Running Out of Time

Chapter 4 - Children Shouldn't Play With Undead Things

Peggy let out a long sigh as she heard Hamilton down the hall. He was trying to talk to everybody at once but it wasn't working out too well. It took about two days but they found a time when everyone was off so, of course, they planned a game night. Peggy thought this would be a great opportunity to relax. Having a little fun should easily clear her mind about the millions of things she has been considering. It also presented itself as an opportunity to get Hamilton to finally stop talking. If he had a real voice to lose, it would have been gone a long time ago.

Peggy wouldn't say anything directly to Hamilton but sometimes he could get a little off topic. It didn't help that in his ghostly situation he didn't seem to have vocal cords that could tire. Peggy would never want to hurt his feelings in any way, she knew she was important to him now more than ever. Still, she wished that he would tone it down a notch or two. This was only the fourth day of him being in this predicament, perhaps he should save some conversation material for when he can have a conversation with someone.

"Oh shit," Peggy heard Hamilton almost shout. She knew that the man didn't want to be too loud despite knowing that no one else could hear him. "Peggy!" She shook her head as Hamilton burst into the room by walking through the door. Since he learned that he could go through walls and doors it had been all he was doing, it amused him.

"What is it," she turned around to face him. Peggy had been stuck with snack duty. It was a simple enough job and she liked getting first dibs on some things. As an added bonus, it meant she was the one to pick snacks.

"There's a ouija board," Hamilton said it almost as if he was hoping for something else. Peggy had a similar reaction. Of course, they both know that ouija boards were typically faked but in this case they weren't sure. There was a real-ish ghost in the house.

Peggy wanted to tell him that it wouldn't do anything but she just wasn't sure. Once again, they were in a new situation. Hamilton didn't seem to be worried about it at all but that mean too much to her. She was fairly convinced that he was more ghost than not, he took the opposite stance. Peggy couldn't help but hope that she was the one who was wrong about him. Surely, it would still prove to be a rather interesting time.

--

Hamilton stood between Angelica and Eliza in the candlelit living room. Peggy was a little jittery, she couldn't deny the gut feeling that something was about to go wrong. She sat in her spot next to Laurens and Lafayette. She was conveniently placed directly across from Hamilton.

"Somebody has a date this weekend," Hamilton said with his head about three inches aways from Eliza's. He had been having quite a bit of fun reading both Angelica and Eliza's texts over their shoulders. He found that Eliza's secret relationship was almost more exciting than the fights Angelica frequented with Jefferson. "They're going to the movies," Hamilton looked over at Peggy, "I doubt they'll remember any of it, they'll be too busy making out."

Peggy bit her lip and glanced around the room. Hamilton had been pulling little stunts to try to make her laugh all day. It was almost like he wanted her to look like the weird one. Peggy couldn't help but notice that Lafayette was doing a very similar thing to what she was doing. If she didn't know any better she would have thought he heard the joke too.

Angelica took it upon herself to take charge of their little game. "Okay," she started as Mulligan sat next to Lafayette after lighting the last candle. She walked everyone through the basic rules as if they were something no one would know. It didn't take long for them to get started with basic questions. Peggy could tell that Hamilton wasn't actually trying to do anything, he was really just there to watch what would happen. Regardless, the board still seemed to answer the questions as if it were Hamilton giving them. Every few minutes Peggy would look up when Hamilton would say something regarding whatever was going on. This time there was something different.

Peggy was too distracted by Hamilton's sudden change in appearance to even hear the next question. His posture hadn't changed but it was clear to her that it was because he was trying to hide whatever was happening to him. Peggy could tell that he had gotten paler and, a much more noticeable feature, his eyes were now a slightly disturbing off-white shade. She knew she couldn't say anything but it was very clear that something was wrong.

She almost had to pull her eyes away from it, it was something she had never seen before. Her eyes glanced around the circle, everyone was still treating this like a game. It had started that way but now it was more. Peggy had to figure something out quickly. She couldn't be sure what exactly was happening to Hamilton but he seemed to be hurting. It would be up to her to stop this, she didn't know if this would take a toll on Hamilton or not, she didn't want to risk it. She wasn't paying attention to the game at all anymore, she was raking her mind for a solution. There had to be something she could do to get this game to end.

Suddenly, the plan came to her. It wasn't good or smart in any manner but it would probably work. Of course, minor adjustments had to be made considering everyone at the table had medical education. This wouldn't be her first time pulling this trick and it probably wouldn't be her last. Peggy looked at it under the theory of if it's not broken, don't fix it.

Peggy glanced back at Hamilton, whatever was happening was certainly happening fast. Now, his hands were beginning to tremble and she could see the pale blue veins under his skin. If he wasn't in some sort of ghost state then she would be convinced he was dying or dead. Things weren't good at all. Peggy had already been considering that Hamilton would owe her one when all this was over, now she was certain it would.

She turned her head slightly to look at Laurens, he was still paying attention to the game but Lafayette wasn't as invested as the rest. He seemed a little distracted as he looked back at her. In a completely normal, average, everyday voice, Peggy simply explained, "I don't feel good," before she fell backwards onto the floor.

She had expected it to go just as any other fake fainting scenario would go. However, she had not properly judged the difference between her and the small end table behind her and she collided with it on the way down. She didn't scream despite it hurting, Peggy knew enough to pretend she knew what she was doing.

Her plan worked as anticipated. Eliza and Laurens moved to help her up, Angelica had gone to the kitchen to get some ice, Mulligan was grabbing a pillow from the couch, and Lafayette still appeared to be distracted. Peggy had done an absolutely fantastic job of smashing her head, she hadn't cut herself but it was sore. She could see that Hamilton wasn't yet normal but she expected it would take some time. She couldn't see much of anything else, Laurens was in the middle of her field of vision.