Control

Control

Chapter 27: Sticks and Ropes

Alex's P.O.V

Now we knew where we all stood…kind of…well really all we knew was that Oliver was hiding from the Men with Sticks and Ropes and that was about it. Which meant we really didn't know where we were all stood, but anyway Hal, Sophie and Tom needed to get back to work but I didn't want to be lumbered with this posh boy all day alone.

"We don't want you to get poorly now do we?"

"He's been dead for a hundred years. How much more poorly can he get?" I answered to whoever the hell had made that stupid remark, dead was as poorly as you got, but his little lordship decided to play, like all my brothers had, the sick card even though he had been dead for quite some time. "No, that is a classic "I want the day off school" cough. I've heard it a thousand times."

"Thank you all. You've been so very kind. And if I don't make it, please... don't forget me." Oliver acted punctuating it with small coughs every now and then; it reminded me a lot of my brothers, just a lot more posh.

"You know Deckey used to look up symptoms online all the time except he could never be bothered looking up the diagnosis." At that point Hal, Sophie and Tom left trying to be as quiet as possible, but I knew they left. "There was this one time he said he couldn't go to school because he'd just started the menopause. Oh you are all so getting a slap. So what do you want to do then? Play some football? Climb some trees?"

"What kind of low-born ruffian do you take me for?" He answered clearly offended…he was not like my brothers in that respect then, they preferred roughhousing and other stereotypical boy stuff to do.

"TV it is."

Hal's P.O.V

"Nice of you to pop by, nice of you to join us." Patsy had been waiting for us to get back, well it looked like none of us were going to get employee of the month…but that didn't matter, what mattered was that we had jobs so that we could still have the house.

"Uh, sorry Patsy, we were called away to deal with a domestic emergency." I explained but she seemed to disregard that and begin on whatever the hell she thought had happened…which seemed to be all Tom's fault apparently.

"No, Hal, I see what you're doing. It's very noble of you to try and take the bullet, but I've got the smoking gun. I saw him on the security cam, sauntering up, bold as brass, on his own. Not good enough, Thomas. You need to pull your socks up." She explained before leaving, it made sense neither I nor Sophie would show up on the cameras, no reflections and all. Tom looked rather annoyed, he really wanted to outshine me and get the employee of the month.

"Oh come on, that's funny. You've got to admit. Tom!" I joked but he wasn't having any of it.

"We're sorry Tom, neither of us you know can help that we don't show up on cameras. It's hard living without a reflection." Sophie apologised although she didn't need to, Patsy was the one who had believed that Tom had left by himself even though she wouldn't be able to find Sophie or I on any of the security footage or in the building…she really was a careless manager.

"Imagine having "Employee of the Month" written on your CV. Imagine having a CV." He mused clearly disregarding anything we had just said, I shook my head.

"You can have a CV. I'll type you up a CV as soon as I'm done disinfecting the keyboard." I stated though I don't think that helped the current situation as he shook his head at me and left the front room.

"He really wants to win this 'competition' Hal. Maybe I don't know you should let him." Sophie explained he could have employee of the month for all I cared, I was not trying to beat him.

"I'm not even competing for it." I stated as I began to clean the desk once more, it took my mind off of other things and kept me sane.

"But he already has an uphill struggle, with Patsy being enamoured with you and all." She explained, something told me that we'd find Patsy's body in the hotel if she kept up her behaviour more than likely with her jugular ripped out. I walked around from behind the counter some keys in hand and held her close.

"Don't lose it." I whispered brushing her hair. "I'll try and help him out."

"Good." She whispered giving me a quick peck on the lips somehow finding her way out of my arms and at the same time taking the keys. "Thanks."

Time passed slowly and yet no more guests entered the hotel, more left than came in. Tom still had a slight scowl on his face every time Patsy would walk in or he would walk passed her and she'd give me a compliment, maybe to keep the peace I needed to help Tom win employee of the month. It was finally time to leave and go home, if I had to stay there looking at the gaudy walls I would just kill all the guests simply to see something else than those walls. As we got through the front door however chaos was ruling the living room, had Alex gone mad?

"What's all this in aid of?" I asked lifting up several streams of multicolour ribbon, it had been neat and tidy when we left and now it was utter chaos. I couldn't leave her alone for one bloody minute without all my hard work being utterly ruined.

"Don't you like a party? Who doesn't like a party? Everybody likes a party. It's the fucking law." Alex asked as she ran from the front room and ushered us all into the room where Oliver was sat with a grin on his face.

"He doesn't like the mess." Sophie answered earning chuckles of both Alex and Tom.

"Everyone deserves to have a fuss made of them when they're little." Tom added as he fully embraced this whole chaotic thing. Both of them had come from a time when birthdays were a big thing and the smallest things were celebrated, whereas Sophie and I really hadn't nor had we been round many children that wanted to be fussed over…except Hettie but that was more Sophie and I fussing over a daughter we never had.

"Okay then. Okay well then, it's agreed. Tonight we're going to party like its 1899. Ye ha! You're not yay-ing, Hal." Alex laughed as she jumped on the sofa; this was not the relaxing evening I wanted after spending a day working in the worst hotel I have ever seen.

"Yay."

Sophie's P.O.V

"Now, a customer comes in, you ignore them. If they ask you a question, you shrug. They ask you again, you tut." Alex explained all in aid to help Tom win this employee of the month prize, all we had to do was get Hal to lower his normal levels of hardworking and cleanliness.

"Tut?" he asked it was really hard for Hal not to be a gentleman most of the time, even if it was someone rather rude…but a lot of the time that would end with a death or ten.

"Try and work in an eye roll as well." She added he shook his head in disbelief, I could never had offered this advice; I wouldn't even know where to start.

"This is barbaric!"

"This is how you're going to help tom. But yes it's very…brash." I reassured but he still didn't like the idea of tutting, ignoring and rolling his eyes at customers.

"Welcome to the British service industry." She replied before disappearing off home, what had the world come? The service industry rude? Unheard of in my day.

"I can't do this." He muttered looking at the mess Alex had made obviously trying to stop the urge to clean it up…he was trying hard to make Tom win this thing.

"Yes you can!" I reassured all he had to do was be rude for one day while Tom was himself and surely he'd win. I gave him a kiss brushing his cheek slightly. "Have a nice day being rude Mr Yorke."

Alex's P.O.V

"So how did you die?" I asked we were upstairs in what I assumed was baby Eve's room.

"That's a very personal question." He replied he seemed as though he didn't want to tell me, what was so bad about his death?

"You said that you were hiding from The Men with Sticks and Rope. What do they want with you?" I asked I hadn't really heard much of the Men with Sticks and Rope…other than they bring you to the other side.

"They want every ghost, who hasn't passed over properly." He explained, but they had yet to come looking for me…so was Oliver special? Or was it that he was just such an old ghost?

"They've not come looking for me. So you must be special. So why is that then?" I asked he shook his head and at that moment everything in the room seemed to come to life, drawers started opening and things began to move out of position.

"If I tell you, you'll hate me." He whispered as he walked away from me, had he done something terrible?

"Of course I'm not going to hate you. What is it? What are you hiding? Oliver!"

"I did a terrible thing. I killed my brother." He mumbled, and then went into detail pausing every now and then, but eventually he told me the events up to his brother's death.

"What happened to Albert, Oliver, wasn't your fault. Just as what happened to me wasn't mine." I reassured, not every death was at the fault of another, and I mean I was murdered but Oliver didn't cause his brother's death.

"Do you really believe that?" he asked skeptically he really did believe that he had killed his brother.

"Neither of us asked for this. We have both had to pay the biggest price imaginable for things that, for things that we can't even control. But what's done is done and we have to look forward now. Or else eternity's going to seem like a very long time."

"There's something I need to tell you, about why I'm here." Oliver mumbled, well about time he'd been here only a day or two and already we had nearly destroyed the living room which, if Hal had a living beating heart, would have given him a heart attack.

"What is it?" I asked nonchalantly, it wasn't a big deal, he could have done this sooner but he probably had his reasons not to tell me.

"I'm sorry Alex."

"What's going on?" I asked something was wrong here, why couldn't he just come out and tell me why he was here in the first place and why was he apologizing?

"We need to get out of here." He mumbled, I tried to rent-a-ghost but it didn't work, this was turning serious. "What's wrong?"

"I can't rent-a-ghost Right, its okay. We're just going to have to do this the old-fashioned way, all right?" I replied walking out of the room with him in tow, something was definitely wrong and it was starting to get to Oliver.

"This isn't fair! I didn't agree to this!" he yelled as a door appeared and cowered behind me.

"I'll look after you. Whatever happens, I promise you. Okay?" I promised holding onto him, he nodded but he wasn't convinced he was hiding something.

I just want to play. Please Oliver. I've been looking for you everywhere. Why do you keep running away from me?

"Open the door." I stated looking between him and the door, it was his chance to go and be happy in the afterlife.

"What?" he questioned he didn't seem like he wanted to cross over…strange, maybe he was scared of crossing over.

"Oliver, you can't keep hiding. You have to talk to him. You have to face him."

"I didn't make it happen?" he questioned more to himself than to me, he was referring to his brother's death.

"I think that's what Albert's been trying to tell you all this time. I think that's why he's been looking for you. Come on. Open the door." I explained he nodded but he still didn't reach for the door.

"I'm sorry, Albert. I'm so sorry."

"Go with him. It's okay." I stated, he needed to cross over and this was his time to do so.

"Thank you…" Oliver mumbled, this could just be a real life happy ending, it could even make me cry, if we didn't end back up in the attic.

"I don't understand. We're back in the attic." This day had been overly complex and I had a feeling that the Men with Ropes and Sticks were about to make an appearance.

"Give him to us."

"Not gonna happen." I stated pushing Oliver behind me backing further away from the men.

"One of you is coming with us."

"Well take me. I promised you that I would look after you, okay? This is just what big sisters do. Right. Now when Hal and Tom get back tell them exactly what happened. Tell them that this was my choice, okay? Have you got that? Okay. Let's do this." I explained god I wish I just had a normal life; I wish none of this had happened!

"No. This is what they wanted. It was a trap. The whole thing was a trap. That's why they sent me here!" he shouted, he was terrified like a little boy who knew he'd done something incredibly terrible…which he kind of had, but it wasn't his fault.

"So, you want to play with us, little girl." The leader snarled, their name left nothing to the imagination but they were much scarier.

"Oliver... somebody needs you."

"I can't just leave you!" Oliver yelled he'd been forced to do all this but still he needed to go to the other side and this was his chance.

"Oliver, just go." I stated urging him to go through the door; it might be his last chance to escape these guys. "And remember to close the door!"

"How you going to get back, eh? How long do you think you can survive in this world? Not long I reckon. Slash hope. Okay, any time you want to start bursting into flames or whatever you do, just... feel free." I asked backing away from the guy, I really didn't want to leave and I really didn't want to be taken by these goons.

"You're too late. The end has begun, night will fall. And he will rise."

Hal's P.O.V

"He may look like someone's pulled a monkey from a tree and shaved it, but that's how he pulls people in to his theatre of lies." Patsy ranted I rolled my eyes she really was ignorant and the worst manager I had ever come across.

"You've met Tom, haven't you? I mean you've spoken to him." I asked Tom of all people would not lie, he was a gentleman with rough edges but still he had a good set of manners that was rare to find in this age.

"This whole experience has been incredibly stressful so if you wanted to, to give me a back rub that would be fine." She stated her eyebrow rose suggestively as she turned her back towards me.

"Now you listen to me, if you want this place to be a success then Tom McNair is exactly the employee you need. The problem with you, Patsy, is that you are an inveterate snob. You'd rather reward someone who is well-spoken and disinterested than someone who is a little rough around the edges but utterly committed. Now that is not an environment I wish to work in, so if he goes I go."

"Well that was stupid. Now none of us have got a job." Tom sighed as we walked back to the BnB, after that speech to Patsy she immediately fired me although it seemed to hurt her somewhat, and then she also decided to fire Sophie.

"And exactly why did she fire me?" Sophie asked none of us had jobs and little money to pay for the house.

"God knows." I replied hugging her closer as we drew up at the house. "And Tom, I think the phrase you're looking for is "Thank you.""

We walked through the front door and luckily there was no party and the living room was nice and clean the way I had left it this morning, however Alex was idly picking at the carpet of the stairs.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked she didn't reply something had happened, maybe she had been reminded too much of her life by Oliver, speaking of which, where was Oliver?

"Where's Oliver?" Tom asked Alex shook her head, had he crossed over? Or had the Men with Sticks and Ropes got him?

"He's gone."

Alex's P.O.V

"Time to say goodbye." I murmured I really did not want to do it, but I needed to know they were alright, and I needed to move on. I couldn't wish my afterlife away thinking about what could have been I had a new life with Hal and Tom.

"Of course, I mean, it's what we expected."

"Not to you, you idiot, to them, to this. They've started rebuilding their world. As the distance gets greater and greater they're just going to get stronger and stronger. To watch that happen would be like slowly dying again. I've got to move on as much as they do. Come on. Let's, let's go home" I explained, it was hard to leave them but I had to just like they had to accept that I was dead. "One thing I don't understand. Okay, I get the fact that the Men with Sticks and Rope are after me, 'cause that's just what they do. They go after ghosts that haven't moved on. But I thought they couldn't cross into this plane."

"They can't. Not in their true form." Hal answered with Sophie nodding along, with the pair of them I'd expect them to know everything as they had a combined age of over 1000 years and had been in the supernatural game a lot longer than both Tom and I.

"Well they managed to somehow. There was something else as well, before they left he said "He will rise." What does that mean? Who will rise?" I asked Sophie immediately looked at Hal as if they knew something, something may have happened while they were younger.

"It's as if something's changing. It's as if the barriers between the worlds are becoming weaker." He answered looking towards Sophie, they definitely knew something…but I doubt they'd share, they were sometimes very cagey about their past.

"And that's not good, is it?" Tom questioned they both shook their heads.

"No. It is very not good."

I'm getting stronger every day. When the time is right, I will rise. And then I'm going to drain the world dry. I'm going to lap up every drop of hope and love and feel it run down my chin. I'm going to turn men into beasts and ruin their women and spit poison into their children. I'm going to scorch the earth with proper, Old Testament despair and teach them that the gods are there to be feared and everything you love will die and everything you're scared of will come true.