2: The Ghost of Christmas Something Something, Part Two

“So can ghosts, like, possess people in real life?” Andrew asked as he made a bed out of the couch for the second time. Eugene had been exhausted and quiet when he picked Andrew up, and went right to bed but, Millie was full of energy and very glad to see someone who could see her back.

“Yeah! I mean, I can’t. But ghosts get more powerful the longer they’re around, I guess,” she said. “I don’t really know how it works, but I saw it happen once when…well I don’t really remember, but I definitely saw it. I think.”

Andrew was used to these non-answers from Millie at this point, so he didn’t press. “How long have you been a ghost, Millie? You don’t seem that powerful.”

“Not powerful? I’m hurt,” Millie gasped, placing a hand dramatically on her chest. She laughed at herself. “But really, I don’t remember. I don’t remember a lot.”

“Is that normal?”

“Maybe. I’m not really sure.”

“Well, I’m going to bed. Tomorrow, I’ll work on figuring out how to help you.”

“Alright, back to boring-town. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Andrew closed his eyes, but within minutes Millie was talking again. “Hey Andrew?”

He was starting to wonder if there was on off-button on this whole ghost-seeing thing. “What?”

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “It’s okay, go back to sleep.”

“No, I’m sorry. Go ahead.”

“Can you…turn on the TV for me?” That wasn’t what Andrew was expecting at all. “If it’s not too distracting. You can keep the volume off.”

Andrew fumbled about in the dark for the remote and turned on the TV, mildly illuminating the room and hurting his eyes. Millie didn’t flinch at all. He quickly muted the volume so as not to wake Eugene. She asked for him to put it on Cartoon Network, and he complied. They said goodnight once more, and just before Andrew went back to sleep, he turned the volume up a few pegs, so that it was audible without being too distracting. Millie smiled at him, surprised, and he smiled back. She sat on the floor with her legs crossed, already intently engaged in a rerun of some ‘90s cartoon Andrew vaguely remembered.

“Enjoy,” he said before laying back down.

She didn’t say anything, but a few minutes later he heard her giggling at some joke from the show. Maybe helping her wouldn’t be as bad as he thought, after all. At the very least, sleep came easier than it had before.

***

Andrew awoke to a loud thumping sound for the second night in a row. The TV was still on, but Millie was nowhere to be found. Instead, standing in the middle of the living room was the man from the convenience store. The ghost. He looked like something out of a nightmare with flickering light of the TV distorted through his hard, weathered features. “Wha?” Andrew mumbled, still half asleep.

“Wasn’t hard finding this place,” he explained. “Every ghost in town knows where The Sandman lives.”

“I’m not The Sandman,” Andrew insisted.

“Then what’s with those?” the man asked, gesturing to the candles sitting on Eugene’s bookshelf. “You a collector?”

“My roommate’s got a thing for -”

“Cut the bullshit, kid!”

“I’m not helping you.”

He glided across the room to Andrew’s bookshelf, examining some of the books. “I bet these make a lot of noise when they hit the floor. You planning on getting some sleep tonight?”

“You didn’t die here,” Andrew said matter-of-factly. “You can’t touch anything.”

“And you say you aren’t The Sandman.” He tried to grip a book. His hand made contact for a second before passing through. He did it again, this time nudging it slightly. “It’ll take some time. But I’ve got…well, I’ve got forever. Waiting is all I’m good for.”

“I’m not helping you.” Andrew tried to sound adamant, but his statement ended in a long yawn. “I’m going to bed.”

The man whipped his head from the bookshelf to Andrew, his face twisted with anger. “Show some damn responsibility!” he yelled. “People need you!”

“Find someone else! People can see you in mirrors, right? Just hop from bathroom to bathroom until you find a willing participant because you won’t find one here.”

The man looked disgusted. “You won’t rest until I do, kid. Mark my words.”

“Take a number,” Millie said, her voice coming from behind Andrew. He turned around to see her walking through the front door of the apartment. “Getting Andrew to take some responsibility is fine by me but you’re going to need to take a time out and try again with less yelling next time.”

He shook his head. “I’m done with waiting.”

As the two of them argued, Andrew found himself drifting off to sleep once more. It wasn’t long before their voices began to fade into the background of his consciousness, and quiet took over. And then it wasn’t much longer before a heavy book hit the ground with a notable thud and flapping of pages. Andrew shut his eyes tighter and tried to find peace, but soon it was another book, and then another. And the talking didn’t stop, either. Nor the yelling, now matter how much Millie pleaded.

And then it was the chill. The breeze that seemed to wash over him as the ghost’s form passed through his own, an idea that made Andrew want to vomit.

Time passed as the ghost tirelessly harassed Andrew and Millie, and Andrew responded only now and then to reaffirm his stance. As soon as he helped this ghost, there would be another, he knew. And then another. At some point, at some unknown time, sleep did finally take Andrew. At least, he thought it did. All he knew for sure is that between one thought and another, night gave way to day, and a voice was urging him to wake up.

“Will you stop?!” he finally pleaded, throwing his arm out violently, passing through the form of his visitor. To his surprise, it was not the man from before, nor was it Millie. But that isn’t to say the ghost was unfamiliar. She, too, had crossed Andrew’s path the night before. At Denny’s. Sitting at a table by herself, dressed as if she were attending a mildly formal occasion. Surprised and confused, Andrew jumped to his feet, being careful to avoid the transparent form before him. Millie was sitting on the floor, looking up at him. Cartoon Network was still on.

“The other guy left around five,” she said. “This girl just showed up.”

Andrew stared at his newcomer in annoyance and disbelief. “So…what? Are you ghost number two in my night of four ghosts?”

The woman opened her mouth, to speak, but closed it before any words came out. She stared, surprised, at Andrew for a few moments before finally managing to ask, “Have I come at a bad time?”

“If you’ve come to ask for help, then yes,” Andrew said, sitting back down on his couch. “How did you even find me?”

“Wha-uh-I saw you at Denny’s. You looked right at me, so I thought…aren’t you The Sandman? I’d heard there was a replacement.”

Andrew buried his face in his hands. “Look,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I already have my plate full.”

“Please!” she urged. “I just need you to check up on my family at the homeless shelter, and then I’ll leave you alone.”

Andrew removed his hands. “That’s it? Just stop by the homeless shelter? Why can’t you do that yourself?”

The woman sighed soundlessly and stared up at the ceiling. “Well, almost. I want you to tell them…I want you to my family that my death was peaceful. Or, painless anyways. That I’m in a better place, and that they don’t need to worry about me anymore.”

Andrew eyed her curiously, almost suspiciously. “And that’s all?” he asked. “Then you think you can pass on?”

She nodded. “I can’t think of anything else that would be keeping me here.”

“How do you know you can’t pass already?” Millie asked, still staring at the TV.

“Mr. Davis. The other Sandman. The guy who…well, he tried to help me, too, but he seemed terribly busy. He didn’t have time to see my family. But you will, won’t you?”

Andrew nodded. “If that’s all you want…yeah, I don’t see why not. But don’t tell your friends.”

She seemed put off by this statement, but she didn’t question it. Instead she extended a hand. “Courtney Baker.” Andrew placed his hand where her hand was in an awkward mockery of a handshake. “Thank you. I’ll be hanging out around the homeless shelter this afternoon. Will I see you there?” Andrew told her that he would, and she excused herself, drifting gracefully through the wall of the apartment.

When he looked down at Millie, he saw that she was beaming up at him. He rolled his eyes. “Only because I was already headed there this afternoon.” As Andrew headed over to the bathroom, he Eugene was exiting his room, his posture perfect as always despite exhaustion plain on his face. “How long have you been watching?”

“Long enough to be weirded out by you talking to not one, but two people that I can’t see,” he said. “So what’s the deal?”

“Got another ghost to help. It’s not much, but I would like it if you could get me some candles while I’m out today.”

“How is it that you move into my apartment and suddenly you’re bossing me around?” Andrew tried to give his best “do it for me, buddy-old-pal” smile, but Eugene just rolled his eyes. “I’ll do it, but only because I kind of want to see you go through with this whole Sandman thing.”

“Why? I’m no good at this shit, really. I have to go console a grieving family today. I don’t even talk to my own family!”

Eugene moved his shoulders in what could hardly be considered a shrug. “I dunno, man. It’s kind of like you’re a super hero.”

“No, it really isn’t like that at all, actually,” Andrew deadpanned. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have a shower to take.”

“You can’t run away from your destiny forever, Clark!” Eugene called out in an over-dramatic voice as Andrew slammed the bathroom door behind him.

“Watch me!”

***

“I’ve always thought Wolverine was kind of a lame character,” Katelyn admitted as she pulled up beside the Cierto homeless shelter. “But it figures that you’d like him. He’s so…thirteen year-old boy, ya know?”

“I am so not a thirteen year-old boy!” Andrew exclaimed defensively.

“Before your parents moved, you actually had a picture of a half-naked girl leaning over a motorcycle in your room! That is the thirteen year-old-est thing there is!”

Andrew’s face reddened slightly. “I’ve matured since then.”

“Uh-huh,” Katelyn said doubtfully. They both laughed.

The shelter was a re-purposed gymnasium where Flo, Andrew’s younger sister, did gymnastics almost ten years ago. It looked the same as it always had - an orange and teal building with weird, triangular windows - but the sign on top now read “Cierto’s Shelter for the Homeless” and one of the windows was boarded over.

The inside of the building was significantly different. The receptionist’s desk was still the same, but all of the gymnastic equipment was gone in favor of cafeteria tables and a mash-up of bunk beds and sleeping bags. In one of the corners were two TVs with some old game consoles, as well as a table with a few board games on it.

But what really struck Andrew was how packed the building was, and how normal everybody looked. It was lunch time, so nearly all of the tables were full of people eating things like Lunchables and other pre-packaged foods. Age differences aside, it reminded Andrew of his high-school cafeteria.

“How may I help you two today?” a tan-skinned woman asked from behind the desk.

Katelyn stared at Andrew expectantly. “We’re just here to take a look around,” he said. “But we’re interested in volunteering. We heard you guys could use an extra hand around Christmas.”

The woman went on to explain their Christmas Feast, which involved a lot of decorating and home-cooked meals, as well as their donated present collection. Andrew started to zone out about thirty seconds into the explanation as he looked about the shelter in search of Courtney. He recognized one or two of the people from the bus, but most of the faces went unrecognized. He was a little taken aback by the atmosphere of the shelter, which he was dreading because he expected it to be gloomy, but it was very lively, with a constant incomprehensible murmur of dozens talking at once. It touched him a little to see people making the best of a bad situation like that, but seeing the crowded and dull condition of the place also made him that much more grateful for Eugene and apartment 28.

No, he wouldn’t mind volunteering here.

It wasn’t long before he spotted Courtney, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Being incorporeal and all, she didn’t have the support of of one of the chairs or beds or even a wall to lean on, she was just standing there. She was watching one of the families, so Andrew assumed that to be hers.

Andrew mentally re-entered reality to hear the woman behind the desk and Katelyn discussing some of the details. When there was a lull in the conversation, Andrew excused himself to have a look about the gymnasium, and made his way over to the tables. He caught snippets of conversation from the people eating their lunches, and the most prominent topic of conversation among them seemed be the arrest of Roger Jenkins, the former tenant of apartment 18 and convicted serial killer. Nobody said much that Andrew didn’t know, but the whispered gossip of two “soccer mom” types caught his attention.

“I hear he wasn’t actually the killer,” the first woman said.

“What?” the second woman said, surprised. “Everybody knows he did it. He confessed.”

“I was talking to this man on the bus. Said his sister works on the force. Apparently they found his…his…signature at another crime scene.”

The second woman looked doubtful. “Must be a copycat,” she said with certainty. “He confessed. Only an idiot is gonna confess to a crime he didn’t commit at that age, and you don’t get away with that many killings if you’re not some kinda genius.” Andrew forced himself to move out of earshot so as not to lurk.

The family Courtney was watching over consisted, to Andrew’s surprise, of a boy who looked to be about ten and a woman of Courtney’s age. The boy had dirty blonde hair and was wearing a Transformers t-shirt. He was eating a turkey, cheese, and cracker Lunchables and talking to the woman about some cartoon he had watched. The woman had very short black hair and feigned interest in the boy’s excited ramblings as only a mother could. Andrew looked up from them at Courtney, who nodded to him and smiled. It was then that it occurred to Andrew that he had absolutely no plan for what he was doing.

One time, about a year ago, Andrew watched a few episodes of this detective show that starred Kristen Bell with Katelyn and his mom. The one thing he always remembered about it was that the Kristen Bell character was a successful detective not because she was a genius, but because she was an excellent liar. All she had to do was sell the lie with confidence and everybody would fall for it, and she could get whatever information she wanted. He wasn’t exactly an actor, but Andrew thought it was worth a try.

“Hey there,” he said. The woman and the boy looked up at him. “Are you the Baker family?”

The woman nodded. “Yes…I’m Tori, and this is my son Garret.” The silence hung for a moment. “May I help you with something?”

“I was actually hoping I could help you,” Andrew said. “I’m a reporter for the Cierto Daily and I’ve been working on an article about…is this okay to talk about in front of him?”

Tori looked annoyed by this comment. “He’s been strong enough to live it. He’s strong enough to hear it.”

“Right…well, I’ve been working on an article regarding Courtney’s death and-”

“Have the police learned something about the crash?” she asked. She grabbed Garret’s hand. He was staring at Andrew, his mouth agape, but his face otherwise a mask. “I thought they’d abandoned it. If you can tell me anything, I-”

“The forensics analysis of the accident…they weren’t able to learn everything, but based on their tests they have every reason to believe that her death was instant. Painless.” Tori didn’t say anything, like she was expecting something more. The fact that she was buying Andrew’s story at all was amazing to him. “I know it isn’t much, but-”

“No,” she said, scrunching up her mouth and swallowing once. “No, thank you. That keeps me up at night, you know. Thinking about what it must have been like.”

Andrew nodded. “She’s in a better place now,” he said.

“Thank you,” Tori said again. “I’m not…thank you.”

Andrew had to refrain from looking up at Courtney. He almost wished he could tell Tori, but he knew that would just complicate things even if she did believe him. “Is there anything else I can help with?”

“No,” she said. “You’ve done enough. Thank you again. Say thank you, Garret.”

“Thank you,” Garret said. He didn’t exactly seem sincere, but Andrew didn’t take it personally.

Andrew and Tori exchanged goodbyes, and he left the family to their day. On his way through the shelter, he passed by where Courtney was standing. She looked pleased. “Meet me back at my apartment later,” he murmured as he walked by.

“Thank you,” she said, whispering needlessly. “It means a lot.”

On his way back to Katelyn, who was still talking to the lady at the front, Andrew’s pocket vibrated once. He took out his phone and smiled involuntarily when he saw Linda’s name on his screen. “Hey Andrew!” the text began. “Carrie and I are gonna go see the new Star Wars, wanna come with?” Andrew wasted no time in telling her that he did.

“What do you think of the place?” the woman asked as Andrew returned.

“It seems pretty great,” Andrew replied. “I’ll definitely be down to help here however I can.”

“Awesome!” Katelyn said. “Natalie here was just telling me about something we can do today and-”

“Actually I was just about to tell you because I forgot to earlier. I have plans with Linda this afternoon and if I wanna make the bus I should get going here pretty soon.”

“Oh.” Katelyn adjusted her glasses. “Yeah, that’s totally fine. Will you be okay with coming tomorrow, or are you too busy?”

“I can make it tomorrow! I’d better get going, though. Call me later or text me with the details.” Katelyn just nodded. “It was nice meeting you Natalie. Have fun, Katelyn.”

“Yeah. You too,” she said without looking at him. She went back to talking to Natalie.

***

When Andrew got home that evening, he heard Eugene’s voice coming from the bathroom. At first Andrew thought he was talking to himself, but the way he paused between sentences said it was a conversation. The phone? But then it sounded like he was talking to more than one person. Was he hiding girls in the bathroom? That didn’t really sound like Eugene…or anybody. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked loudly.

The door to the bathroom swung open in response, revealing a fully functional mirror. Standing on either side of Eugene were Millie and Courtney. “Just entertaining your guest. Did you get lost?”

“Went to a movie,” Andrew said. “Sorry, Courtney.”

“No trouble,” she said. “Your friend offered to perform The Passing for you, but I wanted you to be here so I could thank you again. It means a lot to me to see them know.”

“Sorry it wasn’t exactly the feel-good movie of the year.”

Courtney smiled. “Tori’s never been very expressive.”

“She seems like a strong woman.” She nodded silently. He couldn’t tell for lack of tear ducts, but Andrew thought Courtney may have been crying. But a good kind of crying.

The candles were already set up for Andrew in the middle of the living room. “You ready?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, still smiling. She approached the circle of candles, but seemed a little apprehensive about entering them. She looked at Millie questioningly.

“You’ll be fine,” Millie promised.

Courtney locked eyes with Andrew and thanked him once more. Closing her eyes in contentment, Courtney stepped gracefully into the circle, and then immediately opened them again, wide with unpleasant surprise. She quickly stepped out. “It was cold!” she exclaimed. “It was…I’m sorry.” She started heading for the door of the apartment. Andrew tried to get in her way, but she walked through him, leaving him shivering and with that empty feeling you get when a roller coaster drops quickly.

“Wait, Courtney! Is there anything else I can do to help?”

“No!” she exclaimed, her voice laced with panic. “Thank you.” She was through the door before Andrew could say anything else. He reached an arm toward the door helplessly, and then dropped it to his side in defeat.

Nobody said anything for a little while. Andrew sat on the couch and thought, while Eugene sat in his computer chair and spun slowly about. Millie was the first to break the silence. “That other guy hasn’t shown up around here today. He must have really given up,” she said.

“Good,” Andrew muttered. Eugene looked at him curiously before realizing that he was talking to Millie. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”

That was most of the conversation for the rest of the night. Andrew turned in rather early thanks to his lack of sleep the previous evening, and it wasn’t until he was about to go to bed that Eugene spoke to him again. “Oh hey, your friend Katelyn called me while you were out,” he said. “She invited me to volunteer at some shelter tomorrow at five, which was weird. It’s not really my thing, and I’m gonna be recording for my channel tomorrow evening anyways, but she asked me to pass the invitation on to you.“ Andrew nodded sleepily. “What’s the story between you two anyways? Can’t tell if you’re a couple or just friends.”

Andrew stared at the ceiling for a little while before answering. “Old friends,” was the answer he went with. “Friends since first grade, best friends since like middle school.”

Eugene didn’t say anything else, which Andrew was okay with because he wanted to sleep. The sounds of Eugene clicking and occasionally typing a few feet away from him were distracting, but nothing compared to the previous evening’s noise pollution. He found sleep quickly, and the longest weekend of his life came to a close.