by Sean Michael
“I bet we both do. Have I said thank you for the help yet?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can’t say it again.” Flynn kissed him. “I’m just glad you’re okay, babe.”
“Me too. That was terrifying.”
“It was. I say we forget about it for the afternoon and just eat and binge-watch Penny Dreadful or True Blood.”
“Okay. That sounds like one hell of a plan.”
“I haven’t seen either of them. You got a preference?” Flynn settled on the bed next to Blaine, sitting on the side of his good shoulder, and grabbed a slice of pizza.
“Don’t care.” He nibbled, hoping the food settled.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Flynn reached past him for the bag of pills and began doling them out. “You have to have food with all of them, and you can start on all of them at the same time. Man, they’re really throwing the whole pharmacy at you, aren’t they?”
“I guess, yeah. No one wants more ooky things coming out of me.” Especially him.
“From your mouth to God’s ears.” Flynn squeezed his arm. “Okay. Here’s this round of pills. Take them with water. I have a thing about washing meds down with booze.”
“Yeah, that seems sorta… weird.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Flynn munched on his pizza, looking happy as a clam right where he was.
He leaned in, kissed Flynn’s shoulder. “Sorry if I scared you.
“It’s not your fault.” Flynn nuzzled against his cheek.
“No? Cool.” Because it felt a little like his fault.
“Of course not. Unless you put the bug in your shoulder.”
He winced, his face twisting up.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
“No. No, that was….” He shuddered, suddenly queasy.
Flynn rubbed his belly. “Don’t think about it, okay? You need to keep those pills down.”
“Yeah. Yeah, how did you know?”
“You all of a sudden went kind of green. Plus we were talking about the unmentionables. Just eat and watch the pretty vampire, okay?”
“Yes, boss.” Eat. Watch the pretty vampire. He could do that.
“Oh, be careful. I could get used to being called the boss.”
“I bet Jase would give you the job.”
“You think so? I probably don’t want it, eh?” Flynn rubbed their cheeks together.
“I’m not sure anyone does.”
“Some people like being the boss, like the power. I’m not sure that ghost hunting encourages power-hungry guys.”
“I think that ghosts would come for that, though, being power hungry.”
“So you’re saying we should go in there and start fighting over who gets to be the boss?”
“I’m saying that I want someone to talk to Jase once in a while.”
“I don’t get what you’re trying to say,” Flynn told him. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be dense.”
“The ghosts, honey. I just… I’m feeling a little wigged. Maybe someone else can be psychic.”
“Oh! Duh! Sorry, I totally wasn’t following you. I guess we do kind of put it all on your shoulders, don’t we?” Flynn rubbed Blaine’s belly again, the touch soothing, comforting.
“I’m sort of the only one who seems to do it, except for you.”
“I’m a lightweight in that department compared to you. I mean, I do seem to see and feel more than the guys, but you have actual conversations with them and stuff. I could try to help more in that department if you want, though, babe.”
“I just… I don’t want to go back there right now.” He never ever wanted Flynn to go back.
“Yeah, I don’t blame you at all. So maybe the four of us will go while you’re working the farm stand for your dad,” Flynn suggested.
“No. No, let’s just find another site for a weekend, huh? Something juicy and fun.”
Flynn chuckled. “You’ve got a real hate on for that place, don’t you? I suppose I can’t blame you.” Flynn touched the spot on his shoulder. “Do you think knowing about the couple who died got into your subconscious?”
“I guess? I didn’t even know about them, really. I mean, lots of people died in that hospital.”
“You knew their names, though.” Flynn grabbed his beer and had a swig.
“I don’t remember them.” He didn’t. He had a vague recollection of the story.
“Room 204.”
“Stop it, of course you do. You said you were Christian, and you called me David.”
Blaine didn’t respond to that. He didn’t remember it, he didn’t want to remember it, and he didn’t want to think about it.
“Room 204.”
Jesus. Loud as anything. He looked at Flynn, but the man didn’t look like he’d heard it at all.
Leave me alone.
“Room 204.”
I’m serious.
Flynn was cuddled up against him, watching TV, obviously not hearing a thing going on. So obviously it was going on in his head.
God, was he going crazy? Was it the meds? The drugs? What?
“Room 204.”
Jesus Christ. What was it going to take to shut that voice up?
“Room 204.”
Stop it. I’ll go look with a camera. I’ll go, but I’ll go by myself.
“Room 204.”
“Room 204.”
“Room 204.”
“Room 204.”
The words repeated over and over, getting louder each time.
“What?” Flynn asked.
“Huh?” He wasn’t sure if he wanted Flynn to hear them or not.
“I thought you said something about a room.”
“Just dozing, I think.”
“Yeah? Okay.” Flynn stroked his belly. “How’re you feeling?”
“A little stoned still, I think.” Like I’m losing my fucking mind.
“Well, considering I just gave you a whole bunch of meds, I doubt that’s going to change anytime soon. Did you want me to turn the TV off? Would that make it easier to sleep?”
“No. No, I like that noise.”
“Okay.” Flynn settled again.
“Room 204.”
The words started up again, only now they sounded angry, frustrated.
Flynn frowned and looked at him.
“Room 204!”
Eyes going wide, Flynn gasped. “That wasn’t you.”
“What wasn’t me?” Did you hear it too?
“Room 204. I thought it was you saying it, but it didn’t sound like your voice. And it wasn’t even you saying it, because I heard it again, and your mouth wasn’t moving!”
“I didn’t say it,” he whispered.
“Then who did? Because I’m not buying into shared hallucinations.”
“How the hell should I know?”
“Well, it obviously has something to do with the hospital.”
“Room 204. Room 204. Room 204.”
There was an urgency to the voice now as it repeated the room number over and over again.
“I think we need to find out exactly who the guys who died there were and what happened to them.” Flynn held on tight to him, looking around like he was trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.
“You have to promise me never ever to go to the hospital again, Flynn.”
Flynn frowned at him as the phrase got louder, more strident. “I have a hunch maybe we need to go there to deal with this, Blaine.”
“No. You can’t.”
“But why not, babe? The… whatever it is seems pretty adamant that that’s exactly where we need to go. We should at least research it, dig deeper, even if we don’t go there.”
“Room 204!” It was a shout this time.
“Okay! We get it! Shut up already.” Flynn shouted out the words, glaring at the air.
“I’ll take care of it.” Whatever it was. Whatever it needed. Blaine would deal with it.
Him. Alone.
“You’re not facing this alone. You’ve g
ot four guys more than ready to back you up. And if the others chicken out, you’ve still got me.”
“You’re suggesting….”
“I have no idea. I’m just saying that whatever’s going on there, you don’t have to face it alone. Whether we just need to research this and perform a ceremony of some sort, or whether we have to go back and face this at the hospital, you are not alone in this.”
“Maybe I ought to be.” Maybe he should. He knew, no question, that bringing Flynn to the second floor again would be… a huge mistake.
“No way. I’m not letting you do that. What if something happened to you?”
“Nothing will happen.” He knew the words were false as soon as he said them.
Flynn shook his head. “I don’t care what you say, I’m not risking you. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that. Maybe we’ll get this figured out just by doing some research.”
“Maybe. That would be cool, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, it really would be. I’ll get together with Jason and see what all you have, then dig deeper.” Flynn chuckled. “And here I thought I’d be done doing research now that I’ve finished university.”
“I thought that’s what scientists did.”
“Well, yeah, but into new things. We’re going to be researching an old thing. Especially if we want to stay away from the hospital….”
“For a bit. Nothing will change. It’s been what it is for years.”
“Yeah, except now it’s affecting you directly here at home.” Flynn leaned up again and checked his shoulder. “It looks okay.”
“Good. Good, that’s what I want to hear.” He didn’t even want to suggest otherwise.
“Anyway. None of that is here or now. You’re supposed to be resting. Getting better. So hush and watch the show already.” Flynn settled back in against him, using him like a giant pillow.
Right on. Hush. Watch the show. Don’t think.
Flynn stroked his belly, fingers warm and gentle. It felt good. Not even really sexual at all, more comforting.
“Glad you’re here, man. For real.”
“Yeah? I’m glad too, you know?” Flynn’s eyes were bright and happy.
“Even with the grossness?” Blaine had to ask.
“Shit yeah. What’s a little grossness between friends?” Flynn laughed. “I’d prefer less grossness in the future, but if you ever need someone to pull a bug out of you again, I am your man.”
“At least you didn’t say maggot.” They started laughing together, the sound wild and a little hysterical, but real, intermingled. True.
Flynn settled back against him, warm and right.
Maybe he’d make it. Maybe it would all be all right.
Chapter Twelve
FLYNN sat with Jason in the living room, going through all the research they had already collected on room 204. They hadn’t gone too deep into it; they hadn’t needed to really for their purposes.
All they knew was the basics. Two gay guys in the eighties. One got sick with a brain tumor—Christian Singer—and his family had told the hospital not to let David Swans in under any circumstances. When Christian died, David killed himself. In the hospital room. Room 204.
A shiver went down Flynn’s spine.
There wasn’t much—a couple of newspaper articles, a mention of David Swans’s sister, two obituaries that listed totally separate families.
“Is this everything you found on the internet, or did you just do the basics?” Flynn needed to know where to start looking.
“There’s not much. It was pre-internet. Daisy Swans, the sister listed, is living in Australia now. The Singer family just disappeared. I mean, I bet they had friends, but….” Jason shrugged.
“Well, let’s put their names in a search together and see what we can find. We can hit the library up next for the newspapers.”
“Sure.” Jason sighed. “You really think they’re active, these two? I mean, you’ve got the violent death downstairs….”
“Yeah, but….” He didn’t want to give Blaine up, so he shrugged in turn. “I have a feeling.”
“Cool. Do you think it has to do with the bite? That thing’s prodigious.”
“Yeah, I really think it does.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, so this is going to sound a little out there, but let me talk it through. I think he was bitten by a ghost. Flies don’t lay eggs in live flesh, only dead flesh. So how did the maggot get inside him? It was in the thing that bit him’s teeth.” Yeah, okay, it sounded a little out there. But then the whole thing was out there.
“Okay, so yeah. Out there, but worse than that—really fucking scary.”
“I know. But I can’t see any other explanation. I mean, I didn’t bite him, and something definitely happened to him in the ER. You were there. You saw him.”
“Yeah. Yeah, so, what? What do we do?”
“I don’t know. Learn everything about Christian, David, and room 204. See how it’s connected. If it’s connected.”
“But if it is? What do we do then? I mean, silver and sage?”
Flynn nodded. “To start with. We’ll look up everything we can find on putting them to rest.”
“Well, that’s better than letting them eat us. I mean, seriously, what if there’s an attack? If we can’t get it on camera….”
Flynn nodded. Blaine would be happy if he wasn’t the only one not wanting to go back. But Flynn hated just leaving it. Something was there, going on, and he wanted to figure it out. Help, if it was a situation where they could. “We definitely need to be careful. No unnecessary risks.”
“Rock on. By the way, are you looking for a day job, man? There’s an opening at my call center.”
“Doing what exactly?” His frugality meant he had savings still. He’d been paying rent with it, but he preferred not to dig into it too deep if he could help it. As long as he had a roof over his head and food enough, he liked to save that kind of thing for a rainy day.
“Answering phone calls, helping people out. There’s a lot of calming angry customers down for the most part.”
“I’m not sure I’m the calming-angry-customers-down kind of guy. I appreciate the offer, though. Can I let you know?” He supposed the hours would be pretty flexible, which was always a good thing when coupled with the ghost hunting.
“Sure. I like to hit my friends up first, you know? Sometimes the hours suck, but it’s a job.”
“I hear you. I guess we aren’t getting any cash flow soon on the actual ghost hunting, eh?”
“Not yet. I’m working at it. The last bit of footage with Blaine acting like a psycho is pretty cool, and so is the story of the bite. I’m thinking about taking him out there to ‘get bit’ on-screen.”
“Not without me.” He looked Jason in the eye. “Promise me you won’t do anything like that, just the two of you—that you’ll bring me along.”
“Sure. I’ll need someone to run the camera, right?”
“Right.” He wasn’t sure it was a good idea to fake something like that, but he figured they could revisit it later. For now, he just wanted the guarantee that Jason wouldn’t take Blaine to the hospital without him.
Jason stretched and went back to his laptop, slowly running videos from their visits. “Where’s Blaine? He should be done at the stall by now, huh?”
Flynn glanced at his watch. “Huh. Yeah, he should. Maybe he went to see his folks.” He grabbed his phone and texted, where u at?
bringing food. Mom made stew
yum!
“He’s on his way with stew from his mom.” Flynn’s stomach growled, and he realized he’d skipped lunch.
“Rock on! I hope she sends cornbread too.” Jason grinned at Flynn. “We used to love that when we were all in school. Coming out here for food.”
“Like you don’t still love it.” Blaine’s mom was a fantastic cook.
“God, my favorite is chicken parm day.”
“That sounds great. I haven’t had that yet. I have to admit, there’s n
othing like home cooking from someone’s mom.”
“Oh dude. My mom is the queen of takeout—Chinese, pizza, Greek, curry.”
Flynn laughed, shook his head, but he had to wonder a little bit—had Jason and Blaine been lovers? Darnell? Any of them?
“So, an all-gay ghost-hunting team. Did that just happen, or was it deliberate?” He tried to keep his tone casual.
“It was six of one, half dozen of another. We were all friends because we’re gay. It was me and Blaine who started talking about the ghost hunting.”
“Were you ever together?” Keep it smooth. Keep it casual. He glanced over, trying not to look too interested.
“Together? We said we were dating in high school, shared a couple of hand jobs, and then decided we didn’t do it for each other.”
Flynn chuckled, more relieved than he was willing to say. He was about to make some glib joke about it being awkward to have work relationships anyway, but then he realized he was in one, so it would be better not to make the joke. Of course, he didn’t consider what he and Blaine had as a work thing.
“Seriously, it’s cool if you two are a thing. Blaine’s a decent guy. A little down on his luck, but aren’t we all?”
“Some would say that’s what we get for being ghost hunters.” Flynn grinned. “I happen to think the world is waiting for five gay guys hunting ghosts, and we just need the right circumstances and bam, we’ll be bigger than the Village People.”
“Oh dude.” Jason’s eyes lit up. “Do you think we can get Blaine to wear the leather-daddy outfit?”
“You absolutely cannot.” Blaine was at the screen door. “Let me in, you freaks.”
Flynn popped up off the floor, cackling like a loon as he went to open the door for Blaine. “You would look really hot, man.”
“Shut up. What the hell are you two talking about?”
“How we could be the Village People of ghost hunting.” There was nothing abnormal about that, right?
“The Village People… wow. Stew?”
Flynn laughed and grabbed the pot from Blaine. “Are those homemade rolls too? Your mom is a treasure.”
“She’s feeling better. Seriously. It’s so fucking cool.”