Rest (Ghost Au)

Chapter 27

"What the honk?" 

Tommy looked at the brunet in front of him, "Hey man, if you could just let me through here," he tried going around the boy.

"Hold on," the boy grabbed his wrist, "Who are you?" He squinted his eyes at the blond.

"Not the time to admire my awesomeness, big man," Tommy said as he glanced behind him nervously, "I need to get away before they get here."

"They get here?" The brunet raised an eyebrow before glancing behind Tommy. He could see brown cloaked figures trying to make their way through the crowd. "Oh. Follow me," he said suddenly.

"What? You know what they say, don't talk to strangers and all that, so no," Tommy tried pulling his wrist away.

"Do you want a hiding place or not?" The brunet asked.

"Wait, you're actually helping me?" Tommy asked.

"Yes, you nimrod! Let's go before they see us," the other said, puling on Tommy's arm—a silent gesture for the blond to follow him.

The two went through, what Tommy called secret passages—even if they're just alleyways—and eventually reached a place where there were...portals? "Welcome to the Gate Room!" The brunet said. 

"Gate Room?" Tommy asked as he looked around the place. The portals hummed as the colors swirled around. 

"Yeah, uh, so late introductions," the boy laughed. "My name is Karl and I work here, Gate Keeper."

 "Tommy," the blond said. "And what do you mean work? Aren't you dead?"

"Wow, way to be blunt man," Karl chuckled. "But, yeah, a little stunt with explosives and all that. So now, I'm dead, for a couple of hundred years now."

"Couple of hundred?" Tommy exclaimed.

"Uhuh, I'm an Unwilling," Karl said.

Tommy furrowed his eyebrows.

"It means I don't want to pass on," Karl said. "Unwillings have their own reasons, but for me, I want to explore the world a bit more before then."

"How are ya gonna do that? Aren't you bound or something? Or did you do that ritual thing too?" Tommy crossed his arms as he asked.

"Yes and no," Karl said. "I'm bound sure, didn't do any rituals either, but that's why I work here," he said. "I get one of these," he raised his right arm and a white band on his wrist.

"Hey, I saw those guys from earlier wearing one of those," Tommy said.

"Yeah, they're supposed to," Karl said, gesturing for Tommy to follow him inside another room. "It's like payment. We obviously don't really need money anymore, so they pay us in terms of roaming privileges."

"What?" Tommy asked.

"These bands allow us to go anywhere," Karl said. "The council provides them to their ghost workers."

"Oh," Tommy wrinkled his nose, "You mean those evil dudes," he said before something struck his mind. "Hold on, if you work with them, who's to say you aren't just gonna give me to them?" Tommy exclaimed, stepping away from Karl.

"You're a human, aren't you?" Karl asked suddenly.

"Yeah, obviously," Tommy said.

Karl laughed, "Not so obvious, to be honest," he said. "Everyone looks human here in the Ghost Realm. No one's transparent, you see?" He lifted his arm again, this time to show that he wasn't see through.

Tommy hummed, "So how did you know that I'm human then?" 

"I've never seen you around," Karl said. "Those portals outside? I watch those every day. Every ghosts that go through them, I see. New ghosts go through ones that form right before my eyes. I know that I have not seen you, like, ever."