Adam's POV

"He'll be back. He promised. Danny will come back for me. He wouldn't leave me. He's the best big brother in the world. He's funny and smart and kind and perfect."

This boy had such blind faith in his brother. And it was blind. I knew Danny. I'd met him. He was a 40 year old accountant.

Yet to Alex he was his 16 year old brother.

I stared at the ghost. Alex couldn't have been older than 12. And his brother had practically killed him. He'd taken him through the park, right to where he knew the drug addicts were. And he let them beat him up. Then he swooped in and saved the kid. Then he continued walking with Alex and finally shoved him off a ledge. The boy fell 12 feet. He hadn't died then. No Alex had said he'd patiently waited for Danny to return. Just liked he'd promised.

Danny never returned

I had fallen down the same ledge. Difference was, Jordan would be back for me. I knew he would. He wasn't Danny. He'd stuck with me. Even when this whole mess happened, and I started seeing the ghosts, he had stuck with me.

Jordan was not Danny.

I'd been here 2 hours. I wonder how long Alex was here before he died. Hours? Days? I hope for his sake it wasn't long.

We'd been chatting this whole time. And I was glad. It helped me ignore the pain of my broken wrist. Which was throbbing.

I look at Alex. He kept talking.

"-Danny promised that he'd take me fishing this weekend. Which he never does. I was telling Tommy. Tommy said it was odd and not like Danny at all. But Tommy's just jealous. I was meant to walk home with him today, but Danny offered. Danny's the best."

I smile. Danny may have been a jerk, but Alex adored him. Why didn't Danny return?

"Is your brother like Danny?" I'm snapped out of my thoughts. "Is he the best brother ever."

"Yeah, he is. He's a bit of an idiot at times but you know he's always been there for me. Even when it probably wasn't good for him. This one time, he stayed with me when I was sick, even though it was contagious. He ended up catching it too."

"that was stupid of him." Alex said

"It's what brothers do. But yeah, it was stupid."

"He sounds like Danny." God I'm glad he's not like Danny. I can't imagine ending up with Danny as a brother.

A brother who would lead me to drug addicts, let them beat me up and then push me off a ledge and leave me there to die.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?" He asks.

"You know you're dead right?" I'm cautious. I do not need an angry ghost on my hands.

He looks over at his skeleton. "Yes." Okay so it hasn't come as much of a shock. Good

"How long were you waiting before you died?" I ask cautiously.

"I don't know. I think it was 4 nights, though by the second day I started feeling sick and cold. And alone. But I kept waiting."

Oh god. The kid suffered that long? When Danny could have gotten help? I swear if I ever see Danny again, I might just kill him. Maybe drop him off some ledge and let him die just like Alex.

i look at Alex. He adored Danny so much. He would be devastated if something happened to him. Even though he deserves it, I couldn't do that.

I start to wonder. What if Jordan doesn't come back? What if he is just like Danny and I'm as blind as Alex.

No, if he was like Danny he would have abandoned me long ago.

The kid is talking about Danny again. I have to stop him. This is cruel, letting him adore the man who had left him.

"Alex, Danny isn't coming back. It's been years." I say. I can't help but pity the boy. He was so young.

"He'll be back. You'll see."

I smile weakly at the boy. God my wrist is hurting. Hurry up Jordan.

Alex assures me that Danny will be back. I don't have the heart to tell the kid the truth. Not again.

Suddenly Alex looks up. A frown etches itself on his face and he fades.

I look up to the ledge. Then I hear it.

"Sky!"

It's Jordan. He's back.

"Here!" I call. Jordan peers over the edge at me.

"Sorry it took so long. I got lost."

He throws down the rope. I climb it slowly and carefully. It's hard to climb a rope without the use of one wrist. I eventually make it to the top.

"Jordan?" I start

"Yeah?"

"I saw Alex." I tell him.

"Alex had been missing for 26 years Sky."

"Does the word ghost ring a bell?" I remind him.

"oh right," he says.

"Danny left him down there. He promised to get help and he never did. Alex suffered for 5 days."

Jordan says nothing. Just wraps me in a hug. He knows how I get about ghosts. Especially kids. I've dealt with so many but some just stick. The ones with the sad stories. The ones I struggle not to cry when I think about. No doubt Alex will be one of them. I start to cry, from both pain and from the sadness of Alex's story. He adored his brother. Danny didn't deserve it.

Jordan just holds me as I cry.

Jordan is no Danny.