ch.12: edelweiss, for courage and devotion

                                    

                                          
You follow Tommy's lead as he calls Ghostbur back to the office. You stand before the desk, the book open in your arms in front of you as you try to make heads or tails of the language. You look up, finding yourself eye to eye with the dead white sclera of the fluffy haired spectre. It's a struggle not to jump back in surprise as he floats back toward Tommy, giggling to himself. 
                          
"She's a bit of a scaredy-cat, huh?" he jokes, elbowing Tommy with a transparent arm. "A hair trigger on this one." 
                          
"We've got something to ask you," you say, and the text on the page begins to glow a light gold, reacting to your voice. The smile slides off the spectre's face as he looks at you in horror, and then over to his brother.
                          
"Tommy? Why's she gone all scary?" He stops floating, backing slowly away from you like a real human, making this so much worse than it already was. "I thought we were going to be friends."
                          
"Wilbur-" you start, and the specter shakes his head. 
                          
"I'm not Wilbur! I'm not him! I'm Ghostbur!" He turns to Tommy, grabs his shoulders and tries to shake him with his spectral hands, pleading with him. "Tommy knows. Right Tommy? I'm not Wilbur. Right?" 
                          
"Please don't make this harder than it has to be," you call out, taking a step toward him as the book glows brighter, brighter, ever brighter in your hands. "Please." 
                          
"Tommy, don't let her do this to me," the ghost continues to plead, but Tommy seems stuck in time, staring right at you as the book glows once, twice, and extinguishes, taking all the light in the cave with it. The sound of the waterfall stops suddenly as you feel yourself begin to fall forward into the void. You close the darkened tome, holding it tightly to your chest as you tumble for hours in the inky black void. Eventually, after what feels like an eternity, you find yourself back on your feet in an empty expanse. The ceiling, the floor, everything around you was soot black, seeming to stretch for miles in every direction. 
                          
"Tommy?" you yell out, hearing it echo out again and again. The book in your arms glows briefly, and then dims again. "Tommy!" you call out more confidently, and the book retains more light this time, enough for you to see the ground in front of you to start walking. "Wilbur?" The void does not answer, and so you continue, shouting for your young companion and the ghost of his brother. The book glows with your voice, but it does not lead you in any particular direction. You wander aimlessly, walking in circles for ages and never getting tired. After a second eternity of wandering, you look up and see something on the horizon. Just a tiny speck, barely visible. 
                          
You walk toward it at first, and then break into a full sprint when you realize that it's real , it's staying in one place. You can reach it. The sprinting doesn't tire you as the speck grows larger, becomes two specks. They gain colors, one bright yellow and the other a dull brown. 
                          
"Wilbur! Tommy!" you scream out. Who else could it be? It must be them, it must be. "Wilbur!" 
                          
Both figures turn to look at you as you get closer, closer. One is Ghostbur, just as you'd thought, but you can see the other man now. It's not Tommy, it looks like...like another Wilbur? This one is in a long brown wool coat that sweeps around him, his hair pushed back and streaked with grey in the front. He stares at you as you approach, looking like he's seen a ghost, tears dancing at the corners of his eyes. 
                          
He says the word, that damnable word, and you stumble just as you reach them. You fall to your knees clutching your head as it threatens to come apart again, and the book falls from your arms. It hits the ground, the pages rifling open, glowing not gold, but red as a heavy wind whips around it, pulling both you and the spectre in the yellow sweater towards it. 
                          
"No! I don't want to go! I don't want to go!" Ghostbur scrambles as the ribbons of red light grab onto his ankles, pulling him feet-first into the portal the book has created.