Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kent had no objections to living in the mansion. 

Far from it, actually. While yes, most if not all of the ghosts did still actively inhabit the halls and interact with its permanent residents, they never deliberately did anything that would cause harm or discomfort to the six alive human beings (and one cat) actively living there. On the contrary, they were quite respectful. For instance, some male ghost that was missing an arm walked in on him in just a towel, and had been so embarrassed that he wasn’t seen for weeks; and when he did show up, it was only to spell out ‘sorry’ in rocks in the front yard.

Money turned out to be the biggest problem in their lives, as both Bruce and Ben had to acquire different jobs. In the end, Bruce found a different teaching job at a nearby community college and Ben started doing some freelance photography (he had confessed that half the joy of making the ghost lenses was using them, and in his spare time he started to make many more). Still, sustaining six people didn’t exactly come cheap, even with four out of the six residents having jobs, and with the additional costs of all the bills for the house it quickly started to rack up. 

However, the house seemed to provide for itself- within a week of Gabbie deciding to open the place as a part time Bed and Breakfast, practically every room was filled with guests eager to learn about the history of the mansion, or explore Louisiana and what not. It also turned out that the ghosts were quite shy around new people, so they barely bothered anyone except for an accidental spooking every now and then.The place was usually busy on weekends, whether or not Gabbie had to go to work, which was quite convenient.

Kent was on tour duty at first, but it turned out he had a terrible memory, and just ended up confusing guests more and more. He was quickly overtaken from his position by Harriet, whose spiritual capabilities gave her an unfair advantage. Not that Kent was complaining at all; it made her happy and gave her something to do in between her other job. 

Then he was in hospitality services; serving drinks to guests and bringing them their meals and what not. This however, also turned out to be a temporary endeavor, as he was swiftly struck down from his throne by Travis, who also had an unfair advantage because he was an adorably eager nine year old boy. The guests all cooed at him and tugged on his cheeks whenever he came by, and so Kent handed the duty over to him by doing some holy gesture one evening and pronouncing that Travis was now the ‘last line of defense between us, and those who wish to ruin the good nature of this house.’ The kid had a smile on his face for the rest of the day after that.

So, Kent resigned himself to cleaning duty. He was never a great cleaner, but he swept up messes and dusted shelves all right, so it eventually became an unspoken truth that Kent was the maid of the house. Even when there were few guests, he was often rearranging books in the library, or fluffing the pillows of the many chairs and loveseats in the manor. 

Though it was less practical now, he tended to continue to wear his priest outfit on their busiest days. The idea of there being a live-in priest seemed to soothe the hearts and minds of any guests who were nervous about their stay in the creepy manor. Plus, the familiar weight of the necklace made Kent feel at ease as well.

When he wasn’t wearing his priest outfit he wore something similar, such as a casual suit with suspenders or a black blazer with a white undershirt. The beanie was the typical choice of headgear for him on these more ‘casual’ days.

On this day in particular, he wasn’t even wearing a hat at all. It was around 8 o'clock at night, and the faulty priest had taken up residence in the living room. Kent had found that he usually couldn’t sleep until around midnight, and therefore would find something to preoccupy himself with before he began to feel tired. He had grabbed some random thin book from the shelves, and pretended to read while idly shifting through pages until he felt sleepy.

He had just begun to drift off, even lowering his hand to let the book rest open on his face, when the sudden sound of footsteps interrupted him.

Kent peeked under the pages of the book to see what appeared to be the feet of a small child. These feet definitely did not belong to a ghost, as it was obvious this child was alive- nor did they belong to Travis, unless Travis had acquired bunny slippers and a pink nightdress within the past day. 

“Why are you sleeping on the couch?” The voice said, belonging to a young girl. “Don’t they let you sleep in a room?”

“I have a room,” Kent mumbled. “Just dozed off while reading here, that’s all.” He closed his eyes again. The girl didn’t walk away.

“My mom says Priests do important things, but you just clean and stuff.”

“That is important. How would you like it if this whole place was dirty?” Kent raised a hand to lift the book off of his face for a moment.

“This place is dirty.” The girl said plainly. Ouch.

“I do other stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Sometimes when you’re an adult, you do secret stuff behind the scenes to support everybody.”

“Like church service?”

“No- I mean, yes. Definitely that.” Kent nodded as much as he could with part of the book still on his face. “There’s so much holiness here that would be, uh, gone without me.” 

The girl held a contemplative silence for a second. 

“Okay!” She chirped happily. “Good to know you’re being useful, then!” 

She then had the audacity to skip away, after changing Kent’s self image with just a few sentences.

“Kids…” he grumbled, setting the book down fully onto his face again. Then he just closed his eyes and waited for morning to come.

-

Ben was not a morning person. At ALL. The fact that anybody would choose to wake up anytime before 10 am is quite frankly, ridiculous. But his therapist said that he needed to do one nice thing for himself each day, and Mondays had been given the privilege of being the dates of his morning runs. So when his alarm went off at 6 in the morning, he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed. 

Just getting dressed at this time in the morning proved to be a bit of a challenge, but once Ben was able to figure it out he was on his way down the stairs and out the door.

He was just at the bottom of the steps when he heard a distinct shuffling sound; now, Ben had been in the house long enough to grow familiar with its noises. He had been doing his morning runs for less time, admittedly, but he had done them enough times to be aware of one simple thing; the ghosts weren’t really morning people either. They tended to party late into the night, but their celebrations were often wrapped up by 4 in the morning. To hear anything, or anyone at this time was unusual. 

The shuffling sound was replaced with heavy creaking, and the sound of boots clicking on tile. 

For the first time in a while, Ben felt himself wishing that whatever was making the noise was a ghost. He didn’t have anything to defend himself with either. 

Slowly, he shuffled down the steps, nearing the source of the noise. He holds his breath as the footsteps grow louder. Finally, when they sound like they’re just in front of him, Ben jumps out and pushes forward as hard as he can.

The figure fell back and hit the ground with a hard thunk , crying out in pain as it did so. 

Ben looked at who he had just pushed to see (a now very disheveled) Kent with a broomstick lying on the floor.

“Kent, what is the matter with you? Why are you sneaking around at 6 in the morning?” Said Ben in an aggravated tone.

“Easy, Ben! I was just doing some cleaning. There was no need for you to get physical with me!” Kent then rubbed the back of his head, wincing at the small throb of pain he felt there. “Ow, that hurt.”

“Well good!” Ben huffed, although in reality he felt quite a bit of guilt. He extended his hand towards the blonde, and when Kent took it he pulled him up onto his feet.

There was a small span of awkward silence while Kent steadied himself. Ben figured he should say something.

“Are those the same clothes from yesterday?”

Kent pursed his lips. “Maybe.” 

“Why were you cleaning anyways?” Ben asked. Kent shrugged.

“It relaxes me, that’s all. I was having a bit of a hard time falling asleep, so I thought doing some cleaning for a bit would make me drowsy.” He sighed, fiddling with the broomstick. “Guess it didn’t really work, seeing as I’m awake at 6 in the morning.” 

“Well, you have to sleep.” Ben grabbed Kent’s arm, and dragged him away to the living room couch. “You stay here. I’m going to get an ice pack for you, and then you will go back to your room to get some sleep.” Kent opened his mouth as if to protest, but a swift glare from Ben shut him right up. 

The astrophysicist pushed Kent onto the couch, and made a motion for him to stay before heading to the kitchen. It embarrassingly took him about five minutes to find the bag to put the ice in, but by the time he got back Kent was already fast asleep on the couch.

-

The small ache of pain from the earlier fall was the first thing Kent felt when he woke up. The second was the familiar weight of the cotton blanket they kept on their couch. He slowly opened his eyes, wincing a bit as the sunshine made his headache slightly worse. He turned his head to the right to see Travis working on school work at the coffee table. It only took a second before Travis noticed he was awake, and turned to smile at him.

“Hey Kent! Ben said you fell asleep here, and that I shouldn’t bother you because you were really tired. So, I just came to work here with you!” He grinned a smile so bright that it was practically infectious. Ever since they had all moved in together, everyone had noticed that Travis worked better when he was in a communal space with at least one person near him. Whether he was reading or doing school work, Travis enjoyed their company, and it always warmed their hearts a bit if they were chosen to be the companion of the day.

Kent smiled. “I’m honored you decided to work with me, buddy.” He groaned, head still pounding from earlier. Slowly, he got up from the couch. He then folded the blanket gently and put it aside on one of the cushions. “I’m a bit peckish. Want me to get you something to munch on from the kitchen?” 

Travis’s grin grew wider still. “Yes please! Can you peel me an apple?” Kent nodded. He had never met a kid that enjoyed fruits over junk food as much as this one did.

As he walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to see that Gabbie was in there as well. 

“Oh! I didn’t realize you were here.” Said Kent, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “I figured Travis would prefer to be with you to do his work if you were here, so…” Gabbie looked up from where she was washing dishes, and smiled at him.

“Well, you dreamed all the way through breakfast Sleeping Beauty,” she teased. “I think he missed you.” This made Kent blush a bit, grateful that the young boy seemed to at least be fond of him. 

“I see! So, uh, have you seen the apple peeler? Travis wanted a little snack to nibble on while he worked.” Gabbie put the dishes back in the sink and went over to one of the counters. She opened it and fished out a plastic apple peeler with an orange handle. 

“Ah! Thanks!” Kent exclaimed, walking over to grab it, but Gabbie held it out of his reach at the last second. He gave her a confused look.

“I can do it. You need to rest some more. You’ve only been asleep for about 4 hours, and that definitely isn’t enough seeing as you’re still a bit wobbly.” Kent frowned at her words.

“I feel fine. Great, in fact!” He said. Gabbie frowned.

“Kent. Go.” Her expression softened for a bit. “Travis would want you to take care of yourself, you know.” 

Typical of her to use his soft spot for the kid against him. There really was no arguing with her, was there? Kent nodded, walked past Travis and bid him farewell, and made his way out of the kitchen and up the stairs until he reached his room.

Tater Tot joined him at some point, happily bouncing up the stairs alongside him.

“Hi buddy.” Said Kent. Tater Tot let out a little mrrph in response. 

The cat followed him all the way up to his room, which was at the farthest end of the left hallway on the left side of that hallway, by where the ghost inhabiting the suit of armor liked to park itself. When Kent had picked this room out of the many that Gabbie had offered him, he mostly did it because this was the room that wouldn’t be missed by the ghosts. It was bland, even for a room in a haunted mansion, and before his living there it just held spare furniture. Kent had donated his bed from the old apartment and snagged a new bed from one of the neighboring rooms. It was a queen size bed with a wooden frame with a giant cross plastered on the headboard. The blonde figured it suited him, so he chose that one. Nearby he had a simple full length mirror that was mostly used as a glorified coat hanger. There was a small desk with a wooden chair where Kent kept his books and papers, and he had a dresser to keep his clothes in. A plush red chair sat in the corner.  There was a bathroom a door down which housed his toothbrush and towels. For a mansion, it wasn’t really an extravagant room, but it was his. 

Tater Tot immediately jumped onto his bed and made herself comfortable, curling into a fuzzy little ball before closing her eyes.

Kent was still tired from the lack of sleep from last night, so he flopped unceremoniously onto the bed and kicked off his shoes.

  It wouldn’t hurt to sleep for a bit.

Tater Tot seems to agree, as when Kent got under the covers she immediately crammed herself into his arms, not allowing him space to move or think. If he even adjusted a bit, she would pull him back harder. So, eventually, he just gave up and drifted off.

-

It was a few days after the whole early morning cleaning incident, and since then Ben had personally escorted Kent to bed every night that he wasn’t away on a job. Ben had his own strange way of caring about people, and if that way involved Ben pulling him by the arm and practically throwing Kent into his room then that was how it was going to be done. Kent had no complaints, however. It felt quite pleasant to be cared about so much.

Though, now that nights were off limits for cleaning, Kent had to work a bit harder to fix up the mansion to a level that he deemed satisfactory. There were so many rooms in the mansion- TOO many rooms. But still, he worked as early as he could get up until as late as he was allowed to stay awake. 

He was in the middle of fixing up the library when Bruce had entered.

“What are you, a maid?” he commented.

“I guess. I wouldn’t have to be if you guys didn’t make such a mess of this place!” Kent chuckled, putting down his feather duster and turning to face the professor. It was one of the days where Bruce had no classes to teach, and as such he tended to stay home and work on lesson plans or grade papers at the mansion. 

“Hey, you mind doing me a favor?” Bruce asked. Kent shook his head immediately. “There’s a book at the top shelf of this library that I’ve had my eyes on. Unfortunately, I’m way too old to be climbing a ladder that tall at my age. You mind doing me a solid and grabbing it for me?” 

Kent grinned. “Of course not. I’ll have it down right away, bud!” He immediately rushed over to the library ladder and slid it down towards where Bruce was standing. He just as eagerly started climbing it.

“It’s the green one, with the gold stripes!” Bruce yelled as Kent was halfway up the ladder. 

The ladder was a teensy bit shorter than the shelf where the book was so Kent had to step on his toes a bit. 

“Almost got it!”

It took some reaching, but eventually he closed his fingers around the book Bruce wanted. 

“There we go!” Kent exclaimed triumphantly. Just as he was about to steady himself on the ladder, however, it swayed towards the right. 

Some ghost of the house must have bumped into it, or maybe the ladder was just too old or the floor was too slippery, but whatever it was didn’t really matter. What did matter was that Kent found himself falling from the ladder in a matter of seconds.

There wasn’t enough time for him to even scream or anything before he hit the floor. He had landed awkwardly on his left arm, and judging by the sharp pain that jolted through it, it was definitely broken. 

“Kent! Holy cow!”

“It’s fine! I’m- augh-“ Kent hisses as the adrenaline wears off and the pain really starts to set in. “Just, give me a minute, I just need a minute-“

“You don’t need a minute, you need to get to a doctor!” Bruce immediately attempted to pull Kent up, and he got him there albeit awkwardly and painfully. He was very helpful the whole way to the car, guiding him around and opening the front door for him. Kent sucked in a breath as his arm brushed the closing car door. Bruce quickly scrambled over to the opposite side and climbed into the driver's seat. 

“You’re lucky my car was here and that Travis was at school, buddy.” Bruce said, beginning to turn the vehicle around. “Otherwise this would have been a whole lot more complicated. It could be worse!”

“How could it be worse?” Kent said snidely.

“You could have landed on your neck,” said Bruce, grinning. “Then you’d be a spirit. Lucky number one thousand, in fact!” Kent didn’t even respond to that one, just smiling before shifting uncomfortably.

The hospital was only about 10 minutes away, but it was 5 if you drove the way Bruce did. Kent considered himself lucky that he wasn’t in a car accident as well. 

When they got there, Bruce helped him out. 

“Don’t worry, old pal,” he chuckled as they walked towards the entrance. “At least you still have your dignity intact!”

-

“Kent,” Travis whispered from across the dining table. “Why does your sling have little pink unicorns on it?”

“This was all they had.” Kent sighed. He was leaning to the left a bit to make eye contact with Travis, as Gabbie had insisted on helping him cut his steak and was currently doing just that. “No complaints here, though. Don’t let anyone tell you unicorns aren’t manly, Travis.”

Gabbie nodded approvingly. “That’s right, Travis, sweetheart. Unicorns are very manly.”

“I’m partial to the Pegasus.” Bruce commented with a mouth full of rice. 

Gabbie finished cutting the steak and patted Kent on the shoulder before putting his fork and knife down. She then went to sit down by her own plate.

“I supposed we all learned a lesson today, then,” commented Harriet, swirling her glass of lemonade around like it was a wine glass. “Don’t get on spooky haunted ladders in spooky haunted mansions.” Kent frowned. 

“Don’t pick on him,” Ben chided, not looking up from the camera screen he was scrolling through. “He’s been through enough today without you mocking him, Harriet.” 

The medium in question stuck out her tongue. “You’re no fun.” Kent just stared blankly at his plate, picking up the fork and awkwardly getting a piece of steak onto it. 

“Good work!” Gabbie said as he placed it in his mouth. Somehow, though they were said completely genuinely, Kent didn’t feel proud of himself at all.

-

Two days later, Kent went outside to water the plants in the garden. Gabbie had gotten him a normal blue sling, and she had everyone sign his cast as well. Even Tater Tot had her paw dipped in ink for a bit so she could leave a little imprint. Looking at the signatures of the people he now considered to be his family definitely made him feel much more content. So the blonde had decided to do a bit of tending to the garden.

Kent was in the middle of checking on the leaves of a rose bush when he saw something that caught his eye in the soil. With his good hand, he reached down and pulled it out. 

Upon closer inspection, it was a very dirty handkerchief. It had a plaid baby pink and white pattern, and the edges had little white frills. In the center, there were a few singular dark red spots of what Kent presumed was dried blood. He felt a chill run down his spine. He knew the ghosts that lived in this mansion left stuff behind, as he had found such items before, but he hadn’t really found anything like this- something with concrete evidence of someone’s passing, with their blood staining it, even if it was the most minute amount. 

Even though it made him uncomfortable, Kent suddenly had the strongest urge to take it with him. It wasn’t like he could just put it back in the soil and pretend he didn’t see it- it belonged to somebody. And that somebody was probably in the mansion right now, wondering where it was. He should at least put it out in the main hall and see if someone would pick it up. 

Making up his mind, Kent stuffed the handkerchief into his front pocket.

-

A few hours later and the handkerchief had slipped his mind completely. It was a busy day, with Kent working on stuff around the house and all. Plus, Tater Tot had gotten spooked by one of the spirits and gotten herself stuck on a chandelier in one of the rooms, and it had taken Kent several minutes and several treats to coax her down again. By the time he had her in his one arm, it was time for dinner, and after dinner Travis had wanted to watch a movie since it was a Friday night, and time had slipped away so easily-

The point was, at around 11:30 at night when Kent had finally gotten into his night clothes and flopped into bed the handkerchief had completely slipped his mind. The coat which held it was abandoned on a cozy plush chair he had in the corner of his room, as Kent had been too tired to hang it up. 

The false priest was just about to doze off, his eyes fluttering shut, when he heard it. There was the distinct sound of shoes tapping nearby.

Now, having lived in the haunted mansion for a bit of time now, Kent was used to the footsteps and occasional screams and laughs. Normally he would have just gone back to sleep. But the footsteps just got louder, as if they were getting closer, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy. Usually the spirits in the house didn’t cause a disturbance during the night time, so for one to still be nearby was unusual to say the least.

Kent waited for about two minutes before the footsteps finally stopped. Then he waited another minute to make sure they were really gone. Finally, he let out a sigh of relief. His eyes fluttered shut, and he began to lose himself to sleep.

And then the bed dipped , as if someone was sitting on it, and suddenly Kent wasn’t feeling very tired anymore. 

He shot up with a yelp. Although he wasn’t afraid of the ghosts, not after what he and the others had been through, that didn’t mean that the blonde took very to them intruding on his sleeping hours. His heart was pounding as his eyes adjusted to the dark and zeroed in on where he had felt the dip. There, the familiar blue outline of a spirit sat, facing away from him.

When the spirit noticed that Kent was looking up at them, they turned their head to look at him. It was a young girl, no older than thirteen or fourteen, wearing a delicate blue dress with long sleeves and a white collar. The waist had a twilight ribbon tied around it and the skirt of the dress reached past the edge of the bed where Kent could see. Her hair was a dark brown, and done up into a neat bun with the only hair out of place being a small curl that framed the side of her face. Her eyes were black and watching him, seeming to scan him up and down as he breathed heavily. The girl's face reminded him of a doll, with the only features betraying that idea being the freckles that dotted her cheeks and the trail of blood that ran down from her mouth. Somehow, none of it was on her dress. 

After what seemed like hours of staring, the girl finally spoke.

You, she rasped, her throat sounding like it was seconds away from shattering like fine glass. Have something that belongs to me.

At first Kent had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Then it dawned on him. 

“Oh! The- the handkerchief, you mean? Yeah,

I got it!” The blonde stumbled out of bed, around the ghost, and grabbed the handkerchief from the pocket of his coat. He then turned around and held it out for her to see.

At first her expression was unaffected. But then, her face began to morph into a smile. Kent watched with surprise as the ghost girl began to cry what seemed tears of joy.

I didn’t think I would ever see it again. She reached out for it and took it from him with a delicate tug. The girl smiled, eyes darting to meet his own as tears fell. Kent felt pride start to swell up within him.

“Well, I’m glad I happened upon it!” He grinned. She held the handkerchief close to her chest and Kent swore she glowed a bit brighter.

The girl mirrored his smile back at him. The name’s Isabella.  

And faster than she had appeared, she was gone, leaving Kent standing in his room in the dark all alone.

-

In the morning Kent was surprised to find not one but two ghosts waiting for him outside the door of his room. It was a pair of twin boys, looking to be in their mid twenties, with blonde hair and blue eyes. They wore matching gray suits with black ties and white undershirts. The boys were staring at him expectantly.

Are you good at finding things? They asked in unison, voices perfectly syncing up. At first the question seemed strange, but after recalling his supernatural experience from last night he realized that Isabella must have told these ghosts that he found her handkerchief, and she didn’t seem to have explained to them that his finding of her beloved object had nothing to do with him specifically. 

Kent should have just said no, that he was actually awful at remembering where he put his own things, much less other peoples, and that he could absolutely not help them. 

But looking at them, he just couldn’t say no. Their faces were so full of hope, hope that the last bit of their remaining humanity could be found and brought back to them. And Kent just couldn’t find it within himself to deny them this.

So with a yawn, he rubbed the back of his head.  

“Yeah,” Kent said, voice still drowsy from sleep. “Yeah I guess I am.” 

-

It started off small. The twins told Kent their names (Harry and Steven) and where they last remember the item (matching engraved pens, in cases) being, plus which places of the house they frequented the most when alive, and Kent only spent about half an hour locating them and the ghosts said their thanks and left.

The next morning there was another ghost lined up at the door.

No problem. Kent spent even less time, about ten minutes, searching for an elderly woman’s yaopei and bringing it back for her.

The next morning there were two.

The morning after that there were three.

And after that, the number remained firmly at least 4 ghosts outside per day.

The time for finding each item started to vary greatly. Finding something for a ghost could be as simple as rooting through the papers in a desk to as complicated as figuring out which rooms had always been in the house and which had been renovated. The shortest find was 3 minutes, a rocking chair for an elderly man who just couldn’t see very well. The longest was five whole hours, with Kent having to climb through a vent and up to a crawl space in the attack to get the stuffed bear of a young girl who had forgotten it there while playing hide and seek and hadn’t gotten it back before she passed. 

Sometimes he had to call off a search until the next day, and while the spirits were usually understanding some were quite displeased about this, and threw a fit in a neighboring room while Kent tried to sleep.

Plus some of the ghosts were especially clingy- Kent almost fell off a ladder when one of the ghosts had decided to attach themselves to his leg while he was climbing up to the roof to retrieve a ball. Sure, he couldn’t physically feel the ghosts, but their touch made his body shiver and it was difficult to concentrate with the cold seeping into him.

(“I can’t get this for you if I break my neck!” Kent had hissed, but the boy looked so meek and pitiful that the blonde just apologized and went back to climbing.)

So nowadays, Kent spent half of his time cleaning and half of his time playing hide and seek with inanimate objects while spirits followed behind him like lost puppies. He even missed out on dinner sometimes, not because he really wanted to, but because he was stuff in some part of the house with no doors or where the furniture was some sort of maze and there were spiders everywhere- 

The point is, Kent was starting to get a bit cranky. He tried not to let the alive members of the house see it, and he was pretty good with that, seeing as they were his close friends and he genuinely loved being with them. The bed and breakfast guests, however, were not spared from Kent’s grumpiness. 

He didn’t actively do anything to them- Kent had learned from working in retail that he was not a man of action, resorting to just stewing in his feelings when an entitled customer at work slandered him- but he did take some form of revenge. An older gentleman had told him that he should do a better job of sweeping the hallways, and Kent had retaliated by running the vacuum cleaner for about 45 minutes outside the man’s door right when he was trying to go to sleep for the night. Not exactly revenge, but it made Kent sleep a bit better that night so it was definitely worth it in the end.

Still, there is only so much suppressing you can do when you’re slightly sleep deprived, constantly being watched (by people who aren’t even alive, nonetheless), and dealing with your own emotions before you start to go a bit off the deep end.

He started going to further lengths to both retrieve objects for ghosts and keep the house in order. The blonde stood on chairs to dust chandeliers, climbed into tighter and tighter crawl spaces, and even got pretty close to needing a few tetanus shots with all the rusty metal he was encountering. The fact that he was doing this stuff with his arm still in a cast would have been impressive had it not been so reckless.

But it was what he did, now. And Kent would be damned if he let anything stop him.

-

“Everybody, stop what you’re doing!” Gabbie called from the staircase. There was nobody staying for the bed and breakfast, so she was just talking to her friends. Now, she didn’t exactly know where everyone was, but they should all be close enough to hear her from the stairs. “Storms rolling in. Bad one. All of you, to the main room!”

When particularly bad thunderstorms rolled in, the house’s electricity always decided to take off for a bit until it cleared. With the whole house being dark, the six human residents of the house typically took the opportunity to have a sleepover of sorts in the living room. Travis would never admit it, but he was a bit scared of storms, so he absolutely loved this idea when Gabbie suggested it. Plus, the house got a little drippy in some places when it rained so the living room was the driest and warmest place to be.

Kent looked in the direction of the stairs from the desk he was currently looting for a picture. Specifically, a picture of a baby that belonged to Annie, the ghost of a sweet southern lady who had passed due to a sickness only about a month after her baby was born.  

“Coming!” He heard Travis yell. The young boy's footsteps then came running past the room Kent was in. Distantly he heard Bruce greet Gabbie, and Harriet coming up from the room where Madame Leota resided in. Hand still rummaging around, he guessed he had about five minutes before someone dragged him down to the room. Finally, his hands landed on the picture. 

“Aha!” He tugged it out gleefully and handed it to Annie, who was floating behind him the whole time. She laughed in joy, hugged him, and glowed brightly before vanishing. Kent smiled at this, happy to bring joy to someone else. Then, he headed downstairs to join the others.

When he got to the central room, everyone else had already gotten everything set up. In the center of the room the tent where Gabbie and Travis slept was already set up. Bruce had an air mattress he liked to bring down, for his back, Harriet had her own special sleeping bag for the occasion and this time around it was Ben’s turn to sleep on the couch. In fact, he was already lounging on it, his knitted blanket pulled around his shoulders as the astrophysicist skimmed through a book. Tater Tot was on the couch at his feet, lying belly up and purring.

“Kent’s here.” Ben said without even looking up from his reading. 

A bit of shuffling was heard and Travis poked his head out from within the tent.

“Hi Kent!” He grinned, and Kent found himself mirroring the expression. 

“Hey buddy!” 

“Decided to join us finally Kent?” Harriet mused from somewhere on his left. He turned to see her kneeling on her sleeping bag, using a cloth to wipe down Madame Leota’s crystal ball. She had started bringing the ball with her so that Madame Leota wouldn’t feel lonely during storms. Bruce was already asleep on his mattress, even though Kent was sure he had just gotten here about a minute ago. 

“I was only about a minute,” Kent said. “Oh crud, I totally forgot my blanket.” 

“We brought one for you. You always forget, remember?” Gabbie smirked at him, tossing him a pink fuzzy blanket and a pillow in a striped pillowcase.

“Thanks!” Kent exclaimed. He took his things and went to set them up by the fireplace. It was their only source of light on nights when the power went out, and if it wasn’t his turn on the couch Kent found himself curling up as close to the fireplace as he could get without feeling too warm. The heat combined with the sound of the rain and thunder actually helped him sleep really well. 

While he arranged himself to face his friends. Gabbie went to a nearby bookshelf and sorted through a section of books that were brought by Travis and herself. They were mostly books for younger kids, but there were a few chapter books in there as well.

“You guys up for Goodnight Moon ?” Asked Gabbie, looking back over her shoulder.

“We did that last time, didn’t we?” Ben said, having put his own book aside. 

“What about a Goosebumps book?” Yawned Harriet. “We’re all old enough for a scary story at night.”

“Speak for yourself!” Travis squeaked from where he was watching from the tent.

Everyone started to bicker amongst themselves, save for Kent whose eyes were already drooping from exhaustion.

“What about we let Kent decide?” Said Gabbie, putting her hands up in a defensive position. “What would you like to read tonight Kent?” 

“Mmph.” He responded, too sleepy to do anything but acknowledge that someone had said his name.

“ Mmph it is then.” Gabbie sighed. “Fine. Tonight we’re doing The Cat in the Hat .” 

“Fine by me.” murmured Harriet, laying down next to the crystal ball and pressing the side of her face against the cool glass. Ben let out a hum of agreement, turning onto his stomach to face Gabbie. 

Everything was starting to fade away as Gabbie started to read.

“The sun did not shine. It was too cold to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day…”

-

Kent awoke with a start as a cold sensation wracked his whole body with shivers. It was completely dark in the room, which was odd because usually the fire lasted at least until dawn, with the ghosts there to tend to it. Something was not as it usually was, but he was too nervous and drowsy to move. Suddenly his pillow was pulled out from under his head, and he knocked the side of his skull against the floor with a dull thwack.

“What the hell…” he murmured, now sitting upright as he rubbed at his temples. It appeared that everyone else was still asleep, and seemingly unaware of the temperature and atmosphere change of the room. Kent sat completely still for a moment, trying to see if he could hear anything. 

First all he heard was the breathing (and snoring, in Bruce’s case) of his friends. Then, the dull sound of the rain hitting the mansion. Finally, there was a dripping sound coming from somewhere near him. Frantically, Kent looked back and forth, but he couldn’t locate the source of the noise.

That is, until he felt a drip of water fall onto his neck and roll down his back.

The blonde flinched, unhappy with the cold sensation of water sliding down his skin. But then he realized that the dripping must have been coming from above him somewhere. So he looked up.

Once his eyes refocused, Kent immediately was able to tell that something was there. It had no firm shape, unlike most of the other ghosts and ghouls, and the only human thing about it were its bright blue glowing eyes, which stared back into Kent’s own.

“I… what?” Kent started to speak, but the spirit interrupted him.

Human, it growled in a low, raspy voice. I am strongest on the night of the full moon. Tonight I will be able to locate my last remaining object from when I was alive, but you must help me.

“You want me to help you? Right now?” Kent said, too tired to even fight back. The spirit grunted.

I will not be able to return to my human form without my watch. The other spirits here cower from me but… if the ghost could frown, then Kent guessed it would be doing that right now. I am just like them. I will show them that I am just like them.

“I-I’m still confused. Why can’t you be in human form without your… watch, was it? The other ghosts here have no problem.” Asked Kent. The ghost growled in annoyance.

It is too far. On the property still, but too far for me to retain my human form.

Kent blinked. “How far out is it?”

A few minutes later he was standing by the front door with nothing but a shovel he had grabbed from the hallway closet, a pair of boots and a coat he was wearing over his pajamas.

“Are you insane?” He hissed at the spirit, which was now lurking beside him. It was still in a weird shape, and it reminded Kent of one of those dogs that looked like mops. 

I do not see what the problem is, the spirit huffed. Humans go outside all the time.

“Yeah, when it’s DRY out!” He raised his voice a bit, but then quieted back down when he remembered that the others were still asleep relatively nearby. “It’s raining cats and dogs out here!”

You will be fine. It said, moving out into the downpour. It didn’t really walk or anything, just sort of moved more like a human crawling on all fours. It left drips of water behind it as it moved, and Kent was already kicking himself mentally as he thought about how he had to clean that up. Sighing, he followed it.

The rain was strong, but there was no lighting or anything so that was a win in Kent’s book. It would have been quite peaceful if he wasn’t so cold.  

They walked for quite a bit, and Kent was considering just whacking the spirit with the shovel and running back to the house when the spirit stopped suddenly. 

Here. It said, pointing at a stone that was stuck into the ground. It’s here. Start digging.

Kent sighed, and readied himself to get to work. What had he become, taking orders from a ghost? He rubbed a bit of rain out of his eyes, and then stopped. Carved into the stone were two letters and a year.

  CJ

1898

“Is this your grave?!” He wheezed, looking back and forth between the ghost and the rock. It just furrowed its eyes at him.

Yes. Why do you think I asked you to bring a shovel?

“I thought you just lost your thing some time ago! I didn’t realize- I didn’t know that your body was going to be here!” Kent felt his face heat up a bit with shame. “I’m not a grave robber! I retrieve items, sure, but I’m not going to just deface a corpse to help you get something so you can impress the other ghosts in the mansion!” 

Now the spirit seemed to be amused with his discomfort, as if Kent was the odd one in this situation.

The body is just a skeleton by now; there isn’t going to be any flesh or anything. It let out a snorting sound. Besides, I was holding onto the watch when I died. You won’t have to touch the bones or anything- it’ll just be lying there near my skeleton. Kent realized his mouth was wide open and shut it quickly.

“I don’t… I can’t…” he was shaking a bit, but he wasn’t entirely sure if it was from the cold. Mulling his options over, he sighed. “Fine. I’ll do this one thing. But you need to tell the other spirits that- that I’m not doing this kind of stuff anymore. I’m not digging up anymore bodies, or going into anymore crawl spaces, or intruding on the dead’s business anymore! Got it?”

The spirit was quiet, and Kent took that as an agreement. So, he started digging.

With how soft the earth was, even with his injured arm, it was only about 45 minutes before he reached what he was looking for. Sticking through the dirt was a skeletal hand, which was yellow and clenched into what might have been a fist. In the fist was the chain of a watch.

“This didn’t bury you very well, did they buddy?” Kent sighed, kneeling down into the dirt. The spirit was quiet for a few seconds before speaking.

No. Its voice trembled a bit when it spoke. That being said, I didn’t do anything that deserved a burial, did I?

The spirit seemed like it was thinking, so Kent just leaned down to try and get the watch loose.

I was 38 years old, and I spent most of my life deceiving people. It murmured. I sold fake remedies to sicknesses, just trying to help keep my family afloat. I still lived with my parents in the mansion. I was born to them when they were very young, sixteen or seventeen. I’m the reason they couldn’t get a job. They always hated me for that, and I don’t blame them.

The rain seemed to be falling quicker now.

My father’s parents were dead. My grandparents disowned my mother. They sent us to their mansion that they had inherited but never used for anything. My father had a job in a nearby town and my mother cared for me here while he was away. Soon I had more siblings, and food became scarcer. 

The watch slipped out of the grip of the skeleton finally. It was a fine pocket watch, yellowed and cracked by time.

 I started stealing when I was very young, about thirteen or fourteen. This watch was the first big thing I ever stole. I couldn’t bring myself to sell it, it was- it was the first thing I ever did that really had meaning. The spirit made a sniffling noise, as if it were about to start shedding tears. It was selfish of me to keep it but I wanted the proof that I could do something. And I spent the rest of my life stealing, taking things away from those just like I had stolen away my parents' youth.

Kent took the pocket watch and held it out towards the spirit. It reached out was must have been a hand of some sort, and when it made contact with the watch it materialized into a man who was wearing an 18th century woolen black suit with a notched collar and a cutaway coat. He looked exactly like those men you saw in historical documentaries, except he was missing the top hat.

Fate got me, in the end. The ghost mused, running his free hand over his hair. I fell into that pond and I couldn’t even get myself out. Truly, what I deserve. 

Kent swallowed, feeling the hurt and regret of the spirit- of CJ, starting to fill his lungs. Kent looked over to meet his gaze, and CJ nodded.

Thank you. He said. And then he was gone, faster than he had arrived. 

Kent let out a shaky breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Then, standing back up, he started to shovel the dirt back into the hole. 

He had just finished up when a bright light shone onto him, halting all his movements. Kent turned around to find a very angry Ben, holding a flashlight and an umbrella and wearing a raincoat glaring at him.

“What,” he hissed. “Are you doing?” Kent gulped. He wasn’t sure how he was gonna be able to shrug this one off.

But he could try.

“Ah, Ben!” He grinned, tossing the shovel to the side and stepping towards his friend. “You caught me on my nightly stroll. I do this before I sleep, you really should have realized soo-“ Ben lunged forward and grabbed the collar of Kent’s coat while dropping the flashlight and pulled him so he was under the umbrella.

“What is wrong with you? You think I’m gonna believe you’re on a nightly stroll!?” Ben was shaking him a bit. “You have a BROKEN ARM, Kent! Whatever reason you’re out here has better be good enough, otherwise I will personally see to it that you never leave this mansion ever again!” He shoved the umbrella into Kent’s one good arm, picked up the flashlight, and guided him in the direction of the mansion with a hand on his upper back.

The walk back was mostly silently, the only noises being the occasional grumble from Ben and the occasional sneeze from Kent. When he did sneeze, Kent received an angry glare from Ben. 

They finally reached the front of the house, and Ben let go of Kent to shove the door open. The power was back on, seeing as the main hallway was lit up. Standing there was Bruce and Harriet with their arms crossed and Gabbie with an armful of towels. They all narrowed their eyes at him, and Kent could feel their gaze bore into him.

“If looks could kill.” he murmured to himself. 

Gabbie rushed over with the towels and threw one around Kent’s head, before rubbing his hair with it. 

“What were you thinking? It’s raining out, for Christ’s sake Kent!.” She ranted on about how ridiculous he was being while she dried him off. Harriet took off his coat when she was done, and pressed a hand to his forehead.

“No fever,” the medium said, wrapping a new, dry towel around him before glaring at him yet again. “Yet.”

“Maybe he’s finally gone crazy.” Bruce suggested, holding what appeared to be a cup of tea. Everyone stood still for a second, and looked at him expectantly.

“I made this for me.” The teacher explained.

“Bruce!” Harriet, Gabbie and Ben cried out.

“Fine, fine!” Bruce whined, handing the cup over to Kent. “But don’t say I never do anything for you guys!” 

Gabbie guided Kent over to a green striped loveseat in the foyer, and sat down next to him. Kent was surprised to find that he had been shaking for a bit now, the liquid trembling in the mug as he brought it up to his mouth and sipped. It didn’t taste like anything, really, but Kent was unsure if that was due to the way Bruce liked to take his tea or if he was starting to get sick.

Harriet started to pace back and forth in front of him.

“Why were you outside?” She demanded. “In the rain? In the middle of the night?”

“You better have a good reason for this, Kent.” Warned Ben, mirroring his sentence from earlier. 

Kent had somehow just realized that there was no getting out of this. He shifted his weight back and forth, and just sighed.

“It’s a long story,” he cautioned. “And we’ll be here for a while.” 

Gabbie put her arm around him. “We have the time,” she declared. “Don’t we, guys?” 

Everyone nodded.

And so, the next hour was spent with Kent telling the whole story from when he thought it started. He told them about how he realized he was the only one without a job. He told them about how he didn’t really fit into any position in the mansion. He told them about the little girl, about how she made him think, and how he just started being desperate to help out in any way that he could. He told them about Isabella, and about the pride he felt when he reunited her with her handkerchief. He told them about how the ghosts started to line up day after day, and how he couldn’t find it within himself to turn them away, not when they looked at him like he was the sun when he delivered their precious items back to them. Finally, he told them about CJ, about how he had woken up, and about how he followed the spirit out into the rain with barely any objections.

When he finished, everyone was quiet for a moment. It was like they were frozen in time, just drifting around reality like the ghosts that inhabited the place themselves. Finally, after a bit, Ben spoke.

“Kent,” he said, his normally neutral face morphed into one of sadness. “Why didn’t you tell us?” 

Kent let out a shaky breath. “Because I was scared- scared if I mentioned this to you guys it would stop being an insecurity and become a reality and you guys would realize that I was useless-“ he buried his face into his hands.

“You aren’t useless, Kent.” Harriet said after a few seconds. Kent just laughed dryly.

“I was a con artist before this, Harriet. I made a living off of deceiving people, off of tricking families and taking their money because I was secretly jealous of them.

“I’m not in contact with my family anymore. We never really got along, you see. And when I went off to college, I just said goodbye and never saw them again. I had given up hope of ever having a family of my own once I finished college and realized I could only hold onto a job for five months, at most. That’s why I did the priest thing- no one would question why I wasn’t married if I wasn’t allowed to.”

Everyone was still silent, as if waiting for him to continue; so he did.

“And then I met you guys, and I felt important for once in my life. But, I wasn’t- I’m not.”

Tears were starting to well into Kent’s eyes, and he trembled with shame.

“Those ghosts just wanted the things they loved. They wanted the things that gave their lives meaning. They wanted gifts they had received from their family from lives well lived, even if they ended unfortunately.” 

This time, a tear actually did roll down his cheek, and he took his head out of his hands.

“If I died right now,” he said with a whimper, “I wouldn’t have anything like that. I wouldn’t even deserve a grave.” 

At these words, Gabbie kneeled in front of him and pulled him into a tight hug. Kent hadn’t even realized she had moved as he put his arms around her, shaking like a leaf. He closed his eyes and allowed the tears to fall as Gabbie stroked his back. Harriet sat down in what was Gabbie’s spot on the loveseat and wrapped an arm around him from the side.

“You are important, Kent.” Gabbie said, voice filled with emotion. “You’re important to me.” Kent couldn’t find the energy within himself to object. 

“You saved us, kid.” Bruce said from where he was standing behind Gabbie. “We’d be dead meat if it weren’t for your help.”

“Plus you befriended the ghosts. That’s pretty badass.” Harriet chuckled. Gabbie pulled back from the hug and stood up, and Ben took her place kneeling on the floor. He put two hands on Kent’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

“I was really annoyed with you at first, Kent.” He said. “You pressured me into a job that I didn’t want, and refused to give up even when I said no. At first this bothered me. But after everything with the Hatbox Ghost and the banishment happened, I realized you did this because you cared. You cared about Gabbie and Travis and you wanted them to feel safe. You cared about me and my work, and wanted me to use what I had made to help others. If it weren’t for you, I would still be rotting away in my apartment back in New Orleans as a crappy tour guide.

“You aren’t going to be productive all the time, Kent- no one is. It’s a part of living. If you get stuck on always doing something that’s useful, then you’ll never be happy. Life is short; you should enjoy it.” Ben sighed as he finished his sentence. 

“Look at us now, Kent.”  Gabbie said, smiling at him, a genuine smile that made him feel warm and happy. “We really are sort of like a family now, aren’t we?” 

Kent sniffed, wiping at his eyes. “Yeah, we are.” 

“And family sticks together.” Harriet said. Kent grinned even harder, succumbing to the joy that filled him at last. 

“Thank you guys.” He said, feeling lighter than he had felt in a while. Everybody leaned into him at once, all hugging him while the last of his tears dried up. 

After a minute or two, Bruce spoke up.

“You should shower,” he said, wrinkling up his nose. “You smell like a wet dog.” 

“Bruce!” Harriet hissed, smacking him on the shoulder. Kent just laughed.

“No, he’s right. I need to clean up.” They all separated, and Kent got up, towel still draped on his back. As he walked in the direction of the stairs, he looked back at everybody, who were all watching him go.

“Guys?” Kent said, pausing for a moment. “Thank you. I really mean it.”

As he got to the bathroom, the sun started to rise, and it felt like a banishment of his own had occurred when it hit his face.

-

A few days later, Kent met the girl again. It was about mid afternoon, and he was guessing that her family was on their way back from whatever vacation they had gone on. 

He was in the first floor bathroom, his left arm finally freed from the cast. The blonde had gotten it off yesterday, at a check-in appointment with the doctor. She was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it healed.

“It’s like a miracle happened!” She exclaimed. Kent just smiled back at her.

He was at the bathtub because earlier in the day, Tater Tot had been running about in the garden when she had jumped straight into a big mud puddle. Kent had found her dirty and ticked off, having a hard time getting herself out. He couldn’t just leave her to clean herself with her tongue, so he decided to give her a bath. They had gotten a pet shampoo a week ago in anticipation for this anyways. 

He had expected her to put up more of a fight, but to Kent’s surprise Tater Tot was extremely content with the bath. She was purring and motoring around the tub like the world's cutest submarine. Kent had put one of his rubber duckies in there with her to keep her company. 

The girl walked in while he was in the middle of putting a hat made of soap bubbles onto the cats head. She was wearing a red cardigan  over a cute floral dress with a white barrette and a pair of fall boots. She looked surprised to see him, as if she thought he would have been let go or something in the time she was gone.

“Oh,” she said. “It’s you.” Kent grinned at her.

“Hey, kid. How’s it going?” She smiled back.

“Great. Happy to see you here.” 

Kent felt very happy. “Really?” He drew his hands back from where he was scrubbing Tater Tots fur to hover in the air. The girl nodded at him. She glanced very quickly at Tater Tot, then back at him.

“Doing something useful?” She asked. Kent thought for a minute. Tater Tot jumped up with a purr to rub against his hand.

“Not at all,” he said, scooping a bubble onto her fur. “Want to help?” 

There was silence for a moment. It was broken when Tater Tot sneezed.

The girl grinned happily, showing all her teeth. “I’d love to!” She ran over to kneel by the tub, and scrolled up her sleeves. 

“My name's Isabella, by the way.” Kent froze, holding the shampoo bottle stagnant in the air mid-squeeze. Then he smiled for what felt like the 100th time that day.

“I really like that name.” Said Kent, genuinely.

-

“Hello everybody!” Travis’s voice rang out from the front door as he arrived home from school. Strangely enough, the bus passed by the mansion on the way to school, so Travis could get directly on and off at the gates.

“Hiya sweetheart!” Gabbie said, looking over from where she was doing dishes in the kitchen sink. Everyone else was also in the kitchen. Ben and Bruce were arguing over what to order at the Chinese restaurant for dinner as Bruce’s laptop lay in front of them, Harriet was arranging meetings with her clients, and Kent was opening Tater Tots food can while she watched him diligently.

“How was school, squirt?” Bruce asked, looking up from the menu. Ben took the opportunity to check the button for chicken potstickers for the appetizer instead of the egg rolls.

“It was good!” Travis grinned as he walked into the kitchen, taking his shoes off. “I learned some interesting stuff in school.” 

“Like what?” said Ben, holding the laptop away from Bruce.

“Like how all mosquitoes that suck blood are female! They suck it to get the nutrients for their eggs.” He sat in the chair next to Ben. 

“Oo, feminism.” Harriet commented from across the table. Kent finally placed Tater Tots dish down, and she immediately went to town on it.

“Yep! And Mrs. Smith was absent today since her wife had an appointment in the city, so the substitute had us make cards since Thanksgiving was coming soon.” Travis started rooting around in his bag for something, but then paused.

“What did you make?” Gabbie asked, turning her head away from the dishes. Travis seemed to blush a bit.

“It’s kind of embarrassing but…” he paused, before taking a piece of paper out of his bag. He set it down on the table. Everyone stopped what they were doing to come over to Travis’s side of the table. The card he had in front of them was folded, and the cover was a little drawing of a turkey with the words ‘What I’m grateful for’ written beneath it. “She wanted us to make cards to someone we’re grateful for, but I couldn’t pick just one of you guys. So…” he opened the card to reveal a little drawing in colored pencils and markers. It was little stick figures of each of them, Gabbie, Ben, Kent, Bruce, Harriet, Travis himself and of course Tater Tot. They all have a big grin on their faces, and little ghosts were drawn hovering around them, also smiling.

Below, written in neat, cursive, handwriting were the words ‘I’m grateful for my family.’

Travis got to have as much ice cream as wanted after dinner, as an apology for everyone squeezing him in the biggest, tightest hug he had ever been involved in in his life.