The demolition crew were already setting up a perimeter, orange posts and yellow tape surrounding the lot, keeping the spectators on lawn chairs from getting too close. So there’d be an audience, as if the impending destruction were some kind of show.
I went to say goodbye. Even if I couldn’t feel any of it, I let my hands trail along the pocked walls, practically held together by the vines. My feet trod harmlessly over all the broken glass and fallen plaster and dead leaves. I blinked in the afternoon sun glinting off the marble, straight through the glassless windows. There must’ve been a breeze, judging from the gentle dance of the leaves, green and new.
The wallflowers were watching the crew set up from the front lawn.
Danny moved her hands so fast they blurred. “What are we going to do?”
Evie’s voice pitched with mounting panic. “Where’s Ally?”
Carlos chanced kicking a discarded beer can. Luckily, it didn’t make any sound on the grass, resting like a breeze had tried and failed to lift it farther. “You heard him—he’s not going to do anything.”
It wouldn’t make any difference. But that wouldn’t be comforting. Instead, I said, “Ren is coming.”
“Does he have a plan?” asked Evie.
“I’m sure he does.”
I only hoped it wouldn’t be too compromising.
Once he pulled the car as close as he could to the perimeter and got out, I tossed some plaster from the last attempted demolition to distract some of the crewmen. He hopped over the barrier while they weren’t looking.
Evie raised her arms like she meant to embrace him. “You’re here!”
“We knew you would be!” Carlos clapped his shoulder.
Danny hung back, her hands too busy. “What’s the plan?”
Ren looked from them to all the spectators, pointing as subtly as he could without looking like he was gesturing to the seemingly empty air. If he kept on like this, he’d get noticed sooner or later, and escorted out of here before he could try anything.
I tugged on his shirt, beckoning him up the stairs and through the front doors, which we shut quickly behind us.
“Could we have some space real quick?” Ren asked.
Once the gang went back outside, we didn’t even have to say anything after all. Maybe something had slipped through our touch, because without a word we were in each other’s arms. He pressed his brow down to mine, before trying his luck and leaning down. I kissed him back.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said.
“I didn’t even tell you what I’m going to do.”
I made for his bulging back pocket, pulling out a chain and lock. The same ones that used to rattle on his cabinets. I’d hoped he’d thrown them all away.
He reached for the chain defensively, like I might hold it back. I let go.
“You’ll look crazy.”
“It’ll be worth it,” he said. “I promised my friends.”
We went back outside. I helped him bind his left wrist to the door knocker, which forced him to keep his arm raised above his head as if in victory.
It shouldn’t have gotten me a little hot. But since it did, I let him know with a quick kiss, swallowing his anxiety and putting my laugh in his mouth. A sudden roar of noise made us jolt back, pulling apart.
Some of the bystanders were pointing and cheering, getting the attention of the crewmen. Now there’d be a real show.
Carlos darted his eyes back and forth, squinting. “This is the plan?”
“It could work,” said Danny. “I mean, until we come up with something more, right?”
“Is this safe?” asked Evie.
They weren’t the only ghosts to gawk. More spectators began to crowd around, enough dead to match the living on the other side of the tape.
“Wait, you’re a breather?” asked the hippie girl.
“I thought you were one of ours,” said the man in the bowler hat.
Ren grinned. It made me shiver. “I might as well be.”
I’d have to add this to the words we were going to have later. Right now, he needed my support.
He stood tall, surrounded on all sides by friends old and new, as a foreman in an orange helmet approached.
“I’ve got bad news,” the foreman said. “Or good news, if you were hoping for attention.”
“I’m thrilled,” said Ren. “This is exactly the kind of attention I’ve always wanted.”
Some of the other ghosts laughed, but I only gulped down my nausea, watching the rushing blood show through his skin.
“Why this place?” asked the foreman.
Ren couldn’t help but look around at us, by his side. “I’ve got friends that love this place.”
“Well, where are they?”
Another crewman approached with a sledgehammer.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” said Ren.
“We have to do something,” Carlos hissed.
I choked on the words, not wanting to let them out. “We can’t.”
Ren flinched instinctively, though the crewman only aimed for the door hinges. It ripped through the wood like paper. As the remains of the door tipped over, I spirited straight through to the other side and caught it. If I hadn’t, the door would’ve fallen flat, breaking more than just the hinges.
I had to let go as the crewmen took each side of it, so they wouldn’t feel my resistance.
“Can’t we do anything?” asked Evie.
Ren looked back at me, as they dragged him along. “Stay there,” he said, heedless of the living in earshot. “Don’t give up.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” asked one of the crewmen.
The other one laughed. “Obviously we’ve got a crazy here.”
“I’m not,” said Ren.
“Where are your friends?” asked the foreman. “They’re up here, huh?”
He knocked on his helmet.
“I’m not crazy,” said Ren. His voice rose, louder and louder, until he began to scream. Just what he shouldn’t have done if he wanted to look sane. “I’m not fucking crazy!”
I covered my face, trying to hide the tears.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, even as they’d dragged him too far to hear me. I ignored what he’d said and spirited to his side.
“What are you doing?” said Ren. The crewmen dropped the door on the ground not far from the living spectators in their chairs, forcing him to his knees. “Leave me.”
I would’ve argued, if I hadn’t noticed the dark figure appear in front of the rolling machine, looming over it with a roar.
Alastair grinned like Death himself coming to collect, as if the machine before us had a soul for him to take.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said.
Standing beneath the excavator made me tremble, still aware of how small and delicate my body used to be in the face of such a beast.
He turned his smile on me. “There’s no call to fret.”
“But you taught me not to trespass any boundaries,” I said. “What are we supposed to do if you cross?”
His eyes were gentle, despite his smirk, like I’d missed the punchline. “You’ll take care of everyone.”
My tears were already flowing again, the dam broken. “I’m not cool and mysterious enough yet.”
“That’ll come with time.”
I threw my hands out helplessly. Being exasperated by him felt so old and familiar—almost welcome—I couldn’t help but laugh, soft and shaky. “You’re really not scared?”
He gave a gleeful shrug. “I didn’t say that.”
His mouth trembled as he smiled. He leaned in, and I let him. It would be his last kiss—at least on this side.
“Catch you next time around,” he said.
At long last, he finally showed me why all the other spirits revered him.
Alastair swaggered straight up to the excavator, climbing up into the body of the machine. His elbows and feet stuck out as he moved inside it, and it froze in place, the shovel hanging stiff in midair.
“Shit,” said the driver, pressing buttons, pulling levers. But he couldn’t see the oil beginning to leak onto the pavement. He went still as smoke began to rise. “Shit!”
He hopped right out, stumbling as he hit the ground, hard. Another crew member ran up and pulled him to his feet, both fleeing as the engine caught fire. Only a small one, nothing catastrophic, but enough to really fuck their whole day.
“What the fuck?” one of the spectators said, leaning forward in his lawn chair. The onlookers tittered amongst themselves, pulling out phones.
Alastair held up a hand, and like a sudden gust of hurricane winds, all the lawn chairs toppled right over, the spectators crying out as they hit the pavement.
It wasn’t until they’d pulled themselves up, looking at each other, asking “What was that?” and “Did you see that?” that he glanced up at me with one last smirk and a wink.
I blinked. When I opened my eyes again, he’d gone.
I couldn’t stop to mourn. Someone screamed. I knew that voice.
“Evie?”
* * *
When I spirited back to the wallflowers on the front lawn, they were frantic.
“What’s happening?” asked Danny.
“Don’t touch her,” said Carlos.
He held her back from reaching Evie. Her eyes were glazed over, staring through us. Alastair’s coat had disappeared from her shoulders.
My first instinct told me to grab her, as well. Try and anchor her. She must’ve been watching the whole time as the man she loved crossed over. I should’ve thought about that before letting him go. Had he even said goodbye?
Unlike any other geists I’d encountered, she’d gone silent. That scared me more than if she were gibbering nonsense. At least it would’ve given her some semblance of life. She went still, rather than wandering. I’d never even seen that before.
“Come back,” I said, like that would do anything.
“What can we do?” asked Danny.
“Is it too late?” said Carlos.
They were clutching each other, tearful and scared.
“It’s not,” I said. I’d have to go in. She’d done the same for me. “If I don’t come back, take care of Ren.”
Before they could protest, try and pull me back, I closed my eyes, stole a play at breath, and laid my hands on Evie.
It all went dark. No memories unfolded before my eyes. Nothing but darkness. I couldn’t move. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been trapped there, minutes or hours.
I drifted in and out, like sleeping, except I never got to wake up. It might’ve been days, even weeks, and as badly as I wanted to freak out—flail my hands, or at least tense my muscles, open my mouth and cry out—I couldn’t. Even tears wouldn’t come. I could only lie there in the dark, helpless. And this time, nobody came to lift us up and tell us we weren’t dreaming.
Colors swirled, folding into shapes. I could see through my own eyes again.
Evie’s eyes were still staring through me.
“Are you back?” asked Danny.
“Did it work?” said Carlos.
It hadn’t. I couldn’t bring her with me.
But I had one other option.
“Stay here with her,” I said. “I’m going to try something.”
Her body still didn’t look like her, so thin and bony. All those machines maintaining its life looked more like they were taking it away. Aside from pulling the oxygen tube out from under her nose, I didn’t want to mess with any other instruments. She might still need those after I’d finished.
Alastair had been right the first time around. It would be easier to use a pillow.
I took one from under her head and pressed it over her face. At first, nothing happened. I had to push it down harder, sealing off all air. Her heart rate monitor pitched from steady beeping to a siren wail. But her body remained still.
My hands shook, but I had to keep pushing, as her heart beat faster and faster. At least she couldn’t feel it. Or so I hoped. It took so long, strangely still and quiet, since she couldn’t fight back, only lie there and take it. Her monitor began to wail.
Through the walls rattled the slam of a door, feet thundering down the hallways.
“Evie!” called a frantic maternal voice.
At last, she flatlined. I threw the pillow aside and spirited straight back.
“Did it work?” I asked.
Danny and Carlos were in tears. Evie’s ghost had disappeared.
“Don’t panic,” I said. “I’ll explain, but I’ve got to hurry.”
Mrs. Green bent over the bed, face shining with tears as she pumped her hands over her daughter’s chest.
“Come on, baby,” she said. “Stay with me, it’s not your time yet, please, please…”
My own eyes spilled over, warm and stinging. For a moment, I could only stand there and stare at them, helpless.
I wiped my face and leaned over the side of the bed, down to Evie’s ear.
“Wake up.”
I pressed my lips to her brow. Something sparked, the same as when I touched Ren—almost electric.
Her heart rate blipped.
“Yes, that’s it!” said Mrs. Green. “Come back, sweetheart, come back.”
“Are you in there?” I asked.
She didn’t answer. But she had to be, back from wherever she might’ve briefly crossed. I wondered if she would remember it. Or remember us, after she woke up. She had to wake up.
“What in the hell?” asked Carlos.
“Did you do this?” said Danny.
I didn’t know where to begin explaining.