Chapter Twelve

It all felt weird. Once again, I felt like I was alone in the house. I didn't know if I could trust anyone, not even myself. What a brilliant day this had been, and now, nothing. Hurt, I turned to the one thing that I knew wouldn't cause me more pain; music. I started to strum, writing down words and phrases as I went along. I had been messaging my ideas back and forth with Mark, who gave helpful advice and constructive criticism. He was gonna come back up over the weekend to collect his things, but also to help with the new project. Without Georgie, it was going to be interesting to see the dynamic between us, but also I knew I wouldn't have the same kind of fun I used to have with her.

I stopped playing and just looked out of the window, thinking. What kind of situation have I caught myself in? Not only trying to be a musician, but somehow in a massive house with ghosts that I can see and chat to, as well as having a backstory that would make Hello magazine faint in shock.

I knew the ghosts were in the living room, so I crept to the door to overhear their meeting. I suspected that Julian would tell the others about what's up, if Thomas hadn't spilled everything as of yet. I sat by the crack in the door, listening in to everyone's discussion. It took a while, because Julian, but once he was finished, silence was left. I expected people to chime in going "oh I knew about that already", but it seemed like this was the first they heard of it.

"Well," I heard Pat say, "that's one way to know she is family." I smiled at that a little. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I only found out a few moments ago. Tilly told me herself." Julian said.

"Honestly didn't expect that!" Humphrey exclaimed. Huh, I thought, thinking that Humphrey already knew.

"How so?" Julian asked.

"Well, Thomas said that the only connection were your choices in literature, like favourite books!"

"Why mention that, Thomas?" the Captain asked. Although I couldn't see, I knew how Thomas felt.

"I-I had almost betrayed the trust of Tilly, and I think I have at this moment. So now, I will drown myself in the lake!" Thomas bellowed. At that moment, I ran in the room and grabbed his arm.

"Don't you dare, Thomas." I said, sternly. "You're already dead, and it's truly unnecessary." I softly smiled at him, letting him know that everything was ok. Alison then came up to me.

"Why didn't you tell me about your real father?" she asked.

"I didn't know until recently. I had received a letter from Julian's widow." I heard Fanny scoff at that, but knowing her history, I understood why.

"So, what do you do now?" Pat asked. I paused. Telling Julian had been the massive hurdle I had been worried about, but now that it's gone…what now indeed?

~X~

It had been a few hours since the discussion of my lineage with the ghosts. In that time, my mum had already gone back to her home, and Mike was around, just not that often. Everything was beginning to get very distant, as if there was an invisible force that kept everyone away from each other. At least the ghosts were around, each of them having their own ways of connecting with me. I had a few emails come up on my phone from the Fawcett estate, wanting to know what I wanted to do about inheritance, to which I replied saying I would think about it. I had a lot to think about already; the house, my family, the ghosts, my music career. At that point, I got a text from Mark.

"Accidentally sent a demo of the song 'Rat Race' to a label instead of my CV! Don't know if they'll actually listen to it but I don't think I'll get that internship lol xD". Great. Something else to get myself worried about. Just what I needed. Instead of waiting inside over everything, I decided to take a walk around the garden once again. I walked to the lake and giggled, thinking of Thomas trying to drown himself in the lake. I imagined the top of his head, looking around for people to view his display of melodrama and being disappointed at seeing no one. I smiled softly. Who would have thought that someone like me would end up in a house this grand and with people this insane?

My phone rang. An officer rang me to discuss the situation with Barclay and Bunny next door. It was a fine conversation, though I was suddenly distracted by a leaf falling from the tree. I had to double check the date. October. Huh…I was in a house with ghosts in October…I see…I wrapped up my phone call and looked at the house. I felt as if the worries I've had for a couple of days vanished and the serotonin I craved had finally kicked in. Smiling, I ran back into the house, dialling the number of my sister.
"Cheryl, you know how I thought this year I wouldn't have my Halloween party?"

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Change of plan; we're so having it here at the house! You have to come, everyone back home, it has to be a thing!"

"Tills, you sure? Mum told me you got a lot on…"

"And that means I deserve a little time off for this. Think about it, my house has got that spooky feel for a party."

"…alright. I'll help organise. Make the Facebook event, and I'll spread the word. Costume then?"

"Duh! I'll message you the event link. Thanks!" I hung up the phone and jumped out of my skin as Alison appeared in front of me.

"Sorry!" she said. "Sometimes I forget how annoying that was for me."

"That's ok." I smiled at her.

"Did I hear that you're wanting to host your annual Halloween party here? In Button House?"

"Yeah, well, I'm surrounded by ghosts every day, 'tis the season to be spooky!" Alison bit her lip.

"Well, here's the thing that I noticed when being here; every other day, the ghosts are happy to walk around the place like nobody's business, but throughout the day and night of Halloween, at least until the sun comes up the next day, they stay hidden."

"Hidden?"

"Yeah, I remember Mike freaked out after noticing Humphrey's head on the floor the first time. He freaked out even more seeing Pat scoop up the head and hurry upstairs." Hmm…possibilities opened…

~X~

"A party?! In my house?! Absolutely not!" Fanny looked ready to throw me out of the window once I explained my intentions for later in the month.

"That's right!" Julian joined in. "As my daughter, you need to show a little responsibility and maturity, not swan around with random people all night long." I raised my eyebrows, probably the first acknowledgement of me being his offspring so it was new to get used to.

"But it would be so lovely to have a ball here!" Kitty pleaded. "A beautiful soiree with one's acquaintances could be just the thing to lift our spirits here." Alison pointed at her, agreeing with Kitty's point.

"It's still absurd." The Captain objected. "And on Halloween night too. We attracted too much attention with that ghost hunting sort with you, Alison, so what will happen with people seeing us here."

"But the thing is, it's a costume party." I implored. "No one would know or tell that you're ghosts. Besides, wouldn't you like to have a night to see people again and have them see you?" They all thought about that for a few moments.

"It's still ridiculous," Fanny argued. "you having loud music when some of us want to sleep that night."

"Yes!" Mary suddenly yelled. "What about those who want nothings to do withs those partys of yours?"

"Just…please." I looked at all of them. "It's something I need." Thomas broke from the group and stood next to me.

"Well, I would think it would be charming and fun to have a bit of company on the night of All Hallows Eve, thus I side with my love." Thomas dramatically put his arm around me.

"Too much, hun." I commented.

"Ok." Thomas put his arm back, but I still reached out and held his hand.

"It would be a very fun idea." Pat suggested. "A group activity. Why not?" In the end, all were slowly convinced to have the Halloween party on that day. I created the Facebook event and shared it with my sister. Soon, I received notifications to say who was coming, which was a surprising number. Mark texted about music, organising that we would have our set at the party, then play music from a Spotify playlist. I looked up from my phone after messaging details to people to see Thomas by the door. I smiled at him. He returned it.

"I guess all things forgiven and all that." I rolled my eyes and beckoned him to sit beside me near the window, to which he did.

"I don't think I would honestly be as confident to host my Halloween party this year if I didn't have you guys around me. Especially you, Thomas." He held my hand and caressed it with his thumb. "One thing though," I continued, "how come people can see you on Halloween?"

"If I knew, darling, I would say." Thomas replied. "Robin thinks it has something to do with the moon and the tradition of Halloween mean that the spirits of the dead join the living for that day and night alone, before the day of All Hallows begins." He was doing it again, dramatically telling to a room of no one but me. I clicked my fingers.

"Thomas, dear, I'm right here."

"Oh, I'm sorry, love." He held my hands once again. "Even so, to have you with me has brought even more magic than that." It was truly magical to find someone like Thomas, despite the circumstances.

The next few days, I continued party planning, deciding on food to serve, which rooms to use, even what costume I should use myself. Mark came by and helped work out a setlist. He didn't mention anything about the accidental demo sending, so it's possible nothing came about from it. I hoped nothing would come about from it. Even so, we decided to include "Rat Race" on our setlist, as well as a few other originals and spooky songs.

"We could do Ghostbusters!" Mark said excitedly. "That would be fun to perform!" Or offensive to my housemates, I thought.

"Well, it's pretty much the same, music wise, so probably not. How about doing a Coven track? "White Witch of Rosehall"?"

"Yeah, why not." Mark seemed disappointed. "I just wanna scream Ghostbusters in the mic."

"GHOSTBUSTERS!" Robin suddenly shouted next to me. I jumped and fell off my chair.

"Tilly! You ok?!" Mark looked very concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I managed to get myself back up, despite so much pain in my back. "Thought I…err…saw a ghost." I tried to pass off. Technically, I wasn't wrong. Mark laughed.

"How fitting!" We decided to jam together after that, somehow I knew how to play the riff from "Don't Fear The Reaper" whilst Mark sat there with a cowbell.

"All our times have come

Here but now they're gone

Seasons don't fear the reaper

Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be like they are

Come on baby, don't fear the reaper

Baby take my hand, don't fear the reaper

We'll be able to fly, don't fear the reaper

Baby I'm your man"

Not the most virtuosic in lyrics, but certainly in music. Unfortunately, the riff was all I could do as my fingers gave way when I tried to play anything else in the song! Though Robin seemed to enjoy it, who ran in to give me a thumbs up in the middle before running off again.

"Need more practice for that one!" I quipped. Mark smiled.

"Well, we got about less than 30 days to nail it, so you better work hard!"

"You act like I do anything else with my time!" we both laughed at that. We were about to practice "Dance Macabre" by Ghost when I heard a knock at the door. At that, the ghosts all ran in, looking worried, talking over each other. I put my hand up, getting up and putting my guitar down. "I better see who that is."

As I walked down the stairs, I tried to keep the peace between the ghosts, but their concerned faces made me fear the worst.

"Look, I'll just see who it is. What harm can that do?" I ushered them into the next room and opened the door.

There stood a woman. Red bobbed hair, dressed in all white, having a posh air about her. Behind her…

"You!" I snarled. It was Jeremy.