I couldn't tear my eyes away from the bruise, it was black and blue- looking every bit intimidating in daylight. The wound had healed but the scar was a harsh reminder of Max's unknown death.

"You were murdered? But how?" I just couldn't believe what Max was saying.

"I don't know, I don't remember anything", He said finally facing me, he looked sad as if he didn't want to recall the horrible incident.

"Max, who would murder you?"

He snickered, "There were people after me. I wasn't the best guy out there Grace. After high school I decided to move to New York to live by myself instead of going to college. Not only that I was involved with local gangs and eventually got into drugs", he flinched regret flashing in his eyes, "My parents tried to help me but I refused them. One day my mom came to me and begged me to leave all this after she caught me injecting heroin. The next day I left for rehab and avoided the gang at all costs but they weren't happy, after getting back from rehab I shifted to another place, just so they could leave me alone, find another scapegoat for their nasty business. If I connected the dots right, that's how I got this apartment Grace, you guys moved out in a hurry and they were looking for someone to rent it. I got this place at a cheaper price. Even after a year in rehab, the gang wasn't ready to let me go, I returned all their money and told them I won't be coming back. They tried to attack me a few times but I dodged them."

"Do you think your gang members tried to murder you?"

"I don't know , like I said I don't remember anything. The last thing I remember was my parents came to visit me from New Jersey that day. Mom wanted to cook lunch for all of us, upon seeing my empty fridge I decided to run to the nearby grocery store to get supplies. After that I don't remember anything, I woke up to see my house burned down, my family dead and Mia being rushed to the hospital", he gulped the pain he felt evident in his tone. "Grace I couldn't do anything....I.. I tried to hug Mia, take her to the hospital but I couldn't touch her or anything. No one listened to me or saw me. I was invisible to them, that's when I saw my dead body lying on the floor and I realized that I was dead and helpless."

"At first I was pissed at coming back as a ghost, I watched my parents and my brother get buried in the ground, saw my sister cry till her pillows soaked with tears and I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't console her, hug her or talk to my baby sister. I hated being a ghost, I still do....I started finding ways to vanish from this world, I tried searching my uncle so that he could get rid of me. But I couldn't find him.. After months of searching I gave up. I wondered around hopelessly with nothing to do accept for keeping an eye on Mia. That is when I started to discover my powers. One day I decided to visit Mia to school and that's how I get to know she used to get bullied in her class but she didn't tell this to anyone. A bunch of boys were pulling her hair, teasing her, I tried to stop them but I was useless. I screamed for them to stop and then they froze in their places. At first I was shocked so was Mia who was shivering in fear against the wall. She immediately ran away but I stayed back to observe them, they couldn't move from their place even if they wanted. After some time I commanded them to move and then they started moving. From then on I decided to stay just to protect her and take care of her".

"But why do you want to leave now?" I couldn't help but ask that.

"Mia is old enough to take care of herself now, she even has John, her fiancé to take care of her. I think it's time for me to go- to my parents and my brother. That's why I refrained myself from talking to Mia on her Wedding day, I don't want her to miss me when I am gone".

"Oh", that's all I could say after hearing Max's tragic yet heroic life story. Max. He was the invisible hero without a cape who protected his sister from all kinds of trouble. I was touched but also sad to hear about his story- he went through a lot. But he never showed this side to me- he looked vulnerable like a lost child in a crowd. I felt my heart squeeze in my chest. And just like that he vanished into the thin air leaving the leaves rustling in his wake.

.................................

It has been a week since I have seen Max around. It's not like he was gone, as his limited stack of Doritos kept disappearing and not to mention our leftovers are never there. I know he's hiding in the storage room since I once saw him watching a game on the TV when I was there fetching some old art supplies of mine for Audrey. Yeah he has a 16 inch plasma TV fitted inside there, don't ask me how.

I knew he was still hurting, after all his old wounds were opened. Every single day I would be thinking about him, his family and the irrevocable crisis he faced. I was heartbroken and angry at how life worked out for some of us.

I had to get him out of his state of distress. Audrey misses him and I hate to be admitting this but I miss him too. If someone told me I would be missing ghost boy a few months ago I would have laughed my ass off. Things have changed- a lot, before, I was counting down the days to when Max would be leaving us but now I kind of wanted him around. But he will be leaving soon.. Somehow I was able to keep this topic out of my mind, thinking of Max leaving, makes me feel this strange emptiness in my gut followed by restlessness. It's not for me to say if Max gets to leave or stay after all I was the one who wanted him to leave. And why do I want him to stay anyway?

Leaving my inner turmoil aside, I decided to gather some supplies for pancakes.

"Will you be making pancakes Graciee?" Audrey asked as she colored in her coloring book. It was picture of Barney, to my utter distaste.

"Yup. I will be making pancakes for you", I said it out loud making sure Max was hearing us from the storeroom.

"Yayy! Can we order a pizza too?"

"Whoa calm down its 8 am in the morning, we are not having pizza for breakfast!"

"Okay, okay Grace", Audrey went back to coloring.

"Plus you will love my pancakes since I am the best at making them", I started measuring out my ingredients.

"No you are not, I can make better pancakes.", Max quipped from behind me. My plan worked.

"You are all bark no bite", I scoffed turning to face him.

"Let's have a pancake war!" Audrey suggested upon hearing us.

" I think it's a great idea Audrey", he said smiling at her.

"Fine!" Their excitement was infectious and I wanted to challenge Max- to keep him occupied. "But don't ruin my kitchen okay and the loser has to clean up the mess".

"Challenge accepted. And I am so going to win", he smirked, arrogance written all over his face.

I rolled my eyes, "Dream on ghost boy, dream on."

An hour later Max and I was standing in front of Audrey with our respective dishes. I made my usual and also Audrey's favorite pancakes topped with strawberry and whipped cream while Max ended up making some weird concoction which I couldn't quite fathom. His one included chocolate pancakes dipped in maple syrup topped with loads of whipped cream and bananas. It might sound good but he was asking me to pass the oregano when he was whisking up the batter, so I have my doubts. I just hope Audrey doesn't get food poisoning.

I placed my plate in front of Audrey who excitedly took a mouthful of pancake into her mouth. "His-maf-amafrec", she said as she took a second bite.

"I will take that as a compliment", I smirked seeing Audrey's plate half empty.

"Now it's my turn", After shooting me look of disdain he removed my dish and placed his in front of Audrey.

Audrey eyed the dish, impressed by the presentation, in fact I was too. She happily took a bite out of the pancake, but immediately her face scrunched up in disgust. She spat the whole thing out, while she coughed vigorously, "I hate this!"

I immediately fetched her some water, she guzzled down the water while I tasted the pancake. "Did you put oregano and ketchup in it?!" I asked fetching myself some water.

"I thought the color would come out nice if I put some ketchup in it", he scowled.

The sound of laughter filled the air as Audrey and I bellowed while Max grimaced. "That means I won", I did a happy dance around him my ego definitely inflated now.

"Gracie I am gonna take a shower now", Audrey confirmed as she walked away with her stuffed toy.

"I won and Max is a sore loser!" I sang an impromptu victory song.

I faced a sullen Max and bellowed "Shoo shoo you peasant go to the kitchen".

He grumbled floating away, the kitchen wasn't actually messy but I made sure to sprinkle flour here and there making sure the kitchen is extra messy so that Max has more chores to do.

"You know what? There is an extra packet of flour here, I was thinking of using it efficiently.", he approached me with the packet of flour and a mischievous smile plastered over his face.

Oh no he won't.

Before I knew he dropped the contents all over me, leaving white powders of dust floating in the air.

"Look a ghost!" he pretended to be scared, resisting his laughter.

"You will pay for this." I approached him with a sinister look on my face.

He backed away, I collected some flour off the floor and threw it at him. Of course none of it fell on him because that idiot is an ghost unlike me, the flour crusted dupe .

"Haha loser!" he cried out backing away.

"At least I am not an asshole." I was fuming with anger. Flour all over your body doesn't feel good.

"What did you call me?"

"Asshole", I clarified, crossing my arms over my chest.

He came towards me and hoisted me up bridal style, I screeched. I fought in his arms but he was much stronger than me."Put me down or I will kick you in the place where the sun doesn't shine!" I threatened him trying to squirm out of his grip.

"Strawberry why do you seem to forget that I am a ghost?" with that he carried me towards my bathroom.

"Oh no you won't!" Upon inspecting my surrounding I realized we were close to my bathtub.

"Yes I will", he dropped me into the tub and turned the faucet on.

Soon the water enveloped my causing wet flour to cling to my body. Ghost-asshole-boy was so dead.

Then he had the audacity to get into the bathtub with me and tickle me till I couldn't breathe.

"Max....plea...stop.....noooo", I said between my laughter.

"Nope", he relentlessly tickled me.

Did I ever mention that I am extremely ticklish?

"Sorry! Sorry! I..I... give up!" I surrendered, still laughing like a crazy maniac.

He stopped tickling me and I had my chance to pull on his collar and pull him into the water with me. I flipped us up so now I was the one straddling him.

"It's time for revenge!" I said breathlessly but the question was, can ghosts be tickled?

Before I had the time to experiment he gripped both my hands and placed it behind me, pulling me closer, our faces a few inches apart.

My wet curls falling curtained his face and his emerald eyes bore into mine. He traced his lips against my hair, "Hmm.. you actually smell like strawberry". His lips trailed down my neck, leaving those nerves in a frenzy. My heart beat escalated as if it would lurch out of my chest. What was happening?

I didn't push him away, because I didn't want to. He bought his face close to mine our lips were almost touching. He removed the strands of hair off my face with his free hand, giving me a better view of his inviting lips. I leaned in closer, as if my body wasn't being controlled by me anymore, his lips brushing mine.

He was going to kiss me.

My phone started ringing, and we broke apart abruptly. I got off him getting out of the bathtub, and pulling my phone out of the pocked of my jeans. It was slightly wet but not enough to inflict damage. I sighed in relief.

It was Sophie! I immediately took the call.

"Sophie!" I walked out of the bathroom wrapping my robe around my body. I looked back to see Max staring at me, he immediately looked away.

Was he about to kiss me?

Shrugging those thoughts, I preceded to talk to Soph.

"Grace I am so sorry for leaving you alone at the club without informing you. That day I got a call from my dad that my Aunt Bertha had a stroke and we are driving to her village right now to see her. I immediately left the party and Nick drove me home. I forgot to tell you that in a hurry. After I went there I decided to call you but the network was really crappy and also my Aunt didn't have internet connection so basically I was stuck for a week at a place with any contact with the outside world. She's fine now, we bought her with us back to New York so she can a get better treatment. I am so sorry Grace, I am really sorry! I even tried contacting Nick but turns out he's back to collage now and he won't be working with us anymore".

"No its alright! I was really worried that you disappeared at the party and didn't show up to work for a week and worst part was your phone was switched off. That explains everything."

"I can't wait to get back to work the next week. You are going right? Too bad Nick won't be with us"

Before I could reply, the sound of doorbell interrupted us. So I walked to the living room to open the door as I talked to Sophie."Yeah I wish Nick was here with us, too bad he has to go back to college. Maybe we can-",the lock clicked indicating that the door unlocked, I foolishly opened the door making the mistake of not checking the peephole first.

I froze in my place, my eyes wide open in shock. I almost dropped the phone but fortunately I had enough sense left in me to catch it before it fell. I mindlessly disconnected the call without saying goodbye to Sophie.

"You?! "I sputtered.

................