Loving A Phantom

Chapter 3: The Houseguest

When she woke up, Margaret was confounded because she was laying in the grass. It turns out she never left. She was still by that lake, she hadn't wanted to go home late last night. The way was dark and she'd been too frightened to move, she just kept thinking about the wolves and the animals that would be running through the forest late at that hour, and the way to her home was dark too, all to be in darkness because she had no light.

She stood up confused still and walked closer to the lake and washed her face with nature's water, to then be on her way. Her clothes was filthy from sitting in the the grass. She wanted to go home and change.

She wandered lost until she found herself with that bridge who's ledge was now missing a piece. She climbed up over a hill which wasn't much farther up over some rocks, and she stood right there in the middle of the street, remembering now which way was home.

She changed into a new and beautiful elegant, soft blue dress with lacey frills at the end that were between the colors of white and baby blue. It had lace at her wrists' sleeves nonetheless, and at the neck. It was beautiful.

Margaret looked into the mirror of her bedroom at her own reflection thinking, "If he could see me now..." She knew she was a bit of a mess when she fell off of that bridge.

She sighed. None of it made sense and thinking about him scared her a little. She felt a sick feeling in her stomach, it made her nervous to think that this unforgettable man that she'd met was a phantom, yet now she was also begining to question if what she saw was real, if she was losing her mind, or if it was just a dream.

She sat in her old rocking chair that made a creepy sound every time she rocked it, it used to alarm her, but that chair was almost a hundred years old now and it had been sitting in that house for as long as she could remember. It wasn't knew anymore and she laughed to herself thinking about how it used to scare her, but her laughter ended in less than twenty seconds, her smile faded.

She grew serious and sad until she started to think of him, and she began smiling to herself alone again for a minute just believing in a dream.

"Well it was good while it lasted." She stopped believing that the phantom she saw was real but something about him, she couldn't tell what it was...not only was his appearance that of a handsome man but he was also caring; she was convinced that he had a good heart, "Oh..!'" She exclaimed in frustration out from the depths of her lungs and her soul, "but it was only a dream!"

She thought she could hold onto those memories and that they would be enough to fill her void for only a while, for a couple of minutes, for the whole day, she didn't know, but she was smiling, and that wasn't a thing that she had done in a long time.

Something about this fantasy just felt so right even though she knew it was wrong, but she was convinced that it wasn't real in the first place.

It was now that he found himself, in the middle of nowhere, with his knees deep into water that he couldn't feel as he walked through a short rushing river but the current wasn't strong enough to take him, even if it had been, he wouldn't have felt it. It wouldn't have moved him.

He suddenly heard the leaves blow, and the wind came whispering back to him her yesterday night's cries, "...He left without saying goodbye."

"Now I will be all alone again...it isn't fair." Margaret's voice whispered around him, every single thing that she said that night, her sorrowful voice and all was trapped in the wind.

The phantom opened his jar and he trapped her voices into it, her whispers of solitude, her sorrow, her pain. He didn't want to hear them anymore, they made him worry, and he couldn't let the wind carry them away to anybody else. They were personal.

"I feel so bad, I didn't even say goodbye." Thought the phantom, and suddenly, Margaret felt the her curtains sway by a powerful breeze, and then they were silent. She stood up from her rocking chair and came to the window and looked outside of it.

She didn't see anything, but that never happened. There was no wind where she lived and the sun burned hotter than in California. This frightened her slightly,

"...Hello?" She asked softly turning around to see that her rocking chair was still rocking, only by itself.

She walked over to the front door when suddenly just as she was reaching for the door knob, she heard a knock at the door.

She withdrew her hand back to herself frightened, and let out a cry of fear... when suddenly she came slowly, and opened the door.

Sweat poured down her forehead and dropped onto her eyebrow.

"...Hello?" She said softly. Her eyes widened when she looked up and knew it was him, and suddenly she panicked and slammed the door shut, then she opened it real slow, "...It's youuu." She smiled suddenly and her eyes looked more full of life than they did before. They glittered like the stars and lit up like if she'd seen the sun rising for the very first time.

"It's really you!" She exclaimed now opening the door completely, "Well come in, I was begining to think that I had been dreaming." She exclaimed. "I can make you some coffee. I can serve you some dinner-"

"Umm-" The phantom looked at her blankely.

"I can make a great breakfast...oh-" she grew something real awkward for a minute, "You can't eat...can you?" She stopped moving around the pots and pans.

"...No. I can't." He said softly, "But I sure wish I could. It's been a long time since I've eaten a real meal." He was a bit awkward himself. "I'm sorry I left yesterday...without saying goodbye."

"You mean you-" Her heart stopped for a minute, "...noticed." It began to beat real fast again.

He nodded softly.

There was no telling why he did the things that he did.

"Why, do you have a name?" She smiled, enthusiastically now like a teenager just developing a crush...feeling, not thinking, believing that this was her wildest dream; that it needed to be true, yet almost knowing...

that it would not.

"My name is Robert." He said, standing a few feet away from her and he saw the gigantic smile that spread across her face also left her cheeks with a natural red blush, she looked like she'd been eating cherries and she'd gotten them all over her face from how happy she got.

"...You sure have the most beautiful smile in the world." He suddenly said off of an impulse without thinking. He didn't mean to say it, he really didn't...it just slipped.

"Well...I came to see how you were doing and to wish you well but I really must get going-" Said the respectful young phantom.

"Surely that isn't all you came for?" She smiled. "I have a black and white film in my VCR, if only you'd care to watch it with me." Margaret didn't want him to leave.

"Well if you've got the moment to spare, I feel obliged." He said to her softly, "Oh, pardon me. I forgot to ask your name?"

"It's Margaret." Her eyes widened suddenly as he reached out for her hand and she touched his and again, her hand went right through his but...this time she didn't move it.

The phantom leaned forward and kissed her hand, even though she couldn't feel it her heart felt crazy. She felt something magical, something wonderful, something that she had never felt before. She felt the kiss, yet she wasn't sure if she had only imagined it. She could see the phantom, she could hear the phantom, he was very real, she knew that now, but she couldn't feel him.

Margaret was happy.

"It is my pleasure to meet you." He said softly, truly feeling delighted. Now he smiled, and she felt a warm and cozy feeling inside, she hadn't seen him smile yet.

Margaret had one hand over her accelerated heart, and her other hand was stretched out to him. He suddenly let go of her hand and she of his. She walked over to the old TV and then remembered, "Oh...I forgot-" She grew very suddenly embarrassed, "I don't have any electricity." She whispered softly.

Robert smiled, and walked over to the electric plug in the wall, and touched it, "You have no need to worry, Margaret." Suddenly all the lights in the house flickered on everywhere, even the microwave and the laundry machines.

"Oh yes!!" She exclaimed and ran over to put food to cook on the stove, "I promise I'll hurry, I just want to appreciate this moment before the lights go out!" She began laughing, "You're marvelous you know-!"

"Well I wouldn't call myself so-" He began.

"Hey, do you know any good recipie's?" She asked, excited.

"Well my mother taught me this great one, you see Margaret all you need is a little bit of..." As he spoke there was just something about the way that he said, Margaret, that she lost herself in, she lost too far thinking about him than actually hearing what he was saying, and he noticed she was looking at him a bit daisy like.

He suddenly began laughing, because he knew that she wasn't even listening.

"I'm sorry, can you say that all again!?" She began laughing when she realized her hands were frozen stiff in the cooking pan yet she had not put any food into it yet.

"...I had a feeling you were going to ask me again." He chuckled.

She cooked and they talked and they laughed and Margaret felt this whismical feeling take over her heart, it was a feeling of wonder, a feeling of dreaminess, a feeling of love. She didn't understand it, niether did she care too.

The day was getting late and her feelings for him were unrestrained,

"I really must get going. It's almost 12." He said to her as it neared to midnight, and she was just eating right now.

"Wait till I finish eating." She said.

"I really must be on my way now." He said.

"But you will be back, won't you?" She asked, standing up desperately, afraid that he would leave.

"Only if you wish me to, Margaret. We ought to watch that film. The time just ran out today, didn't it?" He asked softly, sadly, as though it really pained him to leave her. He was only afraid to confess it.

"Tommorow!!" She exclaimed quickly grabbing on to his arm yet holding onto nothing, "Come back tommorow!" She didn't want to lose him. "And the day after that, and the day after that-!!" Margaret was loud, telling him, afraid that she was never going to see him again.

"Okay..." he said softly, "I will come back tommorow."

Suddenly she lowered her head to look down at her food, and she heard, "Goodbye Margaret."

"Why do you say goodbye if you're going to come back tomorrow?" She asked him getting food onto her fork, and when she looked up he was gone.

"You didn't even let me walk you to the door..." She had a disappointed look on her face. Then after a moment it brightened up, "...I'm in love with a phantom." She smiled alone to herself thinking about how weird that really was.