Way Back When|| Luke Patterson

dani? ~ 23

Luke's pov

"All these jolts that we're feeling is because Caleb put his stamp on us?" I questioned after Willie explained everything to us. We were walking throughout Hollywood but I wasn't thinking about anything but Willie's words.

"He's threatened by you. He wants you under his control. You're the only ghosts that can be visible to lifers without his help" Willie explained as he continued to walk faster than us.

"And you let him do this to us?" Alex asked him with betrayal and hatred in his voice.

"I can't stop him. He owns my soul. All right? He owns everybody's soul at that club. If he even knew I was here talking to you, he......he would destroy me." Willie told us with a shaky voice. Fear etched into every feature of his face.

"So if we don't join his club, the weird power outage thing continues until there's no power left at all?" Reggie questioned with his arms folded across his chest.

"Yes." Willie stated simply.

"What exactly happens when the power goes out?" Reggie asked more forcefully this time.

"That's... That's it. You're done." Willie told us. I shook my head slowly, trying to piece everything together.

"Uh-huh. Yeah. And what exactly do you mean
by "we're done"?" Reggie demanded as he used his hands to emphasize his point.

"You just... You don't exist... anymore. Not anywhere." Willie told us and I felt the boys shift uncomfortably next to me.

"So we have no choice? We have to say goodbye to Julie, give up everything we've built together, and work for Caleb? That's some club you guys got going on." I spit out at Willie feeling anger bubbling throughout every part of my body.

"But there is another option. That's why I'm here." Willie told us unconvincingly. 

"Another option?" Alex scoffed at his crush.

"Just please hear me out. All right. If you guys could figure out
what your unfinished business is, you do it in time, you could cross over and be free from all of this." He informed us with hope in his eyes.

"OK. So what's our unfinished business?" I asked, suddenly the anger burning through me was no match for the hope and passion that was lit in its place.

"I don't know, but since you all died at the same time, it might be something you need to do together." Willie told us, a ghost of a smile now simmering towards the surface of his face.

"Why should we listen to a word you say?" Alex questioned suddenly bringing my wandering thoughts back to earth as he voiced the question that had been bouncing around my head as well.

"Because I care about you, Alex. And I hate that I brought you and your friends into this mess. I can't be away much longer. I'm so sorry. For everything." Willie told us before turning around and poofing into nothingness.

This is all my fault. I met Willie, Willie introduced us to Caleb, and now...now we're screwed." Alex told us with tears in his eyes.

"We all wanted to go see Caleb." I consoled him.

"We have to tell Julie." Reggie told us with a shake of his head.

"No, we can't do that. This just means more loss in her life. But if we don't want Caleb to own our souls, we have to figure out our unfinished business." I told them.

"Yeah, man. And how are we supposed to do that? All right? There was so much we wanted to do." Alex tried to reason with me. For the first time I let my eyes wander around the street and caught sight of a sign that sent my brain on fire. "What is it?" Alex asked, seeing my wandering attention.

"But the night we died, there was one thing we all wanted to do together." I told them and walked closer to the sign. I watched their eyes follow where I was looking and looks of realization dawned on them.
"Play the Orpheum?" Reggie questioned, seemingly unsure of if he was right or not. I nodded my head slightly and continued to stare at the bright sign.

"Getting that gig was literally impossible. Even after people knew who we were, we had to hustle, call in every favor we had. It took years." Alex reasoned with me. Suddenly we all doubled over with a shock followed by purple light. Feeling the pain worse than before and knowing that the others felt it too, I voiced what we were all thinking.

"We don't have years."

Dani's pov

When I reached the club, all the performers were getting ready for tonight's rendition of Titanic. I caught sight of Caleb walking a new dancer through the steps. After seeing him, I immediately turned on my heel and poofed off to the only place I could think of.

The sound of waves rushed through my head and sharp salt struck my arms and as I felt the warm sand on my feet, I  immediately felt like I was home. I looked around at the empty beach.

This part of the beach was always deserted and quiet when I was alive and it seemed to be the same way now. I caught sight of a light blue gazebo and smiling, I made my way inside. I sat down on the bench inside and tried to ignore the memory's fighting to unleash themselves into my brain.

I looked around and a small slip of paper tucked into a corner of the gazebo caught my eye. I got up slowly already knowing what it said. I kneeled down next to it and slowly wrenched it out of the spot it was wedged in. I saw Luke's name etched on the front of the paper with my neat handwriting. I slowly opened the paper and felt tears drip down my cheeks as memory after memory assaulted me as I read the song. My breath was now coming out in vicious brusts and I couldn't see straight through my tears.

"Dani?" I heard a familiar voice call out from behind me. I whipped around to find Luke standing at the entrance to the gazebo looking thunderstruck. "What-" He started and shook his head. I stood up slowly and opened my mouth as if to explain but fresh tears threatened to break through.

"I'm sorry Luke, I really am." I shoved the paper into his hand while being careful not to touch him and ran past him before poofing away.

-1097 words-

A/n; Hey Y'all I'm really sorry that this chapter took so long. School has been kicking our butts lately! I'm really sorry to leave you guys on this cliff hanger but we have a new chapter brewing already so you won't have to wait long to find out what happens! We love reading your comments and suggestions so feel free to leave some! <3 Lily