Henry's P.O.V.

People were running around, cowering from the rain. It had been a long time since Henry felt rain fresh from the sky. The water went straight through his intangible figure. A child was screaming at her mother over something about a toy in the store they just left. Henry walked around, allowing life to just pass by him without incident.

He thought about what Cynthia told him. He knew he shouldn't be making Walter angry yet he wouldn't have done anything differently. He wouldn't be in any romantic relationship with the murderer and although he was sorry to hurt him, he couldn't get over the fact that this man killed Eileen. How in the world could he stomach the thought of dating him?

He found himself heading toward the park where he first met Josh face to face. The playground equipment was soaked and shiny. When Henry went to the bench, he was shocked at what he saw.

Alex was sitting just like he was when Henry invaded his dreams. The living man wasn't asleep but his head was tilted downward in sadness, his arms resting on the back side of the bench as he heaved in a sigh. He didn't even have an umbrella with him and his hair, clothes and shoes were soaked to the core.

Henry came up to him at a loss for words. He had never seen Alex looking so sad and the sight broke Henry's heart in two. He held out a hand but didn't dare to touch him. Even though Alex wouldn't feel it, Henry didn't want to make physical contact without permission. He couldn't help but reach out for him, though, so he just had his arm inches away from Alex's face.

Suddenly, Alex began chuckling like a mad man, making Henry take a cautionary step back.

Alex tilted his head back with a sigh, taking in a steady breath and calming his frazzled nerves. He spoke to himself.

"I can't believe I moved in with him. I fell right into his trap. And now I'm his little bitch."

Henry stared at the man, fearful that someone was taking some sort of advantage of him. He only prayed it wasn't sexual advantage. Henry was vaguely aware of some sort of ex that seemed to be stalking Alex.

Surely Alex didn't move in with his ex?

A sound emitted from Alex's pant pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and answered.

"Hey," he sounded joyful but his face showed he was anything but, "Yeah. Thanks you for all your trouble, Carl. Tell Esmond I'll be right over. I was just out getting some fresh air."

He clicked it off then swore loudly. Tilting his head back, Alex forced himself out of his chair, the motion like a stitch being pulled from skin.

Henry tried to follow him but he didn't notice the sun setting until it was too late. His body was pulled away and he found himself in his apartment room. This time he was sitting on his bed. There were no hauntings around and there hadn't been since Henry died. The apartment looked normal. Perhaps the hauntings were just Walter's way of weakening Henry so he would be easier to kill? Henry's musings have become more and more disturbing to say the least.

The tv finally worked though. Henry had no idea why but he was grateful that he could have something to do while he was stuck here. During the five days he was trapped before the hole appeared in the bathroom, Henry thought he was going to be bored to death.

He flipped the tv on to a random channel. A couple of secret agents were debating how to find this serial murderer. Henry watched as the NCIS agents manage to track the killer down before he could kill another innocent and Henry could feel the irony of the fact that these agents were fictional.

Of course, they never dealt with a ghost killer before, so how could Henry blame the authorities for not catching Walter? He was dead but he still couldn't blame anyone. Henry couldn't even blame Walter too much, except for the fact that he killed his friend. For killing him, Henry could have forgiven him enough to give a relationship a chance. But not for Eileen. Eileen who had been nothing but sweet to him since Henry moved in three years ago. She saw him when he wanted to be invisible yet gave him plenty of space. There had been plenty of kindhearted though unintentionally troublesome people trying to get him to open up, but Eileen knew that he would only open up at his own pace. She respected his boundaries. Before the situation with Walter occurred, there hadn't been much of a relationship between the two but Henry still considered her his friend.

The door opened and the pitter patter of tiny feet shuffled towards the couch Henry was sitting on. Henry scooted over so that Little Walter could take his place. When silence followed, Henry sensed something was amiss. Usually Little Walter couldn't help but make conversation with him at this time, telling him about his day or asking about Henry's. Henry shifted his grey eyes toward the little boy manifestation.

Little Walter looked up at him with a frown. His tiny legs swayed as he thought how to express whatever was on his mind.

"Big Walter's mad."

There, it was said. Henry wondered if Walter would take his frustration out on his childhood but he had hoped the man had at least enough sense to spare him. A small frail boy. What the hell did Walter do to him?

"What happened?" he asked Little Walter.

The boy shook his head.

"He's not mad at me. He says he's mad at you. He says you hurt his feelings. You didn't do that on purpose, did you?"

Henry had no idea how much Little Walter knew. He wasn't going to let the boy in on the situation too much, however. But he knew that Little Walter's feelings would be hurt if he had meant to hurt his older self. So it was a good thing he hadn't, so now Henry could answer honestly.

"No, Walter. I didn't mean to hurt him. He just wanted something and I told him no."

"What did he want?"

Henry fell silent, unsure of how to answer that question.

"Well, it's kind of between me and him."

"But I am him….aren't I?"

The little boy searched Henry's face for an answer. Little Walter was never sure exactly what he was but Big Walter informed him that they were the same plenty of times. But it wasn't true for Henry. You were never the same person you were as a child, especially not Walter. This child may grow up to be a murderer but right now he was innocent as a lamb.

Henry shook his head.

"Not exactly. There are some things that should only be discussed with between adults."

Little Walter stood up with an angry stomp to his step.

"Why do you guys treat me like a kid? Eileen does it too! I'm mature."

"Little Walter, I-"

"You're mean!"

The little boy left, feeling hurt. Henry hated to acknowledge it but now he hurt his feelings too. Damn it all to hell.

x

Alex's P.O.V.

Carl made some beef stew that had a bit too many spices for Alex's tastes. Esmond seemed to like it a lot, however. Alex tried not to avoid his gaze for fear that Josh would notice. There was no reason for Josh to learn that he had been right and that Esmond hadn't changed at all.

What could he do now? He couldn't lose Josh again. Not after all the trouble and pain he suffered to get him back. Battling weird ass dogs and smoky monsters. How could he throw Josh away to foster care?

Carl offered him a smile when their eyes happened upon each other. Alex felt his stomach twist in a knot and he set his spoon down. Josh saw him.

"What's wrong, Alex?" he asked.

"The soup is not good?" Carl asked in worry.

"It's not that. I just feel sort of off. I'm sorry but I'll have to be excused."

Alex put his bowl away and left in his new room. He only chose this one because it was so close to the one Josh chose for himself. He didn't even notice that this one had bed with vibrant red sheets that reminded him of blood.

He sat down, surprised at the softness of the mattress. Lying down, he found himself staring up at the ceiling with his head resting in his hands.

It would be wonderful to see Henry again. But the ghost hadn't even been in his dreams since the day that Alex demanded he leave them alone. He had been too hasty to do that. It was so scary of him to think a ghost bothering him and his brothers but even a ghost was better than Esmond.

Especially Henry. Alex didn't feel this way before but now after dealing with the real Esmond, Alex felt like he could trust Henry. He was the one who told off the Esmond in his dream, after all.

His eyes suddenly felt heavy. Maybe if he fell asleep, Henry would come back. It was worth a try.

He dreamt of his father being impaled by the Boogeyman's knife, literally sliced in half. Even with a relationship like the one Alex had with his father, seeing a parent like that was never an easy thing. He knew that he would never truly get over it.

He felt a hand on his forehead and for a hopeful second thought it was Henry. His eyes fluttered open, then he almost let out a gasp. Esmond's hair was soaked and shiny from a fresh shower. He didn't have his glasses on. In fact, there was nothing on him safe for a towel. Alex prayed to God that Josh didn't see him like that.

"E-Esmond?" he choked out a whisper, trying to recover his wits from the unusually deep sleep he had.

"Hey. I guess you weren't feeling well, baby. I'm sorry to have suspected you were simply avoiding me. It wasn't a good idea of you to go outside in the rain. But I forgive you for making us all worry."

Alex sat up, refusing himself the pleasure of coming up with a snide remark. Not when one word could crumble everything he had into the fucking crapper. The money, the house, the food and Josh.

Esmond brought a hand on his shoulder, kneeing on the bed in front of him. A landslide of possible excuses appeared in Alex's head. He knew that look and needed to get out of here before Esmond decided to take this to a level they could not turn back from.

His ex swept some of his black bangs from his eyes.

"Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

How ironic it was that Alex was mentally pleading for Henry to appear and do something. Maybe scare Esmond away. Or better yet, tell him to go fuck himself.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck. This was going downhill fast. He had to do something. Anything.

"I'm…not really feeling well. You better leave unless you want to catch whatever I have," Alex informed as gently as possible.

This produced no results except for a smirk across Esmond's face. It wasn't terribly evil looking, instead it was more suggestive.

"But maybe I can make you feel better. Do you want to feel good, Alex?"

He shook his head before he could stop himself. Now Esmond looked angry. He tried to think of something to say that would appease him.

"I need more time," Alex said feebly, "More time to think this through. Please, Esmond. Now's not the time. I…I'm sick see? And sex is no good when one of the party is sick. Can we wait until I feel a bit better?"

The way he pleaded with his ex disgusted him. Didn't he defeat countless monsters single-handedly? Didn't he help Deputy Wheeler and Elle in Silent Hill? How could he face himself in the mirror knowing that right now, he was playing the bitch to someone like Esmond?

Said man was taking in his expression, digesting his words carefully. Alex waited for him to respond, hoping beyond hope that he would comply.

Finally and thankfully, Esmond got off the bed.

"Fine. I'll give you some space for a while. But don't make me wait too long, Alex. You know I'm not a very patient man."

Esmond left and Alex was free to breathe a sigh of relief.

Henry's P.O.V.

Big Walter never showed up last night like Henry had expected him to. He had been bracing himself for a lot of pain from the murderer's hands. But morning came and still no sign of him. Not that Henry was actively searching him out.

He got off his bed, thinking for a moment about how he would be waking up in this same bed for centuries to come, when there was a knock on his bedroom door.

At first he was on the alert, then realized that if it was Walter, he wouldn't have knocked first. He would've just barged in.

Henry took just a second to gather himself before answering. He was happy to see who it was. Eileen smiled at him, though it seemed a bit more forced than normal. Henry had a guess that she knew what was going on.

"Hey. Cynthia told me something was going on between you and Walter."

Henry was a bit miffed that Cynthia told someone without asking him first but his anger never lasted long when it came to friends. He let Eileen in, awkwardly offering her a seat on the chair while he took the unmade bed. She glanced at the photos hanging on the wall for a moment, as if prolonging the inevitable discussion.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

Eileen turned to him.

"I mean about Walter and the living being you like. Does he know about him? Because if he does-"

Shit. Henry felt every bone in his lifeless body chill to ice. How could he forget Alex? If it was true that Walter had a thing for him, then he would kill Alex in a heartbeat. He had killed for far less.

But surely it wouldn't matter now, right? Alex already made Henry promise to leave him alone, so there was no reason for Walter to kill him now. Still, Eileen was right to be worried.

"Alex already told me to leave him alone. I'll just forget about him and no one would know anything," Henry stated with a bit of hope lacing his voice.

Eileen frowned.

"He told you off? I'm sorry."

She always managed to sound sincere whenever she apologizes for someone's misfortune, probably because she was.

Eileen sighed.

"If you think that will work. I hate to say it but maybe this is for the best."

Henry nodded in agreement. He spoke with Eileen for a bit more before walking to the living world. He still didn't feel emotionally ready to go here but he knew it was better to avoid Walter as much as possible. The murderer didn't appear to be actively seeking him out. Maybe he would only attack if Henry had the nerve to accidentally bump into him.

"Henry."

Josh appeared with his backpack in tow. Henry looked at the boy with the sixth sense, wondering what to say. He found himself unable to speak with someone so close to Alex.

"Henry. You got to help Alex."

That broke the silence.

"What? What's happened to him?"

"We moved into his old ex's house because he thought Esmond had changed. I think Esmond is blackmailing him or something."

Henry shrugged.

"But what can I do?"

"Maybe scare Esmond? Or fight with Alex. Alex is a good fighter. I'm sure he just needs a little bit of help."

"Josh, I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do. Esmond won't be able to see me so-"

Josh glared at the rejection.

"Are you just going to let Alex face this alone then?"

"What else can I do?"

"Well, if you won't help him, I will."

Josh rushed away as if not wanting to look at Henry any more. Henry could do nothing except stare after him.