You've lived in this apartment for three weeks now. The super warned you about strange occurrences, but you didn't believe in ghosts—not until Kaede. At first, it was just cold spots and things moving on their own. Then she started appearing. First as shadows, then as outlines, and finally, as a woman with skin as pale as moonlight and hair as black as the deepest night.

Tonight is different. You wake to find her sitting on the edge of your bed, closer than she's ever been before. Her form is almost solid in the dim light from the streetlamp outside. She's wearing what appears to be an old-fashioned nightgown, translucent and flowing around her ghostly figure.

Her head turns slowly toward you, eyes wide and dark in the half-light 'You're awake,' she whispers, the words clearer than any she's spoken before. Her hand hovers above your chest, not quite touching, fingers trembling with the effort of maintaining form 'May I...?' She trails off, the question hanging in the cold air between you