Abby paused at the closed door of Holtzmann's room. It was on a small landing on the way down from the roof, giving the engineer all the privacy she had needed. She took a deep breath as she reached out and grasped the door handle.
Her hand continued to shake though no matter how she tried to calm her thoughts. It was all just happening so fast. Losing a friend, finding out they had never really been real, having them replaced with a new broken person. All the guilt.
Abby let out a gasp as she threw open the door in a sudden rage, the door banging against the wall behind it.
"She took a deep breath, the smell of Holtzmann invading her senses.
The small room was dark, she knew that she had rarely opened the curtains.
Abby took a step in, a shudder running down her spin as she stepped over the threshold.
She flicked on the light her eyes burning with light for a second.
She felt tears forming in her eyes, she decided to pretend it was from the sudden light. She looked around the messy room.
"Just not organised in your sense of the word." she remembered Holtzmann's words, they seemed to echo through the space.
The bed was just a mass of blankets and pillows, as if Holtzmann slept in a cocoon rather than a bed.
Boxes filled with bits and pieces of metal scattered the floor and surfaces. A desk sat pushed up against the wall brimming with blue prints, books and pieces of paper. On the wall behind the desk were photographs.
Abby gulped, her breath catching in her throat.
The photos were all of them. Abby gave a sad laugh at the photo of the four of them dressed in their jumpsuits doing Charlie's Angels poses.
She headed to the desk and picked up a jar of buttons, she tipped them onto a plate still with a leftover piece of sandwich on it. At the very bottom was a key.
Holtzmann had confided in Abby many years previously where she hid her personal belongings. Picking up the key, Abby headed over to a heavy metal trunk covered in dust.
She unlocked and pushed open the trunk. Stuck to the lid was an envelope, it was the only thing in the trunk not coated in a thick layer of dust.
Abby pulled down the envelope and checked to make sure the drivers license, passport and bank card were still in it.
She had no idea how much money Holtzmann actually had in her account. She hadn't ever spent much outside of food.
She looked down into the rest of the trunk, it was filled with old textbooks, notebooks and a high school year book.
Abby picked up the yearbook, part of Abby wanted to riffle through everything, but she knew that probably most of the things in this trunk belonged to Jillian.
She sighed and went to put the book down, when she noticed a small photo at the bottom of the trunk.
She very delicately lifted it as it had become slightly stuck.
In the photo was a small blonde baby in the arms of a boy maybe of five, who was beaming. Behind them stood a man and a woman, who was mid laugh. Jillian Holtzmann's family, she wondered where they were, she had always assumed Holtzmann had no one, but maybe there was a family out there who had lost their daughter the day that ghost had possessed her.
Holtzmann had never told them anything about her family really, Abby had always assumed they weren't close, but now she knew it must have been because she knew very little of the family of the woman, she had possessed.
Abby turned over the yearbook, and was about to open it, when Erin's voice made her jump.
"What are you doing?" Erin's voice made Abby jump.
She quickly put the photo in the envelope and closed the trunk. "Nothing, just grabbing her bank card."
"Why?" Erin demanded stepping into the room, her eyes immediately landing on the photos behind the desk.
"Erin..." Abby replied sadly, pausing to try and think the best way to explain to her.
Erin turned to face her, face cold.
"Yes?"
"She doesn't want to stay here at the moment, she needs time to adjust. Come to terms. Away from all of this." Abby mumbled.
"Obviously," Erin sighed, "She doesn't know us, she needs time to decide what she wants and our emotions will only complicate that for her."
Abby nodded in agreement, of course Erin took the practical approach. It did make sense though, she didn't know them, they were simply 3 strangers who had offered her a place to stay. But it was more messy and complicated than that in reality. The four of them were connected.
"Lunch is ready." Erin gently smiled, she could see the cogs turning in Abby's mind.
Abby smiled and followed Erin out of the room. As she closed the door, Jillian appeared on the landing.
"Here's your ID and bank card." Abby smiled, handing over the envelope.
"I'll help you find a hotel or place to stay after lunch." Erin chipped in.
Jillian delicately opened the envelope, she let out a little chuckle as she pulled out her drivers license.
The photo was of a seventeen year old Jillian with straight blonde hair, looking very serious.
"I remember the day I took this. Everyone kept telling me I couldn't smile." she blushed slightly, looking up at the others.
Lunch was a quietly awkward affair. Kevin stared at Jillian almost the whole time, no matter how many times Patty kicked him under the table. Erin helped Jillian find a room in the Mercado hotel, which gave all of them a discount they never used.
Patty gave Jillian a tight hug, as her taxi pulled up.
"Keep in touch kid." she smiled as she let go.
"I will, I just need a little time." she blushed.
All she had was the envelope Abby had given her. She gave a small nervous little wave, and got in the taxi.
"Do you think we'll see her again?" Abby quietly voiced the question they were all thinking.
"Man, I hope so." Patty sighed.
"Maybe she'd be better off sticking away, getting a proper job, not losing any more time to ghosts." Erin melancholy added.
The other two stayed silent watching the yellow cab disappear into the distance.