Emmeline was an anxious mess since they arrived back to the Octagon House. She followed Gregory as he had took Matthew from the car and up the stairs to the master bedroom, his room. 'What happened?' she asked herself. She really didn't expect to see the boy again. When he came back in an almost comatose state.
Gregory set the boy on the bed, he tucked the boy in and removed his shoes, making sure the boy was comfortable. Emmeline was surprised, Gregory was taking an initiative in caring for the boy. 'What happened?' she again asked herself. She stepped out of the room and waited until Gregory exited, closing the door quietly behind him.
Emmeline grabbed Gregory's forearm, "what happened?"
Gregory turned and looked at the closed door, where Matthew was laying inside. "Let's go downstairs."
Emmeline nodded and followed him down the steps. Ania was already sitting in the library when the two older ghosts entered.
Emmeline sat down and waited for Gregory to explain what had happened. After Gregory had finished, with Ania adding information as appropriate, Emmeline sat back in the chair. Sadness and helplessness washed over her. Not to mention the questions surrounding Matthew, he was able to see his father, a newly dead ghost? Which did happen on rare occasions, but even more surprising was that he was able to hug his father, that was unheard of.
"Well," Emmeline said to nobody in particular. She rested her chin in her palm and looked out the window, but she didn't see anything, she wasn't really looking at anything of note. She was in her own thoughts trying to understand the situation.
"Well what?" Ania asked, too impatient to wait for Emmeline to continue.
Emmeline shook her head and turned her attention back to the two in the room. "Well, I guess this means he will stay with us. We will protect him as his father asked. And, as far as the possibility of his gifts, we will figure that out as we go, no doubt he is unique!" Emmeline noted, thinking of the electric shock she felt when he touched her and the idea that she has met him before.
Gregory nodded, "Absolutely. I see you have the the clothes on the line for him?"
"Mm"
"So we can clothe him, we'll have to figure out food?"
"Well we can start working on the garden and you can hunt? When Ania and I were looking in the cellar, there was quite a bit of salt down there, we can cure the meat?"
"yeah."
"He can't leave the estate, well at least for the time being, we don't want them coming after him." Emmeline thought about the bad men that tried to hurt him. 'We really should have killed them' mused Emmeline to herself, but quickly dismissed the thought.
Gregory put his hand on the back of his neck and turned to meet Emmeline's eyes, "This is going to be tough, the dead are not meant to raise the living!"
"We'll do our best, all three of us." Emmeline noted her gaze moving towards the ceiling where the boy was sleeping.
***
Matt didn't know how he got into the house or when he fell asleep. His bloodshot eyes glanced out the window, and could see the sun setting behind the trees. He lay his head back down, he couldn't sleep any longer, but he really didn't want to get up either. He rolled to his side, while he still hurt, most of the smaller injuries did not bother him too much anymore. The deep wounds on this abdomen and right leg were still a little rough, he should probably check with Gregory and Emmeline to see if the wounds were healing okay. Movies of soldiers suffering from gangrene played in his head. He definitely didn't want them to saw off his leg!
Matthew kept thinking about his father, his mother, and his baby sister. They were dead. He let out a sigh, tears welled in his eyes, but he didn't cry, he could't cry. He had cried enough. But, it didn't change the fact that he missed his family and would continue to do so. Gregory said he would take care of him. Why hadn't his parents stayed around? Matthew recalled Gregory mentioning the veil and his father mentioning a silver light, but he didn't see anything of that. Did his father lie. Matthew shook his head, no, he wouldn't lie about something so insignificant in the grans scheme of things. He would have to make sure to ask Gregory, Emmeline, or Ania about it, his own resident ghost experts. He let out a small chuckle. He was living with the dead and for all intensive purposes he went back in time. A house with no electricity, so no television, no running water. Matthew turned back over and stared at the ceiling.
His family was the only family he had. His grandparents were all dead, and both of his parents were only children. It's not like he could go and live with family if he wanted to, he had to disappear, it wasn't safe. He let about another sigh. Matthew's stomach rumbled and he decided to get out of bed, he looked down at his night gown, when did he change into this? He shrugged his shoulders, did it matter? He went to the bathroom and used the chamber pot. When he exited the room, there was a soft knock on the door.
"Matt, are you awake?" he recognized Ania's voice calling him from the other side of the door.
"Yeah, sure come on in," his voice hoarse.
Ania opened the door like a normal person, instead of the ghost that she was, she could have easily walked through it.
Oh yeah! thought Matthew, they still believed him to think they were regular people, not the ghosts they were.
"I just wanted to check on you, I'm glad to see you up. I am sorry about your fam-" Ania paused, her eyes became loud and she brought her hands to cover her mouth, did she make a mistake?! "Ugh, Emmy made food if you want it, its ugh, in the dining room, I gotta go" Ania moved so quickly out of that room, he was stunned.
As the door clicked behind her, he woke up from his stupor. What was that all about. Why would anything she say be bad? She was comforting him, right? He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, the only way to find out was to ask her. He didn't see his clothes anywhere so he just walked out in his nightgown. This time he could actually manage the steps, with only minor discomfort. As long as he didn't move funny to bother his leg or abdomen, he was okay.
"Hey." Matthew mumbled as he entered the dining room.
Emmeline smiled, "Please sit."
Matthew sat and Emmeline disappeared to the kitchen to return with a plate and a glass of water, "Here you go, Hare and cucumber salad. Enjoy."
"Thank you."
"Mm."