A Long Way Down

by Edward Kendrick

  Chapter 10

  “We did it!” Russ said, giving Daw a quick kiss.

  It was two months after he, Daw, and the ghostie boys had begun turning the abandoned hotel into a ghost shelter. In the interim, Russ had managed to convince Daw that they should at least try to be something more than friends. It had taken time. Daw was reluctant to totally commit to a relationship and had questioned why Russ wanted one, considering how the younger man’s former boyfriend had betrayed him.

  “I want to find out if I’m worth more than he thought,” Russ had replied.

  “Of course you are! You’re a good—”

  “If you say ‘kid’ one more time,” Russ had growled.

  Daw had laughed at that. “Okay, you’re a good man and deserve a lot more than I have to offer.”

  “Bullshit. You helped me when I first hit the streets. You didn’t have to do that. And when I died…? I wouldn’t have made it without you. Then there’s your commitment to the shelter. No, Daw, I’m not buying your excuses. If you don’t want me in your life, say so and I’ll leave.” Russ had smiled wryly. “I’m sure there’s no time limit on when we can move on.”

  “I’d never say that,” Daw had replied after a long moment, during which Russ had been certain he’d tell him to go. “I do want you in my life. You mean a hell of a lot to me. There’s not many people I can say that about. Or could,” he’d added, “when we were alive. So, yeah, I’m willing to see if we can make it work.”

  “That’s all I’m asking.” Russ had stood on tiptoe, cupping the nape of Daw’s neck, and kissed him. He had been elated when Daw had kissed him back as if he meant it. “Was that so hard?” he’d asked when they broke apart.

  Daw had grinned as he pulled Russ against his body. “Nope. Not hard at all. Kind of nice, in fact. Now if we could screw…”

  He’d laughed when Russ replied, “You just want me for my body.”

  Then Daw had sobered. “No. Sure it would be great if we could, but it’s possible to care a lot for someone without bringing sex into the mix. I might not have believed that, back when, but after watching the others I know it’s true.” He’d cupped Russ’s jaw with his hand, gazing into his eyes. “I do care for you. I think I always will. No, I know I always will.”

  That had been the beginning of their commitment to each other on a deeply personal level.

  * * * *

  It took a lot of effort on all the ghosts’ parts to turn the abandoned hotel into a shelter they could feel proud of.

  About halfway through the renovations, Van had called out for someone to hand him a tape measure. Russ was standing next to the toolbox and without thinking he picked it up to give to Van.

  “Whoa,” he whispered when he realized what he’d done.

  “Step one,” Jon had said with a grin. “Next thing you know, you’ll be helping us scrub the walls, too.”

  Daw tried to hide his envy that Russ had made the first step to being more than an observer to all that was happening. Russ must have seen something in his expression, because he went over to give Daw a tight hug. “I bet a week from now you’ll be moving things, too.”

  “I hope,” Daw replied disconsolately. “I hate being useless.”

  Russ had been correct. It took more than a week, but the day came when Daw was able to hold a dust rag to wipe the windowsills free of the dust that had accumulated from the renovations. The sense of accomplishment went a long way to making him feel that he was finally a true member of the ghostly team.

  * * * *

  “Now all you have to do is get some furniture,” Kurt said when the shelter was to the point where that was the last thing it needed.

  “More than what someone stored in the basement,” Tonio added.

  That was one thing the ghosts had discovered when they had found that a door which had been nailed shut at the back of the kitchen behind what had been the hotel’s restaurant. It opened onto a decrepit stairway, missing most of its treads, which led down to a small storeroom. They’d decided it had probably been secured when the hotel had been abandoned to keep trespassers from falling to their deaths.

  “Not a problem for us,” Brody had commented with a wry grin.

  The room was filled with discarded beds and a few tables. Not enough for every room, but a start.

  Late one night, they had carried them into the yard behind the shelter to clean and repair as best as possible. When they had, they moved them up to six of the bedrooms.

  “Where are you two going to stay?” Gene asked Daw after they’d finished.

  Daw looked at Russ, who shrugged, before replying, “Not upstairs. Those rooms are for our guests, I guess you could call them.”

  “Here’s an idea,” Tonio said. “Turn the restaurant into your living quarters. A couple of beds, a sofa or chairs, a desk, and you’ll be set.”

  “Then it would be obvious someone’s living here, which we don’t want,” Daw replied.

  “Use the kitchen,” Gene suggested. “It’s not visible from any of the windows.”

  “That’s still asking for trouble if some nosy parker who wants to check it out breaks in.”

  “True, so I guess you’re going to have to use one of what used to be the communal bathrooms, rather than making it a dorm room. It means you have four less beds, but I have the feeling there aren’t going to be dozens of ghosts needing a place to stay.”

  “Damn, I hope not,” Russ exclaimed. “There can’t be that many murders in the city.”

  “Bet me,” Brody replied, rolling his eyes.

  “Okay, I guess there are,” Russ agreed sadly, “but most of the victims know who killed them, or the cops figure it out real fast. We’re here for the ones who are forced to stick around until the police can prove who murdered them.”

  “You know what,” Kurt said, “you should use both bathrooms. One for you two, the other as sort of a common room, I guess you could call it. Put in a bookcase, a few chairs, a table, so they have a place to spend their time instead of staring at four bedroom walls.”

  Russ nodded. “The couple of shelters I crashed at when the weather sucked had what they called recreation rooms with TVs, and one had a pool table.”

  “TVs are a no-go since there’s no electricity,” Brody pointed out. “At least there’s phone reception, for what that’s worth.”

  “Says the man who can’t live without his,” Jon said, shaking his head.

  “Back to the original discussion, or problem I guess,” Van said. “You need more furniture.”

  “We’ll cruise the alleys, like we were going to do for the carriage house,” Kurt replied.

  “That means we need to ask Mike to rent a truck to get the stuff from there to here,” Jon pointed out. “He’s going to love that.”

  “He will once he sees what we’ve done do far,” Brody said.

  The ghosts had decided early on that they wanted to do everything on their own, because, as Brody had put it, “We’ve relied too much on Mike and Sage. It’s time to show them we’re capable of completing a job like this without inconveniencing them.” And they had, without any help from their human friends other than borrowing Mike’s tools.

  Mike and Sage had a general idea of what was happening, but hadn’t pried once it became clear the ghosts weren’t going to go into details. Now, it was time to show them the result—and ask for their assistance to finish furnishing the shelter.

  * * * *

  “Damn, you guys have done a fantastic job on this,” Mike said once he and Sage had been given a tour of the shelter, which involved using a ladder Brody had found in the back of the general store so that the humans could get up to the second floor. “A little spare on furniture, but…” Then he chuckled. “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to want us to rent a truck and help you all find things people have tossed out in the alleys?”

  “Because we do?” Daw replied, through Sage. “Do you mind? I mean Brody says you’ve done it before, but Russ and I don’t w
ant to impose. We hardly know you.”

  “We know some good places, honest,” Russ said. “Comes from living on the streets. It won’t take but a night if we get lucky. And since we can do flyovers, checking places will be a snap.”

  “Flyovers?” Mike laughed when Sage had relayed what Russ said. “Now you’re military aircraft?”

  “He knew what I meant,” Russ grumbled.

  “Yeah, he did,” Sage agreed. “He’s overworked and underpaid and gets silly at times.”

  “Underpaid? Then we shouldn’t be asking you to rent a truck,” Russ replied with a worried frown.

  “Russ…” Sage shook his head. “I was teasing. Renting a truck is no problem.” He started to tell Mike what Russ had said.

  “I got the gist of it from your reply. Guys, when do you want to do this?”

  “Tomorrow night?” Brody suggested, and Sage repeated.

  “All right. I think a small moving van this time, on the premise you get lucky and find everything you need.”

  As it turned out, Mike made a wise choice. Although, as he told Sage at one point, “I don’t think there’s a part of the city we haven’t seen tonight,” in the end the van was filled with all the beds and mattresses the shelter still needed—as well as extra mattresses since some of the beds the ghosts had brought up from the shelter’s storage room didn’t have any.

  They also found several kitchen chairs behind one apartment complex, and some tables that still had all their legs.

  After the ghosts unloaded everything when they got to the shelter, amid many thanks for their help, Mike and Sage returned home since they had to go to work in the morning. Then the ghosts took everything inside and up to the bedrooms. When everything was in place, Brody and the other ghosts got ready to leave as well—except for Daw and Russ.

  “This is our home, now,” Daw said before they did. “It’s time for us to start living here instead of imposing on you guys.”

  “You weren’t imposing,” Brody replied adamantly. “We liked having you around.”

  “Thanks, but still…”

  “We get it,” Jon said. “You have a place of your own, now. Of course it might get pretty crowded if things work out the way you hope.”

  Daw nodded. “In a perfect world we’d be the only two living here, but we all know that won’t happen.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Brody agreed. He looked at his friends. “You know, we never came up with a better name for our agency, and the shelter needs one, too.”

  Van grinned. “You don’t think ‘Haunting of Ghosts Investigations’ works?”

  “Not when it’ll inevitably be shortened to ‘HoG Investigations,’ and you know it will be,” Brody replied, shaking his head.

  “How about, nah, never mind,” Kurt said. “It’s sort of cheesy.”

  “What?” Tonio wanted to know.

  “Well, there are six of us, so ‘Six Ghosts Investigations’?”

  “One possibility, I suppose,” Gene said, not sounding at all enthusiastic.

  “Death Investigations,” Russ suggested.

  Tonio grimaced. “That’s kind of gruesome.”

  “Phantom Detective Agency?” Van looked at the others in question.

  “Now that one I could get behind,” Brody replied.

  “Me, too,” Jon and Tonio said at the same time.

  “Then it’s settled, unless someone disagrees.” Brody grinned. “Let’s be official. I move we call it ‘Phantom Detective Agency.’ Do I hear a second?” When Kurt said ‘Aye,’ Brody said, “All in favor raise your hands.” Everyone did. “It’s so moved and passed. We are now officially the ‘Phantom Detective Agency.’”

  “What about the shelter?” Russ asked.

  “Keep with the theme and call it ‘The Phantom Shelter’?” Van suggested.

  “Hell, why not?” Russ glanced at Daw. “If it’s okay with you.”

  “Whatever works. It’s not like we’re taking out ads.”

  “But, but…I was seeing a full-page spread in the morning paper. ‘Need a place to stay, Airbnb too expensive? Try ‘The Phantom Shelter.’”

  “Only you,” Daw replied, giving him a hug. “Okay, we’ll go with that. The name, not the ad.”

  With that accomplished, it became a case of wait-and-see if Sage encountered a ghost who needed help to find their killer—and a place to stay until that happened.

  In the meantime, Daw and Russ settled into their new home, decorating their room with some of Kurt’s newest photos and a small carpet they found buried in the debris at what had been the general store.

  Soon, their relationship deepened into what Daw called “something close to love.” As far as Russ was concerned, it was love, with everything it entailed. Well, minus the sex, but who cares. We belong together and given what we are, we’ll be together forever. He may never say the word, but I know he loves me as much as I love him, and that’s what counts.

  THE END

  ABOUT EDWARD KENDRICK

  Born and bred in Cleveland, I earned a degree in technical theater, later switched to costuming, and headed to NYC. Finally seeing the futility of trying to become rich and famous in the Big Apple, I joined VISTA—Volunteers in Service to America—ending up in Chicago for three years. Then it was on to Denver where I put down roots and worked as a costume designer until I retired in 2007.

  I began writing a few years ago after joining an online fanfic group. Two friends and I then started a group for writers, where they could post any story they wished no matter the genre or content. Since then, for the last five years, I’ve been writing for publication—my first book came out in February of 2011. Most, but not all, of my work is M/M, either mildly erotic or purely ‘romantic.’ More often than not it involves a mystery or action/adventure, and is sometimes paranormal to boot.

  For more information, visit edwardkendrick.blogspot.com.

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