Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Xavier didn’t want to believe any of this. He didn’t want to believe he could possibly be… dead.

Granted, he didn’t have much of a life to live, but he had never wanted to die this soon. He still had so much time left, or so he thought.

He couldn’t make sense of any of this. One minute, he was ditching study hall, and the next minute he was here. Dead. Invisible to everyone around him. Not that it had been much different when he was alive.

He sat in the upper bleachers in the gym, looking down at everyone gathered for the mandatory school assembly, and he already knew for sure what it was going to be about.

He watched everyone talking to their friends, not seeming to even fully care. Xavier didn’t blame them. He was basically a nobody, he wouldn’t care about him either.

“Everyone please, quiet down.” Principal Hartman said softly into the mic. Everyone kept talking, not paying him attention. “Please, people.” Hartman’s voice echoed through the gym once again. Finally, they listened and turned their attention to Hartman.

“Thank you.” Hartman said, sighing to himself, he then turned on the projector behind him. “Now, it has been a very trying last few days, as we know.”

Xavier almost laughed as he watched. That was a bit of an understatement. He was dead, not that anyone there knew that yet. They hadn’t found his body or anything yet. And it didn’t help much that he had no memory of what had happened.

Hartman’s voice continued, “The Split River police are considering this a missing persons investigation. I know this is alarming news, but we have every hope he will be found.”

Xavier sighed, mostly to himself. All they would be finding was his dead body. He looked around more, seeing people whispering to each other.

“What was his name again?” He heard one of the cheerleaders whisper. Yeah, he was never very popular, so this didn’t come as much of a shock that almost nobody knew who he was. He mostly was known as a “stoner”, not that it wasn’t true, so to speak.

“Xander something? They found a bunch of blood smeared all over the janitors closet.” The cheerleader continued. “I thought it was the boiler room?” The other cheerleader asked.

“I don’t know, they think his phones like, still in the school somewhere, I guess they tried to-“ “Oh my god.. he doesn’t have his phone?” The other cheerleader said with a gasp. “That’s so sad.” She finished. The other cheerleader nodded with her in agreement.

“Hey, can you two please focus?” A voice said, with a hint of annoyance. Xavier would recognize that voice anywhere. Claire.

His eyes then drifted towards another group of people, and they landed on one person specifically.

Maddie Nears.

His girlfriend, well, who would’ve soon been his ex girlfriend if he had gained the courage to actually break up with her.

She looked like she had barely slept. Her hair was more unkept than usual, and she had bags under her eyes that weren’t unusual for her, but overall, she seemed entirely more tired than usual, and Xavier knew exactly why.

“Did you sleep?” The voice of Maddie’s best friend, Simon Elroy, asked her, looking concerned. Maddie shook her head slowly and Simon just nodded as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

Simon had never been very fond of Xavier and honestly, Xavier thought it was for good reason. Xavier Baxter was a total fuck up, everyone knew that.

He and Simon had never talked, in all the times Xavier had tagged alone when her and Simon went to see all the new horror movies that they loved.

Xavier wasn’t very fond of horror movies, but it made Maddie happy, so he went along with it.

He knew Simon didn’t like him though, that much was obvious.

The more he watched Maddie, the more he could tell just how much this whole ordeal was taking a toll on her. And Xavier felt so.. guilty.

Guilty because now she might never know the truth. What if she spent her life mourning someone who she thought was.. loyal to her?

Xavier’s heart ached, knowing that he made a terrible mistake, and that he should’ve just broken up with Maddie instead of.. cheating on her.

He was a horrible person, maybe he deserved this terrible fate.

“And I remind you, if you know anything, anything at all.. please come forward.” Hartman’s voice snaps Xavier out of his thoughts.

He looked around, seeing everyone completely avoiding eye contact with each other. Maddie and Simon both looked at each other with uneasy looks, and Xavier wished that he could take back everything he’d ever done wrong, but it was too late.

“And now a little levity!” Hartman’s voice made Xavier jump back slightly in surprise. “Yes, a routine from our very own Split River cheer squad. Yes!” Hartman finished, before stepping aside.

Xavier stared in disbelief. A cheerleading routine? Were they serious? That’s the last thing he would’ve gone for but whatever.

He heard footsteps from behind him and he didn’t bother to look, already knowing exactly who it was. He continued to stare down at the cheerleaders who were now making their way up to the front of the gym to perform their routine.

“Oh, and I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the debate team! They placed third at the regional championships.” Hartman continued with a proud look.

Xavier saw his missing persons poster come up on the projector. It was his yearbook photo from the year before, since not many other decent pictures of him really existed.

His father was never the type to take many pictures of his own son, moments that should’ve been something to document, but his father was just always too busy. Too busy trying to be the towns perfect sheriff.

That was the reason that him and his father never had the best relationship. There were other reasons too, but that was the main one.

Xavier could barely keep track of the number of times they’d fought over careless things his father would do, all because he was wanting to be a perfect sheriff, and never realizing he should’ve been trying harder to be a better dad.

Once again, it was too late. It was too late for anything now.

Xavier watched as the crowd started cheering and applauding for the cheerleaders, all except Maddie, Simon, and Nicole.

Nicole was another one of Maddie’s friends. Not as close to her as Simon, but still close. Xavier had never really gotten to know Nicole, so he didn’t have much of an opinion on her.

He did know though that she sometimes would defend him to Simon, saying that he wasn’t as bad as Simon made him out to be, which he somewhat appreciated.

“Hey, at least they used a nice photo of you.” A voice said from behind Xavier, making him turn his attention away from the cheerleaders for a split second.

He turned slightly and saw Charley sitting a bit behind him.

“I’m trying to focus.” Was all Xavier said before turning his attention back down to the cheerleaders who were now starting their routine.

He was paying attention, but at the same time he wasn’t. All he could look at was Claire. Claire who was performing like absolutely nothing was wrong, like there was no one missing or even possibly murdered.

Then again, he knew Claire. He knew her well from all the times they’d hooked up. It was mostly an act, a very convincing one, he thought.

“If you ask me, what’s really missing here is a little tact.” Charley said, probably to try and get Xavier’s attention again.

Xavier ignored him and got up, walking down a bit to the railing to get a bit of a better view.

“Come on Split River, get on your feet, the bandits gonna bring the heat, heat, heat!” All the cheerleaders chanted as they were performing.

He saw principal Hartman to the side, mouthing the words.

They spelled out bandits, and finished up the routine rather quickly, with Claire right at the center.

“For Xander!” One of the cheerleaders yelled, waving her pom-poms up in the air.

“It’s Xavier!” He yelled, knowing deep down that no one could even hear him, so it was basically pointless.

“Okay, say it with me again. They can’t hear you!” Charley said, now beside Xavier.

He finally looked at Charley, who was giving him a small look of pity.

“The good news is, it’s only a matter of time before they realize you’re dead.” Charley continued, and Xavier looked away again, shaking his head.

He looked back down and saw Hartman back at the podium, but Xavier wasn’t processing anything he was saying. He was too focused on the gravity of this situation. It felt like it was all only now fully hitting him.

He was dead. But.. part of him didn’t want to believe that. Part of him thought this was some big mistake, or that maybe this was just a bad dream he would soon wake up from, then go to school and have another boring, but normal day.

He shook his head finally, then started walking away, not even bothering to keep watching this pointless assembly.

He heard Charley following behind him quickly, but he didn’t bother to look back.

All Xavier knew is that he had to figure all of this out. He had to figure out what the fuck was going on.

—

At some point, Xavier found himself in one of the hallways. He stood there for a minute, just staring.

Everyone was still at the assembly, so it was empty.

It was a weird thing to see, and it just made Xavier feel somewhat uneasy.

He then heard footsteps coming up behind him and stopping beside him. He turned to look and saw Charley once again.

Charley looked slightly out of breath, probably from trying to catch up with Xavier as he wandered around like half of the school.

Xavier let out a heavy sigh. “This is ridiculous. I’ve been wandering the halls for three days and I still don’t know where I’m supposed to be.” He said, shaking his head as he started walking forward. Charley walked next to him.

“If you’re looking for it to make sense, you can stop. It’s not going to.” Charley replied, it seemed like something he’d probably said multiple times already to possibly other ghosts, or at least something he heard when he died. It sounded very.. rehearsed.

Xavier racked his thoughts, looking for a way for this to all make sense at least somewhat. This all felt like some fever dream.

“Are you sure I’m dead?” Xavier asked, making direct eye contact with Charley.

Charley looked at him, in slight disbelief as he went “Mm-hmm.”

“Maybe- maybe I’m just.. in a coma. You know, in a hospital somewhere and an overworked nurse is stepping on my breathing tube, and I just.. need to wake up. I don’t know, man!” Xavier said, picking up his walking pace a bit, much to Charley’s dismay.

“Okay, wow. Yeah, no. Someone’s been reading too much Stephen King and-“

“Who?” Xavier asked in confusion, coming to a stop. Charley also stopped as he looked at Xavier with a look of surprise.

“Uh- Stephen.. King? Iconic author? King of horror?” Charley asked, looking at Xavier with wide eyes, seeming like he was looking for any sign of recognition.

Xavier just stared in confusion.

“Nothing?!” Charley asked with a gasp. Xavier shook his head.

“Nah, man.. I don’t really read.” He replied, a bit of embarrassment in his voice.

“Wow, okay. Anyways, comas a lovely thought, but no. If you’re here, you’re here.” Charley continued.

“I hate it here.” Xavier immediately said with no hesitation. Charley laughed slightly.

“Oh, listen. I get it. It’s just moving from one prison to another. The only difference is that high school used to feel like an eternity, and now it actually is.” Charley said, his voice getting quieter at the end.

Xavier looked at him, and he didn’t want to believe that this was his life- well, not life, technically but whatever his existence was now. Being stuck at high school for all eternity. Doesn’t get much worse than that.

“Hey, you!” He heard a voice say. Both Xavier and Charley turned to look in front of them, and saw Mr. Anderson.

Xavier’s breath hitched. Could.. he be seen?

“What are you doing?” Mr. Anderson continued.

Xavier took a step forward, but Charley grabbed his arm and signaled him to look behind them.

When he looked, all his hope collapsed. There were three guys in the hall behind them, with a basketball.

“You can’t bounce that in the hall. Come on, give it here.” Mr. Anderson said sternly. The boys looked hesitant, but one of them rolled it down the hallway to Mr. Anderson, and he picked it up.

“You can come grab it after school.” He said, before walking down the hall.

Xavier turned back to Charley and sighed. Charley nodded.

“Yeah, that’s one thing that hasn’t changed since I went here in the ‘90s. I was basically invisible when I was alive too.” Charley said, as they both continued walking.

Xavier had to admit, despite not really knowing Charley yet, he did feel bad for him given all that’s he’s been told so far.

Charley was the only ghost that Xavier had met or talked to so far, since Charley had been the one to find him after the boiler room incident.

He thought he remembered Charley maybe mentioning others, but at that point he was too busy processing the fact that he was dead, and couldn’t even remember what had lead to this. Oh, and the fact he was likely murdered. That was the real cherry on top.

They walked by the lockers and Xavier almost tripped after seeing who was there, putting up one of his missing posters.

Maddie.

Mr. Anderson stopped beside her, giving a look of sympathy.

“You gonna go back to the senior assembly?” Mr. Anderson asked softly. Maddie turned and looked at him, rolling her eyes slightly.

“That assembly is a joke. I’m going to look for my.. boyfriend.” She said, very apparent tiredness in her voice.

Xavier felt that same guilt ache in his chest, knowing that what she was doing was essentially pointless, and she was doing it for someone who couldn’t even do something as easy as being loyal to her.

Mr. Anderson stood there for a few seconds before nodding and walking off.

Xavier suddenly was walking fast over to where Maddie was, hoping to get her attention, and prove this was all just some misunderstanding, and that he wasn’t actually dead.

“Maddie! Maddie! Maddie!” Xavier said urgently, waving his hands in front of her face. She had no reaction.

“Maddie, look at me. I’m right here. Maddie!” Xavier tried again, not succeeding. Maddie walked away, unaware.

Xavier turned to look at Charley, who looked at him with a look of pity, but also understanding. Like he knew what it was like to be in Xavier’s position, which was probably true.

“Come on, there’s some people I think you should meet.” Charley said, finally. Xavier immediately shook his head, and he leaned against the lockers.

“No. I.. already have friends. Well, maybe not friends but..” He couldn’t even finish his sentence. He knew it was basically bullshit.

“Just try one meeting, okay? And- and if you hate it, I’ll never bother you about it again.” Charley said with a smile. Xavier looked at the other boy and couldn’t help but smile back. Charley was nice, probably one of the nicest people Xavier had met, and he couldn’t bring himself to fully say no.

“I’m holding you to that.” Xavier replied. Charley nodded, then grabbed Xavier’s arm and pulling him forward.

He really had no clue what he was getting himself into, but he thought anything could be a good.. distraction, from everything else.

—

The gym.

They were going into the fucking gym.

Xavier was never the most fond of sports and basically anything that required being in the gym. He basically skipped P.E. as much as he could.

As him and Charley walked in and passed by all the guys playing basketball he couldn’t help feeling an overwhelming sense of dread.

“Oh, are we playing basketball now?” Xavier asked. Charley immediately laughed, shaking his head profusely.

“Oh my god, no. Please leave the sports to the living kids. We’re over here.” Charley said, pointing over to a corner of the gym where Xavier could see a bunch of chairs set up in a circle.

Xavier flinched as one of the guys playing basketball got a bit too close to him.

“No need to flinch.” Charley said, “They can’t see you, and they can’t hurt you. It’s one of the small perks of the whole being dead thing.”

Xavier nodded, but still kept his distance from all the sweaty basketball dudes.

Charley led him to the corner and a few of the people glanced at him, and that’s when he finally realized that these must be the other ghosts he mentioned.

Charley draped his jacket over one of the chairs, and Xavier walked to the chair next to Charley’s, wanting to sit next to him since he was the only ghost he knew at the moment.

“I’m sitting there.” He heard a girls voice say. He looked and saw a girl with dark hair, and an outfit that looked like it was from maybe the 50s or 60s, and she was also wearing a hat that looked to be from around that time too.

Charley came and stood beside him, leading him away a bit.

“That’s Rhonda. She’s really into Kerouac poems and confrontation. Sorry.” Charley said, his voice slightly more quiet.

Xavier nodded, not fully paying attention as he walked over to another seat, which was empty.

“Is this seat taken?” He asked, looking at Charley.

Charley shook his head. “Not anymore. That was Janet’s.”

“What happened to her?” Xavier asked, but before Charley could respond to him, he heard another voice from behind him.

“All right, everyone, let’s get started.” The man said. As Xavier turned to look at where the voice came from he saw a man in a suit with glasses sitting. He definitely looked older than the rest of them, maybe in his 30s when he.. died.

Xavier took a seat as he saw another person, one who looked like a teenager just like him and Charley, taking a seat. He must’ve been playing basketball.

As Xavier took his seat, he saw the older man’s attention on him, giving him a slight smile.

“Hello, I’m glad you decided to join us. I’m Mr. Martin.” He said, looking directly at Xavier. “Well, we have a new student with us today. Would you like to introduce yourself?” He continued.

Xavier shook his head. “I’m good.” He mumbled.

Charley then cleared his throat, and Xavier looked over to him as he signaled Xavier to introduce himself.

“Uh, sure.. I’m Xavier- uh- Xavier Baxter.” He stammered out.

“Hi, Xavier.” Everyone in the group circle said, catching Xavier slightly off guard. As he looked around he saw Charley giving him a nervous but reassuring look, and Rhonda looking like she was ready to be done with this whole thing, which he didn’t fully blame her.

“Welcome to the Split River High Afterlife Support Group.” Mr. Martin said, causing Xavier to turn his attention back to him.

He shifted a bit, still not used to this whole “afterlife” idea. This whole thing was crazy, he was going insane.

“It’s takes a lot of courage to be here.” Mr. Martin continued. “Especially when you’re new.”

Xavier mumbled a thanks, not really looking to fully engage with this whole conversation, yet Mr. Martin continued more.

“Would you like to tell us a little about yourself?” He asked. Xavier stared for a few seconds, before shrugging.

“I- I don’t know. What do you need to know?” He asked.

“Well, you could start with how your day is going. Has Charley been a helpful guide!” Mr. Martin asked, and before he could answer, another voice caught him off guard once again.

“How’d you die?” Rhonda asked, barely looking up. Xavier stared at her, face frozen in shock. Mr. Martin immediately turned to her.

“Okay, Rhonda, why don’t we try raising our hands if we’re gonna ask a question?” He said. Rhonda didn’t react at all.

Xavier figured he may as well answer. “Uh.. one minute I was ditching my study hall… then next thing I know I’m here.”

Xavier thought that was an appropriate answer, not confusing at all. Yet, everyone suddenly looked at him as if he’d just spoken an entirely different language.

“I don’t know who did this to me.” He continued, hoping that could maybe get a bit of a different reaction, but no, they all still looked at him the same way.

“Oh, you were murdered.” The ghost who had been playing basketball said.

“Welcome to the club.” Rhonda said with fake enthusiasm.

“Can we maybe exchange names first? So Xavier feels a little more welcome.” Mr. Martin said, seeming to be very intent on getting things back on track.

“I don’t know exactly.” Xavier said, shrugging. Charley looked directly at him, a look of confusion evident on his face.

“E- Exactly?” He asked. Xavier nodded.

“I just- look, they haven’t found my body yet, but I know there was blood on the walls of the boiler room, and I’m here now.” He said, looking around at everyone in the circle. They were all still giving him those looks, like he was out of his mind.

“Huh.” The basketball playing guy said.

“Huh? What’s.. what’s huh? What? Is that- is that weird or something? Not knowing?” Xavier asked, suddenly feeling some overwhelming anxiety.

“Well, um, it’s a first.” Charley said hesitantly. Xavier leaned back his seat, feeling so many things. If anything, this convinced him even more that something was off about this entire thing, and that there was more to it, but he just didn’t know what. He was too dumb to figure that out.

Xavier stared blankly at everyone not knowing what else to say. Then, Rhonda spoke.

“Well, what do you remember, blue eyes?” She asked, and Mr. Martin waved his hand in front of her.

“Okay, Rhonda, clearly Xavier doesn’t wanna talk about it and he doesn’t remember.” He said, and Rhonda rolled her eyes slightly.

As Xavier thought about it, he found he could barely remember anything. Anything at all. He thought back to the day, the day before everything had changed, and he ended up here, trapped.

Xavier was with Maddie outside of the school, laying his head in her lap while they were on a bench, watching the cheerleaders perform one of their routines.

“Do you think it hurts?” Maddie suddenly asked, snapping Xavier out of his thoughts.

“What?” Xavier replied, looking up at her slightly, while keeping some of his attention on the cheerleaders. More like one cheerleader in particular.

“Smiling that much.” Maddie said, a big smile on her face, imitating the cheerleaders.

“I wouldn’t know. I’m too scared to try it. But you really should smile more. Xavier said, turning his full attention to Maddie.

Maddie shoved him with her elbow, and called him an asshat. Xavier then sat up next to her, then leaned down and kissed her.

As he pulled away, and looked back at the cheerleaders, he made slight eye contact with Claire, before almost immediately looking away.

“Hey, Simon! Wait up!” He heard Maddie say, and when he looked he saw Simon walking up to the school. He watched Simon smile at Maddie, then she quickly got up.

“Wanna tag along?” She asked. Xavier thought for a minute. He didn’t normally, but right now he didn’t really wanna be out here, right in the view of Claire who seemed to keep him in her sight almost 24/7 somehow.

“Sure.” He said, and he watched as Maddie’s face lit up in surprise for just a split second, before going back to normal.

“Let’s go!” She said, grabbing his arm and dragging him along with her.

Once they got over to Simon, he looked up, immediately seeing Xavier, and looked surprised, but didn’t say anything. Maddie was the first to say something.

“So, what did you think?” She asked Simon. Xavier had no clue what she was talking about, so he figured he should stay out of the conversation.

“Well, I think you may have overhyped it.” Simon replied. “What?!” Maddie said, gasping slightly.

“Look, I just think, why mess with a classic? The original Carrie was great, why remake it?” He said, making gestures with his hands that Xavier had always found somewhat funny.

The way that him and Maddie would always have their little debates about horror movies was probably one of Xavier’s favorite things to listen to, though he would never admit that out loud.

“Oh my god, here we go.” Maddie said with a sigh, rolling her eyes.

“Tell me, seriously. What bold, new statement do you get from the reboot? Feminism? It’s a story about an underdog loser who gets covered in loads of pig blood and then burns everyone who crossed her to death at the prom.” Simon immediately said, going into one of his full blown rants. “It’s inherently feminist.”

Maddie looked at him for a minute, before smirking slightly. “So you hate women?” She asked, and Simon immediately shook his head, before giving her a hug, one Xavier had started to refer to in his head as their “best friend hug”.

“I swear I don’t.” Simon said with a small laugh. Maddie laughed too.

“Are you still up for ‘Night of the Living Dead’ at the Apex tonight?” Maddie asked, looking hopeful. Simon nodded.

“Yeah, wouldn’t miss it.” He replied instantly.

After that, Xavier started to dissociate a bit, not fully paying attention, that was until he heard his name mentioned, and he refocused.

“Si, is it cool with you if Xavier joins?” Maddie asked Simon. Simon started to slow his walking a bit, looking at Maddie with an unreadable look.

“Why?” Simon asked, not even seeming to care that the subject of this particular conversation was right there. Xavier didn’t react, he knew that Simon would probably react somewhat like this when Maddie had brought up this idea to him earlier.

“He doesn’t even like horror movies.” Simon continued, now looking straight at Xavier. He didn’t bother arguing with Simon, after all it was true. He just watched them with Maddie sometimes because he knew it made her happy, and Simon knew that too.

“Yeah, but he’s never seen it, and.. I thought it could be fun.” Maddie said, looking at Xavier slightly, probably for some back up. Xavier just nodded, still not fully immersed in the conversation.

“Yeah, no, it’ll be fun.” Simon finally said, putting his hands up in defeat like he always seemed to do.

The conversation continued a bit more, and once again, Xavier didn’t fully pay attention, until he heard a certain thing Simon asked.

“How’s- how’s your mom?” Simon asked, his voice slow and cautious. Xavier looked at Maddie carefully. He never brought up her mom because he didn’t really know much about her, aside from the obvious stuff, and also the fact it was a sore subject for Maddie.

“She’s fine, she’s sobering up. She’ll be back in like, two weeks. Until then, the castle is all mine.” Maddie said, using a fake accent. Simon laughed.

“Oh, man, should we throw a sick party and invite all our friends?” He asked, grinning, obviously only kidding.

“We’re throwing a party?” Another voice says. Xavier looked over and saw Maddie and Simon’s other friend, Nicole, coming up beside them.

“Nicole? You wanna come to a party?” Maddie asked, her mouth agape. Nicole shrugged, and nodded.

“Okay, we’ve invited all our friends, it’s gonna be a rager!” Simon said, leaning back as he smiled at Maddie.

“Xavier, what about you? Would you wanna come to the party we’re totally throwing?” Maddie asked, now putting her full attention on him, and grabbing his arm. Xavier laughed slightly and shrugged.

“I mean, I’m your boyfriend so not sure if I fall under that ‘friends’ category.” He replied, not really knowing how to fit into this whole dynamic she had with her friends.

Maddie laughed. “You can be Simon’s friend then. There, all fixed.” She said, pulling Xavier closer to her as she looked at him with this smug look, like she knew what she was doing, and was fully aware of it.

Xavier looked towards Simon and saw the other boy already looking at him, with a look he couldn’t fully read, but it seemed a bit different.

He’d almost expected Simon to be looking at him with disgust, annoyance, anything that made it seem like he hated even the idea of being friends with Xavier. But the look that Xavier saw Simon have, seemed to imply, only for that split second, that maybe Simon did want to be his friend.

That look was gone almost as quickly as it had come. Simon laughed, shaking his head.

“Yeah, no. I’ll pass.” He said, rolling his eyes slightly. Xavier didn’t say anything, he just nodded, looking down at his feet.

“You know what, I actually- I gotta get to gym.” Xavier said, now looking back up towards Maddie, fully wanting any excuse to leave. He felt like things just got really.. weird.

“Okay.. see you in study hall?” Maddie asked, grabbing his hand and squeezing it slightly.

“Yeah, for sure.” He said, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss before walking away without another word.

He wasn’t going to gym, fuck that. He needed some time to himself for a bit, to think about whatever the fuck just happened that made him suddenly feel so off, more off than usual.

He got to his truck and threw his backpack into the passenger seat, before getting in on the drivers side.

He leaned back, finally letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

He sat there, scrolling on his phone, not fully aware of anything around him. He just needed a distraction.

He looked at the time on his phone and it had been about 5 minutes. Time seemed to be going by slower than usual.

All of a sudden, he heard something bang on his car window on the passenger side.

“Jesus!” He shouted, as he looked over, seeing Maddie standing there. He rolled down the window, still a bit startled.

Maddie laughed. “Did I spook you?”

“A little bit. What are you doing out of class?” Xavier asked, trying to seem calmer than he actually was. Maddie then opened the door, and hopped in.

“I came out here to ask you the same question. I thought we were hanging out in study hall?” Maddie asked, her voice seeming uncertain.

“We are.” Xavier said, almost too fast. “I’m skipping gym, phone was totally dead so I came out here to charge it in peace, but now I can’t find my charger.”

Maddie looked at him for a few seconds, then she looked down, and a look of disappointment came across her face.

Fuck. She must’ve seen it, Xavier thought.

“I told you those things would kill you.” She said, picking it up, then just staring at it like it had personally threatened her.

“Cell phones?” Xavier asked, trying to possibly play it off like he had no idea what she was talking about, despite her holding the actual object. He mostly just sounded like an idiot.

Maddie looked at him, shaking her head. “You know.. you don’t have to lie to me.”

Xavier looked back at her, sighing as he nodded. “Okay, fine. I’m a total burnout who is skipping class to get high in his car. Congratulations, you got me.”

Maddie nodded, still a bit of disappointment in her eyes. It wasn’t as clear as before, but it was still there.

“For the record, you’re the worst liar in the world.” She replied, in sort of a monotone voice.

Xavier found it a bit odd, but he didn’t think anything of it. He tried to lighten the mood.

“Maybe you’re just the best detective.” He said, leaning closer to her, and giving her a quick peck on the lips. Maddie seemed to smile slightly.

“Well, I would stay here if you were finally driving off into the sunset, and skipping town for good. But, I will leave you to squander your future in peace.” She said, giving him a light shove in the arm.

“Thank you for that.” He said, returning the shove.

She then opened the door to get out, but gave him one last kiss before she did.

Maddie started to walk away, but turned around as she was walking.

“Give up the drugs, Xavier.” She said and he nodded and saluted her.

“I need you to stay out of juvie at least until homecoming, I don’t wanna skip that alone.” She continued. He nodded once again, and once she was finally out of view he could feel a sense of relief wash over him.

He pulled out his phone to text Claire, warning her not to come. As he clicked send, he immediately realized his mistake.

“Fuck!” He said, maybe a bit too loud. He had sent the text to Maddie by accident. Fuck fuck fuck.

At least he could tell she hadn’t seen it because of the read receipts, and thank god for the delete message button, which would delete the text for both of them.

He sighed as he put his phone down, and grabbed the object Maddie had been holding only about 2 minutes prior.

His only escape.

“Are you going to stare at this girl your entire afterlife or…?” Charley’s voice snapped Xavier back out of his thoughts.

They were both staring out of one of the big windows in one of the staircases, and he was looking down at Maddie in the parking lot. Staring at where his truck was usually parked. Except now, it wasn’t there. The police had it towed in case there was any evidence in it.

“Hmm?” Xavier said, not fully paying attention. Charley sighed.

“I mean, she’s cute, I’ll give you that, not that I’m the best judge I-“

“She’s not doing very well.” Xavier said, immediately turning and going to walk down the staircase.

“Huh? Uh, okay.” Charley said, quickly following behind him.

They made it down, just in time to see Maddie coming up the stairs, and walking right past them.

Xavier sighed, as he watched her walk further.

“I just wish she knew I was right here.” He said, and Charley nodded from beside him.

“Yeah, well, the sad truth is she never will. They have no clue we’re here. It blows, but thems the breaks.” Charley replied.

“Is there any way to go back?” Xavier asked, dead serious. Charley stared at him like he’d just seen a ghost. (Ha.)

“There is no back.” Charley stated. “That life you used to have? That’s not an option. But, there may be a way forward.”

Xavier stared in confusion, as Charley led them both down the hall.

“What? Forward where?” He asked. Charley just shrugged.

“Well, you know. The great beyond, onward, upward, wherever that may be. We’re all just trying to cross over, which is why it is important to stick together.” He said, and once again, it sounded very rehearsed.

“Okay..” Xavier said, not really knowing how to respond. Charley took that as a sign to continue.

“I mean, Janet did it, and she’d been here since like 1960. She was a total group diehard.” He said, and Xavier’s jaw dropped.

“Since 1960?!” He asked, in almost total disbelief. Charley nodded, as they came to a stop, and Charley looked up at somewhere near the ceiling.

Xavier followed Charley’s gaze and looked up to see a small spot right above the lockers, where there was some girl who looked like she was from the 70s, just sitting there, staring into space. Also another ghost, Xavier assumed.

“Well, the alternative is Dawn. She never comes to group, no. Instead she just sort of bops around, aimlessly.” Charley said, a bit of judgement in his voice.

“What happened to her?” Xavier asked with curiosity. He had to admit, he was pretty intrigued with what had happened that led to all of these people dying here at the school. Pretty sucky place to die in his opinion.

“Oh no clue, no. But it was the 70s, so uh, bad acid, cult initiation gone wrong. Probably drank the wrong Kool-Aid.” Charley explained. Xavier just nodded, as they then continued walking down the hall.

Xavier suddenly came to a stop in front of some of the lockers, seeing his missing poster on there.

In marker, someone had apparently written “junkie”.

“Sweet.” Xavier said, ripping the poster off of the lockers, but then when he looked back, it was still there.

He looked at Charley for an explanation.

“Yeah. Uh, you can touch it, but you’re never going to change anything in their world.” He said. Xavier stared, before turning back to the lockers and trying to rip it off again, only to fail.

“That’s.. depressing.” Xavier finally said. Charley just nodded.

“Yeah, if you really wanna depress yourself, follow.” Charley replied, patting Xavier on the shoulder before walking forward.

Xavier stood for a minute before following him. Not like he had anything else to do.

They stopped at a classroom door a few feet away. Xavier had no clue what they were looking for.

He followed Charley’s gaze to the window, and what he saw was a group of people who looked like they were in band, walking around on the lawn in circles and playing their instruments.

“2004.” Charley said. “The marching band hit a really bad storm on the way back from a competition. Bus spun out and flipped on campus, and half a dozen kids ended up here all at once.”

Wow, that was pretty depressing.

“Look at them, just marching around in their metaphorical circles, like a bunch of little idiots.” Charley said, shaking his head. Xavier still didn’t say anything, and that’s when Charley turned to look at him again.

“Working with Mr. Martin, being a part of our little club, it helps. It keeps you from getting stuck in the past.” Charley said, probably hoping to break through to Xavier.

But Xavier just continued staring. Charley noticed.

“Oh great, and we’re back to staring. No, don’t take my advice. Let me shut up. Uh, okay.. you just come find me when you’re ready.” Charley said, giving him another pat on the shoulder before walking off, leaving him there staring through the door way. Staring at Maddie.

Maddie was sitting in her seat towards the front of the room in the middle. Simon was sitting in the seat right next to hers.

“Okay, before we get started, are there any questions on last nights reading?” Ms. Fields asked from the front of the room, looking around at the students sitting before her. She likely already knew that no one did, it was just her job to ask and teach.

Xavier looked at Ms. Fields, then back at all the students. He saw one kid raise his hand. He was one of the football players, Xavier could tell because of the jacket the kid was wearing.

“Yes?” Ms. Fields asked, pointing at the boy with his hand raised.

“I have a question. Do we seriously think that guy is gonna come back for his jacket?” He said, pointing to a desk towards the back of the room. Xavier’s desk.

He finally looked, and saw a jacket draped on the back of the chair, certainly not one of his.

“Don’t be a dick!” Maddie said, raising her voice slightly. “Xavier wouldn’t wear that.” She continued, looking at that jacket with an irritated look.

“No, but I would. That’s mine. That is Xavier’s seat, we’re going to be saving it for him until he gets back.” Ms. Fields replied, nodding. Xavier appreciated the gesture, even though it wasn’t true, that he was coming back.

He then heard a scoff. A scoff that he recognized.

Xavier looked over to Simon, and saw him shaking his head. This fully confused Xavier.

Ms. Fields then turned her attention over to Simon.

“Simon, did you have a question?” She asked. Xavier leaned in the doorway, curious to know where this was going to go.

“How’s that gonna help?” Simon asked plainly. Xavier tilted his head at this. Underneath the seemingly emotionless voice Simon had, it almost seemed like he.. cared. But that was impossible. Simon hated him, he always had.

“It’s a reminder, to keep your classmate in our thoughts.” Ms. Fields replied, and she did sound genuinely sincere. Simon though, he just laughed, and shook his head again.

“Simon, what’s going on?” Maddie whispered, a nervous laugh escaping her lips as she leaned closer to Simon.

Simon looked at her, with what seemed to be a mixture of sadness, and something else Xavier couldn’t quite tell what it was.

Simon was probably just sad for Maddie, after all they were like best friends. Basically platonic soulmates, that much was obvious.

So Simon would obviously be sad that Maddie’s boyfriend was missing, possibly even dead. Yeah, that made sense, Xavier guessed.

“Honestly, Maddie, a lot of things are going on.” Simon said, looking at her with this.. this look. Xavier had never seen this kind of look on Simon, so he had no clue what it meant.

“I’m so sick of all this stupid virtue signaling bullshit. It’s pho- it’s wrong. I mean, I fucking hated the guy…” Simon said, sitting up more in his seat now. Yeah, there it is. Simon did hate him.

“But the fact.. the fact that two seconds after keeping him in our thoughts, we’re putting on cheer routines.. and, there’s a sign up list for a search party, and no one has put their name on it.” Simon continued, then he looked back at Maddie, a mixture of confusion, disappointment, and what seemed like love. Obviously, he loved Maddie, she was his best friend.

“Maddie, I- I love you.. but shouldn’t your name be first on that sign up sheet? I- I just don’t understand. You’re so close to giving up anything for that burnout, yet… it doesn’t make sense I- I’m worried about you.” Simon said, scooting closer to Maddie’s desk.

Maddie just stared, her mouth wide open, like this is the last thing she’d ever expected to happen, and she had no idea what to say, what to do.

“Simon, it’s- it’s just a lot.. things are complicated.” She finally said after a minute of just staring. Simon looked like he wanted to believe her, she was his best friend. But that didn’t mean they were immune to lying to each other once in awhile, or having problems like all friendships did sometimes.

“Maddie, Simon, why don’t we take this somewhere else or wait until class is over?” Ms. Fields asked, walking towards the two in an attempt to stop.

Maddie then stood up, abruptly. “I’m done here.” Was all she said, before turning to walk away.

Simon immediately stood up too, despite protests from both Ms. Fields and Nicole on the other side of the room.

As Maddie was almost at the door, Simon was behind her, and he gently grabbed her arm, and she tried to get away, but then turned to look at Simon, tears in her eyes.

“Si, we can talk about this later.” She said, but Simon shook his head.

“Maddie, I- I don’t know what to say, you just haven’t been the same the past few days, for obvious reasons but I- I just feel like there’s something else going on. You know you can talk to me, right?” Simon said, tears now forming in his own eyes, and he now had somewhat of a softer look.

Maddie seemed to crumple for a second, but almost immediately her look of irritation was back. She yanked her arm away from Simon.

“I said I’m fine.” She said, turning around to walk away again, but what she didn’t realize was that she walked right into a desk, and she then tripped.

She let go of her bag, and it went flying up in the air, everything coming out of it and dropping on the floor.

Simon immediately went to make sure she was okay, but it seemed that something caught his eye.

Xavier followed Simon’s gaze, and there on the floor… was his phone. Xavier’s phone.

The phone that the police thought was still in the school somewhere.

Xavier walked forward a bit, leaning down where Simon was. He watched Simon slowly pick up the phone, turning to look at Maddie, and Xavier did too, even though she couldn’t see him.

“Maddie… why do you have Xavier’s phone?” He slowly asked, and the look on his face was full of disbelief, like Maddie had betrayed him.

Maddie looked at him, not saying a single word. Her eyes were just wide in shock.

Everyone else in the classroom was looking at them, shock written on all their faces.

Maddie had Xavier’s phone. The phone that could be linked to his disappearance.

—

Xavier watched outside of the room in the office as Maddie was being questioned. She wasn’t really saying much, as she was asked why she had the phone and why she hadn’t turned it in.

Overall, it was very suspicious.

“Don’t fixate.” Charley said. “There are much better ways to pass your time here.”

Xavier mostly ignored him, he had to know why Maddie had his phone, it just didn’t make any sense.

He knew that Maddie wouldn’t hurt him, right? There was no way. She wasn’t that type of person.

“She has that phone for a reason. She’s.. she’s probably trying to use it to figure out what happened to me.” Xavier said, looking for pretty much any logical explanation, besides the one that most people were probably now thinking. He just couldn’t believe that she had possibly had something to do with this.

“By not giving it to the cops?” Charley asked, his voice clearly full of confusion as he walked a bit closer.

“I- I don’t fucking know, okay?! Maybe she knows something, and there’s- there’s something on that phone. Look, I don’t know, maybe she’s trying to prove something.” He said, probably looking like he was losing his mind. Charley walked towards him more, shaking his head.

“No, no, no, alright. I’m calling a time out. Mm-kay? I think you need to take a chill pill. Let’s go to my office.” Charley said, a bit of a smile on his face as he said the last bit.

Xavier just sighed, and nodded.

—

When Charley said they were going to his “office”, this was not at all what Xavier had expected.

They were in the showers. Specifying the men’s showers. Xavier didn’t know what he’d expected, but this definitely was not in even the top 10.

This was the first time he was actually thankful to be a ghost, because at least then that meant none of these guys could see him.

He tried not to.. look, but curiosity got the better of him. It was kind of hard not to look, though.

“Isn’t this nice?” Charley asked from beside him, a giddy smile on his face. Xavier didn’t know what on earth to say.

“How is this supposed to help me?” He decided to ask. Charley looked somewhat offended.

“Okay, wow. First of all, you are not very good at first impressions, are you? It’s all very me, me, me with you. Second of all, I’m really hoping you’re not homophobic or anything because if so, I will immediately be assigning Wally as your new guide.” Charley said, studying Xavier carefully.

“I- huh?” Xavier was at a loss for words. “No, I’m not- I’m not homophobic, or anything. I don’t care. I mean, I’m not gay at all, but I don’t care if you or other people are.”

Charley studied him a bit more, before slowly nodding, and looking relieved.

“Okay. Good.” Charley said.

“Wait. Who’s Wally?” Xavier asked, just now realizing he had no clue who Charley had just mentioned.

“Oh, yeah. I guess you never fully got introduced. He’s the one that was playing basketball before the meeting, if you remember.” Charley explained. Xavier nodded, remembering.

“Well…” Charley continued. “As I was saying before, I know we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, but it wouldn’t kill you to at least pretend in being interested in getting to know me.”

Xavier looked at Charley and just nodded.

“Okay, fine. Uh.. how.. how did you die?” Xavier asked, not really knowing what else to ask about, since that’s what Rhonda had asked him at the group meeting.

“Oh, okay, wow. We’re skipping small talk and going straight to the heavy stuff, huh?” Charley asked, seeming a bit surprised.

Xavier sighed. “I give up.”

Charley sighed too. “Well… wouldn’t you know it, the one day I forget to bring my EpiPen is the one day they cook the French fries in peanut oil.”

Xavier’s jaw immediately dropped. “Oh god.” He said.

“Don’t sweat it.” Charley said, with a slight nod. “The bigger disappointment was me thinking I would get to haunt all the assholes who tortured me while I was here, but instead I was haunted by all the jokes they made once I was gone.”

Xavier tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean?” He asked.

Charley looked at him, probably a bit confused on how he didn’t get it.

“I was a gay kid in the 90s, who died because he was allergic to nuts.” He said. Xavier just stared off into space.

“Okay, that’s where you’re supposed to laugh.” Charley said.

Xavier still didn’t say anything. Charley sighed.

“Still fixating, aren’t you?” He asked. Xavier just nodded.

“She has to have that phone for a reason.” He said, nodding to convince himself that it was true.

“Maybe.” Charley said. “But maybe it doesn’t matter in the end.”

Xavier immediately looked back at Charley. “Why wouldn’t it matter?” He asked.

“Look, I’m just trying to prepare you for the fact that you might not like the answers to all of your questions.” Charley said.

“If people thought your girlfriend killed you, wouldn’t you wanna know?” Xavier asked, getting a bit worked up. Charley laughed.

“I’m gay, remember?” He asked with a somewhat amused voice. Xavier sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Well, if people thought that your boyfriend tried to kill you, wouldn’t you wanna know?” Xavier then asked, empathizing “your”.

Charley shook his head. “No one ever called me their boyfriend. And if they did, we’d have to hide it.”

Xavier felt a bit of his anger fading away after Charley’s response. He felt bad for the other boy, and what his circumstances had been when he was alive.

“That’s why I love this place.” Charley said, a small grin on his face. “Can’t hide anything in here.”

Charley continued speaking, but Xavier wasn’t paying attention, as he looked around, he remembered a specific time he had been in this place, with a certain person.

Xavier and Maddie never really picked the best places to make out, that was for sure.

Currently, they were in the boys locker room, making out by the lockers, despite both of them knowing it probably wasn’t the best idea.

He pushed Maddie gently into the lockers behind her, and before he could go any further, Maddie suddenly switched their places, and pushed him into the lockers.

Xavier laughed as he looked at Maddie. “You’re gonna get us into trouble.” He said, smiling slightly. She smiled too.

“You’re the one who’s trouble.” She said, her smiling growing wider.

Xavier looked at her, and he felt.. something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I really like you, Maddie Nears.” He said, looking at her with awe. She didn’t look surprised, obviously. They’d be dating for a bit now, but this was the first time either of them had said their feelings so.. openly like that.

She didn’t say anything, just leaned in and kissed him like her life depended on it. He kissed her back.

All of a sudden, they heard a door open.

“Shit, shit, shit! Come on. I got an idea, come on.” He whispered, grabbing Maddie’s arm and leading her somewhere.

“Where are you going?” She whispered back. He led her into the showers where he quickly told her to hide as he took his clothes off, and turned on the shower.

“Hello? Anybody in here?” The voice Xavier recognized as Mr. G said. He looked down at Maddie who was covering her mouth, most likely trying not to laugh.

The voice was closer now. “Hello? Hello? Somebody in here? You can’t be in he-“ The voice paused, seeing Xavier standing in the shower, now completely naked.

“Xavier? What- what the hell are you doing?” Mr. G asked, looking slightly horrified.

Xavier tried to play it cool. “Mr. G, what are you doing? I’m showering.”

“Xavier, the school is closed at 6pm, you can’t be in here.” Mr. G replied, looking pretty much anywhere but where Xavier was standing.

Xavier looked back at Maddie for a split second, and she looked like she was one second away from bursting out laughing.

“Mr. G, I- I’m sorry, I just don’t really feel comfortable with you watching me like this.” Xavier said, making sure to look “uncomfortable”.

Mr. G quickly shook his head. “I- I wasn’t. I was just closing up. Uh, just finish up what you’re doing. You’ve got- you’ve got to get out of here.”

He turned around to walk away, but Xavier continued as he himself tried not to laugh.

“I just- feel very exposed to you right now. It’s a very compromising position.. I- I feel comprised.” He said, and saw now that Maddie had her whole arm over her face to try and keep from laughing.

“Damn it, just finish up!” Mr. G said, before quickly walking out.

“Have a good night!” Xavier shouted, as Mr. G was almost out of sight. Once he was out of sight, he looked back at Maddie, who turned to look if Mr. G was gone, and once she saw that he was, she finally let out the laugh she’d been holding in.

Xavier laughed too, looking at her with that same look of awe.

Little did he know that would be one of their last times together like that.

“There’s no way she did it.” Xavier said, snapping back to reality, and quickly getting up from where he was sitting next to Charley.

“Wait, what? Where are you going?” Charley asked, but Xavier didn’t respond, he just walked out without another word.

~~~

“Simon slow down! Simon, hey!” Nicole shouted from behind Simon, but Simon wasn’t paying her any attention.

He had to figure out why Maddie had Xavier’s phone. Why?

Simon would never believe that Maddie could’ve done something to Xavier, or anyone for that matter. She wasn’t that kind of person.

But she had to have that phone for a reason. A reason that she hadn’t told Simon. And it was slowly leading him to believe something that he didn’t want to believe.

He stopped in front of the office, as Nicole finally caught up behind him.

“Simon!” Nicole said, sounding completely out of breath next to him.

“I.. I knew she was hiding something, but this.. this I couldn’t have even imagined.” Simon said, his eyes full of tears. Nicole put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

“Simon, we don’t know everything yet.” She said, in a reassuring tone, but he could tell that there was a bit of doubt in her voice.

“She has his phone, Nicole. That’s evidence. Evidence they’ll use against her.” Simon said, shaking his head.

“Evidence of what? Simon, this is crazy.” Nicole said, grabbing Simon’s arm and leading him back down the hallway.

“Look, what if he just gave her his phone, so he could go out of town for a few days, I don’t know.” Nicole said, lowering her voice a bit. Simon shook his head.

“Out of town where? Where the fuck would he even go? And what about the blood?” Simon asked, knowing that there wasn’t a lot of.. hope in a case like this, based on all the facts.

“Why are you doing this? Why do you always think of the worst case scenario? How does that help anything? And also, what was with that big scene you made in class?” Nicole rambled on, but Simon wasn’t paying attention. He was looking at something else. Someone else.

“What’s Claire Z doing?” He asked, a suspicious tone in his voice.

She was looking through the office window, most likely at Maddie.

What the hell did Claire Zomer know?

~~~

Xavier walked down the hall, determined to find answers. Answers he wasn’t fully sure he could find.

“Oh, hey!” A voice shouted, from a bit further down the hall. Xavier didn’t look at first, assuming that it was a living person talking to obviously another living person.

But when Xavier looked for a split second, he recognized that it was one of the ghosts from the group meeting. Wally.

As they both stopped in front of each other, Claire passed by and Xavier wondered where she could be going.

Xavier didn’t look at him directly, he was too focused on still watching Claire.

“Now’s not really a good time.” Was all Xavier said.

“Wally Clark. Class of ‘84. I was laid out by a tackle during my senior year homecoming game, never made it off the field.” The ghost, Wally, said while holding out his hand for Xavier to shake.

Xavier didn’t say anything, he looked in the other direction, and now his attention was on Simon and Nicole, who were whispering something to each other, which he couldn’t fully hear.

“Nice to meet you.” Wally continued, clearly not fully aware of the situation. Xavier sighed.

“Yeah, uh, I’m Xavier. Current unsolved mystery. Yeah.” He replied, still not fully focused. Then, he remembered something.

“Wait, Wally Clark? That sounds.. familiar.” Xavier said, his brows furrowing in confusion.

Wally nodded. “Yeah, they named the stadium after me.” He said, looking a bit proud of himself.

“Ah.” Xavier said. “Must be nice. Anyways, can’t really talk right now, because I’ve got some holes in my memory to fill.”

Wally nodded again, a bit more eager this time. “Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I can totally help you fill your holes.” He said, oblivious.

Xavier immediately froze. “Ex- excuse me?”

Wally seemed to slowly understand the.. implications of what he’d said and immediately shook his head.

“Oh- uh- that sounded.. wrong. I don’t.. uh.. swing that way.” Wally quickly said, his face turning slightly red. Xavier nodded in understanding.

“Uh- it’s- it’s fine, man. Neither do I.” He replied, giving Wally a reassuring look. Wally seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay, yeah. Obviously I didn’t mean for it to come off that way, in my head it was more, you know, metaphoric, like I can help you figure things out if you need.” Wally rambles, clearly still a bit possibly embarrassed. Xavier nodded.

“Okay, uh.. well, I think- I think I’m good for now.” Xavier said, now turning back to look at Simon and Nicole.

“Yeah, man that’s fine.” Wally said, nodding in understanding.

“Plus, I don’t really think I need to take advice from someone who looks like they’re heading to.. an aerobics class.” Xavier said, turning to look back at Wally slightly. Wally looked at his outfit and let out a small laugh.

“Yeah, right? I mean, I’m glad I had this in my locker, otherwise I would’ve been rocking shoulder pads, which would’ve sucked, because I think those are totally out now.” Wally rambled on, once again.

Wally continued, but Xavier spaced off a bit as he again, looked over at Simon and Nicole, who were still whispering.

Suddenly, Xavier remembered something. He turned back to Wally.

“Wait.. were you missing anything when you came here?” He asked. Wally looked a bit confused. He seemed to pause, probably to think.

“I mean, other than a pulse and a heartbeat.. no, not really. Why?” Wally asked, still seeming a bit confused by the question.

“My.. my phone. And my backpack, they were with me.” Xavier responded, now remembering a bit more.

“Ugh, the tickets are in here somewhere. I printed them out this morning.” Maddie said, rummaging through her bag that was on top of his desk. Xavier didn’t really want to go see this movie, if he was being totally honest. As much as he hated to do it, he had to make up some type of excuse.

“Aha, here they are.” Maddie said, as she pulled the tickets out of her bag with a triumphant look. Xavier sighed.

“Shit, I uh- I can’t make it tonight.” He said, trying to avoid eye contact with her, knowing she’d probably be disappointed.

“Come on.” She said, and he could tell from her tone of voice that he was right.

“Sorry, I completely spaced. I have band practice.” Xavier said, now looking at her with a sympathetic look. Maddie sighed.

“Wouldn’t it just be easier for you to tell me that you didn’t want to see this movie?” She asked, looking at him with a questioning look. Xavier let out a small, nervous laugh.

“That is not it, okay? I- I do, it’s just.. it was the only night we could do it. I’m sorry.” He responded, trying his best to sound convincing enough.

Xavier continued. “And you know what they say.”

“What do they say?” Maddie asked, her voice sounding a little less disappointed.

“Bros before strong, independent women with bright futures. It’s a very popular phrase.” He said, a small smile on his face. Maddie shook her head.

“You’re stupid. You’re.. lucky you’re cute.” She replied, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

“What the lord deny in brain, he deliver in beauty.” Xavier continued. Maddie laughed.

“And boy did he deny.” She said, and Xavier couldn’t help but laugh slightly. Maddie always seemed to make him laugh, under pretty much any circumstance.

“Uh.. Xavier?” A voice caught his attention. Simon’s. He was confused, Simon usually never referred to Xavier, not directly.

Xavier looked over where Simon was sitting with his head down, and he was looking out the window.

Xavier slowly got up, leaving his bag on his seat, and making his way to the window.

What he saw immediately caused him to freeze.

It was his dad, currently pulling up into a parking spot. What the hell was his dad doing here?

Xavier looked down at Simon, who was already looking at him. Then, Xavier looked back out the window to see his dad getting out of the car, and starting to walk up to the school.

Xavier immediately walked away, going to grab his bag.

“Sorry, I.. I have to go take care of something.” He said, barely giving Maddie any time to get another word in. He was already out the classroom door.

“And.. I’m missing my ring too.” Xavier said, looking down at his right thumb, where he would always wear the ring. The ring that was from his mom.

“Huh.” Was all Wally said. Xavier sighed, clearly frustrated.

“Can you stop saying huh?” He replied, and right as he said that, Simon and Nicole walked right past the both of them.

Xavier started to follow, but Wally grabbed his arm before he could.

“Hey, bro to bro.. maybe.. maybe it’s a good thing you don’t remember everything. Sometimes I wish I could forget.” Wally said, and Xavier could tell there was genuine sincerity in his voice.

Xavier just nodded, as Wally let go of his arm and nodded back, then turned and walked away.

Xavier sighed, mostly to himself. This was all too much to deal with.

Suddenly, he heard the office door open, and he turned to see Maddie walking out, a blank expression on her face.

“Maddie?” He said, still holding out hope that she could maybe, possibly, somehow hear him.

“Maddie, listen to me.” He said, but it was no use.

Maddie walked down the hallway, and stopped in her tracks.

Xavier turned to look ahead, and he also stopped.

Right there, was both Simon and Nicole.

They both looked at Maddie with a mixture of emotions.

“Maddie? They let you out?” Simon asked after a minute of all of them just staring at each other, and his voice was a mixture of relief and caution.

Maddie nodded slightly, not making eye contact with either of them.

Simon continued. “You.. you had his phone for three days, Maddie. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Maddie shifted, still not making eye contact with Simon. “I don’t have to tell you anything, okay? Just- just drop it!” She said, raising her voice.

Xavier rarely heard Maddie talk like that, and when she did, it made him feel.. uneasy. Scared. Genuinely scared.

Simon looked like a wounded animal. Nicole stood beside him, also seeming a bit shaken.

“Maddie… I- If you did something.. you should come clean. I don’t want to believe you did, but the fact you had his phone, and the way.. the way you’ve been acting. I- I almost believe you…” Simon couldn’t seem to finish. Xavier knew why.

Maddie looked hurt, but she also looked like she understood. She understood why Simon would be thinking that, after all, the evidence was strongly pointing towards her.

Her face then quickly returned to a blank expression, as she mumbled something and walked straight past Simon and Nicole, despite their protests.

Xavier so, so badly didn’t want to believe that Maddie could’ve done something like this. This was just a misunderstanding or.. or something. He had to know. He had to know.

He turned around, and started walking towards the gym, quickly. He made it there in just under two minutes, and was almost out of breath.

He barged through the door, making his ways towards the circle of chairs where all the ghosts were currently sitting.

Mr. Martin noticed him as he got closer, and he gave an inviting smile.

“Xavier, hello! We- we just started the session.” Mr Martin said, waving him over. Xavier ignored him, then looked towards where Wally was sitting.

“You wanna help me, big shot? Fine, help me. I need you to- to force a confession out of someone, you know… rattle some chains, inhabit her body, scare the living shit out of her, just- just something! Whatever it takes.” He said, out of breath as he rambled.

Wally, and all the other ghosts just stared at him.

“What? What’s the problem? I need you to channel all your ghostly energy and- and just do something!” He said, louder this time. He heard Charley sigh from next to Wally.

“Okay, you’re- you’re not getting it. That’s not how this works, it’s not like in the movies. We couldn’t do that even if we wanted to.” Charley said, and Wally nodded along with him.

“And I do want to.” Wally said, raising his hand.

“Yeah, well maybe you’re all fine accepting this but- I’m- I’m just not. I need to know what happened.” Xavier said, his face full of desperation. He looked at all of them, and saw Rhonda shaking her head slightly.

“Look, blue eyes, weren’t not in some haunted house. Maybe this doesn’t jive with your fantasy of what this should be, but we’re quite literally a world away. We’re not there, we’re here. Stuck.” Rhonda said, plainly. Maybe it’s cause she seemed like she’d been here awhile, she’d grown bitter.

Xavier shook his head. “No, that’s.. that’s not good enough. If my fri- if no one can get the truth out of them, then I have to.”

Mr. Martin then suddenly stood up from his chair. “What you’re feeling right now is absolutely natural, Xavier. You’re longing for a sense of control, and we’ve all been there. Talking through it can help.” He said, his voice fully calm.

Xavier shook his head again, more urgently.

“I- I wasn’t ready to die. Granted, I didn’t have much of a life, but still. Talking about won’t change anything! If I have to search this entire town for answers, I’ll do it. I’m sorry I don’t want to just give up like the rest of you.” He shouted, trying to get through to them, any of them.

Mr. Martin gave him a look of sympathy. “We’re not giving up. We’re moving forward.”

“Yeah, well, for a guy who’s supposed to be getting people out of here.. this still looks like a pretty fucking crowded room.” Xavier replied, coldly, before turning to walk away.

“I’m getting the hell out of this place.” He declared, not even bothering to look back.

He started running. Running as fast as he could out of this stupid school.

As he ran out of the main entrance, his gaze turned to the street, and he bolted, determined to leave.

He got closer, closer, and closer, and then….

He was back in the boiler room.

Xavier stood up, frustrated, making his way out of the boiler room.

He made his way up the stairs and out into the hallway, confused as he walked down it.

He heard a giggle, and looked up to see Dawn in her little hangout spot.

“Whatcha doing?” She asked, kicking her legs back and forth. Xavier shrugged, fully confused.

“I don’t know what’s happening.” He said, having to catch his breath for a minute.

“You jumped the fence.” Dawn said, casually. Xavier looked even more confused now.

“Excuse me?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You can’t leave this place. Happens every time. It’s kind of weird at first, but after the third or fourth try, you get used to it. Fifth try it starts to hurt.” Dawn explained, with somewhat of a knowing look.

Xavier looked at her, and couldn’t see any hints of deception. He shook his head.

“I think I’m gonna lose my mind.” He said, before walking forward, and past her.

“Sounds fun.” He heard Dawn say with a giggle from behind him.

He ran back out of the school, this time running by the football field, determined to prove all of these ghosts wrong.

He ran, and ran and then… back in the boiler room, once again.

Xavier immediately got up off the ground, growing more and more frustrated.

He walked over to where his blood was, still. The whole thing was a crime scene.

Something had happened to him in here, something that had obviously caused his death.

Something that he couldn’t remember. He closed his eyes.

He remembered some small part of being here, of yelling “Stop!”. To who though, was the question. He just couldn’t seem to remember anything.

As Xavier snapped back out of his thoughts, he found himself standing back on the edge of the “fence” as Dawn had called it.

He looked down at his feet, and stepped over it, and boom. He was standing in the boiler room. He sat down on the stairs, sighing as he slowly accepted defeat.

—

Xavier now stood outside the gym, debating if he should even go back in.

His mind was all over the place, going through all of the possibilities of what could’ve gotten him here.

He walked forward and opened the door, and slowly made his way in.

As he walked closer to the group, he heard Rhonda talking.

“I don’t care about Gatsby.” She said, in a bored voice. “He’s a phony, a fake. No better than the powdered shit they’re telling us is orange juice.

Xavier slowed down a bit, not fully knowing where this was going, what she was saying.

As he got a bit closer, he could hear a bit more clearly.

“Who am I supposed to trust?” Rhonda asked, her voice cracking a bit. “My guidance counselor was supposed to help me, said I’d had what it’d take to make it out of here, you know? He just sent me six feet under.”

Xavier came to a stop, right in front of the chair where he had sat. He watched Charley look over at him, clearly seeming a bit surprised but also relieved that he was back here.

“You were murdered by your guidance counselor?” Xavier asked in disbelief. Rhonda looked at him, shrugging.

“Yeah. Guided me straight to the light.” She replied, laughing slightly.

Xavier just stared at her.

“Xavier! Welcome back! We were having a discussion about literature, got a bit derailed.” Mr. Martin said enthusiastically, as Xavier slowly walked forward, taking his seat.

He looked at Mr. Martin, then back at Rhonda.

“How can you laugh at it?” He asked. She looked at him like he’d just personally offended her.

“What? You want me to cry?” She asked, looking straight at him. It felt like she was looking into his soul.

“Okay.” Wally interrupted. “You- you gotta think about it as encouraging right? Like at some point, you’ll be able to laugh at what happened to you.”

“Or not.” Mr. Martin quickly interjected. “Uh, but look.. either way.. holding onto the past, what happened or didn’t, can only hold you back. And that’s what we’re working to learn here together. Right, Rhonda?” He finished, looking at Rhonda who was next to him.

“Mm.” Was all Rhonda said, in clearly fake enthusiasm.

Mr. Martin then looked back over to where Xavier was sitting.

“Look, now I don’t know why you got diverted from the highway of life, but I really do believe that the easiest way to miss your exit is if you’re always staring in the rear view mirror.” Mr. Martin said, a look of understanding on his face.

“He’s right, Xavier.” Charley said, with a quick nod.

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” Rhonda said, sounding like she was quoting something.

“Everything ahead of me.” Xavier repeated, letting out an exasperated laugh.

No one said another word, they all just sat in silence.

Then, all of a sudden, the doors to the gym opened, and a bunch of people started walking in.

“What is this?” Xavier asked, looking at the ghosts for an explanation.

“I.. think it’s your memorial.” Wally said, a hesitant tone in his voice.

“Vigil.” Charley corrected. “No body, no burial.”

Xavier slowly stood up, looking at everyone that was shuffling into the gym, and when his eyes landed on one specific person, he nearly gasped.

His dad. His dad was here.

“I.. I can’t believe he’s here.” He said, not fully believing what his eyes were seeing.

“Is that-“ Charley started to say, and Xavier nodded.

“My dad.” He replied. He knew his dad probably wasn’t working on the case, since it was his own kid, usually that could possibly be considered a conflict of interest. Still, knowing his dad he was still probably trying to be as involved as he could, which was sort of ironic.

His dad was never involved in his life, or at least the life he used to have. Yet now that he was missing and.. dead.. his dad was now trying to be more involved.

As everyone gathered, Xavier saw Principal Hartman and the other teachers gathering up by the podium, while Xavier’s dad stood to the side a bit.

He looked over at where the students were gathering, and to his surprise, there was Simon and Nicole. But no Maddie.

As if on cue, when he looked over at the gym doors, he saw Maddie, who was immediately stopped by an officer that Xavier recognized as his dad’s deputy.

It made sense, since she was probably at least a bit of a suspect now, considering the fact that she’d had Xavier’s phone for three days, and never said anything about it, and no one knew why.

“Thank you all for coming.” Hartman started saying at the podium. “As you know, we are here to spread awareness about the disappearance of Xavier Baxter, while we work to bring him home. Now, we have a few words from.. Xavier’s father.”

His dad looked up, and slowly made his way over to the podium. Xavier held his breath.

“Uh, yeah.” His dad started, and Xavier could immediately tell his dad hadn’t slept at all in the past three days. That wasn’t fully unusual for him, considering he was the sheriff and he’d always be up working on cases. But.. this time was different, obviously. It was now his own son that was missing.

“We are.. working on the case. And we have all hopes my son will.. will be found.” His dad said, in his professional voice, but there was a slight crack in his voice towards the end. It was easy to miss, but Xavier could tell it was there.

His dad then stepped away from the podium. A few people looked confused, like they’d maybe been expecting more. Clearly none of them knew his father well enough, because it didn’t surprise Xavier one bit.

Principal Hartman then went back up to the podium.

“Uh, okay.. thank you, Sheriff Baxter, we are all here for you in this.. difficult time.” He said, looking a Xavier’s dad, who didn’t really have much of a reaction.

Hartman just nodded, mostly to himself probably. “Okay, well, ladies and gentlemen.. let’s reconvene outside in about 10 minutes.”

Xavier then heard someone walking up behind him.

“We’re here for you, Xavier. Really.” Charley said, in a genuinely concerned voice.

“And remember, one candle per person, please. Don’t be greedy. Now, there are a few safety rules I want to go over before we head out.” Principal Hartman said, but Xavier wasn’t paying attention to him or Charley anymore.

His attention was back on his dad. He was always quite good at being able to tell what his dad was feeling, considering he’d mask his emotions so much, and drown himself in so much work to prove himself as a good sheriff.

His dad wasn’t showing it, but he could tell. He could tell that his dad was taking all of this much worse than he would let on.

Xavier couldn’t watch anymore. He had to get out.

Without another word, he walked away towards the doors of the gym. Once he got close, he could hear a voice from outside.

“Getting proof? Getting proof of what?” The voice of his dad’s deputy, Officer Turner, asked.

As he walked out, he saw Officer Turner standing in front of Maddie, who looked very pale.

“You gotta tell me.” Officer Turner said, more urgently this time.

Maddie seemed to make eye contact with Officer Turner, and Xavier saw as tears welled in her eyes.

“About.. about him and Claire.” Maddie finally said, letting out a breath. Officer Turner looked slightly confused.

“Him.. and Claire?” He repeated, though it sounded more like a question. Maddie nodded.

“I.. I know. I know that he’s been hooking up with this cheerleader, Claire, and.. I.. I needed proof.” Maddie paused for a second. “When I went out to his truck the day he went missing, he accidentally sent me a.. a text. He thought I didn’t see it, but I did. But he deleted it, before I saw the actual message. I.. I know what it was, though. I saw Claire as I was going back into the school.”

Maddie’s tears fell, and Xavier slowly backed away, part of him fearing that she would be able to see him, even though he knew that wasn’t possible.

Officer Turner just nodded, looking a bit sympathetic.

“I.. I stole his phone in study hall, so I could look on it to find proof. I.. I didn’t know he wasn’t coming back, okay?!” Maddie continued, shaking her head.

“All right, all right. I believe you.” Officer Turner said, leading Maddie away.

Xavier just stood there, frozen.

She knew. Maddie knew. Knew about him and Claire.

For how long? How long had she known, and possibly been faking her love after she found out? He had so many questions. Questions he likely wouldn’t get the answers to.

Suddenly, the gym doors burst open again, and all the students and adults came walking out, most likely going outside to start the vigil.

He saw Simon and Nicole walk by, and head down the hallway.

“Xavier?” A voice made Xavier almost jump. He turned around, and saw Charley looking him with a look of concern.

“Oh, uh… yeah?” Xavier replied. Charley sighed.

“Look, I.. I know this is a tough time, and I do apologize if maybe.. I came off a little too strong with all the introduction to being dead stuff, I really didn’t mean to be like that. I just.. I don’t want you to spend your afterlife constantly hanging onto that world.” Charley said, taking another step forward and putting a hand on Xavier’s shoulder, squeezing it.

He could tell Charley was a bit hesitant with that gesture, but he did appreciate it.

Xavier looked back up at Charley, giving him a small smile.

“Thanks, Charley. You’ve been a good guide, you really have. I.. I know you’ve only been trying to help and I really appreciate that. But.. I need to figure out what happened to me. Then.. I’ll try to let go of the.. the living world. Promise.” Xavier said, giving Charley a reassuring look.

Charley nodded, taking his hand off Xavier’s shoulder. “Take all the time you need.” He said simply, before giving Xavier a nod and walking away.

Xavier watched Charley walking away, and smiled to himself a bit. Charley was a genuine good person, and was becoming a good friend, he had to admit.

His eyes then wandered over to where Officer Turner was now leading Maddie out of the school, a whole crowd surrounding them.

Xavier immediately started running over to where they were, and once he caught up with them as they were walking out the doors he could hear a bit of their conversation.

“Look, it’s just a routine thing. We just need to ask you a little more in depth questions at the station, just to confirm your story.” Officer Turner explained to Maddie, who looked like she was barely paying attention.

She almost looked.. scared. That was unusual for Maddie. She usually wasn’t scared of anything, given all the things she’d gone through.

Officer Turner led her to the police car, where he helped her get into the backseat.

Around the car, a bunch of students had their phones out, obviously recording.

Xavier felt so many things. This would’ve never happened if he’d just been a loyal boyfriend to Maddie, because then she wouldn’t have stolen his phone, and possibly been suspected of hurting him.

This was all his fault, he couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

He turned around, walking back into the school. And as he walked down the hallway, a million thoughts were racing through his head.

Suddenly, he heard sobbing coming from one of the rooms.

As Xavier walked farther down the hallway, he could tell it was coming from Ms. Fields classroom.

He slowly walked into the doorway, and couldn’t believe what he saw.

Simon was sitting in one of the desks, his head on the table and.. he was crying.

Ms. Fields was standing above him, comforting him.

“Simon, you just take all the time you need, okay? I’m gonna head down there.” Ms. Fields said, patting Simon on the back. Simon just nodded.

Ms. Fields started walking away and took one look back at Simon, before walking out of the room.

Xavier took a step forward, into the room, unable to process what he was seeing.

Simon laid his head back on the table, as he let a few more of his tears fall.

Why was Simon crying? Was it because of Maddie? Xavier had too many questions.

After about a minute, Simon sat up slowly, his breathing evening out.

He then got up, suddenly, slowly making his way over to the window.

Xavier just watched, as Simon seemed to look at everyone outside, with their candles. Simon just shook his head slightly.

Xavier took a hesitant step forward. Then another, then another, until he was also standing in front of the window, next to Simon.

Xavier looked back, and saw Charley standing in the doorway, giving him a slight smile.

He then turned his attention back to Simon.

He just stared at Simon, not even knowing what to say.

Why was Simon so emotional about.. about this? It didn’t make sense to Xavier.

“What is going on..” Xavier said, mostly to himself, while turning to look towards Simon.

Simon seemed to freeze, suddenly.

After a few seconds, Simon slowly turned, facing where Xavier was.

“….Xavier?” Simon said, a look of complete disbelief on his face. Xavier’s breath hitched. What the actual fuck?!

“Simon?”