The Dead and The Blind [Lashton]

Day 125

Luke dies on a Thursday. Which is weird, because so does Calum. Given, its about six months later and Calum goes a completely different way, but he's still dead.

Luke watches him struggle for four months. From the day after Luke's family moved out, plagued by thoughts of their murdered son, to the day Calum's moved in, looking to start out fresh in a new town. Luke usually keeps to the attic, but there's something about Calum that draws him inti his old bedroom, then the bathroom respectively.

He watches Calum sob and burn himself with various matches and candles the whole four months. Its not like he can do anything, Luke's new to this whole "spirit" thing, so he can't quite move things or show himself, and Calum doesn't look like the type to bring put a ouiji. So, he watches the thin little scars and burns and bruises wreak havoc on Calum's skin until he can't take it anymore.

Calum kills himself on a Thursday.

Luke watches, sat with his legs crossed and his elbows on his knees on the bathroom counter, while Calum slits his wrists, drinks some vodka, and drowns himself in the tub.

Its fucking weird, because Luke knows, no matter how loud he yells, Calum won't hear him. No matter how hard he tries, Luke won't be able to coax Calum's unsuspecting mother up from the kitchen downstairs. And no matter how long he waits, Luke won't see Calum again.

Well, living Calum. Because "spirit" Calum shows up in the doorway of the bathroom seconds after the bubbles have stopped popping at the surface of the water. Luke glances at him lazily and sighs.

Calum stares at him, then looks over at where his body is starting to float to the top of the tub, then back to Luke. "Dude," he says.

"Dude," Luke agrees.

"No, dude, what the fuck," Calum rephrases. "You're not even going to fucking help me? Look how pathetic I am!" He gestures to the bathtub.

Luke has to agree with that. Calum's body is pale and still, with only his nose and forehead sticking out of the light red water. He looks like shit, to be honest, but Luke's seen him at worse. He shrugs in response to Calum's question.

"Dude," Calum says again. "Who the fuck are you, anyway?"

"Luke," he says, reaching out his hand towards Calum. "I've been living in your room for six months. Well, it was my room first, but whatever. I suppose it's neither of ours now."

Calum stares at him, then reaches out his hand and places it in Luke's. Luke jerks a little at the feeling, because he literally hasn't been able to touch anything in six months. Its a fucking miracle he's even sitting on the counter. Calum looks startled at his reaction and jerks his hand back, holding it against his chest protectively like Luke's going to eat it or something.

Before Luke can explain about the whole "ghosting" thing, someone starts knocking on the door. Calum crawls onto the counter next to Luke and promptly falls straight through. Luke sighs in exasperation and reaches through the counter until his hand hits something solid. He drags Calum back up and pulls him onto his lap, grabbing his waist tightly to steady his shaking.

"Calum, honey, dinner's ready!" Calum's mother knocks on the door again. Calum groans and Luke frowns, because she was so close. If dinner had been ready maybe ten minutes earlier, she could have prevented everything, and Luke wouldn't have a dead Calum shifting around in his lap.

Calum's mother sighs when there's no response and jiggles the locked doorhandle. Luke uses the one skill he's learned in his six months as a dead boy and unlocks the door. It swings open and there's a sharp gasp from Calum's mother instantly.

"Calum!" She yells.

"What?" Calum responds on instinct. Luke frowns because it was bad enough watching his mother come home to find her youngest son shot in the chest and stomach five times, but now he basically has to relive it through Calum's family. He'd responded to his mom for the first few weeks too, purely on intact, without realizing she couldn't see him.

Calum and Luke watch as the rest of Calum's family come in and call for an ambulance. They drag him out of the tub and scream at him, sobbing loudly. The paramedics start CPR, but Calum's dead as a doornail and a solid weight against Luke's legs.

"Nice," Calum says when they carry his body away on a stretcher. His family is long gone, already downstairs, talking to the police. He turns slightly in Luke's lap and slings in arm around his shoulder. "So, how'd you die?"

Luke stared at him in horror, but relays his life story anyway.