Our Captain

**While watching a film which involves a hate crime, the Captain remembers a similar event happening to him, and gets lost in his memories. The other ghosts, Alison and Mike rally around him, and help him through it by giving him the love he deserves.**

It was time for film club, and this week it was Julian's turn. The film he had chosen was IT chapters 1 and 2, since he remembered watching IT the mini-series just a couple of years before he died. The other ghosts had complained and argued until Alison suggested they each choose two films when it was their next turn.

They had just finished watching Chapter 1, with Alison signalling to Kitty, who was behind them, each time something scary was about to happen so she could hide either behind her hands or another ghost.

Alison and Mike were snuggled together on a small 2-seater sofa, with Mary, Thomas and Kitty sitting on stools behind it. Thomas had started the evening sighing dramatically since he had wanted to sit beside Alison, but had quickly forgotten what he was sulking about when he first set eyes on Pennywise and shrieked during Georgie's death scene.

Julian, Robin and both parts of Humphrey were sitting together on a second sofa placed beside it. Humphrey's head had started the evening on his own lap, but had been dropped once when Robin started clinging onto his arm during a particularly scary scene. Humphrey had then been placed on Robin's lap, until another scene had disturbed the caveman, and poor Humphrey had been thrown across the room and through the TV like a rock trying to hit it's target, almost like a scene from the film. Julian was now holding Humphrey's head on his lap, which disturbed Humphrey slightly since he wasn't quite used to being so up close and personal with Julian's bare legs.

Lady B and Pat were sitting behind them, with Fanny complaining loudly about the 'vulgar language' the teens used and how a 'Lady does not behave like that,' when she saw Beverly hanging out with six boys, making Pat roll his eyes on more than one occasion. The Captain was sitting beside the second sofa on a chair, since they ran out of stools.

The Captain sat with his back straight, his stick laid across his lap and his hands loosely clasped around it. He wasn't the biggest fan of horror films, since he had seen and experienced plenty of horror during his life, but he had nothing better to do, so he stayed and continued watching.

When The Captain saw the kiss between two men, he tightened his grip on his stick, and he made a gasping sound followed by some of his endearing 'Captain noises' as the other ghosts fondly called them. The Captain quickly glanced at the others to see their reactions, but none of the ghosts looked disgusted or repulsed by the sight of two men kissing. Lady B looked as if she was sucking on a lemon, but that was probably more to do with memories of her Husband than anything in the film.

The Captain had just started to relax again when he heard the first Homophobic slur, The 'F' word, a word he was more than familiar with. He closed his eyes for a second, and bit his bottom lip, as he tried to gather his emotions.

It didn't work especially when The Captain heard the sound of someone being hit and his eyes flew open to see the violent hate crime inflicted on a young man just because he loved another. Violence The Captain remembered all too well.

The Captain flinched at each impact as if experiencing the blows himself, and his breathing hitched and then quickened. He suddenly felt overwhelmed as he felt the cold claws of panic start to scratch at his insides, and his body began to shake. The Captain knew that if he was still alive, his heart would be slamming painfully against his ribcage.

Pat was the first to notice the change in The Captain and quickly stood, before rushing over to him. "Cap? You okay mate?" He gently placed his hand on The Captain's shoulder and noticed the Soldier was trembling. "Captain?" he whispered as The Captain's wide eyes started welling up, the deep blue of his irises turning liquid with tears. "Captain?"