The World At Your Feet

                                    

                                          
Time seemed to stop for Andy. This was the moment he had been waiting for ever since he set foot inside the house he was now standing in, face to face with the spirit of a boy that died decades ago.
                          
"Are you sure?" Andy said in more than a whisper. "Ashley- You're bleeding." He finally blurted. Those words had been trying to leave his mouth for those few tense minutes and only just now fell off of his tongue like a mess of syllables.
                          
Ashley couldn't help but smile sadly at the human, a hint of amusement. "Yeah. I am."


                          
Andy didn't laugh, but Ashley chuckled dryly at his own response. It wasn't really funny, but... something about it was to Ashley. Maybe it was just the look of shock on his companions face, or it was possibly even his own madness. 
"So. You- How you died. It was..." Andy pursed his lips, coming closer to him, a hand reaching up out of curiosity to feel the sticky substance that was drying to the ghost's forehead. Ashley didn't protest, but he winced a little bit.
"My ex. Yeah." Ashley replied through grit teeth. Andy moved his hand back slightly, but his fingers still hovered over the invisible wound. 

"How are you bleeding?" Andy asked curiously, his sense of doubt and fear now gone.
                          
Ashley brought his ghostly pale hand up and put it over Andy's, lowering it from his face slowly and gently. "It's not really there. Not for you. Look at your hand."
Andy did as Ashley said and frowned, seeing that he was right. There was no sign of any substance on his fingers besides a bit of dirt and dust from his earlier exploration of the upstairs bedroom.
                          
"What-"
"I don't know either. But I feel it like it's real blood. Normally people can't see it though." Ashley sighed and let go of Andy's hand, turning and going to look out the window. Andy stayed where hew as.
                          
"Then... how can I see it?"
Ashley folded his arms over his chest, back to Andy now. "Because gained my trust." He replied softly. "I trust you enough to show myself to you. If someone else were here with you, they wouldn't be able to see me at all."
"Really? So- We have a bond, then?" Andy walked up beside him, glancing at his new friend. Were they friends?

Ashley smiled a bit, eyes watching something out the window. "I suppose so, kid." He turned, then. "By the way... I'm- sorry for earlier. I don't know what got into me."
Andy smiled sadly at him, touched by the apology. "I understand. I should have listened to you and put it away..."


                          
There was a brief beat of silence, of which Ashley was speak after.
                          
 "So. Do you want me to tell you how I died, or no?"

Andy bit his lip. "I mean, I guess. I just... Yeah. I want to know." He sighed.

                          


                          
Ashley nodded, silent for a moment longer. "Just promise me something." 

Andy didn't respond. He waited for the request patiently, his hands finding their way into his pockets.
                          
"When I tell you where I'm buried, you have to call the authorities."
"What? Why?!" Andy grew agitated at this. Why would Ashley want that? He'd get in trouble for trespassing, surely Ashley should know that!

                          


                          
Ashley sighed heavily. "Because, Andy. I can't rest unless I'm finally put to rest... You can't give me a full funeral and contact any of my alive relatives. Just- promise me you'll call them." He gave Andy a look that made it impossible to refuse. The pleading and desperation in Ashley's eyes caused Andy to cave and respond with a small nod, remaining silent.
                          
And so Ashley told him the story. The whole story, sparing no details. He retold the story in its entirety, every shove, every shout, every threat. Everything, and Andy listened intently.
                          
He was all ears for the story, no matter how gruesome and nasty it truly was. It shattered his heart to pieces, but it only increased his motivation to bring Ashley to rest. After all that... Ashley deserved it.
                          
"But what about the baseball cap in the tree in the backyard? Why was it up there?" Andy asked quietly when there was a long pause.
                          
Ashley grimaced. "Do you really want to know?"
Andy nodded.
                          
"Derek took it and threw it in the tree. He said something about it being a disposal of evidence or something..." Ashley muttered. "The way he just kind of brushed the whole thing off is sickening, y'know? I wish that my spirit could have waited ten damn minutes before leaving my body so I didn't have to hear that shit."

"And your body?" Andy swallowed thickly. "Where is it?"
                          
Ashley pointed out the window, to the base of the large tree. Andy furrowed his brow.
                          
"And no one noticed? No one found you?" Andy whispered.
Ashley shook his head. "It was winter, remember? It had snowed after they buried me , so there were no tracks. No sign of anyone being out there, so no one bothered to check."

Andy clenched his fists. "Seriously? That's a shitty ass excuse. They should have looked harder! They didn't have dogs sniff around at least?"
Ashley chuckled dryly. "We come from different times, kid."
"Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Calling me kid!" Andy rolled his eyes in annoyance and ran a hand through his hair. He was far too irritated at this point to deal with the dumb pet name.
                          
"Well you are one." Ashley raised an eyebrow.
"You are too." Andy glared. Ashley fell silent and moved away from the window. That had clearly struck a nerve that Andy wasn't aware of. "Ashley, I-"

"I died a kid. It's not your fault. Don't apologize." Ashley sighed with a glance over his shoulder. "Go call them now."
"But-"
"You promised, Andy." Ashley shook his head. "Goodbye."
                          
Andy pursed his lips, tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he watched the ghost that he had managed to befriend over the past couple of nights spent in the house disappear into the dusty air.
                          
Just like that, Ashley was... gone. Vanished. Andy had blinked, and he was gone. He sucked in a breath and took a glance outside at the tree, taking a moment to assess the previous moments.
                          
That all happened so fast it felt like a dream to him, but he knew it wasn't. This was all real... He took one last look around the abandoned house he had found himself to be growing quite fond of, a sadness he had never felt before twisting in his heart.
                          
"Goodbye, Ashley." Andy whispered to the old, rotting furniture and floating dust particles before leaving the house for possibly the last time. He waited until he was back in his own bedroom to pull out his cellphone and dial the number of the local police station.
                          
He listened to the long, unbearable rings as he sat in his desk chair wheeled up to the window to gaze at the empty house across the street. The house that started it all.
                          
"Hello?"
                          
Andy drew his attention back to the phone when someone answered. He hesitated for a moment before letting himself answer. Did he really want to do this? Yes. He did. He promised.
                          
"I know where Ashley Purdy is buried."
                          


                          
A/N: the next chapter will probably be the last one fyi