Watch Your (After)life Move Forward

If Edwin was honest with himself, he wasn’t expecting Charles to stay. Sure, he declared in front of approaching Death that he wasn’t going anywhere, and he ran when he was told to, but the idea that he might actually stay was not an idea that Edwin was willing to sit with at this time. It just seems ridiculous that someone who barely knew him would think that running for the rest of time was the best way to spend their afterlife, yet there Charles was.

The smart thing would have been to get as far away from the school as humanly possible, but it seemed that Charles was still tied to the place by an invisible thread that neither of them could see. It didn’t take them long to figure out that the tie was Charles's physical body. Edwin didn’t have that problem because his body was destroyed the night he was taken. Charles, however, his body very much remained, and he didn’t seem keen on leaving it just yet.

“I don’t know what I’m waiting for,” Charles said as their first morning began to turn into afternoon. “Maybe I need to see it go into the ground or something.”

“Maybe,” Edwin replied, but he never felt that compulsion. However, he began to notice something that Charles wasn’t quite seeing yet. Despite it being well into the day, no one has reported Charles as missing. It didn’t appear that anyone was looking for him, and when Charles realized this, he looked rather distraught.

"I don't understand," Charles said as their first day together ended, and no one seemed to be looking for him. "I know I wasn't the most well-liked kid, but someone must have noticed."

"I'm sure they are looking," Edwin said, but he didn't really believe that. When he emerged from hell, one of the first things he did was track down his own disappearance. He thought there would be police, his parents throwing a fit, and people trying to figure out what happened. However, he was lumped in with his tormentors and all of their disappearances were labeled as "an act of God." With that label attached, everyone seemed to stop trying to figure anything out. A few of the other boys had parents who tried a little harder, but Edwin had to come to terms with the fact that his parents didn't seem to make much of an effort to figure out what had happened to him, if his research was anything to go by. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to look into it further, because it would be more proof that they didn't really care that their only son was gone.

"Mate, I'm dead, not stupid, you don't need to lie to me," Charles said.

"I don't think you're stupid," Edwin replied without thinking, but Charles looked at him like he didn't quite believe that. "You just died in a very violent and traumatic way. I suppose I thought I was doing the kind thing by trying to placate your feelings. I see now that it was insulting to do so."

"Apology accepted," Charles replied, even though Edwin was pretty sure he never actually apologized. They spent their second night together figuring out how Charles could change his clothing, and Edwin watched as he put a lot of thought and detail into each of the patches and pins that were on his jacket. Charles seemed a bit more settled by the time the sun rose on their second day, and they both watched as several adults left the school and began to walk the grounds.

They whispered that Charles was a troubled boy from one of those homes, and they were sure he must have run away, but they needed to look anyway. Edwin was suddenly furious on behalf of the young man standing next to him, who didn't even react to the disparaging comments about his upbringing or skin color. They sort of wandered behind the group as they walked, but froze when someone opened the door to the building where Charles's body was.

"We can go," Edwin said, but Charles shook his head. They watched as someone shouted in surprise, and more adults ran into the building and emerged with pale faces. Surely this was the moment they would call the police, someone, so they could start to figure out what happened because it was clearly not an accident.

Only that wasn't what happened.

No one mentioned calling the police or speaking with the other boys to try to figure out how this happened. Instead, Edwin watched as all the adults who were supposed to be the figures of authority for Charles, the ones who were supposed to protect him and keep him safe while he was away from home for school, began to talk about how Charles was a troubled boy who did foolish things. He must have gotten drunk by himself and froze; no one else was involved, just an accident, no reason to talk to the police or even talk to any of the other students.

They were ignoring the obvious bruises that had to be present on Charles's body. They were ignoring the fact that even if Charles fell into the water alone, there was no reason he shouldn't have had the energy to make it back to the main building for help. It made no sense for him to go to an abandoned place unless he was too injured to make it back to safety. No one here had anything to do with this, and that was the story they were going to tell Charles's parents when they came up to collect the body.

Edwin wasn't surprised when Charles turned around and began to walk away. He wanted to say that there was no possible way that everyone would believe this lie, there was no way that this injustice would stand, but Edwin knew that injustice was something that felt built into the foundations of St. Hilarion's, whether by an act of god or protecting the four, richer white boys over Charles's existence. Now was not the time for placating words. So Edwin just walked silently across the grounds with Charles, as the boys who killed him were waking up and would go on with their lives. At least Edwin's tormentors were also condemned, and on the days he was the angriest in the dollhouse, he reveled in that knowledge.

Even though he'd been out of hell for a little while now, Edwin hadn't left the campus just yet. Initially, he was telling himself that he was trying to figure out the rules of being dead. Then Charles appeared, and that was the new excuse, but he hadn't been brave enough to leave. Charles, however, seemed keen to walk off the property right now, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"So, where to next?" Charles asked as he stopped right on the edge of the property line. He glanced at Edwin like Edwin was the one with all of the answers.

"I suppose anywhere we want is the answer," Edwin replied, though it didn't dawn on him until this moment that they could go anywhere. Charles also seemed to realize that there weren't any limitations on where they could go next, and he smiled.

"London first, and we'll see from here?" Charles said, and Edwin nodded. They both stepped over the property line, and they were officially leaving the school that killed them both behind. It was a quiet morning with fresh snow on the ground that didn't acknowledge their presence as they walked through it. They briefly discussed whether or not they should try walking just because they could, and time was one thing they had plenty of now, but hopping on a train and settling in an empty corner of a quiet car was the place of choice. The landscape flew by as the school grew farther and farther away.

+++

London was not what Edwin remembered, which was much more deeply unsettling than he realized it would be. Charles, however, looked completely calm, and he looked around the busy platform. Edwin thought he was doing a good job of hiding just how out of place he was feeling, but despite only knowing him for a few days, it seemed Charles could already read him.

"Come on, I want to show you one of my favorite spots when I was a kid," Charles said. Edwin silently nodded and followed Charles into the busy city. Charles filled the silence with plenty of conversation as he talked about all the things he would do before he died, his favorite music, concerts, and all the things a teenager would enjoy. There was no mention of his parents or their role in this narrative, but Edwin allowed Charles to keep his own secrets. If he didn't want to talk about how his parents fit into his life when he was alive, then he wouldn't.

Every now and then, something strange would happen that set Edwin's teeth on edge. Most of the time, the living around them wasn't a problem, and as strange as it was to have all of these people looking through you, he found that he didn't mind it that much. When he was alive, Edwin wanted to be noticed by others as little as possible. Then there were the times when he was sure people were watching him and Charles. It was unnerving to have that sense of being perceived, but when he looked around, there was no way of telling who it was or if he was right.

"Do you remember what I told you right when we met?" Edwin asked when there was a lull in the conversation.

"A lot of that initial conversation is a bit of a blur for him. It took a minute for me to really focus and realize that you were actually there," Charles replied.

"I was surprised that you could see me and, as I explained later, I knew you were going to die when you said you could see me because only the dying see the dead," Edwin explained, and Charles nodded. "So, if we assume that theory is correct, only the dying see the dead, not everyone who is dying actually dies. Plenty of people survive not only near-death experiences, but also medical events where they are technically dead before they are saved."

"I think I get it, " Charles said carefully. "You're wondering if you stop seeing ghosts if you don't actually die. I wish we would have met sooner because I would have been a perfect test for this theory."

"You almost died before?" Edwin asked.

"Fractured my skull a couple of years ago, and things were a bit hairy there for a minute. They made it sound like I would die, but I didn't," Charles replied, though he sounded remarkably casual about the entire encounter. "I'd have another friend before, and after I died, not many people can say that." He said they would be friends, even if Charles were alive, with such confidence that it seemed the obvious answer, and Edwin almost believed it; they weren't simply friends by proximity and tragedy.

Almost.

"Perhaps we should spend some time learning about all of the rules of being a ghost. I only know some of them, and I am sure there are many more," Edwin suggested. That was how they spent their first two weeks in London, wandering around, finding old bookstores and holes in the ground, and other ghosts who knew more than they did. Edwin was a little nervous around these other ghosts, wondering if they could call Death or the demon, but they all seemed much more focused on themselves than on what they were up to.

They traveled, first by train, and then they learned how to navigate through the mirrors, which saved a lot of time, even though they had nothing but time. The more they saw of the world, the stranger it all seemed to get, and the older cities were by far more dangerous than the new ones. When centuries of blood soaked into the dirt, it seemed to bring in darker things that hung around more. Maybe that was why they ended up back in London after six months. There was blood soaked into the cobblestones; it drew in and kept dark things, but it felt like it was theirs.

Edwin was also still shocked that Charles was still hanging around. He thought that his friend (Edwin had finally admitted to himself that Charles was his friend) would have moved on a long time ago, but here he was. Edwin still felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it hadn't happened yet.

"We need purpose," Edwin said one night. They were on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the city. There were too many lights to see the stars, but they were lying out like they could see them anyway. "Unlike the others that we have met, we are not tethered to a location, object, or person. If we want to stay, we need to find something to do."

"What I would have given just a few months ago to stare down the idea of not doing anything for the rest of my life, but you're right, it sounds fucking awful," Charles replied. "But what should we do?"

"I'm not sure, but I am sure we will know it when we find it," Edwin replied. The answer came several weeks later as they were walking through the city, and there was a young boy, dead, hanging around one of the street corners. He looked a little lost, and when they walked up to him, he didn't startle.

"Hey buddy," Charles said in a tone of voice that Edwin hadn't ever heard from him. It made Edwin want to ask Charles if he had ever had any younger siblings, because that was the tone he remembered older siblings having when they talked to the younger ones. "I'm Charles, and this is Edwin."

"Hi there, I'm Joshua," the boy said. Now that they were looking, Edwin could see that Joshua's limbs were contorted in strange ways, and there was some horrible road rash on his skin. Joshua, it seemed, was hit by a car, and that was how he died.

"How come you're still here?" Charles asked as he sat down next to Joshua. Edwin joined them as he mentally adjusted his vocabulary so he could speak to someone who didn't appear to be older than five or six. Joshua shrugged and continued to poke at some of the dirt in the street.

"Is something troubling you?" Edwin asked, and Joshua immediately tensed up. "Charles and I are very good at keeping secrets, I assure you, so if something is troubling you, you can tell us and your secret will be safe with us." For half a second, Edwin was sure he had messed everything up, and Joshua would bolt. However, he didn't run; instead, Joshua seemed to relax as he looked at the two of them.

"Mummy told me not to play in the street, but I didn't listen to her," Joshua replied. "I thought about going, but mummy is very angry because she wants to know who was driving the car that hit me, and no one does. I don't like it when mummy is angry, so I'll wait until she's not angry anymore." It made sense that Joshua's mother would be angry that they couldn't find the person who was driving the car that killed her son, but the idea that the unknown and the anger were holding Joshua back was a concept that he hadn't considered. Joshua suddenly jumped to his feet as a woman crossed the street. Joshua looked a lot like her, and he followed her without looking back at either of them.

"Poor kid," Charles said as they watched. "His mum is angry, so he doesn't want to leave her, but I don't think any mum is going to stop being angry about her kid getting hit by a car and not getting any justice for it. We know about a lack of justice all too well." They had looked into it after returning to London, but the school had effectively covered up what happened to Charles. There was hardly any mention of it, and in the places where it was, it was listed as an accident or worded in a way that it was clear this was the consequence of Charles's own actions. Edwin thought of the word "an act of God," and while his parents didn't seem to care, his tormentors' parents spent some time trying to figure out what happened.

"Maybe we can solve it," Edwin said. "We have resources the living do not have, plus we can ask Joshua for any details he might remember. If we can find a way to get that information to the police, perhaps that would give Joshua's mother some closure, and he'd feel like he could go on."

"Like those novels we used to read?" Charles said, and Edwin nodded. "It's not a terrible idea, and we are looking for something to keep us busy these days."

The next day, they returned to the same street corner and found Joshua sitting and waiting again. It was pretty clear that he was waiting for his mum to get out of work so he could follow her back to their house. He was following her instructions perfectly in death because not listening is the very thing that got him killed. Edwin wasn't sure how he would react to seeing them again, but he lit up a little when they walked over.

The dead had time, so when Charles spent the entire time talking to Joshua and continuing to get to know him, Edwin was completely fine with it. There was no reason to try to get graphic details out of this child on day one. So they spent a few days getting to know Joshua, and some of that information was helpful. They knew he was five and a half years old, but he died two years ago. It was just him and his mum; his dad was "a bad man," so he wasn't around. When Joshua said that, Edwin swore he saw something strange on Charles's face, but it was there and gone before he could really acknowledge it.

At the end of the week, Edwin decided it was time to ask Joshua something about the day he died. He thought about the way Charles had been speaking to the boy over the last few days and tried to modify his question, so maybe it wouldn't hurt as much. If he could emulate Charles, maybe they would have an easier time getting any clues that might point them in the right direction.

"It must have been scary when the car came," Edwin said.

"Yeah," Joshua said as he fidgeted with his own clothing. The broken limbs were still hard to look at, but it seemed like the more they talked to Joshua, the less broken his body looked. "I didn't mean to not see it."

"I know," Edwin replied, and he hoped he sounded reassuring. Charles wasn't giving a look that screamed, 'please for the love of queen and country, stop talking,' so he continued. "It can be hard to see things painted in dark colors."

"Yeah!" Joshua said with all the indignation of a kid. "It was raining, and the car was black, so I couldn't see it."

"They should have been keeping an eye out for you, buddy," Charles said carefully. "They must have felt bad at first when the accident happened, came out to see if you were okay." Joshua frowned and made a face like he was thinking really hard.

"No, they were mean, like dad. They didn't check on me at all. They just drove away." Joshua was getting angry, but all of it melted away the second he laid eyes on his mum. Once again, it was as if Edwin and Charles had ceased to exist, and Joshua followed his mum down the street and back to their house.

"A black car? There have to be thousands of black cars that drive by here every day," Charles said.

"True, but we're looking for black cars with drivers who would feel like it was the better decision to drive away after hitting a child than stay," Edwin replied. "Could be someone with something to lose or maybe someone drunk, but Joshua made it sound like the car stopped at least for a second after the accident."

"Either way, someone who hit a kid with a car, unless they're a psycho, is probably not dealing with it well. If they're a drunk, maybe they're still hanging around the same pub trying to forget," Charles suggested. It was the evening, so it was the perfect time to make the rounds at all of the local pubs near the accident site.

+++

It turned out that there were a lot of pubs and places to drink around the accident site, but Edwin reminded himself that trying to rush through this wasn't going to help Joshua or his mother. They needed this information, but they needed the correction information above all else. So they started checking out all of the local drinking holes to see if anyone knew anything. The nice thing about London being such an old city is that some previous owners and regulars hadn't left their favorite bars in death. If there was anyone in a bar who knew more secrets than the bartenders, it was the ghosts who hadn't left in thirty years.

They got a lot of gossip and even more looks from a lot of older men, mostly, who seemed to think that they should be haunting a school instead of a bar. When someone said that, Charles burst out laughing and had to leave the room because he couldn't stop. When the grumpy old man ghost asked what the fuck was so funny, Edwin didn't know how to tell him that they were probably supposed to be haunting a school, but decided that they had better things to do instead.

"Did you hear about the accident?" Charles asked at the fifth place they had checked out in as many days. This time, they were asking a bartender named Rich, who had died sometime in the sixties. He was dressed a little more effeminately than Edwin normally saw men, and it looked like he'd been beaten to death, but asking about how he died seemed rude.

"Yeah, I heard about it, even saw the kid hanging around the corner. I wander sometimes, but I usually end up back here," Rich replied. "Poor kid didn't deserve to get hit like that, but judging from what I heard about it, he didn't suffer much."

"What do you mean?" Edwin asked.

"I mean, whoever hit that kid was flying down the fucking road, and they hit him hard enough that if I hadn't spoken to him myself and heard him say that he remembered moments after he got hit, I would have sworn he died instantly. It was that bad," Rich replied.

"Someone who did something like that might be drowning their sorrows, and we're trying to see if we can find them. Have you seen anyone acting guilty?" Edwin asked, and Rich barked a laugh.

"Half of the men in here are cheating on their wives, gambling their paychecks away, and throwing the rest at the drug dealers. There isn't a soul that wandered into pubs these days that doesn't look like he's drowning some sort of sorrow and looking guilty while doing it." Rich looked between the two of them and frowned. "Why are you trying to find the person who hit this kid anyway?"

"Joshua made it sound like the reason he's still here is because his mom is still mad that his killer wasn't brought to justice. We thought if she got closure, maybe he could too," Charles replied. Something softened in Rich's expression, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I can understand hanging around to keep an eye on someone," he said. Rich was watching the man who was acting as the bartender fondly. He was older, in his forties or fifties, which means he and Rich were probably around the same age when Rich died. "Playing detectives in your afterlife, are ya? Look, boys, I don't usually listen to what these guilty men are trying to forget, but I'll start, and if I hear anything, I'll make a note. Just check in a couple of days."

"Appreciate it, mate," Charles said, and he turned to leave, but Edwin hesitated.

"Perhaps, if we are able to help Joshua, we can help you too if you are also in need," he said. Rich looked struck dumb and took a long time before he was able to reply.

"I'll see you boys in a few days," Rich replied without answering the question. Edwin nodded and left the pub with Charles in tow.

"You think Rich might be stuck here like Joshua is, too?" Charles asked.

"I think a young man being beaten to death isn't uncommon, which makes him still being here an anomaly," Edwin said as he straightened his jacket. "That alone makes his death worth looking into." Edwin didn't mention the fact that he remembered hearing stories from his father about men who weren't quite manly enough getting beaten to death in the streets, but the adults around him did a good job of not explicitly saying why those men were targeted. That was another case, and for now, they had to try and track down someone who was speeding, drove a black car, and was callous enough that they didn't bother to get out after hitting a five-year-old.

+++

It didn't occur to either of them to follow Joshua's mother, whose name was Angela, until several days into the case (Edwin felt a little strange referring to this entire thing as a 'case,' but if he was asked what they were doing or working on, he couldn't come up with another explanation). Joshua would follow her back to the house at the end of the day, and Edwin wasn't sure how he'd react if they went with him. He seemed to forget anyone else existed when his mum came into view. That sort of focus seemed like a breeding ground for someone who might lash out if they felt threatened.

So they followed her to work one day. They made sure Joshua was out of sight once they started walking.

"I can see what he means," Charles said as they were walking down the street. Angela was a few steps ahead of them, and it looked like she was heading to a tube station.

"You see what who means what?" Edwin asked.

"Joshua, he says his mum is angry, and I can see it," Charles replied. Edwin frowned as he looked at Angela as she walked down the street. She seemed completely normal to him. She didn't go out of her way to greet or look at strangers, but Edwin never did that either, and he wasn't an angry person. There was nothing in her body language that suggested Angela was angry. Edwin was about to turn around to either tell Charles he was obviously wrong or demand that he explain himself, but he paused.

Much like Angela, there wasn't anything specific about the way Charles was walking or his facial expressions. If anyone could see him passing by, they wouldn't think anything about it. Yet they had spent weeks together now, and Edwin felt the doubt fade away. So much in the same way that Charles seemed utterly convinced that Angela was still angry, Edwin was wholly convinced that Charles knew what he was talking about. Charles must have felt Edwin staring because he glanced over.

"Something wrong, mate?" Charles asked.

"No, nothing," Edwin replied. "I am just realizing that you are much better at people than I am, and I need to learn to accept your theories on people over my own. I often rely on my own ability to see things, so learning to trust the intuition of others is something new for me to experience and get used to."

"I'm glad that you think I'm good at something," Charles replied as he knocked their shoulders together. Edwin was about to argue that Charles was good at many things, but Angela arrived at her job, and they needed to pay attention. Unfortunately, her job didn't seem to net them any more information about Joshua's accident. But following her when she took afternoon tea, Edwin got to see the anger that Charles had seen earlier. Angela was sitting outside of her work, staring at the ground, shaking a little, and clenching her teeth so badly that Edwin thought they were going to break. It didn't last long, and she pulled herself together to go back in and get through work.

"Perhaps we should break into Scotland Yard," Edwin said as they watched Angela cross the street so she could meet up with Joshua, and he could follow her home. "Though I am not sure it counts as 'breaking in' if we are just walking through the walls."

"I'm going to guess breaking into Scotland Yard was not something you would have suggested when you were alive," Charles said. "I'm a different story, of course, I'd break in in a second." Edwin didn't say anything about the fact that Charles died protecting a classmate and refusing to fight back against his own attackers; everything about him at school indicated that he wasn't a delinquent, but Edwin supposed it didn't matter. It was late at night when they walked through the walls of Scotland Yard. No one reacted to them, but they hadn't confirmed the theory about people who had almost died could also see them, and it wasn't something Edwin was keen to explore. It took a little time to find the file on Joshua's accident, though calling it an accident still felt disengenuous, but it was shockingly empty. Suddenly, Angela's anger made more sense. No one was working on the case, and very little was done to even try to find who killed Joshua that night. The lack of information and effort, combined with losing her only son, Edwin, understood her anger, and he understood why Joshua felt compelled to look after her.

"No one else is trying to figure out what happened to him," Charles said softly.

"We are, and we will continue to," Edwin replied.

+++

It took a couple of tries, but eventually, someone heard something that seemed relevant. It just so happened to be Rich, which was a good thing as far as Edwin was concerned. The other people that lurked in pubs were mostly angry old drunks, but Rich wasn't angry or a drunk. He was staying in the bar for a different reason, and Edwin had a feeling it wasn't as different from Joshua's story as they might have thought. He waved them in when they walked into the busy pub and gestured for them to follow him into the back.

"I saw someone I think you might want to look into," Rich said. "He's been back a couple of times now, and he gets really wasted every time I see him. He's been mumbling about things and says that his wife has left him. He spent some time in jail for drunk driving and lost his license."

"That doesn't seem very definitive to the man who could have killed Joshua," Edwin pointed out.

"I would have said so too, but here's the thing: this guy was driving a taxi, and losing his license meant that he lost his income," Rich replied.

"So if he got busted for hitting a kid, he would have lost his job," Charles said, "plus cabs are black, so the car color lines up."

"You said he said his wife just left him?" Edwin said, and Rich nodded. "So, there is a chance that she could have threatened to leave him two years ago if he got in trouble for driving drunk and lost his job. So there are two motivations for him to run instead of staying to deal with what happened."

Rich didn't have an address, but he did have a name, which should be enough for them to figure out where this guy lived. His name was Danny Wattons, and he was in his mid-thirties with an ex-wife and three kids. There was something about the fact that Danny had kids, yet he didn't stop when he hit a kid with his car, that really turned Edwin's stomach. They tracked Danny down to the flat he was living in, now that his wife and children had left. The taxi was left abandoned on the road, but there was no visible damage. Even if there was physical evidence left, it was two years later, and it was long gone. They stood outside the building, looking up.

"How are we going to do this if it's him?" Charles asked.

"What do you mean?" Edwin replied.

"If it's him, how are we going to prove it?" That was a fair question, and they both realized they didn't have an answer. The first thing they needed to do was determine whether Danny was the man they were looking for. He was passed out drunk at noon when they walked through his front door, and the flat looked like it hadn't been tidied up in weeks. There were things thrown everywhere, and even more alcohol bottles thrown all over the place. If Danny was under any legal orders to stop drinking after his arrest, he was not following them.

"If there was damage to the car, he couldn't take it to a shop to get it fixed, correct?" Edwin asked, and Charles nodded.

"Yeah, considering the accident, people would probably ask questions. He'd either have to find someone else to do the work or do it himself," he said.

"Perhaps one of the pieces of the car with the damage is still here," Edwin said. Danny was still dead to the world as they began to look through all of the closets. He was about to suggest they give up for the day and maybe look elsewhere when Edwin noticed that this was a building that had been around during World War II. There might be a small shelter nearby that Danny could be using to hide things. It was hidden under the floor in the kitchen, and when they both fell through the floor, they found more than they were expecting.

It appeared that Danny had changed pieces on his car more than once, if the pile of car parts was anything to go by. There were half a dozen cracked headlights alone, but there were also three different damaged bumpers, and one of them looked like it might have blood on it.

"If this damage is anything to go by, Danny didn't just hit Joshua, he could have hit someone else, and done god knows how much damage to public and private property," Edwin said.

"We have possible evidence, but what do we do with it?" Charles asked because neither of them knew how to turn this pile of rubbish into police evidence that could help Angela get closure.

+++

Edwin wasn't entirely sure that Danny was the man who killed Joshua, but the evidence in his crawl space was certainly compelling. The problem was they had no idea how to move objects as the dead, and if they moved the evidence, that could ruin any chance for a trial and for Danny to go to jail. So they needed to figure out a way to get the crawl space searched by the police, with all the proper paperwork, so none of it could be thrown out of court.

The problem was that he had no idea how to do that. Charles didn't have any ideas either. The other ghosts that they met all looked at them like they were insane when they mentioned what they wanted to do. It wasn't making things easy for any of them. Edwin was starting to worry that this entire idea was a bad one and that they would have to give up. They hadn't made any promises to Joshua yet, yet giving up still felt like they were breaking one.

Edwin wasn't really paying attention to their surroundings as he wandered down an abandoned alley with Charles. So when the rune on the ground activated and suddenly they were both unable to move, Edwin felt a little stupid for walking into what appeared to be a trap. All he could think was that the demons must have gotten desperate to get him back if they were willing to do this. They were going to take him, but the thing that terrified Edwin more than going back to hell was what could happen to Charles. He knew Charles wouldn't just let a demon drag Edwin back to hell without a fight, and the mere idea that Edwin's demon problem could get Charles hurt was unacceptable. He wasn’t marked for hell, so they couldn’t take him, but they could find plenty of ways to make him hurt. Charles shoved Edwin behind him, which was more proof that Charles was absolutely going to put himself between Edwin and the demon when they found him.

"If this is a prank, it's not a fucking funny one," Charles called out. "And if you're trying to take us, that's not happening either." Edwin was about to admonish him when there was the sound of someone laughing. They both turned to see a man in his late thirties, blond, smoking a cigarette, and wearing a trench coat.

"Little wandering spirits always say the funniest things," the man said as he walked toward them. He was clearly alive and could see them, which meant he was either actively dying or their theory about people who had nearly died was correct. "You two have been making the rounds around town, haven't you?"

"Not sure why that's any of your business," Charles snapped.

"Oh, everything about anything is my business," the man replied. "My sister mentioned seeing some spirits wandering around and asking questions. She wanted to leave you two alone, but I’m a little more hands-on with these things, so I came into town. Name's John, my family tends to keep an eye on anything supernatural that wanders into the city, and I was surprised when two teenage ghosts started wandering around. They aren't attached to anything and, at first, I just thought you were wandering around for fun. Then you started talking to people and asking all sorts of questions. Everyone is getting nervous about what you two are up to; they're getting nervous, and one of them called in a favor to me. So here I am, taking care of you two, so things around here can get back to normal because my sister's bleeding heart is going to lead to her bleeding out one of these days."

"Wait," Edwin said, "we're not hurting anyone or doing anything nefarious."

"So says the spirit that stinks of hell," John replied. "We have a fresh one and one that smells like a big demon problem. I don't like demon problems, so again, why shouldn't I get you two taken care of?"

"We're not doing anything wrong," Charles said. "We're trying to figure out a way to help." John narrowed his eyes and leaned against the wall opposite them.

"And what do you think you can do to help?" he asked.

"Joshua, the boy from the corner," Edwin said. "He's not moving on, and we believe it is because his mother is still so angry that his death remained unsolved. He was hit by a car, and our theory is that if we solve his death, she won't be angry, and Joshua won't linger here anymore." John stared at the two of them for what felt like a very long time, and Charles was still acting like a human shield.

"And why would you want to do something like that?" John asked. Charles glanced over his shoulder at Edwin, and he looked uncertain because the answer did not seem like it would go over well with a man like this.

"No one ever bothered to solve our cases," Charles said. "The police have given up on Joshua, the living have given up on him, so now it's our turn." John looked like he didn't entirely believe what they were saying, but he wasn't outright calling them liars either. He just stared at them both, smoke floating up into the sky, like he was trying to figure them out.

"Your theory isn't bad," John said after a long while. "The dead don't want to move on for so many reasons, and when you're dealing with kids, even more so little kids, the reasons can become even harder to figure out. People die, it's what happens, but when young souls die, and they don't move on, it gets even more complicated. That being said, that isn't a good reason for you two to stick around, and that is the thing that's worrying me."

"I escaped," Edwin said after he briefly considered lying. "I wasn't supposed to be there; it was a mistake because of stupid bullies at school, and I was the one who had to pay the price. So I got myself out, and I'm not going back." There was something in John's expression that seemed to indicate that he might know more about hell and demons than he was letting on, which Edwin wasn't sure was a good or bad thing.

"Fair enough, then why are you still here? You're not marked for hell," John said as he turned his attention to Charles. Edwin wanted to tell John not to ask that question because he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. Months had passed since Charles had died, and Edwin didn't want to think about the fact that he might say that he didn't want to be here anymore or that he wanted to leave.

"I don't want to leave him," Charles replied, as if it were that obvious and that simple. John seemed to accept that answer for what it was and just looked at the two of them.

"So, how is it going, detectives?" he asked. He was mocking them a little, but there was something about that world that scratched an itch in Edwin's brain that he didn't even know was there. Despite being trapped and every instinct screaming that John was dangerous, Edwin decided that the best thing to do was to continue to be honest. So he explained how the case had gone so far. He told John why they went to all the pubs and looked for people who looked like they were drowning their sorrows. He didn't mention Rich's name, but explained that they were pointed in the direction of someone who might be a suspect. When they investigated the house, they found evidence that this wasn't a one-time thing, and they could be dealing with someone who was driving recklessly and had possibly hurt others several times.

"We have seen what appears to be evidence," Edwin said. "But we don't know what to do with it. How do we get it to the police? How do we keep it from being thrown out of court if we move it or the chain of custody is broken?" John nodded as he watched the two of them carefully. Charles was still eyeing him like he wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Edwin didn't either, but Charles was also the one who looked like he was going to attempt to fight a living man if it came down to it.

Eventually, John waved his hand, and the rune that had been holding the two of them in place vanished. For a moment, Edwin could practically see Charles considering whether or not they should bolt, but they both decided to stay, at least for now.

"Here's what I'm going to do," John said. "First of all, consider this me officially hiring the two of you for this job or case or whatever the fuck you're going to call it. The second thing is, I have a few friends at Scotland Yard who might listen if I point them in the right direction. What you two need to do is make sure that they find the crawl space without them knowing that someone was trying to point them in that direction. It needs to look like they just happened to find it, and you need to figure that part out."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Charles asked. "We can't interact with the world."

"You can, it just takes more focus and energy than either of you has attempted yet. If you can get the evidence in the hands of the police, we'll figure out the next steps."

+++

Edwin decided that trying to figure out the 'next steps' now was probably not the right move, nor was trying to figure out what they would be paid with. All they knew was that John, who still hadn't given them a last name, had officially hired them in some capacity. It was strange to think about this as a job now, but they were looking for purpose, and work could be purpose for many people. They couldn't do much of anything until the police checked Danny's home, so they found a place nearby and decided hanging out was the best option.

"I thought you were going to try and fight him," Edwin said at one point.

"I was about to," Charles said without hesitating. The mere idea that someone cared enough about him to fight someone else was a thing that Edwin was having a hard time wrapping his head around.

"There's no need for it," Edwin replied, which made Charles turn and look at him as if he were insane. "You have nothing you need to prove to me, and if you ever want to move on, I would understand."

"Why would I want to move on? You wouldn't be there," Charles said. Of course, Edwin wouldn't be there; he was the property of a demon, but there was something about the way Charles was framing it that made Edwin realize that even if they were going to the same place, if they were going to be separated, Charles still wouldn't want to go.

No one had ever looked at him the way Charles does, and Edwin didn't know what to do with it. They hadn't known each other very long, and every logical bone in his dead body told him that being so attached after knowing each other for so little time made absolutely no sense. There was no possible way they could care that much about one another this quickly, but the more he thought about it, the more Edwin started to come to terms with the fact that he feared going back to hell not just because it was hell, but because he'd lose Charles and be alone again.

"I need you to promise me something," Edwin said. "If the demon that owns me ever finds us, you need to let it take me."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Edwin?" Charles sounded angry, but Edwin wasn't going to let that deter him.

"I saw the way you were willing to protect me from John, and I appreciate that more than you know. But you cannot fight a demon, and if it happens, when it happens, you need to let it happen, because I cannot risk them hurting you," Edwin explained.

"I'm not letting them get you," Charles said, which wasn't an answer, and he looked furious at the mere idea of letting the demon take Edwin. The conversation wasn't going anywhere useful, and Edwin decided it was best to drop it for now. He'd bring it up again soon, remind Charles that he needed to make sure he let it happen, because that's how it had to go.

It took a week, but Scotland Yard eventually turned up at Danny's home. After the conversation that didn't go well, Edwin decided the best use of their time was figuring out how to interact with objects in the real world. They were far from consistent when it came to their success rate, which was not good. They had this chance and this chance only to get Danny arrested. Charles was already angry when they followed the police into Danny's home, but they went directly to the crawl space. The door was on the floor, and they needed to figure out a way to make the door obvious enough that Scotland Yard wouldn't miss it, but not so evident that Danny would hide it.

"The fuck are you doing here?" Danny slurred, so he was already drunk, which helped.

"You're not supposed to be drinking, Danny," one of the detectives replied, but their tone was far too casual.

"The fuck else am I supposed to do all day. You took away my car, so I don't have a job, my wife left, so drinking sounds like a great way to pass the time," Danny said as he collapsed into one of the sofas in his sitting room. One of the detectives stayed with Danny, and the others fanned out into the house to begin the search. Part of Edwin wanted to stay in the living room to see if they could hear what excuses Danny might come up with, but John made it sound like they might only have one chance to get this evidence into the hands of the police. They dropped through the floor to the crawl space, which still had all of the evidence, the broken car parts, and it still appeared that there was blood on some of them.

"Any ideas?" Charles asked as he looked around.

"I believe the best way would be to open the door just enough that they notice it and use that as an excuse to open it," Edwin replied.

"The way this door is made, we can't just crack it open. It's going to close on its own unless something is in the way," Charles said as he looked it over. "Unless there is something in the way, it's just going to snap shut again because of gravity."

"So we need to manipulate an object and the door before the police leave," Edwin said. "We should split up the work then. John made it sound like being an older spirit might have an advantage, so I work on getting the door open, and if you work on getting something that could keep it open."

"Like what?" Charles asked, "If we make the object that holds the door open out of place, it might raise some alarm bells. If Danny is paranoid, he might say that the police did it. So we need something that is going to make sense and isn't going to make him claim that he's being framed or something." The police were still making their way through the flat and hadn't reached the kitchen yet, but they didn't have much time. Charles moved back into the kitchen to see if he could find what they were looking for, while Edwin began focusing on manipulating the door. It wasn't easy, and if he were alive, he swore he'd be sweating and breathing heavy like he ran a mile. The door was just beginning to move when Charles dropped back down.

"A bottle top," he said. "There are so many pieces from liquor bottles lying around, and I think a bottle cap right at the hinge of the door will keep it open enough that the police are going to quite literally trip over it." They could hear the police making their way back down from the upper floor to the ground level, so it was now or never.

It wasn't until the door was open and the singular bottle cap was very slowly making its way into its proper place that Edwin realized that he and Charles were leaning heavily on each other. Their hands were touching, and even through both their respective gloves, Edwin could swear he felt his only friend's presence. The cap was in place, the door came down, and it was cracked just enough that someone was going to trip over it. It also, apparently, took a lot out of them because Edwin just let himself collapse to the floor, and Charles was right there with him. They were sitting very close, leaning against the crawl space wall, just waiting to see if it would work.

The heavy sound of footsteps had both of them looking up at the same time, and Edwin held still like that was going to make all the difference in the world. It sounded like someone was right above them, and then there was the sound of someone tripping. Edwin glanced at Charles, and they both waited. Whoever was above them swore loudly.

"Danny, you need to fix your floor before someone breaks their neck and sues you," a voice called out.

"My floor is fucking fine, don't blame me for your bullshit," Danny yelled back. A voice muttered under their breath, but they stopped right where the door was. All they had to do was see that it wasn't a loose floorboard and there was something here. Neither of them moved until the door to the crawl space opened and they were met with the horrified face of a detective from Scotland Yard. They called for backup and immediately said that Danny needed to get in here as well. When Danny saw that the door was open, he freaked out, saying no one should have been able to find it, but the detective showed him the bottle cap and said that was why he was found out.

They called in forensics to collect the evidence, and Danny was led out to a car. Edwin turned to Charles, and they both climbed out of the crawlspace and watched from the flat as Danny got arrested. He turned and made eye contact with both of them. Edwin knew, in that moment, that Danny could see them. He shouldn't have been surprised that someone with a drinking problem as bad as Danny's, and someone who apparently drove intoxicated regularly, had nearly died in the past. If Danny had anything to say about their presence, it was lost behind the closed, locked door of the police car. He didn't stop staring at them until the car pulled away and took him back to the station.

+++

John found them the next day, and Edwin was eager to see if Joshua was still at the corner, but John pointed out that the justice system doesn't exactly move quickly and that Danny hadn't been charged with Joshua's accident and might not be for a while.

"How do we tell her and bring her a little peace while allowing the system to do its thing?" Charles asked. "We're frozen in time, and so is Joshua, but she's not, and just sitting on this information for months or years seems cruel."

"You boys think jumping the gun is a good idea?" John asked.

"I believe," Edwin replied, but he hesitated. "I believe even if Danny is not convicted of the crime, knowing will help Angela get some closure. Danny might not be convicted of Joshua's death, but perhaps there are other crimes that he will be convicted of, and that will be enough to give her a little peace." John didn't look like he believed that, but he shrugged like he wasn't the one who hired them.

"This is your theory, boys, let's see what happens," he replied. John walked away from them, and Charles just shrugged, and they both followed them. It was in the evening, which meant Angela was home and Joshua wouldn't be on the corner anymore. They didn't know how he would react to other spirits, though, so Edwin made sure they didn't get too close as John walked right up to the door and knocked. It took a moment, but Angela eventually opened the door.

"Hello, are you Angela Parkins?" John asked.

"I am. What can I help you with?" she replied.

"I'm a private detective who was working with a client regarding some damaged property that occurred over the last couple of years from cars," John said as he slid his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Edwin didn't think John looked like much of a private detective, but he wasn't about to say that out loud. "I recently turned in a report to Scotland Yard, and they arrested a man named Danny Wattons. We found evidence that he's been involved with multiple car accidents over the years, including links to damaged property and evidence that he could have hit a pedestrian." Angela froze and turned very white. "I understand your son was the victim of a hit and run a few years ago, correct?"

"Yes," Angela said, her voice low.

"Nothing official has happened yet, and he hasn't been charged with anything, but considering the evidence we found, I think there is a good chance that Wattons was involved with the accident that took your son's life," John said. "I have to emphasize that he hasn't been charged with anything and the justice system doesn't exactly move quickly, but I also know Scotland Yard didn't give your son's case the attention it deserved, and I thought you deserved to be kept informed."

"Do you believe he is the one who hit my baby?" Angela asked. John glanced over his shoulder and made brief eye contact with Edwin and Charles.

"I can only offer my professional opinion, ma'am, and this information can't leave this conversation because I shouldn't even be telling you this, but I do. Wattons was a taxi driver with a record, a drinking problem, and a wife who was looking for any excuse to leave him. That's likely why he didn't stop after he hit your son," John explained. Edwin couldn't hear the rest of their conversation, but the door eventually closed, and John walked away. "We'll see if he's still there in the morning." John continued down the road without waiting for either of them to say anything.

"I think we can both agree that he's something of an asshole," Charles said as they watched him walk down the road. Edwin hummed in agreement, but he couldn't take his eyes off Joshua's house. They wandered down the road together and eventually made it to the roof of another building. "Do you think he's going to be there in the morning?"

"I do not know," Edwin replied. "I also do not know what will happen if he is, and we will. John said he hired us, but if Joshua is still here, then we did not succeed, did we?"

"It looks like Danny is guilty, and if Joshua is still here, maybe we just have to wait for the justice system to do its thing for Angela to get any closure," Charles said. "That being said, I don't think he's going to be there," Edwin remembered, recalling how he was going to second-guess Charles's assessment that Angela was angry, but eventually decided he was better off holding his tongue. If Charles thought they did enough and that Angela was going to have enough closure for Joshua to move on, he was going to trust Charles's instincts on this aspect of the case over his own.

When they both returned to the corner the next morning, John was already waiting for them. He was leaning against the wall of the building opposite the corner where Joshua would spend his days, smoking a cigarette and taking up space in a way Edwin could only describe as 'lurking.' He followed John's line of sight over to the corner, and Joshua was nowhere to be found. The time said that Angela would be coming by any moment now on her way to work, and Joshua would be following her if he hadn't moved on. If Angela noticed John, she didn't say anything, and she walked across the street and onto the tube station without a second glance at anyone. Joshua was nowhere to be found; the corner remained empty, and the ghost of a dead child was gone.

"He's gone," Edwin said, and his own tone of voice took him by surprise. He wasn't expecting how breathless he would sound or how the crack that suddenly appeared as he was overcome with the fact that they helped a child move on. They helped a grieving mother find enough peace that her child, who had spent two years dutifully watching her over her because he couldn't leave his mum angry, felt like she wasn't angry anymore and wasn't here anymore.

"It appears that is the case," John replied, seemingly not caring that he appeared to be talking to himself. While Edwin couldn't take his eyes off the corner, he glanced up to see Charles staring at Angela's retreating form with wide eyes.

"She's a little less angry today," he whispered like he was witnessing a miracle. He turned to Charles and grinned. "We did that."

"Yeah, we did," Edwin said.

"That you did," John said as he threw down his cigarette and stubbed it out with his toe. He gestured with his head for the two of them to follow him, and Edwin was walking on cloud nine and didn't see a problem with it. John had them at his mercy once, and he let them go; doing it again seemed rather pointless. He went down an alley so they could have a little more privacy and reached into his jacket. "I told you boys that I hired you, and that means you need to get paid."

"We're dead, what good is money?" Charles asked.

"I was going to pay you with money," John said, pulling out a book that looked extremely well-worn and holding it out to Edwin. "You are both wandering around this world with no information and no defenses. You don't even know how I managed to capture you the other day, and I had to practically walk you both through how to interact with solid objects. You have no fucking clue what you're doing, and if you're both serious about sticking around, you need to learn what you can and can't do, and you need to learn how to defend yourselves because the next person that traps you in a rune isn't going to let you go like I did."

Edwin would have been lying to himself if he claimed that his hands didn't shake a little as he reached out to take the book from John's hand. It took significant effort to make sure it stayed in his possession, which appeared to be one of the many issues John indicated they needed to fix.

"Now, here is the one and only warning I'm going to give you two," John continued, and that dangerous edge to him appeared again. Edwin swore he could see sparks in his hands, which was terrifying to see. "I told you that my family keeps an eye on the supernatural shit that wanders around this city, and we have for generations. I'm usually elsewhere, but I decided to come and make sure everything was fine. If I get wind from her or anyone that you two aren't keeping your noses clean, then Death and Hell being hot on your heels will be the least of your problems." John smiled at them, and it was not a nice one. "I'm glad we're on the same page. Keep up the good work, boys." John turned, walked out of the alley, and vanished around the corner without another word.

"How are we supposed to avoid pissing someone off if we never got their name?" Charles asked after a beat of silence. Edwin didn't have an answer to that and just looked at the book in his hands.

"We're going to run into a lot of people, living and dead, should we continue to stay here." Edwin glanced at Charles, who was still looking at the end of the alley, as if he could figure out who John was retroactively. "If you still want to stay."

"Why are you asking me that, like you think I'm going anywhere?" Charles asked, immediately turning his full attention to Edwin. "I'm not going anywhere without you, period, and I'm going to keep repeating that until you believe me."

"I appreciate that," Edwin said. He slid the book into his coat jacket, and they both walked out into the city. Eventually, they wandered into the pub where Rich was, and he looked up when they arrived.

"I heard Joshua isn't here anymore," Rich said, because apparently word traveled fast.

"That's correct," Edwin said, and he waited, because he had a feeling of what was going to happen next. Rich was staring at the bartender, who was serving the few early-morning patrons.

"I didn't exactly die of natural causes, and I might have reasons for staying," Rich said carefully. "Do you think you could help me?" Edwin glanced at Charles, who was always smiling warmly at Rich.

"Yeah, mate, we'll help you," Charles said.

"Tell us what you need, and we'll go from there," Edwin finished.