𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬

𝟒𝟖 | 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐰

I arrived in the garage just after the show had ended. The lights were off and I didn't hear a sound. As I stood there, I wondered if the guys were still at the Orpheum. There was no way they had crossed over.

The thoughts loomed over me like a spinning mobile over a child's bed. What if they had crossed over? What if playing the Orpheum was their unfinished business? Or what if they found the connection they were looking for? Even worse, what if Caleb's curse had taken them?

The thoughts overwhelmed me, and I started to sob.

"Ruth?"

I looked over to see three ghostly figures laying on the floor. One of them shot up and rushed over to me. Luke's warm embrace held me together, if only for a little while.

"Still incomplete, huh?" I asked jokingly as I pulled away.

"Yeah," Luke said sadly. "We're hiding from Julie. We want her to think we crossed over rather than, well, ceased to exist."

"Can I join you?"

The four of us lay on the floor, with so much to say that we couldn't say anything at all. Everything that had happened to us up until that point had been too much, but apparently, not enough for whatever the universe had planned for us. I reached for my notebook and wrote as much as I could using the distant light shining through the window.

"We sang Stand Tall tonight," Luke said.

"Hmm," I mused, still writing away. "I'll be expecting my royalties in hell."

"Shh!" Alex hissed. "Julie's coming."

We all lay down in silence, hoping Julie wouldn't see us. We heard the garage doors open, followed by footsteps making their way across the room. Julie stood there and sighed.

"I know I already said this but, uh," Julie said. "Thank you, guys."

"You're welcome," Reggie replied.

"Dude!" Luke exclaimed.

Julie switched on the lights and saw the four of us lying uncomfortably on the floor.

"Why are you here?" Julie questioned. "I thought - "

A flash of light came from the pile we had formed.

"No, no!" Julie exclaimed. "I thought you crossed over. Why didn't you crossover?"

"I guess playing the Orpheum wasn't our unfinished business," Alex suggested, causing a sprout of guilt to grow within me.

"Point Caleb," Reggie added.

"We wanted you to think that we crossed over," Luke said. "So, we pretended to. We just ... We had nowhere else to go."

"We thought you'd go straight to bed," Reggie explained.

"Yeah, well," Alex countered. "I knew she was gonna come out here, but nobody ever listens to me."

"I would've," I noted. "But I was a little caught up."

"Ruth, where were you?" Julie asked. "The sound booth was empty."

Another jolt occurred, sparing us all of the answer.

"You have to save yourselves right now," Julie said. "Go join Caleb's club, please. It's better than not existing at all. Please, just go! Go! Poof out! Do something! Please, do it for me!"

"The thing student has become the thing master," I stated.

Reggie shook his head. "We're not going back there."

Luke approached Julie. "No music is worth making, Julie, if we're not making it with you. No regrets."

Everyone was in tears, so it took us a moment to realise Julie was hugging Luke. A lifer, hugging a transparent ghost.

"I love you guys," Julie sniffled.

That was when Luke started to glow.

"How can I feel you?" Julie asked, realising what had just happened.

"I don't know," Luke turned around to face us. "I feel stronger."

"Alex, Reggie, Ruth," Julie beckoned. "Come."

I stood up, but I didn't run toward them. I watched as Alex and Reggie hugged Julie just as Luke had. I couldn't go over to them, not now.

This was not what was supposed to happen.