The 4th Phantom// Julie and The Phantoms

They're Gone

Luke circled something on a piece of paper as the four of us stood around the piano, Julie was still getting things ready.

"Julie and I were thinking we'd start with Stand Tall," Luke said.

"Perfect," Alex responded.

"Sounds good," Reggie added.

"Sounds good?" Luke questioned, "Dude wake up! I wanna hear, 'it sounds awesome.' I know this isn't how we wanted things to turn out, but we gotta be all in tonight. This is our second chance at playing the Orpheum!"

"Technically my first, but I get what you mean," I said.

"I... I get it, I get it, but it's hard. Do we even know what's on the other side when we cross over? Do we all still get to hang together?" Reggie asked, "You guys are the only family I have."

I wrapped my arms around Reggie's waist and rested my head on his shoulder, "I don't know," I said.

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's gonna happen either, but...it's not like we have a choice," Alex said.

We all got hit really hard by another jolt.

"I'm pretty sure we do," Reggie said, "And it rhymes with the Hollywood Ghost Club."

Julie opened the doors to the garage, "Are you ready?" she asked, and then noticed our faces, "What's wrong?"

"Yeah. We just got rocked pretty hard by one of those jolt things," Alex explained.

"Pretty sure I ghost peed a little," Reggie said and then Alex and I simultaneously looked at him weird.

"But we're fine," Luke said.

"Luke, uh, can I talk to you for a second?" Julie asked and he agreed.

Alex, Reggie, and I stepped away from them.

"This is it, I guess, our last couple of moments in the studio," I said.

"Yeah. It's going to be weird not coming back here," Alex said, "It was always more of a home then our actual houses."

"And all the good memories," Reggie added.

All of a sudden it was like everything was hitting me, we were really saying goodbye. I could feel the tears getting ready to fall, but I took a deep breath to keep it together. I grabbed both Reggie and Alex and pulled them into a hug.

"I love you guys," I said.

"We love you too," Alex responded.

"Guys, band circle," Luke said. We all stood around in a circle. I grabbed onto Reggie's hand and Julie hovered her hand over mine.

"We don't know what brought us here, but...what we do know is, you're star, Julie," Luke said and Julie chuckled, "And just because this is our last night together, doesn't mean we won't be watching you from above...or..." Luke clicked his tongue and looked down.

"Now let's go rock this show. Let's give 'em a night they'll be talking about 'til the sun comes up," Luke continued and we all laughed, "Legends on three."

We did our cheer and then we heard a horn honk.

"That's my dad. He's driving me there, so I'll see you guys soon," Julie said and then walked toward the doors of the garage. She stopped to turn around and smile at us and then grabbed her dress and continued on.

"I'm actually going to go with Julie, I'll see you guys at the Orpheum," I said then gave Reggie a kiss on the cheek,  Alex a quick hug, and waved to Luke.

I poofed into Ray's car. Julie looked at me confused, but I just smiled at her. She couldn't say anything though because her dad was there. Carlos hadn't gotten to the car yet and so Ray had to holler for him and then we headed to the Orpheum. On the way there Julie threw up and it was really gross, but other than that we made it in one piece. Once we got there a stage guy led Julie to her dressing room and I followed.

"Why did you come with me?" she asked.

"I've always been with the guys when preparing for a gig, I thought for my final one I would see what it was like to get ready with another girl," I explained.

"Oh, that makes sense, I don't get how you didn't go crazy before," she said while getting ready.

"The guys can be a lot sometimes, but I wouldn't trade them for anyone else, for a little while they were the most important people in my life and I don't know how I would have survived as long as I did without them. Now we have you too and it feels like a huge bonus," I said.

"Thanks, it's kind of sad we've never had a conversation just the two of us until now," she pointed out.

"Well, at least we got to have one before it was too late," I replied. She smiled at me and then we started working on our makeup (I have no idea how the logistics of a ghost putting on make up works...so just act like it's similar to clothes.) I had finished and Julie was finishing up her lip gloss. The guys still weren't here yet which was weird. There was a knock at the door.

"Hey, Julie, I've got your roadie," Rob said.

"Come in," Julie said.

Flynn walked into the room, "Holograms are good to go, boss."

"Best roadie ever," Julie said.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to walk you to the stage," Rob said.

Julie thanked him and he left.

"You see this backstage pass? I had sushi with Brendon Urie," Flynn said.

"Good for you. I threw up in the car on the way over here," Julie said.

"And you still look amazing," Flynn replied, "I made friends with the tech crew. You're gonna love what we have planned. They are here, right?"

"Autumn is...but I haven't seen the guys," Julie said, "Have you seen them Autumn?"

"No, I haven't," I responded.

"She hasn't seen them either," Julie said to Flynn.

"Wait. You don't think they changed their mind and took Caleb's offer, do you?" Flynn asked.

"No. No, that's the last thing that they wanted," Julie said, saying exactly what I was thinking.

"I'm going to go and try to find them," I told Julie before poofing away.

I looked around the studio and called out for them but nothing, then I checked Julie's house and still nothing. They wouldn't be anywhere else. I know there was no way they would have joined Caleb's club...they must just be gone, which means I probably don't have a lot of time left. Distraught, I poofed back to Julie's dressing room.

She looked at me hopeful and then then she saw my expression and I shook my head no, her face fell. I sat down on a chair and stared at the floor zoning out and not listening to anything anyone was saying or doing. All three of them were gone. I didn't get to say goodbye and I might not ever get to see them again, maybe if I had stayed with them I could have kept them around a little bit longer. I felt the tears trickling down my face, I sat there for a bit allowing everything to set in. Then I realized I was still here and I needed to help Julie perform tonight. I looked up and noticed both Julie and Flynn were gone. I heard Rob on the other side of the door saying that Julie walked on stage. I wiped my tears away, at least being a ghost means my makeup doesn't run. I prepared myself and got ready to join Julie when it was the right time.