38. Abandoned

The thin beam of light struggling its way through the crack in the wall lit up only a small part of the basement, showing mostly dust and debris as well as a few damaged and partially ripped off shelfs on the wall, but to him it seemed like a beacon, pulsating and bright and incredibly painful. Shielding his eyes, he tried to look at it, tried to take it in, to feel it, this strange and unexpected glimpse of the outside world. He wanted to drink it in, wanted to grab it and hold it – he tried, pushing his thin arms between the bars, trying to reach out for it but it was way beyond his reach – and most of all wanted to keep it.

The unexpected cave in of part of the house had shaken him, had woken him up from his slumber, and a few terrified moments he had thought that this would be the end, finally, that this would either set him free or kill him, although the latter was impossible.

You can't kill a ghost.

You can lock it up in and ecto-enhanced cage though, and keep it locked up for the rest of eternity if you like. And they had liked.

Green eyes stared at the beam of light, watching the dust of the cave in slowly settle, watching the way the beam traveled on the floor, signifying the passing of time. At some point, the ray hit the cage and the ghost immediately moved towards it, first hesitantly holding his white gloved hand in before plunging in, bathing in the scant light, watching how it reflected on his white boots, how it got absorbed by his black suit, how it lit up the logo on his chest. Everything looked pristine and new, like the day he had first put it on.

Of course, when he had put it on, the colors had been reversed, but that seemed like an eternity ago.

Tracing the logo with his fingers, looking down at it in wonder, he failed to notice the beam moved on. He simply kept hovering his body in the light until he hit the bars of his cage and then watched the beam move away from him until it became weaker and weaker and the basement was once again plunged into darkness again, the same darkness that had plagued him for so long.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, then opened them as wide as he could to try and capture a single spark of light he knew wasn't there. It was night out, the light would return for him to look at another day, and another, and another, so he wasn't overly worried. A day was nothing, the blink of an eye. He knew that soon he'd get used to the light, he would no longer notice it, it would appear and disappear in an endless cycle and he'd watch.

Maybe someday there would be another cave in, he knew some day there would be, it was inevitable. Nothing lasts forever. Eventually, this place and the whole town would turn to dust. Another decade, and the crack might widen. Maybe part of the ceiling would collapse at some point. Maybe hit his cage, set him free.

It was inevitable.