14. Callum Maslow

Chapter 14

Callum Maslow

M y parents were likely at home, since it was past visiting hours. I sat on the bed beside my body. It looked skinny and pale and . . . like it was barely clinging to life.

How long did I have until the door Sekani said was hanging out in my hospital room became visible to me? Something was telling me not long—not long at all.

So much was happening it was making my head spin. I felt as if I was missing something—something important. Aside from my memory.

Luke wasn’t being a good friend. Someone was stealing my art. On top of all of that, someone hit me with their car and probably didn’t even pump the brakes. It was just so much—too much.

And now . . . I felt strange—wrong.

This was the first time I’d been away from Sekani since I found him. Would I be able to stay here much longer? Would I be dragged back to the street I had woken on?

Sekani would come for me. Wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t just abandon me to my current fate, not after everything we’d been through together already.

I crawled onto the hospital bed and lay down inside of my body. Or tried to anyway. The heart monitor continued to beep at a steady pace. I was still cut off from my meat suit.

Could I really go back? Or was this it—a long sleep until I actually died. I sat up and looked down at myself. Even halfway seated inside of my body, when I touched myself I didn’t feel the heat of me like I did with Sekani. What did that mean?

Cold fingers washed down my spine and I gasped for breath. It felt as if my head had been shoved under icy water. Sekani appeared in the room from thin air.

How had he done that? Where had he come from?

“Figured you’re already a ghost so using your door couldn’t do more damage,” Sekani said. He came through my door? He could do that? Was that safe for me—for him? “Waylin and River are on their way.”

“How do we get me back in my body?” I asked as I climbed off the bed. He said that was the purpose of this visit. “What happens after I’m back?” I chewed on my lip.

Would that be it? Would the pair of us go our separate ways?

“I’m going to force you back into your body. I can’t promise it will work. Or that it won’t hurt like a son of a bitch if it does. It might actually kill you.”

My eyes widened. What did he mean it might actually kill me? I was dead enough already, thank you very much.

“You’re already dying so it’s a risk we have to take. When you’re back in your body, you might have all your memories. Even if you don’t, at least you’ll be in your body again.”

I looked down at my body in the bed. “Sekani,” I whispered, shaking my head. I couldn’t ask him for anything else. He had already done so much. “Never mind.”

Sekani grasped my arm and tugged me through the bed. “Just say what you gotta say now, Ghost Boy. You might not get another opportunity. The chance of you popping back in your body and forgetting the last couple of weeks with me are pretty damn high too.”

I shook my head. Forgetting him sounded just as bad as forgetting myself. “Promise . . . Promise if this works, even if I forget, you won’t . . .” I grasped the hem of his shirt and stepped into his personal space. “I want to know you— really know you.”

Was that silly? To want to know him in ways I didn’t already?

“How about we get coffee? When you’re feeling up to it.”

“Really?” Maybe he liked me a little too. He did wank me a few short hours ago.

“Yeah, Callum,” he said. “I’ve gotten pretty used to you being around.” I smiled and wrapped my arms around him. His arms curled around my shoulders and he squeezed. “It’s going to be fine. The important thing is getting you back in your body so you don’t get dead for real. The rest is just details.”

“Thank you so much for everything,” I whispered as I clung to him. I wasn’t ready to let him go—to say goodbye.

If this worked and I came out on the other side intact, maybe I wouldn’t have to.

“So much for not fucking ghosts,” River said.

Sekani and I pulled away from one another as River and Waylin, dressed as a nurse and a doctor, shut the door behind themselves. They looked ridiculous but the outfits most likely allowed them to slip past the nurses’ station.

“My dick has never been in one and I’ve never had a ghost dick inside of me either. Can you say the same?” Sekani asked.

“Uh . . .” Waylin raised his hand. “I can, just for the record.”

River shrugged, not looking guilty in the least. “So, what’s the plan?”

Something was wrong with him.

“In simple terms, I’m taking him through someone else’s door and pushing him out of his.” Sekani said.

River and Waylin looked at Sekani with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

“You can do that?” River finally asked.

“I can do a lot of shit we’ve never discussed. Now isn’t the time either,” Sekani said. “Right now, you two are about to get a crash course in unpleasant memories.

Basically, behind the doors are the dead who went through a door that wasn’t theirs. And they want back on this side of things—bad. They’re gonna be on us—him mostly—like white on rice as soon as I open his door to put him through it. And one of them might get out. If that happens, one of you is gonna get possessed.

But not a little possessed. It’s not gonna percolate in you like bad coffee. It’s gonna go full demon in two point zero seconds. Whichever one of you isn’t possessed needs to deal with it. And by dealing with it, I mean KO whoever’s getting bitched around.”

“Okay,” River agreed.

He sounded so at ease. Nothing about this sounded easy.

“Wait.” Waylin frowned. “What if more than one . . . unpleasant memory comes through? How do we deal with it if we’re both possessed?”

“Let’s pretend like that problem doesn’t exist.” Sekani said.

“Sounds like a bad idea.” Waylin crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m in.”

Clearly, River wasn’t the only one with issues.

This whole family needed therapy.

“Good luck, Ghost Boy,” River said, a far too excited grin stretching his mouth. I didn’t know which of the four of us needed luck more. One of them was possibly about to be possessed by something nasty.

Sekani turned to me. “It’s gonna be hard for you over there, Callum. You’re gonna feel all kinds of things. You’re gonna see your nightmares—your personal demons—come to life before your very eyes. And your deepest fantasies may speak to you.

Do not stop walking. Do not talk to anyone. Whoever you’re seeing isn’t really there. Of course, it might affect you differently than I’m prepared for because you’re a spirit. I can’t promise I can even get you out without letting you possess me.”

I wrapped my arms around my midsection. Possess him? Like something had possessed River? “Sekani . . .”

Should we really do this? Maybe it was better for me to just . . . let go.

“Callum.” Sekani grasped my shoulder and I looked up. “You’ve trusted me this far. Just keep doing that.”

I had trusted him so far. Why stop now? “Okay.”

He grinned. “Let’s get this show on the road. Maybe we can make tomorrow the best day of your mom’s life.”

I smiled in return. I couldn’t remember my family, but I knew they loved me. They were always here—my mom or my dad by my side, hoping for a miracle. I wanted to give them one, wake up and tell them I was okay.

More than that, I wanted to see Luke’s face when he arrived tomorrow and saw I was awake.

“I’m ready.” We had to do this if I wanted a life and . . . I did. There was so much I wanted to do.

Like get coffee with Sekani.

“Be careful you two,” Sekani told his brothers.

They still looked way too excited.

“We got you,” River said as Waylin passed over his doctor coat.

Yeah. I wasn’t nervous before but now, knowing it was those two watching over me on this side of the door, I was.

They seemed like an accident waiting to happen. Those two would do something dumb and I would be the one getting possessed.

“Don’t let anything in my body either,” I said.

“Oh yeah. Don’t let that happen. He’s empty right now so whatever gets in him isn’t gonna come out without a lot of try-hard.” Sekani said before we left the room.

We walked through the halls, peeking into different rooms. Sekani stepped inside one; there was an old man lying in a hospital bed.

“On the other side of the door, don’t use my name. You can call me Kani.”

“Kani,” I repeated.

“And just for future reference, if your memories of the last couple weeks are gone once you pop back in your body condom, what’s a sure-fire way to guarantee you agree to a coffee with me?”

I laughed under my breath. “You’re hot. Just ask.”

Sekani smiled before reaching in his pocket and taking out a knife. He cut his hand and blood spread across his palm. “I’m right behind you.”

He smacked his hand on nothing and shoved me forward.

Suddenly, I was in a different place.

It was dark and cold and felt like every bad day I’d ever had combined. My stomach cramped. A loud buzz sounded in my ears.

I was somewhere that shouldn’t exist but somehow did. And it was loud—so loud I covered my ears and dropped to my knees.

A warm hand wrapped around my arm and yanked me to my feet. Sekani, silent as a church mouse, pulled me forward. His steps were quick but he wasn’t outright running.

“They’re screaming,” I whispered. They were screaming, all together. The buzz was a hundred, a thousand, a million ghosts screaming.

Could he hear them too?

“You would too if this was home for all eternity.” Sekani said.

“It hurts.” My body ached everywhere. Every step made my bones rattle. It felt as if I was being pulled in a hundred different directions by just as many hands.

“Just a little longer, Ghost Boy. I’ve got you.” He dragged me forward but it was so hard to move here.

It felt as if I was running in a sandpit—being pulled down, on the verge of being swallowed. And there were so many unpleasant memories—screaming, screaming, screaming. I wanted to scream right along with them but I bit down on my lip to stop myself from howling.

Sekani stopped and I bumped into his back. There was a multicolored door in front of us—splashed with a hundred different colors. On either side of it were two more, glowing. “This is it. You ready?”

“Yes.” I needed to get out of this place.

How could Sekani stand being here?

“Put your back to mine and face your door. I’m gonna shove you through while occupying these fucks.” Sekani said. I

nodded and stepped around him, pressing my back against his.

“You owe me coffee, Ghost Boy. Don’t forget.” Sekani slapped his bloody hand against the door. It sprang open and he stepped backwards, shoving me through. I gasped and felt heavy—heavier than I had in the longest time.

My head pounded. My throat burned. And I was tired, so tired.

A pair of blue eyes peered down into mine but . . . I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I just needed to sleep, just for a minute.

Then there was something else I needed to do, something important but . . .