Who: Alex and Fin aWhere: Books n Beer When: Afternoon, Monday 27th November 2017. Warnings: Language Status: Complete
Almost every Sunday, Alex visited his mother's grave but he hadn't managed to get there this weekend. It wasn't until he was at Joyland on Monday when, early into his shift, he heard about the vandalism at the graveyard. The hours seemed to pass agonizingly slow until he could finally head out to see if the Woodard plot had been affected. There was nothing left to mark the destroyed headstones except gaps where they had previously been and tape marking each site. After checking his family, what was left of them, weren't targets, he spent some time wandering the cemetery looking at the ruined headstones. He counted six but there could have been more he missed or whose damage was much less obvious. He couldn't begin to imagine how or why. The names were all different and if there was any connection between them, he couldn't see it.
That was the first place he went after his shift. The second was Books n Beer. He needed a good drink, a talk, something instead of just going home to obsess over more things that didn't make sense in a place like this. It was much later than his usual post-work drink and he hoped Fin would still be in. While the rest of his staff were always polite and good for a joke or two, he had become rather fond of the owner. He was relieved to find Fin was working. He offered a brief wave as he took his usual seat at the end of the bar and waited patiently for Fin to make his way over to him. “Hey, man. Vodka today please. On the rocks.” He pulled out his wallet and grabbed a few notes. ”How are you?”
After his own trip to the cemetery on Sunday to visit his father as well as his great grandparents with his new boyfriend Neilan, Fin had spent those few hours between dropping him off and work trying to figure out if the sign was in fact Fin’s father or was it someone else saying to look in the woods. At first Fin thought it was Cameron, answering his enquiry about if Neilans brother had passed but now he wasn't so sure, sometimes he wished there was an easier way to communicate.
Work was, well, work. Customers wanting books and as the afternoon wore on the clientele began to switch towards those after a drink, either alone or with quiet company. A group of three were in one of the booths chatting amongst themselves with the odd bout of laughter now and then. He had just finished delivering a trio of beers to them when he saw Alex come in, give him a wave and sit at the bar. Walking back he smiled at the greeting and started preparing the drink. “Not too bad, working hard and keeping the customers happy. How about you? More people wanting coffee in the cooler weather?” Fin enquired as he placed the vodka on the rocks in front of Alex, evenings weren't as busy as in previous months but it was just the usual ebb and flow he knew happened during the cooler months. “I hope you didn't get food poisoning from the Thanksgiving leftovers on Friday.”
“No, they were great, thank you.” Alex had ended up spending his Thanksgiving with Mike's family anyway which he'd told Fin when he'd stopped by the day after. “It sucks cooking for one so thanks again.” He took a quick dip of the vodka and savoured the burning down his throat. He normally didn't drink it straight but after cemetery, he needed something stronger than a beer. ”Work is work, same old. But I just went to the cemetery, did you hear about that? Some asshole destroyed a bunch of headstones for God-knows-why. Who does that?”
Fin was grateful that Alex enjoyed the small meal of leftovers, he wasn't one to go back on promises and there was quite a bit of food left after the five of them had all has their fill. He was also glad that Alex has spent the day with someone, holidays without a loved one were always hard. He glanced up and around to make sure there wasn't anyone who needed a hand or were ready to buy a book, everything at the moment seemed fine so he looked back at Alex. “I did, I was there on Sunday and saw the areas of police tape but I didn't go and investigate.” He shook his head, wondering too what kind of people would destroy old headstones just for the fun of it. “Idiots with too much time or some kind of grudge do things like that. Graffiti is one thing but destruction is another, I hope they find who did it and charge them.”
“Me too.” Alex stared down into his glass and slowly shook his head. “Pathetic,” he mumbled. “It’s just pathetic…” He fell into his thoughts for a moment as he tried to imagine what kind of person thought vandalising the dead was a reasonable past-time for a weekend. He looked up again, about to say something else when a cold breeze past over him. He straightened quickly and glanced over his shoulder where it had come from before looking at Fin, “Did you feel that? It was like somebody walked over my grave.”
Fin agreed with Alex, if the damaged graves belonged to one of his relatives he would be livid, he did wonder who would cover the costs of repairing the stones or would they be left ruined as they were, he might see into starting a fund if no one stepped up. He was lost in his own thoughts for a moment when Alex exclaimed, he too had felt the cold breeze and looked over at the door, thinking that maybe someone had either entered or exited the store but it was neither. “Yeah I did feel it, maybe the heating is playing up again, I'll have a look after closing tonight.” Though Fin was pretty sure what was causing it and muttered something under his breath.
“Spooky,” Alex murmured. He even cast a glance above him at the ceiling to check if any vents were nearby but he didn’t spot one close enough to explain the feeling. He shivered again. This time it wasn’t the result of any sudden chills. He heard Fin mutter something but couldn’t catch preciscely what it was. “Sorry, I missed that?”
Fin was used to the antics of his father’s spirit, odd cases of the chills and now and then books would move around. Most seemed to be in the store but he had become aware of the odd one at his new place. What he had noticed that over the past week or so that these occurrences had increased from just the odd one to at least once or twice a day. In fact a customer had mentioned earlier that someone was lurking at the back of the store but when Fin had gone to investigate there was no one there. Fin was lost in his own thoughts for a moment, looking up at the vents in the ceiling as well. “Huh? Oh… sorry, was just muttering at the heating. Typical of it playing up when it’s just starting to get cold. I don’t want it doing this right in the middle of winter when there’s a blizzard out.” He smiled across at Alex. “At least there’s no blackouts or that weird fog like there was a few months ago.” Though it wouldn’t surprise Fin if something like that occurred again.
Alex wasn't sure if he believed Fin but the place always had weird heating issues... More than once had he passed random parts of the building that the furnace hadn't been able to touch. He shrugged it off, "Don't worry. I'm sure winter will bring those back or find new ways to fuck with us." That wasn't a pleasant thought and he took a drink. He lowered the glass close to the bar but when somebody grabbed his shoulder, he dropped it the rest of the way, making it clatter and right itself without spilling as he jumped and spun around. He lightly rubbed at his shoulder as he looked for the culprit but there was nobody there. Worse, there was nobody even close enough to have maybe ducked away to feign innocence. He turned back to Fin with a guilty, embarrassed expression. "Shit, I thought there was... Nevermind, I'm obviously on edge after the cemetery today. That's all." He laughed. "Not that anything there happened either, at least not unexplainable stuff you know? Just assholes."
Fin knew that people would look at him weirdly, or possibly even want to send him away to the psychiatric hospital if he stated the real reason for the cold spots and weird things that went on in the store, unless they knew and believed in ghosts it was just easier to blame the heater or mechanical malfunctions. “Winter always brings new ways to fuck with us, at least if we get a blackout it’ll take food long to spoil as it barely gets above freezing, better than summer where things can go bad in a few hours if you don’t keep the doors closed.” He knew that one from experience, thankfully Books and Beer didn’t serve food and it was only his own person food that he had to throw out, same with that weird fog that had enveloped the town for days when he was in hospital. As Alex was sitting right in front of him it was a bit hard for Fin not to notice Alex half drop his drink and turn around startled, and again he thought to himself Dad. Stop it, you’re scaring the customers! “The cemetery does have that effect on people.” He offered a smile, thinking hard about how to word what he was going to say next as not to appear to be too crazy. “Maybe the store’s picked up a spirit and you’re sitting on their favorite spot. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that anything is possible in this town, so why not a bookshop with a ghost?”
Alex forced himself to give a small chuckle at what he only assumed was a joke but given what he’d just felt, he wasn’t entirely convinced there wasn’t a grain of truth to it. He’d never really considered ghosts as a real thing but he’d never dismissed the idea completely either. He’d seen enough weirdness in his life to be able to excuse them. Maybe they were dead, maybe they were something else but it was definitely possible. “Why not? Every other place here is,” he said with a shrug and a small grin. He glanced over his shoulder again but there was still nobody there. Maybe he’d imagined it… that seemed reasonable... “Do other customers report things too?”
If making it sound like a joke kept his customers happy and not frightened about the fact that their humble barkeep and purveyor of books had a spirit following him around then he’d happily tell them he wasn’t serious. Then again only a few people that he knew would believe him anyway and they were used to the weird and wonderful so a simple ghost wouldn’t even cause them to bat an eyelash, especially since said ghost was pretty much harmless and not vengeful in any way. “There have been a few reports. A couple of people mentioned the random cold chills we had earlier, the storm glasses that I have up the back and near the window don’t really tell the weather like they’re supposed to and just a few hours ago someone mentioned seeing a guy over there, but when I went to look there was no one else in the store.” He pointed to the section of bookshelves where the customer had mentioned seeing a ghost, Fin would look through his surveillance footage later to see if he could catch a glimpse. “Did I tell you that the latest group of Marvel graphic novels arrived today? I saw them listed in the manifests and kept a copy of the Deadpool one out the back, I’ve noticed he seems to be a favorite of yours.” Alex was a regular and Fin didn’t mind giving discounts to people he knew appreciated them.
Alex turned to look in the direction Fin pointed and although he almost expected to see some translucent spectre browsing the shelves, he was relieved when the space was empty. Were ghosts real? Maybe, maybe not but right then, he was sure he could be convinced if there was even a smidge of evidence. Somehow the idea of a haunted bookstore seemed like a reasonably normal one, especially in Point Pleasant where he was getting more used to the unusual every day. He was glad for the change in subject though and with one last glance around the store to make sure there was nobody see-through floating around, he turned back to Fin and smiled. “Really? That’d be awesome, thank you.” He didn’t usually read comics, let alone order them in, but he’d found himself reading them more since he’d become hooked on Deadpool since the movie came out the previous year and he appreciated that Fin knew that. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked if you’ve read them. You should though, it’s… I don’t know. Cleverer than the others, I guess.”
Fin hadn’t seen anything either, though after that report he was half expecting to turn the corner and look down an aisle to see the spirit standing right there, but who honestly knew what would happen over the next however long his father would continue to hang around. Why it was happening now when he had known about this ‘friendly ghost’ for a lot longer than that was still unknown to Fin, he really should check with his mother, or at least his grandparents to see when exactly it was that his father had died, maybe that was the reason, if ghosts needed a reason. “I used to read comics when I was a teenager, spent most of my free time here and wasn’t always in the mood for proper books, comics told the story quickly and with awesome artwork. They surely have evolved over the years.” He said with a smile. “If you don’t mind keeping an eye on that lot,” he said, pointing to the trio in one of the booths “I’ll duck out the back and grab it.” Fin smiled, giving the store one last quick look around before leaving the back and quickly walking down the aisles, through the back door to where he had placed the thin book earlier. With it in hand he closed the door behind him and made his way back towards the front of the store. Looking up from the cover as he stepped behind the bar Fin saw someone standing near the large window at the end of the bar area. It took a moment but recognition hit him, he couldn’t see the man’s face as he was turned away, but the profile he had seen so many times, for decades in photographs. Fin gave a sharp gasp of shock, the book slipping from his fingers and landing on the wood of the bar. He blinked but when his eyes opened the figure was gone, replaced with a shiver down his spine. “Da?” He whispered.
“That’d be awesome, thank you.” Alex waited patiently while Fin went to fetch the book. While he was gone, he finished his drink and set the empty glass on the bar in front of him. He felt weird, like he wasn’t alone but there was nobody nearby. At this time of day, most of the customers weren’t looking to stop by for a drink and there was nobody else with him at the bar. Any other customers were over in the shelves and, even then, there was nobody close enough that he could see to really explain that feeling of being watched. It was his imagination, he decided. It had to be. He was on edge from the cemetery, that was all. He pulled out his phone to focus on that instead when Fin returned. He didn’t pay too much attention to the sound of approaching footsteps until Fin spoke. He looked up quickly at his friend then turned in the direction he was staring but by then, the apparition had gone and he didn’t see anything. “Fin?” He set his phone down on the counter and studied Fin closely. “Are you okay? What happened?”
It took a moment for Fin to snap out of his daze when Alex spoke to him. He blinked again, surely his eyes were playing tricks on him, it had to be the light from a car outside reflecting off the window or something. “What?” Fin said for a moment before coming back completely to the present. Picking the graphic novel off the bar he took the final few steps back so he was standing in front of Alex again. “Sorry.” He apologized. “I… I thought I saw someone.” He gave a small smile, putting the book back down onto the bar. “But they passed away, must’ve been my imagination or a doppelganger.” There had to be an explanation as to why after thirty years his father had finally decided to make himself seen to Fin, even for only those few seconds. “Hopefully this is as interesting as the cover makes it look.” At least Fin could always bring the topic back to books, it was a lot easier to talk about than ghosts and the unexplained.
Alex turned to the place where Fin was staring but whatever he'd seen was long gone by now. If it was an ordinary day, he would have easily been able to dismiss it as a trick of the light or an overactive imagination and he wanted to but… “It's okay,” he said with an exaggerated reassuring smile. ”It's been a long, weird day.” Though when wasn't in a town like this? He picked up the book and flicked through a couple of the pages. A night in reading comics suddenly sounded much better than sticking around. He pulled out his card again and held it out to Fin to pay. “Thanks for this but I hope you don't take offense if I don't stick around right now. It's a bit too… Well, you know.”
Fin couldn’t blame Alex for not wanting to stick around, he himself needed to find somewhere quiet to sit and go over what the hell had just happened. “Yeah… weirder than normal.” He gave a small, somewhat tired smile. Even though he still had hours to work and wasn’t physically tired there was something about seeing that apparition that had taken some of his energy. “No worries at all. Just follow me over to the till and I’ll get you on your way.” Fin added as he took Alex’s card and motioning towards the counter that stood outside of the bar section where he ran the book purchases. It only took a minute to scan the book, add the cost of the drink and put through the purchases on the card. “Hope you enjoy it and let me know if you’d like me to order any other ones in.”