Who: Henry Townshend and Caleb Rivers What: A ghostly encounter When: Late November Where: Outside a cafe Rating/Warnings Low and none Status: Complete!
Henry didn’t know Caleb very well. They may not have been close friends, but they had chatted a bit on the network, about Dreams and the weird stuff that happened in Caleb’s and the weird stuff that had happened in Henry’s. Not to mention the weird stuff that had a tendency to bleed over. And they seem to get along alright.
With recent events - namely Chloe accidentally summoning a zombie - Henry thought it may be a good idea for the two of them to get together. Have a drink or something, unwind, decompress. Do something that didn’t involve Dreams or their carry-over.
“Thanks for texting me about what happened with Chloe and the zombie,” Henry said. “I’m glad you were there to get her home.”
Caleb liked Henry well enough for someone he didn’t really know. The guy seemed friendly and as far as Caleb could tell he was a good boyfriend to Chloe. And with what happened, it was probably a good idea he got to know the guy better.
“No problem,” Caleb replied with a bit of a shrug. “It was partially my fault anyway. I should have known better to go into a cemetery.” He just wasn’t used to being swarmed by ghosts. He only saw a few spirits here and there. Mostly of people he knew. He hadn’t even fathomed that something like that could be possible.
Henry knew something about being swarmed by ghosts. It happened in his dreams a lot. It hadn’t happened here, yet, but it could was the point. He raised a brow slightly. Chloe hadn’t mentioned that it had been Caleb who had heard the voice that had lead them into the cemetery. However, she’d had a rough day, a lot on her mind, and Henry hadn’t helped by yelling at her. However, as far as arguments went, their first hadn’t been too bad and Henry felt as though they had gotten to a better understanding because of it.
And it wasn’t as though Henry had made stellar decisions in both his Dreams and in his waking life, either. He shrugged and made a dismissive gesture with his coffee cup. “Weird things happen, especially to people like us who Dream of that kind of thing,” he said. “I can’t say that I wouldn’t have gone in either.” Henry set his coffee cup down. “I’ve done some things that, looking back, weren’t all that smart.”
There was something lingering on Henry’s periphery. A person. Normally, Henry wouldn’t have paid much attention, they were outside the cafe on the patio, there were many people walking on the sidewalks, however, Henry felt as though this person standing just out of his line of sight was looking at him. He shifted in his seat slightly hoping the person was just glancing at a menu and would move on soon.
It had been Chloe that heard the voice. Caleb didn’t hear it until after she mentioned something. But yeah, he had heard it. As far as dreams went. He honestly didn’t deal with the ghost thing much. It was just during his brief sting in Ravenswood. Once he was back in Rosewood it was like it never happened. Of course Orange County didn’t work like that. His ability was not forgotten here.
“Oh yeah? Like what?” Caleb didn’t know too much about Henry’s dreams. He was pretty sure there was a portal in his apartment that ghosts came out of or something like that but he wasn’t positive. Best to just ask.
Caleb did notice that Henry seemed a bit uneasy. He looked around trying to see if there was something to cause it. There did seem to be a guy staring at Henry. A little odd but it didn’t seem like a huge deal. “You know that guy?” Caleb asked nodding his head towards the man.
Henry shrugged slightly. “The stuff people do in horror movies that they wouldn’t ever do in real life. Like crawling through weird supernatural holes that opened up in their bathrooms, or taking rag dolls from utter strangers who had been trying to shoot at you earlier. Or dialing a phone in a strange Otherworld only to hear the receiving end ringing for what could seem like ages as you tried desperately to find it if for nothing else than to make it shut up.” Henry sipped at his drink, “The stuff you yell at the characters on the screen for being brainless for. Though, in my defense, I didn’t have much choice about the hole.”
Henry saw Caleb’s attention move from their table towards whoever was lurking just on the edge of his vision. A frown pulled at Henry’s mouth and he turned to look. There was a man standing just on the other side of the patio’s waist high little fence and that man was staring at him. The hair on the back of Henry’s neck prickled. There was something off about the man, about his eyes. It was as though a shadow darkened them, but the source of which wasn’t apparent.
“No…” Henry answered, glancing back towards Caleb once. “Do you?”
“Are you sure you aren’t from a horror movie?” Caleb questioned with a raised brow. Ever since he found about Pretty Little Liars and Ravenswood he had wondered about these sorts of things. But if Henry had no idea that people could actually be from some sort of media than the question also worked as sarcasm, which Caleb was fluent in.
As for the creep staring at Henry. “No idea,” he commented with a bit of a frown.
“Kenzi’s had me watch every horror film practically ever made,” Henry murmured, “nothing has even come close to what I Dream about.” He looked back at the strange man staring at him and frowned. Something...wasn’t right. Looking a little more closely - or as closely as Henry could look considering he didn’t actually want to approach the guy - the clothes he was wearing looked...old. Not old as in worn thin and with holes, but old as in they didn’t belong in this decade. Hell, they didn’t look as though they belonged in this century. The guy didn’t seem to care that Henry was staring at him, either. Usually when Henry was caught staring (which happened more often than the photographer really liked to admit), he was scowled or snapped at. This guy, though? He was just staring right back with his eyes obscured by shadows with a dead look on his face. It felt familiar, like the way the ghosts in his Dreams looked at him. Henry did not like that. Nope. Not one bit.
“Ehhh,” Henry recoiled a bit in his seat and looked back at Caleb. “I think we should go.” He glanced over his shoulder and shuddered, “yeah, we need to go.”
Caleb was no dummy. He knew from his experience with Chloe at the cemetery that if there was a strange voice, or in this case person, around they should not approach. So when Henry wanted to leave Caleb had no objections. They had already paid for their drinks inside. No need to wait around for a check. Caleb stood immediately walking away with Henry.
They got about a block away when the guy reappeared right in front of them. “I want to go home,” he said to Caleb and Henry his voice barely an echo.
Well okay then. Although Caleb was still uneasy he would play along. It was probably safer than objecting and angering this creep. Part of him wondered if he was a ghost, but Henry had seen him too and as far as Caleb knew the guy wasn't a medium. “Uh, okay. Where exactly is that?” he asked the guy.
Henry jumped and let out an audible gasp when the guy who’d been staring at them at the café suddenly appeared right in front of them on the sidewalk. The ghosts in his Dreams did something very similar. Henry would turn to get away from one, only to find another had popped up right in his path, arms out stretched and ready to make grabby hands with his torso. Or, better put, whatever was in his torso. Henry hadn’t had a similar experience in Orange County, but the way this guy looked and how close he seemed to want to stand to Henry? Well, there was a first time for everything.
“Jesus,” Henry muttered. He took a step backwards, just in case this guy decided he wanted to get handsy. He was about to grab Caleb to turn around and go back the way he came when Caleb started talking as though he had answered someone.
Henry hadn’t said anything that Caleb would have responded to like that. “What?” Henry glanced at him, then back at the man, then back at Caleb. “What…?”
Caleb’s brow furrowed as Henry acted so confused, a small frown forming on his face. Then it hit him. Henry couldn’t hear the man. “Shit,” Caleb muttered. Maybe he should stop hanging out with Chloe and Henry. He had seen more ghosts with the couple than he had ever seen. Well not including Ravenswood dreams.
“I want to go home,” the guy said again.
“Yeah, you already said that,” Caleb replied. “I don’t know where that is.” Maybe he should be a bit more afraid. But he was pretty sure the ghost couldn’t hurt them, and as long as there was one and no zombies he was pretty sure he could handle it.
Henry gave Caleb an odd look. Then his eyes slid towards the man – well ghost standing in front of them. He remembered Caleb mentioning once in a conversation they’d had on the network that he saw ghosts in his Dreams too. Like Chloe, it seemed as though Caleb could hear them. Hear and understand. Henry heard nothing. Well, he was going to have to get used to that.
“Alright,” he said, turning so he was facing the ghost again. “What is he saying?’ The ghost hadn’t tried to siphon any energy or life force out of Henry. Yet, at least. And he appreciated that. He figured the least he could do in return was hear the poor dead guy out. “What does he want?”
“He wants to go home,” Caleb repeated for Henry. He was somewhat relieved that Henry seemed okay with the whole talking to a ghost thing. It was worrisome at first but the ghost seemed harmless enough and if Henry was on board too then at least he wasn’t alone in his thinking. Although they had just been talking about how they tended to do stupid shit.
The ghost finally gave a street name which Caleb relayed to Henry. “Doesn’t sound like it’s too far from here,” he shrugged. They were in this now, might as well see it out. “Shall we?”
“Home?” Henry repeated. He glanced around. They were in a commercial district with shops and restaurants. How had this poor S.O.B. end up here?
He looked at Caleb carefully. They had just been talking about how they did stupid shit and this pretty much was the definition of something they probably shouldn’t do. Henry wasn’t sure it really mattered, though. The ghost seemed to have followed them from the cafe. It was more than likely that he would follow them from here too and Henry would rather not have a ghost follow him home. “I don’t think we have a choice,” Henry said before he started walking in the direction he thought the street was in.
The walk took awhile. Maybe they should have taken a car. Oh well. They could always get an uber back to where they left their cars. For now though Caleb just wanted to get this over with. Make ghost dude go away.
“Alright, here we are,” Caleb said as they stood outside the house. “You’re welcome.” He was just about to turn to leave when an older woman and mean stepped outside, curling up together on the porch swing. Yeah, he didn’t think this was going to be the ghosts home anymore.
Henry had thought they were just going down the block. Had he known they’d be walking for nearly an hour and a half, he would have had them drive. Would that have worked though? Would the ghost just get in the back seat of one of their cars and navigate? Kind of reminded Henry of that old urban legend about the girl hitchhiker who used to direct the people who picked her up to the cemetery where she was buried or her parents’ house only for the person to discover that she had died years ago. At least this Ghost didn’t bring them to a graveyard. If he’d had, Henry would have grabbed Caleb by the arm and nope’d the whole way back to the cafe.
The house the two young men were standing outside of now looked well taken care of. Nice. Homey. Inviting. It was no wonder the ghost wanted to come back to it. Henry glanced at the ghost and then at Caleb. Good deed done? They could go? Henry was about to turn to leave as well when he heard the door open. He looked back and saw the older couple come out for a pleasant mid-day snuggle on the porch.
“Oh.” Henry glanced at Caleb next to him, then at Ghost Dude. Was the woman the guy’s wife? Girlfriend? Sister? Whoever she was, she’d apparently moved on with her life. Which was fair. Time didn’t stop when someone died. The living had to...well keep on living, that was the point, wasn’t it?
Still, Henry felt a little sorry for their ghostly companion, standing on the sidewalk visible to no one but Henry and Caleb and just looking at the house and the two people on the porch. Henry glanced at Caleb and nudged him gently with his elbow. “What do we do?” He whispered.
Hell if Caleb knew. The only ghosts with unfinished business he had encountered, had unfinished business with him. Well unless you counted the cemetery with Chloe. So giving this guy closure? He had no idea. He gave Henry a shrug before looking over at the guy who was staring at the couple on the porch.
“Sorry man,” Caleb said with a sheepish smile. “That’s gotta be rough. But at least you know she’s happy?”
The ghost slowly nodded, but his eyes were filled with sadness. Damn, Caleb really hated this.
“She’s moved on,” Caleb added. “Maybe it’s time you did too?”
The ghost looked back at Henry and Caleb and for the first time since it had popped up, it seemed to acknowledge them. Henry kept expecting the guy to reach out for him and jam his hand into his chest and suck a little bit of his energy out. Henry still didn’t know what the attraction was. Was it food, was it power to manifest? If there was a time to manifest one’s self so more than a pair of random young men could see you, Henry figured this may have been the time.
The ghost looked at Henry with those sad eyes and for a moment seemed to be entertaining that thought. It even took a step forward. This would have been a circumstance that Henry wouldn’t have minded suffering through a weakening headache if the guy wanted to say goodbye to his loved one, but then Caleb said the magic words: move on. The ghost stopped and looked at Caleb, and then looked back at the woman on the porch who was oblivious that the man who loved her was even there.
“She’s happy,” the ghost said finally. He looked back at the two young strangers and Henry thought he caught something of a smile on the man’s face. “Thank you.” And with that lingering on the breeze, the ghost faded from sight until he was gone for good.
“Was...is that it?” Henry asked.
Well, that was easier than the last time Caleb encountered a ghost. Which granted it had been multiple ghosts and then Henry’s girlfriend had raised one. Or reanimated it or whatever the hell Chloe had done. So yeah, compared to that? This was cake.
“Yeah,” Caleb responded to Henry after the ghost disappeared. “He thanked us,” he added since he knew Henry couldn’t hear it and he deserved to know. “Now come on, I need a drink.” Just because it wasn’t half as complicated as the last time didn’t mean the guys didn’t deserve a fucking drink after dealing with that.
Well...that was nice, getting thanked by a ghost instead of it spouting off some creepy-ass life threatening prophecy or attacking them or summoning some of it’s ghost buddies to overwhelm them. All in all, not bad for an afternoon. Still…”Yeah, I could go for a drink,” Henry agreed.