"Johnny, please, speak to us. Are you alright?" Aimee said.
He was not.
Ghost sniffed. "I worry if it's too late, he's whiter than the moon. Feels like ice. And just look at all the blood," he whispered. Toast was staring at Ghost. His mouth started to move, and Ghost realized he was speaking. He leaned down to hear it.
"In a way, s-sir, you saved my life. Not that I was g-going to die a-and you s-saved me, but that...you..." There was silence. Ghost's heart dropped. Aimee sniffed. Suddenly, Toast gasped, and continued. "You made my life worth l-living. So I-I...feel obliged to you, sir." Sally kneeled down next to Aimee and Ghost. Toast looked over to Sally. "You h-have assisted us, you know. Good g-girl...good lady," he said. He lifted up a cold hand and fumbled around in his pocket. He took his hand out, holding a bag of candy, blood trickling on it. Sally sniffed. "I only wanted the candy if you were going to survive!" she said, crying. Aimee looked at Sally. "Don't say such things! He's going to be...ok," she said, looking kindly at Toast. Ghost wiped a single tear from his cheek. "Johnny, we don't have to wait here, we can get you help! We...we can get the police! The hospitals! Look, we don't have to be here, we-"
Toast took Ghost's hand. "No," he muttered. "Don't m-move me. Let me l-lie in peace." His hand dropped. There was a tragic silence as the three of them sat with Toast in his final moments.
"I don't understand, Casket told me you'd die of cancer, but...I guess he had to change things..." he said. He closed his eyes. "He told me too many things." Toast coughed, and blood dripped down from his lip. "Sir," he said. "J-Johnny." Ghost was taken aback almost, that Toast had called him Johnny. Not in a bad way, but it was something he had never done in his life. It made Ghost even sadder. Toast beckoned for Ghost to listen. "This j-ob...has...been everything t-that I wished for. Everything I-I wanted. Don't be b-bad that you dragged me into...this. It was the biggest favor you could have granted upon me. Remember t-that," he said. "Goodbye, Johnny," he said. He looked up. "Goodbye Aimee, and you too, Sally, y-your presence w-will be my grandest m-memories above." Eyes tearing, he took one final glance at Ghost. "Thank you." His head fell back. He gasped, and with one last breath, "It's been an honor...my friends."
No words or movements. Just silence. Aimee and Sally were silently crying, and Ghost felt an odd mix of complex emotions that couldn't be portrayed with one action, crying. He felt like killing, crying, cheering, running, screaming, resting...So Ghost stood there, holding the pale hand of his beloved partner since childhood. The only one besides his also deceased brother that connected with him was Johnny 'Toast' Bartholomew. Aimee thought of other things though. She knew that in the past, Casket was in Ghost's mind. He would take over Ghost's body, and make him say and do things. This was the possession and power that Casket wanted long before it occurred. But before this event happened, Ghost already had Casket in his physique. But here Toast is, gone, so how could he prevent Ghost from being Casket all the time without him being there to say "Sir, you're not yourself, relax!" Because of how Casket said Toast would die of cancer, this led her to believe that the day they've just lived was radically different than the original timeline; Casket rewrote a lot of time. She scolded herself for thinking of other things while Toast was lying here dead, so she continued crying, assuming Ghost thought of the same things. He did.
After almost ten minutes of mourning, Ghost got a glare in his eyes. He stood up, fists clenched. Aimee sensed something, but she held back to see what was going to happen. "This is his fault...that dirty...that...little bastard..." he grumbled, staring into space. "This is all his doing. Too many people have died by his hand, too many. Including my partner. And that angers me. It angers me, Aimee, and you're going to help me." He said. Aimee stood up slowly. "Help you what, exactly?" she said. Ghost licked his lips. "Kill him. Pick him off. Give him a taste of his own medicine. Justice won't serve itself, as Toast said. Good old pal." He said. Aimee shook her head. "No, that won't stop the bad crimes. You know it-"
"I KNOW MANY THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW! WHAT HE DOESN'T KNOW! I'VE SEEN ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES THAT JIM PLAYS, AND I KNOW THAT HE NEEDS TO SUFFER FOR EVERY SINGLE LIFE, ESPICALLY JOHNNY'S!" Ghost screamed. Sally and Aimee were staring at Ghost, who was red at the face. His nails dug into his palms so hard that his hands were bleeding, and his eyes looked like fire. Aimee knew that she could do nothing to end his enduring lust for revenge. So she kneeled down and cried.
Seeing this crushed Ghost. He had no control over his temper since Casket came into his life, and seeing Aimee cry because of him hurt him deeply. He fell down to his hands, bawling. "I've done everything wrong, Aimee, and he's dead because of it. He's gone, just like Gregory, just like my parents, it's all my fault, I'm just like Jimmy. Jimmy Casket, the physcopath. I'm no different. I was meant to be this way," he choked. Aimee and Sally helped him up. "John, this isn't your fault at all. You are nothing like that monster. You are a kind and gentle man who's done everything right, nothing will prevent what happens. It's just how it was all going to happen anyway. He was going to die anyway, and Casket was going to get into you anyway, all we can do now is rest and brace ourselves for the future. Who knows where Casket is now, he's gone for the time. We need to home and rest before things rise again. That's what Toast would have thought was right, don't you think? Please. So much has happened already, I can't bear to see any more. Take me home. Take yourself home. Let's burn this place, forget it. And finally, let go of Johnny. Let go of Toast. Keeping him in your life any longer than today will cause more anger and suffering, a death like this can't linger. It's for the best...Say something!"
Ghost was looking down. "You're exactly right, Aimee. But it's not easy. I can't do it alone," he said. Sally walked up to them. "If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be framed for all of this. We need to go, I'm sorry," she said. Ghost nodded. "The police are probably over here already..." he said. He looked over at Toast, still lying there. "Goodbye, my friend." Ghost ran down out of the room and down the hallway. Sally and Aimee chased after him, and down to the last door. "Down here," he said, pointing to the staircase down to the cellar. "Come with me, I know what's down here. I'm sure of it."
The three of them rushed down the rusty stairs and looked into the basement. There was a noose on the ceiling, a skeleton hanging from it, but also a hoard of computers and food. To the left of all those, covered in cobwebs and bugs, lay cases and cases of vodka and rum. "The alcohol cellar," Ghost said, smiling. "Otherwise known as the Molotov cellar." In a span of a few minutes, Ghost and the gang were creating grenades. The alcohol bottles were emptied about an ounce, and filled with gunpowder. They stuck a short rope in the top of the lid and it was finished. Almost eleven of these were made.
They all returned to the main room with Toast still in it. "I want a funeral for him, but I can't afford to use that time to do so," he said. "Here," Aimee whispered, giving Ghost her flower that rested on her hair. He rested it in Toast's hands, and put him in a chair in the middle of the room. Then, he ordered Sally and Aimee to throw a bottle each of their homemade grenades around Toast, which they did. A loud pop erupted, and flames sparked and danced around Toast in his chair. Ghost's eyes watered, but he smiled. He ran down the hallway, holding the bottles, and threw them one by one, causing the walls to erupt in fire and walls begin to crumble around him. Aimee and Sally threw them everywhere too, and they did this until they were out of hideout. They were standing in the alleyway, looking at the inferno they were just in. If the police sirens weren't enough, now fire alarms were getting closer.
It was evening. Ghost and Aimee ran into the shadows to his house, and Sally took a taxi to her house nearby. Holding hands with Aimee and running away from authorities was fun to Ghost, almost. Almost. He expected the place to be hosed down and then explored, to find nearly nothing but rubble. Casket's hideout was gone, and so where a lot of the bad memories. But not all of them; those stayed and will stay with Johnny Ghost for a long time.
