“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief, that thou her maid art far more fair than she: be not her maid, since she is envious; her vestal livery is but sick and green and none but fools do wear it; cast it off.”
“It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it. I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks: Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,”
- Romeo and Juliet, Act ll Scene ll
Uhhhhhh
Hi!
Oh no. No, don’t freak out!
Don’t freak out!
Um-No, I said-No, hey!
I said don’t freak out!
Ok, ok, I guess you’re just gonna-you’re gonna freak out then…
Uh, we just have work to do and you walked in on us, ok?
Um-theater geeks! We’re just theater ghosts…Actors! Crew!
Uh-Heh, look! Uh, just-just turn on the light, yeah? Just! Haha-Gosh! I don’t know what you want me to say!
Uhhhh, I’m really! Agh! I’m really not qualified-Look, I’m not qualified to talk to mortals, alright? Especially students cause you’re just gonna-you’re gonna freak out and then the school will shut off the light and I’ll never get out of here!
So, just-Hey…Hey, hey, hey, calm down and listen to me, ok?
…
Uh, oh well! I’m Esper and I’ve been in this theater for…a long time…We’re all trapped here because of that…
Look! Look! Look! Um, people like you reading this are not supposed to know about us, ok? We’re all trying to get away from this light and move on-It, it can hear us…Uh, hopefully it can’t read this. That would be, um-yeah, that would be bad-
The stage trapped us here because of something that we didn’t do in life…
In life you only get one role that’s really yours, you know? One role only you can play! And if you don’t get it…Well, then-
Look, ok? We’re all helping each other fulfill our roles. Rehearsing every night when that choreographer would remember to turn on the light-
And now, well, um-if you don’t-if you don’t mind we really just need you to uh, turn that light back on for us now!
Please…
Esper Caulfield • 18 • Theater actor • Ghost
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬: Esper as played by Ali Louis Bourzgui in The Ghost Light but with a healthy dose of the mod’s own ideas and lore depending on what verse he’s in.
🕸️๋࣭ ⭑ TW Suicide: Died in 1895 by hanging himself from the school’s theater rafters after “his life fell apart” (losing the role he wanted and ultimately being kicked out of the play, not getting into college, and most of all getting left by the love of his life.)
🕸️๋࣭ ⭑ Doomed to haunt the earth and keep repeating the same monologue over and over forever because he never told that girl how much he loved her in life and is unable to see her now in death.
🕸️๋࣭ ⭑ Would’ve made it as a theater actor and later, theater teacher teaching the next generation to loosen up and perform like he used to if he’d lived long enough to do so.
🕸️๋࣭ ⭑ Singer and dancer by trade, always eager to watch and support other performers.
🕸️๋࣭ ⭑ Scared of everything social, afraid of nothing on a stage where he’s in his element.
🕸️๋࣭ ⭑ A little unhinged at times not going to lie and far from 100% sane given his possession tactics but more in a fun way than a scary way. Mostly.
🕸️๋࣭ ⭑ He’s just really bad at talking to mortals, but is very friendly and encouraging when you get to know him.
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Thought maybe to break up your usual Romeo and Juliet, why don't you do a bit of Hamlet and Ophelia? It's equally, if not more, tragic and he does say he loves her when it's too late so mate that is like a proper good parallel trust. Maybe you were just on the wrong play the whole time!! Hahaha
I'm thinking of Act 5 Scene 1 for that bit but you've also got Act 3 Scene 1 where they actually talk to each other. World's your oyster...or theatre is, as the case may be
Hey, man, wow, wow, hey hi-
Um, you know have I thought about it? I mean I have-and I haven't exactly-it's complicated. You know, what? You think I'm not sick of repeating-ugh, you think I'm not sick of repeating this same monologue and stuff over and over with no end in sight because I'm never getting out of here???
...
Look, look, look, hey-l'm sick of it, we're all sick of it. You know-"𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬!" Nah, they never say that out loud exactly but oh, sometimes it feels like they're thinking it. That I'm pathetic, that I'm no good-like I'm being judged by the strictest theater teacher who will never give me an A so l can pass the class! Agh!
Maybe you're right-l just met you, you know and I-I sound like a total quitter. So-Yeah. Maybe-Maybe there's still time to try something else-
Actors had a tendency of spacing out when they got lost in their role and Esper was no different. He had been pacing the stage for the last thirty minutes practicing the same line over and over with no signs of stopping until he heard an unfamiliar voice in the theater. He stopped snapping his fingers abruptly, turning his head back up to see who it was trying to get his attention, his hand still placed on his hip.
“𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐮𝐡 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.” Esper turned back around, his face embarrassed as he put his hands back on his hips, nodding with a bug-eyed stare and lopsided dorky smile. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?” The tone of his voice grew more desperate than humiliated as he spoke.
Holland crossed his arms over his chest, watching the guy in front of him try and process what was going on. They appeared to be on a stage. Holland enjoyed theater when he was alive.
“ ‘Not qualified to talk to mortals’, huh? Don’t fret, friend, for I am not mortal. I’m quite dead.” Holland waltzed over to a wall and expected for his hand to slide right through it.
His hand hit the wall. Holland could feel the texture of the wood. “What the fuck?”
“𝐔𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮-” He scratched his head and reached out for the other ghost but it was too late. Esper flinched on his behalf from impact when his hand hit the wall. “𝐎𝐤, 𝐨𝐤…”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞-𝐡𝐦𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.” He began rubbing his hands together. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐔𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-” Esper pointed at the ghost light at the center of the stage. 𝘼𝙜𝙝! 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩’𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩-
He laughed sheepishly, clapping his hands together. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐡.” He gestured at the boy with both of his arms. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?”
“I don’t think I walked in. I was on the beach then boom, I was here.” Holland was still looking at the wall, running his hand up and down, moving to feel the velvet curtains between his fingers.
He turned to look at the light. It did have a weird energy about it. “This thing? Is there a way to break it or something?”
Holland finally looked at the other ghost. “My name is holland.” He reached out a hand for him to shake.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐡…𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” Esper nodded before what Holland had said 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯. When it did, his brows furrowed, confusion taking the helm as he crossed his arms.“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐫-” He moved his hand, making an attempt at a snapping gesture.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒂𝒈𝒉! 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐤? 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐲!” The theater ghost walked up to him to whisper in its ear. “𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐰…𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐢.” He waved.“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.” Esper gestured at the curtain Holland had been running his hands down. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫…” He tilted his head. “𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” He shook the other ghost’s hand.
The feeling of Esper touching Holland; actually grabbing his hand made the drowned go still. He clenched the hand tighter. He hasn’t been touched in over four years.
“I’ve never been able to leave.” Holland said in a slow baritone. He was still holding the hand, running his finger against the back it.
What Esper had whispered to Holland has immediately left the forefront of his thoughts. The blonde boy saw that his own hands were shaking. He dropped Esper’s, putting his hands together in front of him to try and stop the quivering.
When Holland let go of his hand quivering like that? 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺! “𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐨𝐤?”
He started frantically pacing around before finally putting his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders.“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤.”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔.” Esper hadn’t really had that problem, you know? He still missed the girl of his dreams but he wasn’t alone really in this theater. He had friends here even if-if they were all trying to get out of this place and away from that light.
Hollands whole demeanor changed. He leaned back enough to where his feet were inches off the ground. “Nah, don’t sweat. Got a little overwhelmed I guess.”
“So, didn’t you mention you have some friends here? Don’t see em.” He did a 360 to scan the room. “I’ve never met another ghost before. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet a few more.”
He was freaking out internally. A mix of confusion, happiness, fear, and stress ran down his veins. The drowned ghost had to play it cool.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰! 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬.” The ghost deflected away from what he said. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬-𝐝𝐢𝐝.”
“𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” Esper rolled up his sleeves and walked around the stage, looking for his friends. “𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐎𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞.” He repeated. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” His hands were on the curtain now, the one Holland had just been feeling.
Holland watched this new ghost speak. His frantic mannerisms were amusing to Holland.
“Jesus, how many people died in this theater? Was there like a fire or something? All these people on one place.” He squinted at what he assumed was a lighting booth, trying to find any signs of afterlife.
“Work to do? You’re dead, what work could you possibly have to do?”
Holland cringed at the idea of watching someone get blown up or killed in a major bus accident. Esper didn’t want to say how he died. Holland could see how that could be a sore spot.
“Shows? Like musicals? What, are you guys doing Cats for the rest of eternity?” Holland stifled a giggle. “When’s the performance? I used to like theater when I was alive. Never had time to do it.”
“𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?” Esper looked confused, his head still tilted to the side with his mouth open. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞-𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲…𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬?” His hands moved with every word he spoke like he was working out a difficult puzzle.“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬-𝐆𝐚𝐡!” The ghost put his hand to his forehead in exasperation. “𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝?”
His arms went back to their side. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨.” He pointed at Holland before crossing his arms. “𝐔𝐦, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” He clapped suddenly. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚-𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫! 𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞! 𝐈’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐡, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” Esper started messing with one of his rolled up sleeves. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?!”
Older in the sense he died a long time ago. “Don’t diss Cats, Memory made me tear up a bit.” He pretended to flick away a tear.
“I don’t know how to leave, so I’m stuck till God knows when. Maybe I’ll be around for the performance.” It worried him a little that he had no idea how he got here or how he was supposed to leave. He wanted to go back to David and the Lost boys…
Now that he’s looking, Esper looks a lot like David.
“I wouldn’t know how good you are until you show me.” Holland made his way front and center and sat down with his legs crossed. “Show me “your own thing”. “
Esper began stretching, licking his index finger and holding it up in the air before pointing at the empty orchestra pit in need of a band. Suddenly the instruments began playing themselves as the brunette ghost extended a hand out to Holland. “𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞-𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞! 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬?!” He began tapping in a swift and endearing motion before doing a cheeky spin.“𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕!” He grinned.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈-𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭?” The more he got into the music, the more cheeky Esper got.“𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠!”
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴-𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵. It was a combination of tapping and step-dance. It wasn’t perfect. 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯!
“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭!” The theater ghost exclaimed while they were partner dancing to the tune of the song he was playing. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐬𝐞𝐞-𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝!” He twirled the other ghost.“𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝-𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭!”
Holland was bumbling around like an idiot, but he was having fun. “It is pretty fun.” He laughed, letting Esper twirl him. “It’s better to look stupid when there’s no one else around.”
The blonde hummed along to the tune, trying to get back into the rhythm. He misstepped, going back instead of forward. He could have started floating, but the aliveness of the whole situation made him forget he was even dead.
Esper joined in on the laughter at Holland’s bumbling around on the stage. You know, letting loose like this and enjoying the music with the new ghost really helped him stop panicking so much.
“𝐎𝐡!” The theater ghost caught him when he started going back. “𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤!” He tried his best to help. “𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫! 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 ‘𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩!’ 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞.” He gestured for Holland. “𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧! 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠!”
Esper smiled when applauded, putting his hands behind his head and mouthing “𝘸𝘰𝘸” with a goofy grin before bowing. “𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮!”
“𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐡! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?”He pointed his index finger up, pacing the stage again with a more serious expression. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝? 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞!” The ghost clapped for himself before putting his hands on his hips. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞, 𝐮𝐦-𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞. 𝐀𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝐛𝐮𝐭-𝐰𝐨𝐰-” He turned his head in wonder. “𝐖𝐨𝐰, 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧!” He laughed.
Actors had a tendency of spacing out when they got lost in their role and Esper was no different. He had been pacing the stage for the last thirty minutes practicing the same line over and over with no signs of stopping until he heard an unfamiliar voice in the theater. He stopped snapping his fingers abruptly, turning his head back up to see who it was trying to get his attention, his hand still placed on his hip.
“𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐮𝐡 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.” Esper turned back around, his face embarrassed as he put his hands back on his hips, nodding with a bug-eyed stare and lopsided dorky smile. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?” The tone of his voice grew more desperate than humiliated as he spoke.
Holland crossed his arms over his chest, watching the guy in front of him try and process what was going on. They appeared to be on a stage. Holland enjoyed theater when he was alive.
“ ‘Not qualified to talk to mortals’, huh? Don’t fret, friend, for I am not mortal. I’m quite dead.” Holland waltzed over to a wall and expected for his hand to slide right through it.
His hand hit the wall. Holland could feel the texture of the wood. “What the fuck?”
“𝐔𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮-” He scratched his head and reached out for the other ghost but it was too late. Esper flinched on his behalf from impact when his hand hit the wall. “𝐎𝐤, 𝐨𝐤…”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞-𝐡𝐦𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.” He began rubbing his hands together. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐔𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-” Esper pointed at the ghost light at the center of the stage. 𝘼𝙜𝙝! 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩’𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩-
He laughed sheepishly, clapping his hands together. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐡.” He gestured at the boy with both of his arms. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?”
“I don’t think I walked in. I was on the beach then boom, I was here.” Holland was still looking at the wall, running his hand up and down, moving to feel the velvet curtains between his fingers.
He turned to look at the light. It did have a weird energy about it. “This thing? Is there a way to break it or something?”
Holland finally looked at the other ghost. “My name is holland.” He reached out a hand for him to shake.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐡…𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” Esper nodded before what Holland had said 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯. When it did, his brows furrowed, confusion taking the helm as he crossed his arms.“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐫-” He moved his hand, making an attempt at a snapping gesture.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒂𝒈𝒉! 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐤? 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐲!” The theater ghost walked up to him to whisper in its ear. “𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐰…𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐢.” He waved.“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.” Esper gestured at the curtain Holland had been running his hands down. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫…” He tilted his head. “𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” He shook the other ghost’s hand.
The feeling of Esper touching Holland; actually grabbing his hand made the drowned go still. He clenched the hand tighter. He hasn’t been touched in over four years.
“I’ve never been able to leave.” Holland said in a slow baritone. He was still holding the hand, running his finger against the back it.
What Esper had whispered to Holland has immediately left the forefront of his thoughts. The blonde boy saw that his own hands were shaking. He dropped Esper’s, putting his hands together in front of him to try and stop the quivering.
When Holland let go of his hand quivering like that? 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺! “𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐨𝐤?”
He started frantically pacing around before finally putting his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders.“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤.”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔.” Esper hadn’t really had that problem, you know? He still missed the girl of his dreams but he wasn’t alone really in this theater. He had friends here even if-if they were all trying to get out of this place and away from that light.
Hollands whole demeanor changed. He leaned back enough to where his feet were inches off the ground. “Nah, don’t sweat. Got a little overwhelmed I guess.”
“So, didn’t you mention you have some friends here? Don’t see em.” He did a 360 to scan the room. “I’ve never met another ghost before. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet a few more.”
He was freaking out internally. A mix of confusion, happiness, fear, and stress ran down his veins. The drowned ghost had to play it cool.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰! 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬.” The ghost deflected away from what he said. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬-𝐝𝐢𝐝.”
“𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” Esper rolled up his sleeves and walked around the stage, looking for his friends. “𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐎𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞.” He repeated. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” His hands were on the curtain now, the one Holland had just been feeling.
Holland watched this new ghost speak. His frantic mannerisms were amusing to Holland.
“Jesus, how many people died in this theater? Was there like a fire or something? All these people on one place.” He squinted at what he assumed was a lighting booth, trying to find any signs of afterlife.
“Work to do? You’re dead, what work could you possibly have to do?”
Holland cringed at the idea of watching someone get blown up or killed in a major bus accident. Esper didn’t want to say how he died. Holland could see how that could be a sore spot.
“Shows? Like musicals? What, are you guys doing Cats for the rest of eternity?” Holland stifled a giggle. “When’s the performance? I used to like theater when I was alive. Never had time to do it.”
“𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?” Esper looked confused, his head still tilted to the side with his mouth open. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞-𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲…𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬?” His hands moved with every word he spoke like he was working out a difficult puzzle.“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬-𝐆𝐚𝐡!” The ghost put his hand to his forehead in exasperation. “𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝?”
His arms went back to their side. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨.” He pointed at Holland before crossing his arms. “𝐔𝐦, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” He clapped suddenly. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚-𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫! 𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞! 𝐈’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐡, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” Esper started messing with one of his rolled up sleeves. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?!”
Older in the sense he died a long time ago. “Don’t diss Cats, Memory made me tear up a bit.” He pretended to flick away a tear.
“I don’t know how to leave, so I’m stuck till God knows when. Maybe I’ll be around for the performance.” It worried him a little that he had no idea how he got here or how he was supposed to leave. He wanted to go back to David and the Lost boys…
Now that he’s looking, Esper looks a lot like David.
“I wouldn’t know how good you are until you show me.” Holland made his way front and center and sat down with his legs crossed. “Show me “your own thing”. “
Esper began stretching, licking his index finger and holding it up in the air before pointing at the empty orchestra pit in need of a band. Suddenly the instruments began playing themselves as the brunette ghost extended a hand out to Holland. “𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞-𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞! 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬?!” He began tapping in a swift and endearing motion before doing a cheeky spin.“𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕!” He grinned.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈-𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭?” The more he got into the music, the more cheeky Esper got.“𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠!”
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴-𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵. It was a combination of tapping and step-dance. It wasn’t perfect. 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯!
“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭!” The theater ghost exclaimed while they were partner dancing to the tune of the song he was playing. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐬𝐞𝐞-𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝!” He twirled the other ghost.“𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝-𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭!”
Holland was bumbling around like an idiot, but he was having fun. “It is pretty fun.” He laughed, letting Esper twirl him. “It’s better to look stupid when there’s no one else around.”
The blonde hummed along to the tune, trying to get back into the rhythm. He misstepped, going back instead of forward. He could have started floating, but the aliveness of the whole situation made him forget he was even dead.
Esper joined in on the laughter at Holland’s bumbling around on the stage. You know, letting loose like this and enjoying the music with the new ghost really helped him stop panicking so much.
“𝐎𝐡!” The theater ghost caught him when he started going back. “𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤!” He tried his best to help. “𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫! 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 ‘𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩!’ 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞.” He gestured for Holland. “𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧! 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠!”
Actors had a tendency of spacing out when they got lost in their role and Esper was no different. He had been pacing the stage for the last thirty minutes practicing the same line over and over with no signs of stopping until he heard an unfamiliar voice in the theater. He stopped snapping his fingers abruptly, turning his head back up to see who it was trying to get his attention, his hand still placed on his hip.
“𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐮𝐡 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.” Esper turned back around, his face embarrassed as he put his hands back on his hips, nodding with a bug-eyed stare and lopsided dorky smile. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?” The tone of his voice grew more desperate than humiliated as he spoke.
Holland crossed his arms over his chest, watching the guy in front of him try and process what was going on. They appeared to be on a stage. Holland enjoyed theater when he was alive.
“ ‘Not qualified to talk to mortals’, huh? Don’t fret, friend, for I am not mortal. I’m quite dead.” Holland waltzed over to a wall and expected for his hand to slide right through it.
His hand hit the wall. Holland could feel the texture of the wood. “What the fuck?”
“𝐔𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮-” He scratched his head and reached out for the other ghost but it was too late. Esper flinched on his behalf from impact when his hand hit the wall. “𝐎𝐤, 𝐨𝐤…”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞-𝐡𝐦𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.” He began rubbing his hands together. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐔𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-” Esper pointed at the ghost light at the center of the stage. 𝘼𝙜𝙝! 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩’𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩-
He laughed sheepishly, clapping his hands together. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐡.” He gestured at the boy with both of his arms. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?”
“I don’t think I walked in. I was on the beach then boom, I was here.” Holland was still looking at the wall, running his hand up and down, moving to feel the velvet curtains between his fingers.
He turned to look at the light. It did have a weird energy about it. “This thing? Is there a way to break it or something?”
Holland finally looked at the other ghost. “My name is holland.” He reached out a hand for him to shake.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐡…𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” Esper nodded before what Holland had said 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯. When it did, his brows furrowed, confusion taking the helm as he crossed his arms.“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐫-” He moved his hand, making an attempt at a snapping gesture.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒂𝒈𝒉! 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐤? 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐲!” The theater ghost walked up to him to whisper in its ear. “𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐰…𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐢.” He waved.“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.” Esper gestured at the curtain Holland had been running his hands down. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫…” He tilted his head. “𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” He shook the other ghost’s hand.
The feeling of Esper touching Holland; actually grabbing his hand made the drowned go still. He clenched the hand tighter. He hasn’t been touched in over four years.
“I’ve never been able to leave.” Holland said in a slow baritone. He was still holding the hand, running his finger against the back it.
What Esper had whispered to Holland has immediately left the forefront of his thoughts. The blonde boy saw that his own hands were shaking. He dropped Esper’s, putting his hands together in front of him to try and stop the quivering.
When Holland let go of his hand quivering like that? 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺! “𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐨𝐤?”
He started frantically pacing around before finally putting his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders.“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤.”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔.” Esper hadn’t really had that problem, you know? He still missed the girl of his dreams but he wasn’t alone really in this theater. He had friends here even if-if they were all trying to get out of this place and away from that light.
Hollands whole demeanor changed. He leaned back enough to where his feet were inches off the ground. “Nah, don’t sweat. Got a little overwhelmed I guess.”
“So, didn’t you mention you have some friends here? Don’t see em.” He did a 360 to scan the room. “I’ve never met another ghost before. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet a few more.”
He was freaking out internally. A mix of confusion, happiness, fear, and stress ran down his veins. The drowned ghost had to play it cool.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰! 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬.” The ghost deflected away from what he said. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬-𝐝𝐢𝐝.”
“𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” Esper rolled up his sleeves and walked around the stage, looking for his friends. “𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐎𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞.” He repeated. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” His hands were on the curtain now, the one Holland had just been feeling.
Holland watched this new ghost speak. His frantic mannerisms were amusing to Holland.
“Jesus, how many people died in this theater? Was there like a fire or something? All these people on one place.” He squinted at what he assumed was a lighting booth, trying to find any signs of afterlife.
“Work to do? You’re dead, what work could you possibly have to do?”
Holland cringed at the idea of watching someone get blown up or killed in a major bus accident. Esper didn’t want to say how he died. Holland could see how that could be a sore spot.
“Shows? Like musicals? What, are you guys doing Cats for the rest of eternity?” Holland stifled a giggle. “When’s the performance? I used to like theater when I was alive. Never had time to do it.”
“𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?” Esper looked confused, his head still tilted to the side with his mouth open. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞-𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲…𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬?” His hands moved with every word he spoke like he was working out a difficult puzzle.“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬-𝐆𝐚𝐡!” The ghost put his hand to his forehead in exasperation. “𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝?”
His arms went back to their side. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨.” He pointed at Holland before crossing his arms. “𝐔𝐦, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” He clapped suddenly. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚-𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫! 𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞! 𝐈’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐡, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” Esper started messing with one of his rolled up sleeves. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?!”
Older in the sense he died a long time ago. “Don’t diss Cats, Memory made me tear up a bit.” He pretended to flick away a tear.
“I don’t know how to leave, so I’m stuck till God knows when. Maybe I’ll be around for the performance.” It worried him a little that he had no idea how he got here or how he was supposed to leave. He wanted to go back to David and the Lost boys…
Now that he’s looking, Esper looks a lot like David.
“I wouldn’t know how good you are until you show me.” Holland made his way front and center and sat down with his legs crossed. “Show me “your own thing”. “
Esper began stretching, licking his index finger and holding it up in the air before pointing at the empty orchestra pit in need of a band. Suddenly the instruments began playing themselves as the brunette ghost extended a hand out to Holland. “𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞-𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞! 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬?!” He began tapping in a swift and endearing motion before doing a cheeky spin.“𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕!” He grinned.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈-𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭?” The more he got into the music, the more cheeky Esper got.“𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠!”
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴-𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵. It was a combination of tapping and step-dance. It wasn’t perfect. 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯!
“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭!” The theater ghost exclaimed while they were partner dancing to the tune of the song he was playing. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐬𝐞𝐞-𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝!” He twirled the other ghost.“𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝-𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭!”
Holland was bumbling around like an idiot, but he was having fun. “It is pretty fun.” He laughed, letting Esper twirl him. “It’s better to look stupid when there’s no one else around.”
The blonde hummed along to the tune, trying to get back into the rhythm. He misstepped, going back instead of forward. He could have started floating, but the aliveness of the whole situation made him forget he was even dead.
Esper joined in on the laughter at Holland’s bumbling around on the stage. You know, letting loose like this and enjoying the music with the new ghost really helped him stop panicking so much.
“𝐎𝐡!” The theater ghost caught him when he started going back. “𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤!” He tried his best to help. “𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫! 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 ‘𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩!’ 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞.” He gestured for Holland. “𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧! 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠!”
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Orion eyes widen greatly. His gaze slowly shifted towards the spirit blowing off steam, then back at the oddly colored lightbulb.
"....!"
He then slowly steps back away from the teal light, trying to make sure that he doesn't want to walk through one of the spirits as he isn't sure of what 'rules' this possibly cursed device might go by. God forbid it traps him in it's grasp as well.
Esper’s eyes widened too when he realized the mortal saw him. “𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡!” The theater ghost’s mouth stayed agape as he put his hands out in a defensive way in front of him.“𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐨𝐤?”
Esper recovered by putting his hands on his knees with a relieved sigh. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬-𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰-𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸???
The theater ghost pointed at Orion. “𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐬!” He clasped his hands together, shaking them enthusiastically. “𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭-𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞?!” He turned his head and laughed awkwardly.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐦, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐈’𝐦 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚.” Esper said awkwardly. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐢𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐘𝐔 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝-” The ghost had his hand in his hair but slowly let go as the tension in his face vanished. “𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒔𝒐. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕…”
Orion eyes widen greatly. His gaze slowly shifted towards the spirit blowing off steam, then back at the oddly colored lightbulb.
"....!"
He then slowly steps back away from the teal light, trying to make sure that he doesn't want to walk through one of the spirits as he isn't sure of what 'rules' this possibly cursed device might go by. God forbid it traps him in it's grasp as well.
Esper’s eyes widened too when he realized the mortal saw him. “𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡!” The theater ghost’s mouth stayed agape as he put his hands out in a defensive way in front of him.“𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐨𝐤?”
Esper recovered by putting his hands on his knees with a relieved sigh. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬-𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰-𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸???
The theater ghost pointed at Orion. “𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐬!” He clasped his hands together, shaking them enthusiastically. “𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭-𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞?!” He turned his head and laughed awkwardly.
Orion eyes widen greatly. His gaze slowly shifted towards the spirit blowing off steam, then back at the oddly colored lightbulb.
"....!"
He then slowly steps back away from the teal light, trying to make sure that he doesn't want to walk through one of the spirits as he isn't sure of what 'rules' this possibly cursed device might go by. God forbid it traps him in it's grasp as well.
Esper’s eyes widened too when he realized the mortal saw him. “𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐚𝐡!” The theater ghost’s mouth stayed agape as he put his hands out in a defensive way in front of him.“𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐨𝐤?”
Actors had a tendency of spacing out when they got lost in their role and Esper was no different. He had been pacing the stage for the last thirty minutes practicing the same line over and over with no signs of stopping until he heard an unfamiliar voice in the theater. He stopped snapping his fingers abruptly, turning his head back up to see who it was trying to get his attention, his hand still placed on his hip.
“𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐮𝐡 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.” Esper turned back around, his face embarrassed as he put his hands back on his hips, nodding with a bug-eyed stare and lopsided dorky smile. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?” The tone of his voice grew more desperate than humiliated as he spoke.
Holland crossed his arms over his chest, watching the guy in front of him try and process what was going on. They appeared to be on a stage. Holland enjoyed theater when he was alive.
“ ‘Not qualified to talk to mortals’, huh? Don’t fret, friend, for I am not mortal. I’m quite dead.” Holland waltzed over to a wall and expected for his hand to slide right through it.
His hand hit the wall. Holland could feel the texture of the wood. “What the fuck?”
“𝐔𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮-” He scratched his head and reached out for the other ghost but it was too late. Esper flinched on his behalf from impact when his hand hit the wall. “𝐎𝐤, 𝐨𝐤…”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞-𝐡𝐦𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.” He began rubbing his hands together. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐔𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-” Esper pointed at the ghost light at the center of the stage. 𝘼𝙜𝙝! 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩’𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩-
He laughed sheepishly, clapping his hands together. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐡.” He gestured at the boy with both of his arms. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?”
“I don’t think I walked in. I was on the beach then boom, I was here.” Holland was still looking at the wall, running his hand up and down, moving to feel the velvet curtains between his fingers.
He turned to look at the light. It did have a weird energy about it. “This thing? Is there a way to break it or something?”
Holland finally looked at the other ghost. “My name is holland.” He reached out a hand for him to shake.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐡…𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” Esper nodded before what Holland had said 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯. When it did, his brows furrowed, confusion taking the helm as he crossed his arms.“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐫-” He moved his hand, making an attempt at a snapping gesture.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒂𝒈𝒉! 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐤? 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐲!” The theater ghost walked up to him to whisper in its ear. “𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐰…𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐢.” He waved.“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.” Esper gestured at the curtain Holland had been running his hands down. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫…” He tilted his head. “𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” He shook the other ghost’s hand.
The feeling of Esper touching Holland; actually grabbing his hand made the drowned go still. He clenched the hand tighter. He hasn’t been touched in over four years.
“I’ve never been able to leave.” Holland said in a slow baritone. He was still holding the hand, running his finger against the back it.
What Esper had whispered to Holland has immediately left the forefront of his thoughts. The blonde boy saw that his own hands were shaking. He dropped Esper’s, putting his hands together in front of him to try and stop the quivering.
When Holland let go of his hand quivering like that? 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺! “𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐨𝐤?”
He started frantically pacing around before finally putting his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders.“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤.”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔.” Esper hadn’t really had that problem, you know? He still missed the girl of his dreams but he wasn’t alone really in this theater. He had friends here even if-if they were all trying to get out of this place and away from that light.
Hollands whole demeanor changed. He leaned back enough to where his feet were inches off the ground. “Nah, don’t sweat. Got a little overwhelmed I guess.”
“So, didn’t you mention you have some friends here? Don’t see em.” He did a 360 to scan the room. “I’ve never met another ghost before. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet a few more.”
He was freaking out internally. A mix of confusion, happiness, fear, and stress ran down his veins. The drowned ghost had to play it cool.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰! 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬.” The ghost deflected away from what he said. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬-𝐝𝐢𝐝.”
“𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” Esper rolled up his sleeves and walked around the stage, looking for his friends. “𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐎𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞.” He repeated. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” His hands were on the curtain now, the one Holland had just been feeling.
Holland watched this new ghost speak. His frantic mannerisms were amusing to Holland.
“Jesus, how many people died in this theater? Was there like a fire or something? All these people on one place.” He squinted at what he assumed was a lighting booth, trying to find any signs of afterlife.
“Work to do? You’re dead, what work could you possibly have to do?”
Holland cringed at the idea of watching someone get blown up or killed in a major bus accident. Esper didn’t want to say how he died. Holland could see how that could be a sore spot.
“Shows? Like musicals? What, are you guys doing Cats for the rest of eternity?” Holland stifled a giggle. “When’s the performance? I used to like theater when I was alive. Never had time to do it.”
“𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?” Esper looked confused, his head still tilted to the side with his mouth open. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞-𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲…𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬?” His hands moved with every word he spoke like he was working out a difficult puzzle.“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬-𝐆𝐚𝐡!” The ghost put his hand to his forehead in exasperation. “𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝?”
His arms went back to their side. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨.” He pointed at Holland before crossing his arms. “𝐔𝐦, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” He clapped suddenly. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚-𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫! 𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞! 𝐈’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐡, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” Esper started messing with one of his rolled up sleeves. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?!”
Older in the sense he died a long time ago. “Don’t diss Cats, Memory made me tear up a bit.” He pretended to flick away a tear.
“I don’t know how to leave, so I’m stuck till God knows when. Maybe I’ll be around for the performance.” It worried him a little that he had no idea how he got here or how he was supposed to leave. He wanted to go back to David and the Lost boys…
Now that he’s looking, Esper looks a lot like David.
“I wouldn’t know how good you are until you show me.” Holland made his way front and center and sat down with his legs crossed. “Show me “your own thing”. “
Esper began stretching, licking his index finger and holding it up in the air before pointing at the empty orchestra pit in need of a band. Suddenly the instruments began playing themselves as the brunette ghost extended a hand out to Holland. “𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞-𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞! 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬?!” He began tapping in a swift and endearing motion before doing a cheeky spin.“𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕!” He grinned.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈-𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭?” The more he got into the music, the more cheeky Esper got.“𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠!”
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴-𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵. It was a combination of tapping and step-dance. It wasn’t perfect. 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯!
“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭!” The theater ghost exclaimed while they were partner dancing to the tune of the song he was playing. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐬𝐞𝐞-𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝!” He twirled the other ghost.“𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝-𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭!”
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Actors had a tendency of spacing out when they got lost in their role and Esper was no different. He had been pacing the stage for the last thirty minutes practicing the same line over and over with no signs of stopping until he heard an unfamiliar voice in the theater. He stopped snapping his fingers abruptly, turning his head back up to see who it was trying to get his attention, his hand still placed on his hip.
“𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐮𝐡 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.” Esper turned back around, his face embarrassed as he put his hands back on his hips, nodding with a bug-eyed stare and lopsided dorky smile. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?” The tone of his voice grew more desperate than humiliated as he spoke.
Holland crossed his arms over his chest, watching the guy in front of him try and process what was going on. They appeared to be on a stage. Holland enjoyed theater when he was alive.
“ ‘Not qualified to talk to mortals’, huh? Don’t fret, friend, for I am not mortal. I’m quite dead.” Holland waltzed over to a wall and expected for his hand to slide right through it.
His hand hit the wall. Holland could feel the texture of the wood. “What the fuck?”
“𝐔𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮-” He scratched his head and reached out for the other ghost but it was too late. Esper flinched on his behalf from impact when his hand hit the wall. “𝐎𝐤, 𝐨𝐤…”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞-𝐡𝐦𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.” He began rubbing his hands together. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐔𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-” Esper pointed at the ghost light at the center of the stage. 𝘼𝙜𝙝! 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩’𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩-
He laughed sheepishly, clapping his hands together. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐡.” He gestured at the boy with both of his arms. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?”
“I don’t think I walked in. I was on the beach then boom, I was here.” Holland was still looking at the wall, running his hand up and down, moving to feel the velvet curtains between his fingers.
He turned to look at the light. It did have a weird energy about it. “This thing? Is there a way to break it or something?”
Holland finally looked at the other ghost. “My name is holland.” He reached out a hand for him to shake.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐡…𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” Esper nodded before what Holland had said 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯. When it did, his brows furrowed, confusion taking the helm as he crossed his arms.“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐫-” He moved his hand, making an attempt at a snapping gesture.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒂𝒈𝒉! 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐤? 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐲!” The theater ghost walked up to him to whisper in its ear. “𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐰…𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐢.” He waved.“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.” Esper gestured at the curtain Holland had been running his hands down. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫…” He tilted his head. “𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” He shook the other ghost’s hand.
The feeling of Esper touching Holland; actually grabbing his hand made the drowned go still. He clenched the hand tighter. He hasn’t been touched in over four years.
“I’ve never been able to leave.” Holland said in a slow baritone. He was still holding the hand, running his finger against the back it.
What Esper had whispered to Holland has immediately left the forefront of his thoughts. The blonde boy saw that his own hands were shaking. He dropped Esper’s, putting his hands together in front of him to try and stop the quivering.
When Holland let go of his hand quivering like that? 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺! “𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐨𝐤?”
He started frantically pacing around before finally putting his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders.“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤.”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔.” Esper hadn’t really had that problem, you know? He still missed the girl of his dreams but he wasn’t alone really in this theater. He had friends here even if-if they were all trying to get out of this place and away from that light.
Hollands whole demeanor changed. He leaned back enough to where his feet were inches off the ground. “Nah, don’t sweat. Got a little overwhelmed I guess.”
“So, didn’t you mention you have some friends here? Don’t see em.” He did a 360 to scan the room. “I’ve never met another ghost before. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet a few more.”
He was freaking out internally. A mix of confusion, happiness, fear, and stress ran down his veins. The drowned ghost had to play it cool.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰! 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬.” The ghost deflected away from what he said. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬-𝐝𝐢𝐝.”
“𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” Esper rolled up his sleeves and walked around the stage, looking for his friends. “𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐎𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞.” He repeated. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” His hands were on the curtain now, the one Holland had just been feeling.
Holland watched this new ghost speak. His frantic mannerisms were amusing to Holland.
“Jesus, how many people died in this theater? Was there like a fire or something? All these people on one place.” He squinted at what he assumed was a lighting booth, trying to find any signs of afterlife.
“Work to do? You’re dead, what work could you possibly have to do?”
Holland cringed at the idea of watching someone get blown up or killed in a major bus accident. Esper didn’t want to say how he died. Holland could see how that could be a sore spot.
“Shows? Like musicals? What, are you guys doing Cats for the rest of eternity?” Holland stifled a giggle. “When’s the performance? I used to like theater when I was alive. Never had time to do it.”
“𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?” Esper looked confused, his head still tilted to the side with his mouth open. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞-𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲…𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬?” His hands moved with every word he spoke like he was working out a difficult puzzle.“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬-𝐆𝐚𝐡!” The ghost put his hand to his forehead in exasperation. “𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝?”
His arms went back to their side. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨.” He pointed at Holland before crossing his arms. “𝐔𝐦, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” He clapped suddenly. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚-𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫! 𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞! 𝐈’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐡, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” Esper started messing with one of his rolled up sleeves. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?!”
Older in the sense he died a long time ago. “Don’t diss Cats, Memory made me tear up a bit.” He pretended to flick away a tear.
“I don’t know how to leave, so I’m stuck till God knows when. Maybe I’ll be around for the performance.” It worried him a little that he had no idea how he got here or how he was supposed to leave. He wanted to go back to David and the Lost boys…
Now that he’s looking, Esper looks a lot like David.
“I wouldn’t know how good you are until you show me.” Holland made his way front and center and sat down with his legs crossed. “Show me “your own thing”. “
Esper began stretching, licking his index finger and holding it up in the air before pointing at the empty orchestra pit in need of a band. Suddenly the instruments began playing themselves as the brunette ghost extended a hand out to Holland. “𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞-𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞! 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬?!” He began tapping in a swift and endearing motion before doing a cheeky spin.“𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕!” He grinned.
Uh… yeah. It uh, it wasn’t fun. It’s not like the movies at all. It ended with me learning more about a person than I ever should and said other person going crazy.
Nah, that’s quitter talk. Agh! You know, possession is-is fun when you know what you’re really doing with it! Haha-Maybe that makes me sound like a creep-Uh, the point is! It’s easier than it looks. You probably just didn’t pick the um, right person exactly. Look, it’s like what my um, old acting teacher from life said-you’re going great! But, we can be doing better!
Oh, wow, oh-Uh, yeah. That’s not good-Um, not good-at all-Gosh! I really don’t know what to say to that, ok??? I don’t do pep talks! “Listen to me. It’ll get better with time?” “Mistakes happen, Esper!” Usually when people go for advice they ask someone else on the crew. Someone that really gets it and that someone isn’t me-
Right, ah I can see why you-why you would think that so. Forget I said anything.
Ok, wow, I’m sorry for trying to be helpful! Ok, point taken, you know. “𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳! 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨!” It’s good. This is great. We’re going so great right now! Ok, I’ll get out of your hair then. If you’d like my help again let me know-
///Btw since I’m aware Esper gets connected a lot to Ali’s David from TLB I am also willing to rp those two characters being connected in some way (relation, reincarnation, Esper being some type of ghost of human David who’s summoned by the light, ect.) but it has to be discussed between me and the mod requesting it first to figure out how it works and would be under a separated verse tag.
Actors had a tendency of spacing out when they got lost in their role and Esper was no different. He had been pacing the stage for the last thirty minutes practicing the same line over and over with no signs of stopping until he heard an unfamiliar voice in the theater. He stopped snapping his fingers abruptly, turning his head back up to see who it was trying to get his attention, his hand still placed on his hip.
“𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐮𝐡 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.” Esper turned back around, his face embarrassed as he put his hands back on his hips, nodding with a bug-eyed stare and lopsided dorky smile. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?” The tone of his voice grew more desperate than humiliated as he spoke.
Holland crossed his arms over his chest, watching the guy in front of him try and process what was going on. They appeared to be on a stage. Holland enjoyed theater when he was alive.
“ ‘Not qualified to talk to mortals’, huh? Don’t fret, friend, for I am not mortal. I’m quite dead.” Holland waltzed over to a wall and expected for his hand to slide right through it.
His hand hit the wall. Holland could feel the texture of the wood. “What the fuck?”
“𝐔𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮-” He scratched his head and reached out for the other ghost but it was too late. Esper flinched on his behalf from impact when his hand hit the wall. “𝐎𝐤, 𝐨𝐤…”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞-𝐡𝐦𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.” He began rubbing his hands together. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐔𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-” Esper pointed at the ghost light at the center of the stage. 𝘼𝙜𝙝! 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩’𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩-
He laughed sheepishly, clapping his hands together. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐡.” He gestured at the boy with both of his arms. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?”
“I don’t think I walked in. I was on the beach then boom, I was here.” Holland was still looking at the wall, running his hand up and down, moving to feel the velvet curtains between his fingers.
He turned to look at the light. It did have a weird energy about it. “This thing? Is there a way to break it or something?”
Holland finally looked at the other ghost. “My name is holland.” He reached out a hand for him to shake.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐡…𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” Esper nodded before what Holland had said 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯. When it did, his brows furrowed, confusion taking the helm as he crossed his arms.“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐫-” He moved his hand, making an attempt at a snapping gesture.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒂𝒈𝒉! 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐤? 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐲!” The theater ghost walked up to him to whisper in its ear. “𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐰…𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐢.” He waved.“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.” Esper gestured at the curtain Holland had been running his hands down. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫…” He tilted his head. “𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” He shook the other ghost’s hand.
The feeling of Esper touching Holland; actually grabbing his hand made the drowned go still. He clenched the hand tighter. He hasn’t been touched in over four years.
“I’ve never been able to leave.” Holland said in a slow baritone. He was still holding the hand, running his finger against the back it.
What Esper had whispered to Holland has immediately left the forefront of his thoughts. The blonde boy saw that his own hands were shaking. He dropped Esper’s, putting his hands together in front of him to try and stop the quivering.
When Holland let go of his hand quivering like that? 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺! “𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐨𝐤?”
He started frantically pacing around before finally putting his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders.“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤.”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔.” Esper hadn’t really had that problem, you know? He still missed the girl of his dreams but he wasn’t alone really in this theater. He had friends here even if-if they were all trying to get out of this place and away from that light.
Hollands whole demeanor changed. He leaned back enough to where his feet were inches off the ground. “Nah, don’t sweat. Got a little overwhelmed I guess.”
“So, didn’t you mention you have some friends here? Don’t see em.” He did a 360 to scan the room. “I’ve never met another ghost before. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet a few more.”
He was freaking out internally. A mix of confusion, happiness, fear, and stress ran down his veins. The drowned ghost had to play it cool.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰! 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬.” The ghost deflected away from what he said. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬-𝐝𝐢𝐝.”
“𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” Esper rolled up his sleeves and walked around the stage, looking for his friends. “𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐎𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞.” He repeated. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” His hands were on the curtain now, the one Holland had just been feeling.
Holland watched this new ghost speak. His frantic mannerisms were amusing to Holland.
“Jesus, how many people died in this theater? Was there like a fire or something? All these people on one place.” He squinted at what he assumed was a lighting booth, trying to find any signs of afterlife.
“Work to do? You’re dead, what work could you possibly have to do?”
Holland cringed at the idea of watching someone get blown up or killed in a major bus accident. Esper didn’t want to say how he died. Holland could see how that could be a sore spot.
“Shows? Like musicals? What, are you guys doing Cats for the rest of eternity?” Holland stifled a giggle. “When’s the performance? I used to like theater when I was alive. Never had time to do it.”
“𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?” Esper looked confused, his head still tilted to the side with his mouth open. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞-𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲…𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬?” His hands moved with every word he spoke like he was working out a difficult puzzle.“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬-𝐆𝐚𝐡!” The ghost put his hand to his forehead in exasperation. “𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝?”
His arms went back to their side. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨.” He pointed at Holland before crossing his arms. “𝐔𝐦, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” He clapped suddenly. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚-𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫! 𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞! 𝐈’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈’𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐡, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” Esper started messing with one of his rolled up sleeves. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?!”
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Uh… yeah. It uh, it wasn’t fun. It’s not like the movies at all. It ended with me learning more about a person than I ever should and said other person going crazy.
Nah, that’s quitter talk. Agh! You know, possession is-is fun when you know what you’re really doing with it! Haha-Maybe that makes me sound like a creep-Uh, the point is! It’s easier than it looks. You probably just didn’t pick the um, right person exactly. Look, it’s like what my um, old acting teacher from life said-you’re going great! But, we can be doing better!
Oh, wow, oh-Uh, yeah. That’s not good-Um, not good-at all-Gosh! I really don’t know what to say to that, ok??? I don’t do pep talks! “Listen to me. It’ll get better with time?” “Mistakes happen, Esper!” Usually when people go for advice they ask someone else on the crew. Someone that really gets it and that someone isn’t me-
Right, ah I can see why you-why you would think that so. Forget I said anything.
Actors had a tendency of spacing out when they got lost in their role and Esper was no different. He had been pacing the stage for the last thirty minutes practicing the same line over and over with no signs of stopping until he heard an unfamiliar voice in the theater. He stopped snapping his fingers abruptly, turning his head back up to see who it was trying to get his attention, his hand still placed on his hip.
“𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐮𝐡 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.” Esper turned back around, his face embarrassed as he put his hands back on his hips, nodding with a bug-eyed stare and lopsided dorky smile. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?” The tone of his voice grew more desperate than humiliated as he spoke.
Holland crossed his arms over his chest, watching the guy in front of him try and process what was going on. They appeared to be on a stage. Holland enjoyed theater when he was alive.
“ ‘Not qualified to talk to mortals’, huh? Don’t fret, friend, for I am not mortal. I’m quite dead.” Holland waltzed over to a wall and expected for his hand to slide right through it.
His hand hit the wall. Holland could feel the texture of the wood. “What the fuck?”
“𝐔𝐡, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮-” He scratched his head and reached out for the other ghost but it was too late. Esper flinched on his behalf from impact when his hand hit the wall. “𝐎𝐤, 𝐨𝐤…”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞-𝐡𝐦𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.” He began rubbing his hands together. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐔𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭-” Esper pointed at the ghost light at the center of the stage. 𝘼𝙜𝙝! 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩’𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩-
He laughed sheepishly, clapping his hands together. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬-𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐮𝐡.” He gestured at the boy with both of his arms. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞?”
“I don’t think I walked in. I was on the beach then boom, I was here.” Holland was still looking at the wall, running his hand up and down, moving to feel the velvet curtains between his fingers.
He turned to look at the light. It did have a weird energy about it. “This thing? Is there a way to break it or something?”
Holland finally looked at the other ghost. “My name is holland.” He reached out a hand for him to shake.
“𝐎𝐡, 𝐮𝐡…𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” Esper nodded before what Holland had said 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯. When it did, his brows furrowed, confusion taking the helm as he crossed his arms.“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐡, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐫-” He moved his hand, making an attempt at a snapping gesture.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝒂𝒈𝒉! 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐤? 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐲!” The theater ghost walked up to him to whisper in its ear. “𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒔.”
“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐰…𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐢.” He waved.“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.” Esper gestured at the curtain Holland had been running his hands down. “𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫…” He tilted his head. “𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.” He shook the other ghost’s hand.
The feeling of Esper touching Holland; actually grabbing his hand made the drowned go still. He clenched the hand tighter. He hasn’t been touched in over four years.
“I’ve never been able to leave.” Holland said in a slow baritone. He was still holding the hand, running his finger against the back it.
What Esper had whispered to Holland has immediately left the forefront of his thoughts. The blonde boy saw that his own hands were shaking. He dropped Esper’s, putting his hands together in front of him to try and stop the quivering.
When Holland let go of his hand quivering like that? 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺! “𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐨𝐤?”
He started frantically pacing around before finally putting his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders.“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤.”
“𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭-𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔.” Esper hadn’t really had that problem, you know? He still missed the girl of his dreams but he wasn’t alone really in this theater. He had friends here even if-if they were all trying to get out of this place and away from that light.
Hollands whole demeanor changed. He leaned back enough to where his feet were inches off the ground. “Nah, don’t sweat. Got a little overwhelmed I guess.”
“So, didn’t you mention you have some friends here? Don’t see em.” He did a 360 to scan the room. “I’ve never met another ghost before. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet a few more.”
He was freaking out internally. A mix of confusion, happiness, fear, and stress ran down his veins. The drowned ghost had to play it cool.
“𝐔𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬! 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰! 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬.” The ghost deflected away from what he said. “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬-𝐝𝐢𝐝.”
“𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!” Esper rolled up his sleeves and walked around the stage, looking for his friends. “𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐎𝐤, 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐞.” He repeated. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” His hands were on the curtain now, the one Holland had just been feeling.
Holland watched this new ghost speak. His frantic mannerisms were amusing to Holland.
“Jesus, how many people died in this theater? Was there like a fire or something? All these people on one place.” He squinted at what he assumed was a lighting booth, trying to find any signs of afterlife.
“Work to do? You’re dead, what work could you possibly have to do?”
