Phantom

32.

Brett

The act of cuffing Eddy to the bed without it being sexual, but rather just out of fear he'd run off felt weird. Eddy was glaring at him the whole time Brett cuffed him to the bedpost. Brett only shrugged, ignoring Eddy as he dug into the still warm blanket he has left behind.

Brett yawned, thinking that maybe he should take a day off tomorrow since he will be assigned to the parking patrol anyway. Also, he wanted some time to talk through with Eddy about what happened, and check it through: both his relationship and the crime scene.

A heavy drowsiness pulled him down to the bed despite the amount of caffeine in his system. Brett's eyelids slid down and he sighed, giving into the fatigue.

"You idiot."

Brett heard Eddy whisper softly beside him.

"We are both idiots," Brett protested. And then everything was quiet.

***

Brett woke up late, feeling the sunlight pour through the bedroom window. Stretching, he turned his head to see if Eddy was still there and -

"Aaaaahhhh!!!!!" Brett screamed, jumping out of the bed.

A white linen blanket was hovering in the air next to him. A bedsheet ghost that haunted him a thousand times when he was little.

"What?!" Eddy's muffled voice came under the sheet.

"Oh fuck, you scared me," Brett clutched his chest, tugging the blanket away from Eddy.

There from inside the blanket, Eddy emerged, looking annoyed.

"What were you doing?" Brett narrowed his eyes skeptically.

"I was bored so I decided to be productive by dusting this poor old blanket left on the floor for a while."

"Oh, thanks," Brett murmured.

"Would have been easier if you have just uncuffed me, you know," Eddy groaned.

Brett sighed, ruffling his hair as he stood up. Eddy had a point. He can't just cuff Eddy around forever. They needed to talk first though.

"Eddy, I'm going to find your body for you, I promise," Brett spoke softly. "I want you to stay with me until then. If you don't want anything deeper than friendship, I will respect your decision wholeheartedly. So please, don't run away again. It scares me."

"What if I don't want to go back?" Eddy whispered, gazing down at his feet.

"What?"

"What if I want more... and I begin to wish that...I don't want to go back because I don't want to leave you?"

Brett hugged Eddy, feeling the cold body tremble inside him.

"You need to find your body quick, Eddy. You need to touch your body in order to go to whatever that is waiting for you at a proper afterlife. If your body decays down to dirt, you will have to stay like this forever," Brett shook his head.

"What if we can't ever meet again? I'm scared of both ways, Brett. Haunting you forever or going to the otherside without you."

And Brett couldn't speak anything as he took in the difficult roads ahead of him: either losing Eddy's body or losing Eddy's soul afterwards.