Page 74 of The Haunting of Lockton

“You’re welcome.”

Eager for something to distract my mind—and to distract the hand that wanted to slip back into his—I made myself busy with breakfast, whipping up batter for blueberry pancakes and grabbing a skillet for bacon.

“So,” Skyler said from the table. “You’re really a ghost.”

Alan stood beside me at the stove. “Yes. I am.”

“Your uniform… is it, um, what you died in?”

Alan glanced down at his chest and smoothed the front of his shirt. “Cleaner now than it was back then, but yes.”

“First World War or the Second?”

“The first,” Alan answered. “After my training, I was shipped off to the Front.”

“Damn.” Skyler blew out a breath. “Then you were deep in trench warfare.”

“Yes.”

As they chatted, I couldn’t help but smile, if only a little. Skyler was still clearly weirded out by Alan, but them talking was a good sign. Alan seemed to be enjoying it too. He only ever got to talk to me.

After breakfast, Skyler and I cuddled on the couch for a while and watched an anime he liked calledOne Piece. I was completely lost, not sure what was happening in the storyline, but I cast glances his way each time he chuckled or reacted to the show. He was much more entertaining to watch anyway.

“How much longer do you think you and Julian will investigate?” I asked once another episode ended.

My real question: how much longer until you leave?

“I’m not sure.” Skyler shifted on the couch, unwinding himself from where he’d had me pulled against him. I instantly missed his warmth. “We’ve barely scratched the surface on what’s really happening at Lockton. I’m sure we have plenty of content to make a good three or four episodes for our show, but Julian doesn’t do this for the views or for money. He wants to unravel the mystery of the place. Find real answers. But it feels like more than we can handle this time. I don’t know.” He placed a hand on my knee. “Honestly, I’d like if we just left everything a mystery. That shit with the deranged doctor trying to attack you last night? Fuck. Still gives me chills.”

“You were attacked?” Alan asked, appearing in his favorite chair beside us. Had he been there the whole time and made himself invisible? I wouldn’t put it past him.

Skyler jumped before softly laughing at himself. “I’ll never get used to that.”

“Almost,” I answered Alan. “I’m okay though, so stop giving me that worried look.”

Alan’s body flickered before stabilizing. “It’s strange, is it not? You’ve guided tour groups through the asylum for years and never had anything like that happen.”

A thought I’d had too. Before joining the Knox brothers on their investigation, I’d been in Lockton several times over the years and only ever experienced minor things.

“Roy mentioned feeling Julian’s light,” I pointed out. “A light he said all of them felt. Do you think that has something to do with the increased activity?”

“A light?” Alan asked. “Perhaps he was referring to your brother’s energy. I know little about psychics and mediums, but if he does have a gift of that sort, the spirits could be feeding off it.”

Skyler regarded him with a curious arch to his brow. “You’re a ghost. Can’t you go and talk to them?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” I said.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m bound to this property,” Alan explained. “I can only leave it on All Hallows’ Eve. And even if that weren’t the case, I’m not an expert on ghosts, even though Iamone. None of us are the same. When I first woke up here after my death, I couldn’t make myself visible or touch anything or anyone.” His body flickered. “I witnessed my mother receiving the news of my death and grieving. I wanted nothing more than to tell her that I was here and to comfort her. But I couldn’t.”

An ache spread through my chest. Alan had rarely spoken of those days.

“It took several decades for me to gain enough energy to start moving objects and making myself known, but by then, my parents were already gone.” Alan vanished from his chair and reappeared by the living room window. “So while I can’t speak for all ghosts, I believe some of them lose pieces of themselves over time. Their minds become warped. The sheer loneliness nearly drove me to that point as well.” He peered back at us. “I felt myself slipping more and more each day, that loneliness digging in deeper… and then a little boy fell out of a tree and scuffed his knee.”

My sternum squeezed.

Skyler’s gray eyes moved to me, and he grabbed my hand. His expression was unreadable.