Cold Hands, Dead Heart

Climbing The Nonexistent Latter

       Ray, Carlos, and Victoria had returned, although Reggie hadn't noticed. He didn't really notice anything except for how weirdly comfortable the sofa was. He didn't fall asleep, having been too awake to do so. It was still a mystery whether or not they could sleep, to be honest. Every night after Julie went to bed, he, Alex, and Luke would go out just like they used to. Sometimes Willie would join, but he was usually preoccupied with the Hollywood Ghost Club. They had taken time to relax, yes, but they never actually tried to go to sleep. They'd stay up all night, talking about anything and everything, and since ghosts didn't need the same necessities that lifers did, sleep wasn't exactly necessary. There were still so many questions that they had yet to get answers for.

       The thumping of Julie coming down the stairs wasn't any different to the other noise that interrupted the silence; Reggie didn't notice. She held onto the banister as she turned the corner, swinging from it almost. Almost immediately, she noticed Reggie staring up at the ceiling in complete silence. Spacing out was usual for him, but he never looked so.......dismal.

       "Reggie? Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

       He jumped to attention, his name being called breaking the trance he was in.

       "Hm? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Why, uh, why are you down here? You and Luke usually write for hours when you're together and you just went up there," he queried. He pushed himself upward and turned to face Julie, still holding the pillow.

       "You sure? Because you look upset."

       "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that, umm," he paused, unknowing whether or not to tell her, "It's just that whenever you leave to do something with Luke, and Alex leaves to do something with Willie, I'm left alone. I usually hang out with Carlos or your dad, but they're not here right now."

       "Reggie, they got back a half hour ago."

       "Oh."

       Julie walked up to Reggie and sat down next to him.

        "Do you really not have any other friends? You don't have a Willie that you can go see? Or a place that you can go hang out at?"

       "Nope. All I have is you guys."

       The two of them sat silently for a few minutes, only sparing a few words every now and then ("You know me and Luke have been upstairs for an hour now, right?" "......No.").

       "You could come back upstairs with me and help us if you'd like."

       Reggie shook his head. "That's you're guys' thing. I don't wanna intrude."

       "Are you sure?"

       "Yeah. Imma just go out for a walk. Maybe go to the zoo or aquarium or something. Animals always cheer me up, y'know?"

       Julie laughed and stood up with Reggie. "Alright. But if you change your mind, don't worry about knocking."

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       A few hours had passed at Reggie was still walking around aimlessly. He had hoped he would find some other ghosts around, but, to now avail, found none. He wasn't worried about getting lost since he could easily teleport back to the house. It was now 5 p.m., but he wasn't planning on heading back any time soon. The cool evening air felt nice on his skin, the wind picking up speed every once in a while.

       Can ghosts get sick? He quickly shook the thought out of his head and made a mental note to add it to his notebook of questions. He tried to act cool about all of this stuff, he really did, but everything was just so confusing all of the time. Julie had given them all their own notebooks to use however they pleased. Luke's was filled with songs, some of the pages only hanging on by a limb from constant use. Alex's was empty, save for a few absent minded doodles. Julie's had poems, notes for school, drawings, songs, and everything in between in hers. Reggie's had designs for Julie and the Phantoms merchandise and questions about the afterlife. He was supposed to ask Willie, but always got side tracked or forgot whenever they met up. It was beginning to look like they would never get answered.