Blind Photographs

“Put her back out, we’ve still got a long way to go. Brilliant idea, using the child locks.”

I fought against the one closest to me for a while but my limbs were numb and my head wasn’t thinking clearly. He put the cloth back down and held it until I started fading again before he tied it around like a muzzle. He wasn’t even fighting back. Just kept me from hurting him. These weren’t normal bounty hunters, if that’s even who they were.

“She looks really different.”

“Think she remembers us?”

Eventually I somehow ended up in a dark back room. I was alone. I was also ready to rip someone’s head off if they didn’t explain what was going on here.

“Kid. Good to see you again.”

I finally realized where I was.

“Where’s Boom Box?” I demanded.

The ghosts were nice to their own. But not to the outsiders.

“The other kid’s with Boo Radley.” I glared at him. “She’s safe, relax. What happened to you, kid? Phantom said he saw you dead as dust, zipped up into the BLI bag.”

“Made it through. Lot’s happened since. Now hand over Boom Box and take us home.”

“Home? They had you kidnapped, blindfolded in a corner with the kid cowering behind you. Just wait it out and you’ll be safer here.”

He'd been my favorite when I was still one of them. I could only go by his voice because of the masks, and his was the best. It was smooth, like Fun's, but really warm too, like Jet's.

“Ugh, you’re such an idiot! Where’s my bandana, old fart?”

“The name’s Poltergeist now. We tossed it, it’s probably blowing across the zones right now like a tumbleweed.”

I turned away from him and moved throughout the old hideout, trying to find something to cover my eyes. I felt exposed.

“You took away my mask.”

It was an unspoken rule that you never unmasked anyone, for sake of their privacy.

“You mean the bandana? Hardly a mask.” I assumed he was Boo Radley because Grace was with him. “What happened to you?’

“Didn’t seem to care when I got stuck in the city. Boom Box, meet the ghosts,” I said with an air of sarcastic grandeur.

“We saw you dead. What were we supposed to do? Steal a corpse?”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re not the first I’ve left, and you won’t be the last.”

“You can’t leave. He wants you here.” He answered.

“Who does?”

“Just a lonely ghost.”

It was a running phrase. Who sent you? Just a lonely ghost. Who are you? Just a lonely ghost. There were variations, of course, but it all served the purpose of keeping identities secret, and it was starting to piss me off.

“Look, Boo Radley, or whoever the hell you are. We’re going home,” I huffed, grabbing Grace by the hand and graciously accepting her offering of the green bandana from some pocket or other and tying it over my eyes. It helped some.

“Look, kid. This is home for right now. So go back to your room and think, or calculate, or whatever the hell you want before I make sure you’re down for the count. You used to be a sweet brat, and now you’ve turned into some angsty teenager.”

“You took me and Boom Box from the diner. You socked me in the stomach so hard I thought I was going to throw up. You won’t let us leave. And now you’re threatening me. You want me to be pleasant? Try being a little nicer.”

I started leading Grace back the way I came, cursing loudly as my shin slammed into an unfamiliar piece of furniture.