Sigma Eta

Faces Can Be Familiar

It took a moment to find wine glasses that seemed appropriate for the occasion, only because Victor didn't seem to own any wine glasses at all. Out of fear of having to serve Musgrave out of a plastic cup he went searching through his cabinets a bit anxiously, coming out with cups and mugs and all sorts of dishes that he only recently unearthed from the moving boxes. Finally he found square scotch glasses at the back of the cabinet; certainly they were made for alcohol, if just not of this particular type. They would do. Musgrave was sitting on one of the high stools along the kitchen counter, going over some of the first documents on the pile in the folder. Victor warned him not to dig too far into them, so as to disrupt the order, though he seemed perfectly content on staring at one particular picture. Victor was too preoccupied with the wine to notice just what had caught Musgrave's attention, though when he finally came to deliver the drinks he saw that it was the mysterious photograph, the one which had appeared within this very apartment.
"Did something catch your attention?" he wondered, setting down one of the cups on the counter next to his company. Musgrave nodded, running his hand a bit apprehensively through his gray bangs.
"I feel as though I recognize these boys, but it wouldn't make sense if I did. They're...well they've got to be close to seventy by now." Musgrave mumbled.
"They have familiar faces, I mean they could blend into any one of my classes and I wouldn't know the difference. They look like every other boy around." Victor agreed. He stared down at the two blonde boys, with their goofy, indestructible smiles. He wondered what Fate had in mind for them, he wondered if they had been caught within the tragic end of their beloved fraternity.
"This one particularly, the shorter one. Well I swear I see him in the hallways. His name...oh I can't remember quite on the top of my head." Musgrave shook his head, looking as though he was on the verge of losing his temper.
"Musgrave, certainly you can't believe that you know him? This was taken sometime in the sixties, he wouldn't look like this now." Victor pointed out.
"I know, I know. But if we are all speaking of ghosts, then perhaps I have seen one as well." Musgrave insisted. Victor didn't respond, instead he took to sipping his wine so as to distract himself from what any sort of snarky response. After all of that fussing over the supernatural, well it was almost hypocritical of Musgrave to suddenly shift his beliefs. Not that he was complaining, of course.
"You don't think..." Victor cut himself off, remembering this photograph's strange origin story. Could it be that Musgrave's stranger had been the shadow? "Well this picture appeared, it came fluttering down the night that the shadow visited me. Martha had never seen it before; it was as if it was hand delivered."
"You don't think this ghost and your shadow are one in the same?" Musgrave suggested.
"I'm not sure. I feel as though there's a deeper meaning, a darker secret. These boys look innocent to me; they don't appear to be up to any sort of devilry." Victor admitted. Musgrave nodded, sipping his drink as if trying to numb the throbbing in his head.
"Who would have thought that I'd be here now? Going over notes, speaking of ghosts. It's as if the world maddened, or perhaps only I have." Musgrave mumbled.
"You no more crazy than I am." Victor suggested. The other man laughed, shaking his head as if he found no reassurance in that.
"Oh well then I'm on a good track." He chuckled. Victor nodded, leaning over the counter heavily on his elbows and staring at the picture once more, trying to focus instead on the background. There were faces everywhere, eyes and heads and bodies all forced into the same small space. From the background it must have been taken in a basement, the basement of Sigma Eta undoubtedly. Now more than ever Victor wished they had a floorplan, so that they could know just what to expect if ever they got the permission to break in.
"Martha explains it as a presence, as if the house is haunted by the same thing which drove the boys out all those years ago." Victor muttered. "Some sort of immortal being, or a ghost of some kind."
"This shadow that you saw, the man who kissed you, do you think they're one in the same? Was that an evil presence?" Musgrave wondered. Victor remembered back, remembering the asphyxiating feeling of those lips upon his own.
"It was...invasive. Uncomfortable." He admitted.
"I can imagine. The kiss of a ghost, I thought that usually meant death?" Musgrave clarified. Victor sighed, having a hard time forcing those memories back into his head. Even thinking about that shadow figure, remembering the place where it crept from, well it ran shivers all down his spine! It was a terrible memory to be cursed with, a terrible experience to have to endure.
"I don't think it was ill intended. A display of power, more accurately. As if to say 'I'm here, and you can't hide'." Victor suggested instead. Musgrave nodded, moving the glass back and forth between his fingers in deep thought. Victor couldn't tell what he was thinking about, though his brow was creased as if with deep concern. There seemed to be something more pressing on his mind than just ghost stories.
"You don't think we're in danger, do you?" he asked at last, raising up his head in some concern.
"Danger, from the ghosts?" Victor clarified, thinking for a moment. "I suppose it depends on what we do."
"What do you mean by that?" Musgrave wondered apprehensively.
"If we please them, then they might not give us any problems. But if we make them mad, if we disrespect them in some way. Well, then I can't imagine they'll let us go without a fight." Victor admitted.
"How would we disrespect a ghost?" Musgrave wondered. Victor just chuckled, shaking his head as if that was primarily the question on his mind.
"I suppose we'll just have to find out." Victor suggested. Musgrave nodded, though that didn't seem to ease his mind. He sighed, shuffling the papers towards a document that Victor hadn't yet pondered.
"What about his one then? Seems like a nice photo of the fraternity." Musgrave pointed out. Victor pulled the photograph towards him, seeing indeed that it was a group picture taken on the front steps. All of the boys were sitting either on the stairs or standing in the back, about twenty in all. It must have been a house photograph, for that sample size could not have been the whole fraternity. They were all dressed in button down shirts, looking quite classy, and wearing smiles that were radiant even throughout the worn colored photograph, taken fifty years before.