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It was a warm spring morning. Alison had been putting off cleaning one of the rooms of Button House that was particularly messy, but the pleasantness of the weather and her mood had convinced her to start work on it.
As Alison made her way through the dusty room slowly but surely. A few of the ghosts accompanied her in the cleaning process, watching as she struggled to get the cobwebs out of the corners of the room and scrubbed the floorboards that seemed to have an endless amount of dirt and dust stuck to it. Alison also went through some of the shelves and draws in the furniture of the room, most of them were empty or full of spiders but she did find some treasures tucked away and out of sight.
She found some of Lady B’s jewellery in a cabinet draw, some of Thomas’s half written poetry behind a massive wardrobe (he got so excited he tried to snatch it out of Alison’s hands, but regretted it immediately when he bent over with nausea as his hands passed through Alison’s), one of Pat’s scout badges in between two floorboards, and an empty bottle of wine Julian insisted he drunk out of sitting under a bed frame.
Alison was almost done with the room, she just had one last thing to clear out and clean, a big wooden chest pushed under a desk. Cobwebs and dust covered it, it looked like it hadn’t been touched in quite a while. Alison gave the chest a tug. Yep, it was full. She heaved it out from under the desk, it resisted for a moment before moving with an ear piercing scraping, sending the spiders living on it running.
Once the chest was out in the open, the ghosts huddled around mumbling about what they might think is in it.
“Maybe it has paintings in it!” Kitty suggested happily, spinning in place slightly.
“If it did, they would probably all be corroded and ruined by now.” Lady Button grumbled pessimistically, Kitty frowned.
“Maybe it’s more of my poetry, locked in a box…forgotten to time…” Thomas dramatically announced. Everyone collectively rolled their eyes, Thomas chose to ignore them.
“Tener say it clothes.” Robin said, elbowing Julian.
“Deal.” Julian mumbled, shaking Robin’s hand firmly with that signature dodgy Tory politician grin he had.
“Well, hurry up and open it Alison!” Pat said excitedly.
Alison gripped the top of the chest and the ghosts hushed and gathered around her. She pushed.
Nothing.
Alison examined the box in confusion and sitting on the front of the box was a sturdy padlock. Everyone groaned loudly.
Mike walked past the doorway of the room and noticed Alison grumbling.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, furrowing his brow and entering the room. All the ghosts jumped to the side quickly to stop Mike passing through them unpleasantly.
“This is the last thing I need to clean but it’s padlocked!” She said disappointedly. “And we don’t have a key…?” She looked around the room, the ghosts thought for a moment then shook their heads. “Yeah, no we don’t have a key.”
Mike examined the padlock. “It looks old, maybe we could break it somehow? Like with a hammer or something?” He suggested.
“Oh! Do you still have that handsaw?”
“I think so?”
Alison ran out of the room quickly. Mike had another look at the padlock then looked up at the ceiling and waved awkwardly to the ghosts he couldn’t see with a grin and a loud “HELLO GHOSTS IN THE ROOM.”
“We aren’t on the ceiling, mate” Julian huffed futility, the other ghosts nodded.
Alison returned a few minutes later with a small handsaw, Mike shuffled over excitedly and Alison kneeled down in front of the chest and started sawing into the top of the lock. It may have been old but it was still rather hard to get through, the ghosts cheered her on as she slowly inched through the rusting metal.
Eventually the lock broke and the room erupted in applause, Alison did a little bow before quickly removing the lock and tossing it to the side. She took a breath, then opened the chest.
Inside was an assortment of things, the ghosts ooo’d and ahh’d at the contents. Sitting on the very top of the stuff was a compass and a fancy looking pocket watch, neither of which had seemed to rusted but the pocket watch had long since stopped ticking.
The ghosts chatted amongst each other trying to guess who’s era the box might have belonged to first.
Underneath the compass and pocket watch was a carefully folded map of Western Europe that was so delicate Alison thought it might turn to dust in her hands, a box of ammo—
“THE CAPTAIN, IT'S THE CAPTAIN’S ERA!!” Julian cackled loudly, throwing his hands over head victoriously. The other ghosts clapped defeatedly.
“Guys! Quiet!” Alison said looking back at them all, a choir of mumbled apologies followed.
— some matches that Alison doubted still worked, and a book called How To Translate Morse Code For Beginners. Underneath all of that, a small unassuming book. Alison lifted it up out of the dusty chest and ran her fingers over its leather cover carefully.
“Ooo! What is that?” Kitty chimed, peering closer. “Oh, I do hope it is a story!”
Alison opened the book, careful not to open it too hard out of fear of it disintegrating into nothing. Inside were dirty, aged but still visible black and white photos. Soldiers happily sat around a table eating breakfast, one saluting with a grin in his uniform, a bunch of them doing target practice in the field outside Button House. Alison flicked through quickly, almost the whole book was full with photos. Alison gasped in awe, the ghosts around her admired the photos.
“The tener?” Julian said expectantly, turning to Robin. Robin groaned loudly as he handed over an imaginary bill to the MP, who laughed in Robin’s face.
“We have to go get The Cap!” Pat said happily. “He’ll love this!”
“We should! C’mon guys” Alison picked up the pocket watch and the book in her arms and stood up, she decided she’d show the rest to The Cap later.
“Where are you going?” Mike questioned.
“To find The Captain, it’s his stuff after all!”
“Ah. Right.” Mike got to his feet and followed Alison out of the room, the ghosts followed them both.
They walked quickly through the large halls of Button House, turning the corners swiftly. Kitty called out to the Captain loudly and in a sing-song tone as they walked, clearly excited.
As they rounded a corner, Alison spotted Mary in the living room, reading the alphabet book she had brought her.
“Mary! Have you seen Captain? We have stuff for him.” Alison asked her.
“It’s a book full of people!!” Kitty hummed, rocking on her heels.
Mary stared blankly for a moment, presumably in thought. “Last I saws ‘im, he was up ins the room in the floating ‘ouse.” She said confidently. “Hes was watchings the sparrows through the solid air sheet.”
Alison stood there for a moment trying to figure out what she had said.
“Up level. Captain watching birds through glass.” Robin translated, Alison thanked him then Mary and continued on, the crowd of undead following her. They went up the stairs and continued looking for the Captain until they finally found him in his room, standing confidently watching the outside of Button House with his swagger stick held comfortably behind his back.
“Captain!!” Kitty cheered. The Captain, who seemed to have been deep in thought, jumped a little at the sound. “We have a surprise for yooooouu!!!”
“Oh?” He readjusted himself. Alison sat herself down on the bed. The Captain joined her to her side, then Mike on the free side, then all the other ghosts behind them.
“WE FOUND YOUR BOOK.” Mike said loudly, looking up at the ceiling. The Captain gave him a confused look, glanced up at the roof, then back down at him.
“I was cleaning out one of the messier rooms and I found this chest...” she explained. “Me and Mike managed to get the padlock off it and we found some things.” She grinned at him and held the pocket watch out to him.
“Good lord, that was one of my soldiers!” He said happily. “Dankworth I think it was, he was a fine young soldier! Great with a rifle, he was.”
She put it to his side, then put the book in the centre of her lap. Kitty squealed excitedly and Pat shushed her softly.
Alison opened the book, the photos of the happy soldiers gracing The Captain’s eyes. She slowly turned through page after page, giving him time to look over the images.
“I remember this one” he said, pointing to an image of a group of men sitting around a table playing some sort of board game with glasses of beer in their hands. “We got a shipment and they sent Monopoly for us to play over the Christmas period. We started playing at 16:00 hours and didn’t stop until almost 03:00 hours.” He chuckled, a smile creeping onto his face.
Alison grinned as she kept flicking through, Captain continued to tell stories around the images he recognised or people he knew. Alison hadn’t seen him beaming before, it made her incredibly happy.
“Oh look!” Alison gasped, pointing to an image. It was The Captain, grinning, standing proudly in his uniform with his medals on display. He looked a little younger in the photo but it was still the same old Captain.
“Who’s that?” Mike asked.
“It’s The Captain!” She said, “Well, he’s a bit older than this now but it’s still him.”
“Wait, THAT’S The Captain?”
“What?”
“Well, dunno, I just assumed he was a bit more….” Mike picked his words carefully. “Scary? With him being a captain and all.”
The Captain shot him a look, brow furrowing. “I’ll have you know sir, I was very intimating back in my prime! And you’re hardly “scary” yourself.”
Alison held back a laugh and continued turning through the pages. Eventually they got towards the end of the book, and Alison flipped the page onto an image of a man and The Captain chatting and laughing together in a lounge, beers in hand. She noticed The Captain’s swagger stick in the other man’s hand but didn’t question it .
The Captain’s face faltered a little as he stared at the image, Alison noticed but the other ghosts didn’t seem to.
“Who’s that Captain?” Alison asked, pointing at the image. “You two look like you were having fun!”
The Captain examined the image, a solemn look twitched onto his face every now and then. “O-oh. That is- was my Lieutenant, he was uh, he was a good man.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. Alison gave him a concerned look.
“Lieutenant Havers?” She asked him carefully, he had talked about the man before but only in passing and never in great detail. But the older ghosts had told her many times that they were practically attached at the hip while they were alive.
He nodded stiffly. Looking away from the image and twisting his swagger stick in between his fingers.
“Captain—“
Just then, Mary burst into the room.
“THE MAN WITHS THE FOLDED PAPERS BE UPON US!!” She yelled, and all the ghosts jumped up from their seats excitedly.
“I dibs the weekly paper!!!” Julian shouted, running out of the room.
“Ay! Me want cross words!!” Robin argued, shoving past the other ghosts to follow him.
“Guys! Guys! Careful, please!!” Pat called after them timidly, leaving the room last.
Alison sighed. “The mailman’s here”
“How’d you— oh,” Mike glanced at the door then back at her. “Ghost thing?”
“Ghost thing.”
“Thought so.” Mike got up from his seat and exited the room. Alison stood up to follow him, but not before glancing back at the Captain.
“Cap?”
The Captain glanced at her.
“Are you ok?”
“Uh, yes. Fine, Alison. Jolly good.” He mumbled.
She didn’t want to leave but she knew how the ghosts got with the mailman, she nodded quietly and left The Captain to his own devices.
The Captain stared down at the open book of photos on his bed, it had been a while since he’d seen his Lieutenant’s face. His Lieutenant. His dear Lieutenant. He looked so happy in the image, his hair was combed neatly, his uniform loosely buttoned up and his tie hanging over his shoulders, his warm smile that practically illuminated the photo. The Captain remembered that night as he stared into the photo, he remembered how that night had ended. How close he got. The way his Lieutenant’s fingers interlocked with his for just a moment, a drunken mistake perhaps. How he had been the one to pull away. That sad, sad look in his Lieutenant’s eyes as he left. He will forever hate himself for making the man he lov-
‘No.’
-cared about and respected so deeply hurt so much. His Anthony. The Captain longed to tell him he was sorry, although he doubted such a weak word would cut it. He longed to hold his Lieutenant’s hand in the same way he had held The Captain’s, gently, so very gently, and with all the care and tenderness in the world.
The Captain stared into the forever frozen eyes of his Lieutenant, those beautiful green eyes. He feared if he stared too long, he would fall right into them. He thought back to just before he died, how comforting his Lieutenant’s hands felt around him as he drifted away. The look of fear in the man’s eyes that The Captain had never seen before and would never see again. The way his Lieutenant sobbed over his body once he had passed on, much to the dismay of his fellow soldiers.
He did the ghostly equivalent of an uneven sigh and blinked the tears threatening to leak from his eyes away. ‘Pitying yourself isn’t going to bring him or you back.’ He told himself as he stood up and cleared his throat, placing his swagger stick under his arm. ‘You are making a fool of yourself.’
He glanced for a long couple of seconds at the image resting on his bed before leaving the room and going to join the others.
Alison sat nervously in the kitchen, waiting for The Captain. Shit, she felt so bad. Had showing The Captain the album been the wrong move? Did she bring up some sort of war-related trauma by accident? She never wanted to make one of the ghosts feel bad, she wanted to go up and apologise profusely but she worried that might be an even worse idea then showing him the album.
She rubbed her temples carefully, Julian and Robin were arguing about what page to turn the newspaper to across from her but she couldn’t even be bothered to tell them to shut up, she was too lost in thought.
“Is something troubling you, dear Alison?” Thomas asked softly, appearing next to her almost out of thin air. She didn’t appreciate the flirting but she could do with getting an opinion from someone, and she would rather Thomas’s advice on emotions and such then Julian’s or Robin’s anyday.
“Did I make The Captain upset? Was showing him the album the wrong move?” Alison asked Thomas.
“Well, he is upset, but it wasn’t you who made him upset.” Thomas reassured her. “And no, he loved the album. I just don’t think he was expecting a picture of Lieutenant Havers being in it.”
Alison thought for a moment. “You were a ghost when Cap was living here, yeah?”
“Indeed.”
She paused. “The Captain and The Lieutenant, where they…good friends?”
“Oh very much so, they practically never spent a day apart until the Lieutenant left.” Thomas answered.
A moment of silence fell over them, well, apart from the arguing in the background.
‘Surely the Captain wasn’t getting this upset over a friend’ she thought to herself. She thought back to all those times The Captain had almost revealed something to her, how many times she caught him catching glances at the builders doing construction on Button House, ‘That’s got to be it, but how do I even BEGIN to ask someone that..?’
Thomas must have noticed Alison thinking and leaned in a little closer. “Look, Alison. I really shouldn’t be telling you this but it is you who seeks answers so I will.” He whispered dramatically, Alison could tell immediately that wasn’t true, he was just dying to gossip to someone. “But…I think Cap was…pining over the Lieutenant, and the Lieutenant to the Captain. I watched the whole thing. The Captain even wrote the man a love letter, he never gave it to him of course, which was an awful shame, he had a poetry segment and everything, it wasn’t nearly as good as mine but—“
“Thomas. Focus.” She found herself whispering now too.
“Right, right. Anyways, they never told each other to the best of my knowledge, then the Cap..well, died. So I think you might have accidentally opened old wounds with that photo.”
“God, that’s so sad…” Alison mumbled softly.
Alison thought back to the way The Captain acted when he had when he saw the photo, of course he’d been distressed! He was actively re-living the time he had rejected the man he loved! Somehow talking to Thomas had made Alison feel even more stupid for showing him the photo album.
Julian turned to face Thomas. “Did ya ever see them do the Devil’s Tango?” He asked bluntly. “Twenty bucks said they did.”
“I didn’t follow them around the whole time!!!! I don’t know!!!!” Thomas said defensively. “They wouldn’t even touch each other! I doubt they’d- I doubt they would have ever even thought of doing THAT.”
“Bah! Where’s the fun in that?! You either do it or you don’t, why would you beat around the bush like that?!?”
“Well I’m sorry not everyone has such CRUDE opinions on love, sir. SOME of us see it as more than just banging!” Thomas stated offendedly.
“It’s not a crude opinion, it’s a fun opinion you virgin.” he cackled in a snarky tone, his Tory MP grin making a reappearance.
God, if Julian wasn’t a ghost Alison would have already punched him square in the jaw by now.
Julian turned back to the crossword. ”Television, right there.” He pointed to a line on the crossword.
“Nuh uh, I did that on there just before!” Robin grumbled, gesturing at the crossword.
“Nah, i didn’t hear it, it didn’t happen bucko” Julian quipped back.
“You a cheater.”
“How DARE you accuse me of such things!! As a renowned and respected politician—“
“Guys can we please, PLEASE try to focus here.” Alison said angrily, her pleas sounding more like threats.
They both shut up immediately, Julian rolled his eyes and went back to doing (cheating at) the crossword.
“What should I do?” She asked, turning back to Thomas. “I want to talk to him but I don’t want to make things worse…”
“Maybe wait a bit? I’m sure he wants to talk to you as well but he might also need a bit of time to process things before you bring it up again.” Thomas suggested kindly.
Alison’s eyes widened a little. “Wow- Thomas, that’s genuinely some good advice. Thank you.”
Thomas sighed bashfully and waved her off. “Ah, you flatter me Alison!”
…
“Has anyone told you today that you have stunning eyes?—“
“And you ruined it.”
Just then, The Captain walked through the kitchen, heading towards the lounge room for his daily watch of his WW2 documentaries. He glanced at Alison as he walked through, gave her a quick nod, then kept walking. Alison noticed that under his eyes were a bit redder than usual, well as red as his ghost form could be. A wave of guilt hit her for a moment before she got up and followed him to turn on the tv.
Alison didn’t really talk to The Captain for a few hours, leaving him to his wartime documentaries and letting him unwind a bit. But she knew that if she left it too long The Captain would suppress the emotions that came with the album incident and it wouldn’t get talked about. She mostly watched him from afar for a bit, just to make sure he was alright. Mike came by at one point and asked if she wanted him to talk to The Captain for her, but she doubted the conversation would go well if Mike was screaming up at the ceiling while trying to talk to The Captain about his feelings but she appreciated her husband’s enthusiasm to help.
Kitty noticed The Captain was off at one point and decided to go join him on the coach for a while. She didn’t say much, she just gave him a hug and watched his war documentary with him for a while. Although that didn’t last long as Kitty got too scared of the guns and blood.
Alison ate her dinner (microwave pasta with a can of tomato soup on top for added flavour) quietly, her and Mike talked idly about the bills and the plans for the next rooms they should clean but other than that they both mostly just focused on eating.
After her meal she followed the ghosts into the tv room and pulled out the box of DVD’s she had. A moment of arguing later and the ghosts had decided on Star Wars: A New Hope, which Pat and Julian continuously talked and debated about until the disk was put into the machine. Alison hung around for a moment before noticing The Captain wasn’t in the room with the others. Now was her chance.
She left Pat and Mike in charge and wandered up the creaky old stairs slowly. She walked carefully, she knew where he probably was but wanted to be sure. Alison could feel a small pit forming in her stomach but she pushed it aside for The Captain. If she looked nervous, he might not talk. The setting sun bled through the windows as she approached The Captain’s door, she took a breath then knocked softly.
“Come in.” A voice came from the other side of the door, she had been correct.
She opened the door slowly to see The Captain watching over the grounds of Button House through his window like he normally did.
“Ah, Alison. What can I help you with?” He asked with a smile as he turned to face her, his tone kind.
“Hey, Cap” she walked over to stand next to him. “I just wanted to come check on you, I haven’t seen you much today”
“Apologies, I’m fine. I didn’t mean to make you worry, I’ve just been…watching the grounds.”
They stood there peacefully for a few beats, admiring the sunset from the second story window.
“I’m sorry for upsetting you earlier today.” Alison said after a moment.
“Ah no, you didn’t upset me Alison, I uh-“ He paused. “-I was just caught off guard is all..”
She held her breath, if Alison rushed into questions too soon she’d never help him open up.
“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Alison said gently. “I would never judge you.”
The Captain stood quietly for a moment, thinking over her words before nodding softly.
Another beat of comfortable silence.
“You and The Lieutenant seemed like really good friends.” She commented, glancing back at the open photo album still resting on The Captain’s bed.
“Indeed we were.” The Captain watched the sun set a bit. “I miss him.” He seemed to struggle a bit getting the last sentence out, like it was trying to claw its way back down his throat.
“That’s ok. You are allowed to miss him, Cap.” She said with a small smile. “He seemed like a wonderful man.”
“He was, he was even better at getting the troops in the unit to do what they were asked then I was on occasion. Oftentimes he would put a good word in for me with the higher ranks. He was practically my right hand man.” He said with a small chuckle. “He became a Major right before I died, I was so happy for him. It suited him.”
The Captain glanced behind him at the album, then at Alison, then back out the window. He seemed to be mulling over what he was going to say next in his head.
He looked down at his swagger stick and twisted it carefully in between his fingers. “He gave me this when I was dying, he called me ‘sir’ in front of every high ranking officer in the room despite the fact he was a rank higher than me. He made sure I didn’t die alone and embarrassed. I think—“
He stopped himself, the words catching in his throat. His thoughts were practically written all over his face. He took a sharp inhale and looked straight ahead, avoiding Alison’s eyes.
“I- er. I think I might of…loved that man.” The Captain muttered unsteadily just under his breath. As he said those words, a tension in his tone faded, like a weight had been taken off his chest. “I think I still do.”
Alison gave him a soft smile and placed her hand a few centimetres away from his back, just close enough that he could feel her hand's presence but far enough away that her hand didn’t fade through him and make him nauseous. “That’s ok.”
The man absorbed those words and processed them. He sighed shakily and wiped his face quickly.
“Yes.” The Captain spoke quietly, testing the word in his mouth. “Yes. You’re right.”
Another moment of silence, the sun had almost fully set by now and a soft shadow had been cast over the fields and into the room. The birds sung their final song for the day and Alison could faintly hear the other ghosts chatting from the tv room.
“Are you ok?” Alison asked again.
The Captain sniffled a little. “I am. Thank you, Alison.”
Alison gave him a soft ‘no worries’ and removed her hand from the space behind his back.
“Do you wanna come watch Star Wars with us? They are only half-way through the movie I think, I should be able to fill you in on what’s happening.” Alison asked with a smile.
The man returned the smile. “Yes, I would like that.”