Annalise

After both Cubert and the realtor left, Annalise sat or at least attempted to sit on the sofa of the decadent living room. She had phased right through, and landed on the floor right on her butt. Had she not been dead, she would have been grateful that it didn't hurt.

But that was it. She was dead. The crux of all her problems.

With a groan, she stood back up, and gazed towards the old living room window. She could only hope that the man came back. In all her 5 years of being dead, no one had interacted with her, no one had even acknowledged that she was there. Even though he never spoke directly to her, it was clear that he could at least see her.

She was nervous with excitement, trembling with fear and desperation. She had been a bundle of mixed uncontained emotions after they left.

All she could do was wait and see if he came back.

And if he did, she would jump on the chance to finally not be alone.

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A few days passed, and Annalise had already begun to lose hope. It was such a dangerous thing to have, when you were dead. For more reasons than one. Even still, she sat at the window sill, watching the days pass by before her eyes. If she was perfectly honest, she was getting a bit bored and had begun to play noughts and crosses with the spider winding his web up the window, using a broken pen.

She was losing.

Annalise heaved a defeated sigh, and glanced back out to the driveway. Her eyes widened and she quickly moved her brown hair out of face. In her driveway stood a small, white moving van!

Eagerly she jumped off the window sill and stood directly in front of the double doors. She was hopping from one foot to the other, twisting her hands together nervously. This had to be Cubert! There was no one else it could be. Nobody had come to view the house for days. The wide doors opened, and she stepped back automatically, despite it not mattering.

There he stood, with his face nose deep into his phone, completely oblivious to anything around him. For a moment her heart dropped, what if he hadn't actually seen her? But then he looked up, putting his phone back in the pocket of his aged joggers.

"You're back!" Annalise smiled widely, leaning towards him.

His eyes snapped to meet hers, and then surveyed the area around them, as if looking for something. "Yes, I live here now," he said bluntly, gesturing towards the moving van. Annalise threw her head back and laughed, her cheeks flushed happily. She couldn't believe it! He could actually see her. It was irrefutable now. Fact. And more importantly, he was going to live there.

Finally she wouldn't be alone.

'Cubert' looked down at her wearily, an eyebrow raising in concern. He made to move past her, but finally she collected herself, brushing back her hair and sticking out her hand. "My name is Annalise Redwood, it's nice to meet you!" His lips tightened as he stared at her hand and back to her face. Almost reluctantly he raised his hand to shake her own, but he phased through her.

Too filled with illation, Annalise managed to push past the longing and sadness, shaking her head with a forced chuckle. "Yep, sorry. Dead." She said, gesturing to herself. He nodded slowly, dropping his hand back.

"Eugene Cubert," he introduced himself, with a nod. She giggled a little, what kind of a name was Eugene Cubert?

"Sorry I'm sorry, it's just.. Eugene Cubert makes you sound so old. You barely look over 22!." Annalise chuckled, waving and gesturing towards him. His expression grew cold, eyebrows scrunched and jaw tense.

"You have no idea." He muttered under his breath, unaware that she had heard him. With that he moved into the living room, and looked around.

"What are you doing?" She asked, following him like a lost puppy. He looked at the sofa, it was charming despite the fact that it was probably older than Annalise herself. It was made of a plush silver fabric, but it was peeling at the edges, and there were clear marks where people had sat before.

"I'm moving in." Eugene tutted sardonically, giving the sofa a little kick.

She frowned, it was clear he wasn't happy with his surroundings and she felt almost offended despite the fact that it wasn't actually her house. It felt like it was. Despite this, she followed him as he walked back into the hallway and towards the front door. A spike of anxiety flooded through her veins, what if he left? What if he didn't come back, it wasn't like she could go and follow him.

Interrupting her thoughts, Eugene spoke, he must have noticed her defeated expression.

"I'm just going to get some of my stuff. The van's only rented for the day." he explained, stepping out of the house towards the van. She watched him go with veiled anticipation, getting as close to the door as she could without it hurting.

He came back in, with a handful of three large cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other. Annalise wondered how he could carry it all, without even straining. She quietly bit her lip, as she watched him put them down in the living room. He went back out to get two more, and then locked the door behind him when he entered back.

She looked at his sparse belongings with surprise, from the look and age of his original car alone she had thought he was rich. Richer than she had ever been when she was living anyways.

"Is that all you have?" Annalise questioned him, hovering by the sofa where he sat on his phone again. He clenched his phone a little tighter, but didn't look up to her gaze. Maybe that was a bit too personal for someone she'd only just technically met.

"I don't like having many belongings." Eugene said, breaking the growing tense silence. Annalise nodded sympathetically, biting her lip once more as she studied his forest green eyes. If they were going to be living with each other for the foreseeable future, she should get to know him right?

"Oh right! Do you move around a lot then?" she implored. There was another pause, as if he was contemplating every word he said.

"Something like that, yes."

"Oh, erm right. So I'll leave you to it then yeah?" Annalise said, nervously. It had been so long since she talked to someone, she wasn't quite sure of how to hold a conversation and she found herself giddy with nerves. Eugene nodded, before stepping up and heading towards the boxes. Probably to get his stuff packed away, Annalise thought.

With that she headed up to the main bedroom, and let out the excited scream she had been holding in since Eugene arrived.