to its original place. "Don't go around touching things." he said gruffly. "This place isn't your average mansion." His glare fell back on her. "Understand?"  
 
Helen swallowed and opened her mouth to speak. But her voice had failed her again. She only nodded in reply. 
Sighing, the ghost waited for the girl to move, but she only stood there, letting her eyes wander around the room aimlessly. A companionable silence went between them as Helen then crossed the room to sit on her bed, keeping her eyes low to avoid eye contact. Every time she sees those icy-blue eyes, a cold hand seems to clench her heart. Eventually, the silence became too much to bear and William crossed his arms.  
 
"I thought I told you to leave." He said with a raised eyebrow.  
 
"You think I wouldn't? Nobody believed me." 
"Shocker there..." he muttered. 
 
"What?" she asked thinking he said something.  
 
"Nothing...Well since you are basically living in my house for the rest of your life, what's your name?" he asked laying down but hovering above the ground a couple of feet.   
"Helen." She answered, contemplating on the fact that not only was she talking to a ghost; the ghost was also civil despite their first meeting. "Helen Watson."  
 
"Alright. Helen then." He repeated with a hint of mockery in his tone.  
 
"And what would be yours?" She tried, hiding a sudden smile which threatened to curl to her lips.  
 
"Oh, why should you want to know the name of a ghost?"  
 
"You have the advantage over me."  
 
"It's William."  
"William...That's very...” she said slowly. 
 
"Very odd? Very old? Very stupid?" he ventured, trying to make it so she would fall into his trap so he would have a reason to hate her.  
 
"No...Very...nice," she finished smiling. She had caught his trick; it was something she herself used to do often. "I'm not as dumb as most girls you'll find around here...”  
 
He smirked, "So I noticed."   
Helen didn't reply and stood up, walking slowly towards the window. She gazed outside, pursing her lips as she pondered on the question that lingers in her mind. Eventually deciding to voice it out, Helen spun around (to make sure the ghost was there) and asked: "What are you doing here?"  
 
"It's my home. It would be better if I had asked you the same thing."  
 
"You were eager enough to avoid me earlier, were you not?"  
 
"Very observant of you." He replied sarcastically. "The only reason why I'm here now is to make sure you don't fall into mischief as you did with the doll earlier."
"I can take care of myself," Helen said defiantly.  
 
"Yeah...you would have been just peachy had I not come in here to save you. Honestly, you don't know what you were doing getting involved with that doll," he said standing up. "But answer my question, why are you here?"  
"Like it or not, it's my home now." Helen replied, crossing her arms. "It seems as though I'm the only one who can see you around here and it's not like I want to be here, anyhow. But I've had a look around... it's a lovely place."  
 
"Lovely in your innocent eyes. This mansion holds more than you would ever take in. It is pretty odd that you're one of the few who can see me. But no matter - it's not like I would reveal the past of this house to such a girl like you."  
 
"And what is that supposed to mean?"  
 
"Do you want to know?"  
"As a matter of fact yes, I do."  
 
He smirked and moved forward on her. Standing so close to her he towered over her. "This house was once the mansion to a famous Asylum. The doctor who worked here tortured millions of souls, not to cure them, but to make the worse. Make them so they couldn't even talk with out being paranoid. These people died. All who came here died. A horrible, gruesome death."
 
 
Helen stared into his eyes, those icy blue eyes. "You're lying..."  
"Am I now? Those souls were trapped here as ghosts for years until the doctor could finally see them. It was their Unfinished Business to actually frighten the man to his death... but as they accomplished their mission, true, they eventually passed on to the next plane of existence." He replied with a cold smile; his voice dying down on his lips.  
 
"The next plane of...?"  
 
"You have a lot to learn."  
 
"And why, please tell, are you here?" Helen asked hesitantly. "What's your Unfinished Business?"  
His face went as still as stone. "That, my dear Helen, does not concern you," he said harshly.  
 
Helen was taken aback at his tone of voice. "Sorry, I won’t ask that again...”  
 
"Good. Not every one can go. Not every ghost who stays here has Unfinished Business. I just can't go," he said softly, moving away from her. 
Helen moved and sat down by her bed, feeling partly guilty that she still felt the burning curiosity in her. William must have a reason to be here... otherwise... why? Without understanding the form of the universe herself, Helen started to make mental notes to learn that from him later on - that is, if they were ever to speak again. She thought back to how his face went still and immediately wondered on why he was so upset with it - does he not know