A Place For August

Chapter 5

Adam woke up with a fever, he had felt sick all morning. Stanley was growing a bit worried, they started to try and figure out how Stanley had died, and now they had all day. “Nothing in this one.” Adam threw the book back onto the bed. Stanley admired the boy from the bookshelf, Adam insisted that he could do it. Stanley didn’t mind doing nothing but look at him, but he couldn’t help but feel bad. He was sick.
    “Shouldn't you eat?” Stanley asked, Adam ignored him and picked up another book with a cough. “Fine, I'll just get food.” Stanley flew up the stairs without saying anything else to Adam.
    “How is he gonna…” Adam shook his head and went back to reading. He grabbed a newspaper and compared it to some things in the book but he couldn’t find anything.
    Stanley flew into the kitchen, August’s parents weren’t home so it would be easy to get food without anyone finding out. He opened the fridge and searched through it. He remembered that August really liked hot dogs, which was a little weird. Well that's what he thought, he didn’t like hot dogs so that was why it was weird to him. He took the package out and started to make them. It didn’t take more than 5 minutes, he came down with a plate.
    Adam fell back onto his pillow miserable, he didn’t have the energy to use his computer to research, but he knew he was gonna have to eventually. He jumped as he heard his door slam, he sat up straight thinking it was his dad. Stanley flew down the stairs carefully and slid by his bed to put the plate down.
“You made that?” Adam asked, Stanley rolled his eyes and flew back over to the bookshelf.
“Yeah I did, supposed since I can’t eat you could have it.” He excused, Adam smiled. He wanted to cry, it was so sweet for him to make Adam food.
“ThAnK yOu.” He thanked him, on the verge of tears. Stanley smiled while shaking his head. Humans today are weird. The ghost thought, as Adam started crying while eating the food.
Later that night Adam finally found something. It wasn’t very much information but it worked. “Stan!” Adam called out, Stanley raised a brow at the name but flew over to look at the computer. “I found the file, but I can’t get into it. “Apparently it's owned by someone else.” Adam explained, Stanley sighed and inched closer to the screen.
“Does it say who owns it?” Stanley asked, the boy shook his head. Stanley sighed in disappointment. Adam glanced back up to the ghost, slightly sad. He wanted Stanley to be the most comfortable as he could around him, but he didn’t know how to do it. He was a ghost, Adam had no idea what it was like in his time. Adam opened the link, it had the smallest amount of information.
“Oh! It says some things here.” Adam exclaimed, Stanley glanced back to the computer.

Stanley Johnson died 1954 of August 19, he was found in the basement of a home in ST. Marie, Mi. He had 6 stab wounds in his chest, and multiple cuts on his face, arms, legs, stomach, and neck. The room he had died in was locked from the inside. The athorities were unable to figure out who had murdered Stanley Johnson that night.

Stanley stared at the screen in slight disbelief, he had never thought about it. The realization had just hit him, his murderer was still out there, maybe dead, but what if his murderer found him? What if he hurt August? What if… So much raced through the ghost’s mind, even though he had no mind, he didn’t know what to think if he was being honest.
Adam noticed his facial expression and put his hand onto the ghost’s shoulder. He was in slight shock that he could actually touch him, but it flew through his mind. Stanley's face softened looking back at the boy, they had only known each other for a bit more than a month but they were the only ones who actually cared about each- other. Adam started coughing, he covered his mouth until he stopped.
    “Oh ew.” Adam looked down at his hands and saw some blood. “Oh that's not good, hold on.” He covered his mouth again and ran to the bathroom that was in the basement. Stanley followed after him worriedly. There wasn’t very much blood on his hand, but he knew he was about to throw up.
    “August are you alright?” Stanley stood outside of the door, he didn’t like watching people vomit, he also hated hearing it but he made an exception with August. He heard August groan as the vomiting stopped. “August?” The ghost slowly opened the door. August flushed the toilet and sat down against the wall. Stanley hesitantly sat in front of the boy, scanning his face to see if anything bad happened.
    “I’m alright Stan, there was barely any blood, I’m just really sick.” Adam laughed, Stanley rolled his eyes, jumping to his feet to help Adam. He put his hand out for Adam to take. Adam took it and was surprised when Stanley pulled him up faster than expected. “Don’t do that again or else I’ll throw up again.” Stanley laughed with a nod.
    “Then you’ll leave me alone.” Stanley joked, Adam rolled his eyes and punched the ghost. Adam was the only person who was able to hurt, hit, touch, and see Stanley. Well…that's what he thought.
    It was about 2 in the morning and Adam was still trying to figure everything out. He felt very light headed, and his eyes were screaming at him. “Oh, my grandma is coming over next week.” Adam sleepily noted, Stanley leaned against the bookshelf like alway.
    “Cool.” He blankly responded, Adam sighed. His left eye started to slowly close, as he was falling asleep. He laid back slightly with a yawn.
    Stanley looked down at the boy who laid on his bed. They had been trying to figure everything out since the morning, he felt bad for him, he thought it was just because August was sick. Maybe it was because he was a year older, but he didn't feel as though it was a brotherly care that he felt for him. He watched August drift off to sleep, still trying to work it out at the same time. Stanley glared at the boy then groaned. He was growing soft.
"Damnit." He slid slightly above the ground, flying over to the bedside and sat next to August. He had no idea what he was thinking, he thought he was being ridiculous as he slid under August’s head. The boy's temperature grew by the touch. The ghost stared at August, admiring him and in awe. He didn't understand why he didn't like Augustine. He thought it was a nice name, it fit him as well. Stanley lifted his hand up to the boy's hair and fidgeted with it while staring at the wall. He hummed a tune that he had memorized as a kid, as he played with the boy's hair gently. The tune was one of the only things he remembered from his life.
Stanley stayed just like that until August started to squirm around. Stanley froze as August started to wake up. When he noticed his eyes open he slipped away, and flew to the book shelf like he had been there the whole time.
"Stanley?" Adam sat up with a yawn, the sun shined through the window. Stanley leaned against the bookshelf and smiled awkwardly back at the boy.
"Yeah Augustine?" Adam groaned and fell back down onto his pillow. He didn't like that name but for some reason when Stanley said it, he wasn't as bothered.

A/N

At this point I'm just trying my best not to get into the main conflict of the story so soon 😭 (Good luck Alli with later chapters)

Word Count: 1248