He lay on his grave. He felt the dirt on his back and the grass tickle his hands. He knew the epitaph on the stone by heart.
He knew how he was hanging on by a very, very frayed thread.
Havers sat up, the frosted grass laying silent as he stepped. The border was less than a meter away and Havers had enough of fearing the confines of his afterlife. He closed his eyes and he walked, and he kept walking and walking.
Surprised, Havers turned around, by his own accord, and saw his grave in the distance. He’d left. Havers had left.
A smile spread across his face, the first genuine one he’d felt since that horrible day in 1940. The day he’d left his Captain. His Captain, who was surely dead, who may be a ghost, who could still be at Button House.
Havers turned his back to his grave and ran, getting home to his Captain may be a pipe dream, but it was the first dream Havers had in decades.
—
It had been a month, Havers had started counting the days again.
It had been a month of walking, traversing the land, wading through oceans and dutifully avoiding running through any humans.
Finally, Havers found the familiar path, he walked next to the train tracks he remembered, followed the roads his car had taken and walked up the stone path he’d last seen over 80 years ago.
Looming over him, filled with his memories and evoking a sense of hope, was Button house. Run down and covered in weeds and vines but unmistakable as the house he’d left so very long ago.
avers loitered outside the gate, delaying stepping in. He knew, once he went into the doors, that he’d find out if the hopes that had kept him semi-sane in his afterlife were justified or not. He’s not sure what he would do if his Captain wasn't there. Would he have even died at Button house? Where did his Captain live? Did he even become a ghost at all? If he did, what if he’d moved on?
So Havers sat down, trying to calm his racing heart and his thumping head. He breathed deeply, watching the sun’s slow rise into the sky. His breaths had only just evened out when a loud scream pierced the air. Jumping up, Havers peered around the gate to catch a glimpse of a grey lady brushing herself off and heading inside with an air of dignity Havers thought impossible after defenestrating oneself. Nonetheless, she gave Havers the adrenaline needed to step inside the gates.
He walked around the perimeter, wanting to get a sense of the ghostly inhabitants before entering. In the windows, he saw a woman going throughout the house, playing music for a regency era man, writing in the crossword for a caveman, turning the pages in some books. Havers had circled around to the side of the house, to watch as the seemingly alive woman went downstairs.
He was about to go around the corner, step in through the front door and greet her, curious, when he heard a shout behind him.
“Good Lord, Havers?”.
And Havers would recognise that voice anywhere, it was the voice he had waited so long to hear. His Captain.
Havers spun around, his Captain walking fast towards him, “Havers, is that truly you?”. He looked almost the same as when Havers left, belt turned the wrong way, hair still salt-and-peppered, eyes still shining so beautifully in the sun. The only difference was the medals, which Havers was still bitter at his lack of.
“Captain” He called, a smile immediately painting Havers face as he ran to meet his Captain halfway.
“Captain, I was so very worried that I wouldn't find you here”
The only response Havers got was two hands on his shoulders and a bright smile, before the women rounded the corner, stopwatch in hand.
“
Captain?”
“Alison” The Captain’s hands stayed planted on his shoulders but his eyes left Havers face to look behind, “terribly sorry for the delay”. With that, his Captain, slipped a hand to the small of Havers’ back, spreading a foreign warmth throughout his body, as he marched the two of them inside, Alison in tow.
The Captain went on the path to his room, sending a glance at Alison who replied with a nod.
“Music club’s this evening, if that’d be a good time to introduce your friend” another ghost whispered, with a wink, as he fell in step next to them.
“Havers?” his Captain asked, to which he replied with a nod and a smile. With that, the ghost returned the smile and phased through a nearby wall.
The Captain stopped shortly after, dropping the hand from his back before going through a door, Havers following close behind.
He had barely gotten through before his Captain whispered, “I missed you Havers”. Havers looked up, seeing a melancholic smile on the face he loved so much. “I did too, Captain. I’ve regretted leaving Button house ever since. I’ve regretted leaving you more than anyone.”
His Captain pulled Havers into a hug, arms around his shoulders and head nestled in the crook of Havers neck. Havers slid his hands up his Captain’s back, pulling him ever closer, until every part of each other was pressed flush against the other. Any closer and the two would be one.
Havers, with his Captain finally in his arms, felt a tear slip from his eyes. Finally. Finally, he was home.
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