The unkind, extremely selfish, interruption from Alex, left us observing how everyone left, filled on viral material in their phones. The girls headed inside with Mr. Molina, so we released some stress at the empty basketball court.
Fun fact about me: I suck at basketball. Or any sport that doesn't include dancing for that matter. And it looks like death did not give me justice either. Shot after shot the ball missed the net.
Luke grabbed the ball from my hands. "Here, let me show you how it's done." He flexed his muscles right up on my face and scored on the first try.
"Show off." I stuck out my tongue. "And put those away. You're not impressing me with your spaghetti arms."
Reg grabbed the ball while smiling. "Feels like we should be celebrating or something. What do you guys wanna do?"
The moment he finished speaking, a unexpected shock struck the four of us. It was so strong that I dropped to the ground, and, if I had the abilities to hurt myself, I would've scraped my knees.
"Not that," Alex responded.
We barely got the energy to stand up. I profusely robbed my chest, but it didn't ease the pain.
"That wasn't like the other ones. It's getting worse," Luke panted.
"Why is this happening to us?" Reggie wondered.
"It's because you guys are in serious trouble." Willie appeared from a bush, a face with worry and... was it fear? I think it is. He didn't want to see us ever again, so it must be really important to break his promise.
"Willie?" my brother croaked.
He shuffled his feet until he let out a, "We need to talk." He took us to Hollywood Boulevard, where he explained everything. The problem was the explanation was a little too late.
Apparently, Caleb was behind our sudden jolts. If we had been paying more attention, we would've connected the dots sooner. I knew getting revenge would be a bad idea, but not this bad of an idea.
"All these jolts that we're feeling is because Caleb put his stamp on us?" Luke recapitulated.
Willie led the way. His back was facing us, meaning I could only see his shaky walking. "He's threatened by you. He wants you under his control. You're the only ghosts that can be visible to lifers without his help."
"We are?" I blurted automatically. Bad moment to ask that? Probably.
Although Alex was the smarter one and asked the more important question. Not only had he gotten his heart broken, he was lied to. "And you let him do that to us?"
The brunette finally turned around. "I can't stop him. He owns my soul. All right? He owns everyone's soul at the club. If he even knew I was here talking to you, he... he would destroy me," he sttutered.
"So if we don't join his club, the weird power outage thing continues until there's no power left at all?" I concluded.
Willie sighed. "Yes."
I turned to Reggie, who was crossed armed and carrying a look of uncertainty. "What exactly happens when the power goes out?"
"That's... that's it. You're done." Just like that? No, no, no! I can't end like this... can it? We're doing something very special here. And... and I just got them back, for goodness sakes!
The information didn't seem to register on the bassists's name. He frowned, recollecting his thoughts. "Uh huh. Yeah. And what exactly do you mean by 'we're done'?"
"You just... you don't exist anymore. Not anywhere." In a matter of seconds... it's game over, people.
I lost my balance, slightly twisting my ankle in the process. "I might throw up right now." Although there was no food on my stomach, the nauseous feeling stung there.
"What? "
"So we have no choice? We have to say goodbye to Julie, give up everything we've built together, and work for Caleb?" Luke projected all my feelings into the conversation. I was so angry and scared at the same time that no actual argument came out of my mouth. Everyone was at the border of crying, including our skateboard acquaintance. "That's some club you guys got going on."
From the corner of my eye, I saw him taking a step forward. "But there is another option. That's why I'm here."
The four of us were extremely skeptical of what he had to say. Who knows if he's saying the truth at this point? What if it's another trick? "Another option?" Alex breathed.
"Just please hear me out." Willie took a deep breath. "All right. If you guys could figure out what your unfinished business is, you do it in time, you could cross over and be free from all of this."
"Okay, so what's your unfinished business?" Luke spread his arms in defeat.
He shifted the weight to his left leg as he conjured up his theory on the spot. "I don't know, but since you all died at the same time, it might be something you need to do together."
I grasped Reggie arm. "I... um... well... not all of us died at the same time," the knot on my throat finally let me say. What happens if we disappear forever? What would happen to Julie? Would we die for a second time? Or worse: would I never get to see them again? Also, unrelated question: why is the street spinning?
Reg whispered in my ear, "Liz, I'm gonna need you to breathe." When that didn't stop the possible panic attack about to commence, he engulfed me in a bear hug. It helped a lot, y'know, reminding myself I was in his arms and not weaving worst case scenarios in my mind. And the smell of his cologne helped too.
My brother furrowed his eyebrows. "Why should we listen to a word you say?" And I can't say if the mad tone in his voice was because of Willie's revelation of a betrayal or that he was causing his little sister to panic. Or a combination of both.
"Because I care about you, Alex. And I hate that I brought you... and your friends into this mess." He glanced at the bouvelard after a quick pause. "I, uh... I can't be away much longer. I'm so sorry. For everything." Then he poofed away.
With only us left, Alex harshly dug his hands into his pockets, "This is all my fault. I- I met Willie, Willie introduced us to Caleb, and now... now we're screwed."
Luke huffed. "We all wanted to go see Caleb."
"Speak for yourself," I muttered. We might be dying, but I'm not getting blamed for our demise.
Reg did not fully let go of me; one of his arms crossed over my back, his thumb rubbing circles on my shoulder. "We have to tell Julie."
"No, we can't do that. That just means more loss in her life. But if we don't want Caleb to own our souls, we have to figure out our unfinished business." Great, we're a step from literally disappearing and now stupid Romeo wants us to keep the secret.
Honestly, I was not 100% focused on their conversation because of a special glowing neon sign. Sometimes, I like to believe there's signals that guide you or tell you if you're going in the right path. This is one of those times where I chose to have a sliver of faith.
"Yeah, man. How are we supposed to do that? All right? There was so much we wanted to do." My brother could ramble all night if nobody stopped him. However, he noticed the glint in my eyes. "What is it?"
Somehow, the building appeared exactly the same from the outside as it was 25 years ago. Like, you could tell me that they haven't even changed the lightbulbs of the sign and I'd believe you. "There is one particular thing we all wanted to do together before we died."
They quickly followed my gaze, Reggie immediately filling in the blank. "Play the Orpheum?"
"It's worth a shot, right?" I sniffled. God, I must look like such a mess right now.
Alex scoffed. "Getting that gig was literally impossible. Even after people knew who we were, we had to hustle, call in every favor we had. It took us years."
And just like that, bang! Perfect timing for another jolt, I thought to myself. The pain coming afterwards was getting more aggressive. We all clutched our throbbing stomachs. "We don't have years."
Well, Orpheum, I hope you're ready for the performance of a lifetime... and a deathtime too.
♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸¸♬·¯·♩
Author's note:
Since I'm not sure what to say here, I thought I'd add a question. I wanna know... what is your favorite quote/moment from the show? There's a ton to choose from, so I'm curious to what you guys think.
For me, if we're talking inspirational moments, I love the part where Julie comes back into the Orpheum stage clutching the dahlia, and she turns to Flynn saying "Signals". It gives me chills.
However, if we're talking funny, I love Luke's line when he says: "Kill it on the dance floor!". There's something about the little dance that he does that kills me everytime. Either that or every Reggie line tbh.
~ Winter ❅