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Even for ghosts, time passed.
None of them would admit it, but it was no secret that each ghost dreaded the day that Alison, their only living friend, would close her eyes for the last time, leaving the grounds of Button House, and the ghosts alone to wander the grounds for who knew how much longer.
It was like a flame to a glacier. Time would slowly melt away at the ghosts, until there was nothing left, everything dissolving into an endless sea of eternity.
There was always something stirring in the shadows of Button House.
It was only one day.
One day gone.
Yet they never came back.
The ghosts watched Alison and Mike's car disappear from view. That was the last time they would ever see them.
Button House was holding its breath, counting down the seconds until Alison returned. She never did. Perhaps she had died, far far away. If her spirit ever lingered, they would never be able to see her again.
The ghosts assumed she had died in a car crash, a shooting, a fire, anything while they were gone. She probably died a cruel, unnecessary death, but she would be able to move on like the ghosts never would.
The true fate of Alison was left unknown to the ghosts. Mike never did return, so the ghosts assumed he had died with Alison. Possible the only two souls who knew of the ghosts' existence, gone. Blown away like dust in the wind.
You never know what you have until you lose it.
The ghosts had never realised how much Alison was their anchor.
In a way, she had begun to complete them, building them back up piece by piece so when they went, they would all leave. Together and forevermore.
But without Alison, all her hard work began to wither, melting away as the ghosts did.
A year passed. Two. Three. Five.
The house slowly fell into disrepair, stories of the hauntings of Button House drifting around so quickly and so strong and true even the bravest of the brave did not dare step foot into the house.
They told each other dangerous ghosts inhabited the mansion, out for blood. That one of them had pushed the previous inhabitant out of the window, resulting in her trip to the brink of death. Luckily she had returned alive, but she slowly went mad and was cursed with bad luck for surviving the ghosts. She died not long after her accident, killed in suspicious circumstances. Perhaps the ghosts had come to claim her, to make her one of them.
The story is both fact and fiction.
Alison was possibly the best thing to happen to the ghosts in years, and she was gone.
Without an anchor, their ship sailed aimlessly, and they would kill to find their anchor once more.
And this is where our story begins.
"Alison!"
This is routine. A slow, boring, lifeless routine, but it is the best they can do. They are ghosts, doomed to forever repeat, with no life, no variable in sight.
Kitty is always the first to break the cold silence of the night. Well, second, if they counted Fanny.
Fanny's screams were always more piercing than before, with no one to listen.
Thomas used to hate Alison's name being called through the empty hallways of Button House, with no purpose and no destination, no one to hear those useless cries. But after over a year of unsolvable war, a truce was finally called. One cannot fight each other for all eternity, and Thomas has learned to live with silence.
Even Julian has lost his humour. The ghosts died, just a little bit, with Alison.
Tomorrow will be Alison's sixth death day. Nothing, compared to ghosts like Robin and Mary, even Julian. It is a bittersweet celebration. They are celebrating Alison's brief joining of them, even though her spirit now resides in places they cannot venture.
But what if they could?
It is so, so, so simple.
Aliso listened to them, (sometimes) obeyed their wishes.
It was their duty to follow her back.
The Captain was the first to understand this. Duty was duty. He had to follow Alison.
So step by step, the ghosts ventured into the land beyond.
All except for Robin.
He had stayed for thousands of years. He wasn't going to leave anytime soon.
So he waved goodbye to the rest of the ghosts. He would miss them.
"If dear Alison returns, you shall alert us and summon us back!" Thomas says dramatically. "And until then, farewell."
"Okay. Bye," Robin grunts. He cannot convey enough meaning into his simple words, but they all understand.
The first to arrive, the last to leave.
If he will ever leave.
How many years has it been?
Robin has been alone now for who knows how long. The others had given up, their life (death?) melting away to the point of ghostly suicide. They have moved on, although whether they are complete is a question Robin is pretty sure the answer is no.
He often wanders the ruins of Button House, but his trips are short. Without company, Robin belongs outside, like he always has been.
But when he does enter Button House, he sometimes hears singing of a young girl, or muffled murmurs from the cellar. He investigates, but there is no one. They have given up after Alison too, although why and how Robin will never understand. They are simply echoes.
He hears echoes from the more familiar ghosts too. Indecipherable lines of poetry from inside the library, screaming early in the morning. Neither Thomas nor Fanny are there, but it takes a long time for Robin to give up. Still, he hopes.
Robin does not know what Thomas meant by summoning them back. He does not dare. He will keep his promise. False hopes are not something he wants to toy with, nor does he really know what it means.
He will wait, until he too cannot endure it, and then if Alison still isn't back, he will join the others.
Sometimes he wishes he would be able to hear Thomas wax lyrical to the annoyance of others, or see Mary explain some other pointless thing. He toys with the lights, but there is no one around to scare.
But one day, one glorious day, he sees someone walking towards the decrepit Button House, or what's left of it. It has been destroyed several times over, like nature itself is trying to wash away the memories of what has happened here.
The figure is almost the same height as he remembers Alison. He almost lets himself hope, but they stop and turn away, and his heart drops like a stone.
Still, though, he calls. Only Alison can hear him, it will not do much harm.
Or maybe she has healed while she was... dead? Away? Maybe she can't hear him anymore.
There's no harm in trying.
"Alison!" he shouts. "Alison!"
For a moment Robin thinks the person is not Alison.
And then they turn, slow and disbelieving, and it is Alison.
"Robin?" she calls back. She remembers. She remembers!
"Alison!" he shouts louder, waving his arms.
She sees him. She runs towards him, and even though they are on different levels of reality, Robin can almost feel her hugging him.
"Where you go?" he demands.
Alison's face drops into one of remorse and shame. "I'm sorry," she admits. "I had to get away."
"How long?" Robin asks.
"Years," Alison answers. "Ten years. I thought... I thought you would all be gone."
Ten years. Alison had left them for ten years. That meant Robin had been alone for five years.
"You dead," Robin pointed out.
Alison shook her head slowly. "I was... I needed a way out." Her eyes well with tears and she brushes them away furiously. How can she explain this? Without even a word... "Where are the others?"
"Gone."
Her entire world shatters with that one word. Gone. The other ghosts are gone. Because of her, Robin has been alone, like he has been for... she doesn't want to think about it.
"Bring back," Robin says quickly. "Thomas said bring back."
That was impossible.
"Alright," Robin reassures her. "Me learn."
It's not alright. It's not alright at all. Maybe this was why she left. In a few words and actions, Robin has remade and broken her world again. Maybe she should just go home to Mike...
"Try, then," Alison says roughly.
Robin screws up his face. And then he relaxes. His body begins to dissolve.
It hasn't worked. The ghosts aren't back. And Robin is going along with them.
"NO!" Alison screams. "ROBIN!"
No answer.
Robin finally fades away, and for the first time in millennia, Button House is truly empty, once and for all.
It is a long time until Alison stops crying.
She rubs her eyes but doesn't open them. She'll be going home, to Mike, to the one place where she can truly heal.
They managed to secure a new house without going bankrupt. And so they left, under a pretense. Ten years ago, she faced all sorts of guilt, but it had been worth it to get away and secure a semi-normal life. No ghosts in her new house, at least.
But she has never felt more broken than now.
"Alison."
Her name is carried on the wind. It reminds her vaguely of the Captain's commanding voice, but he's gone now. Like the others.
"Alison."
There it is again. She will not allow her mind to deceive her.
"Stand up. Look at us."
There was nothing weird about following a voice in her head. Alison slowly obeys, wiping away her tears so she can look around her.
Nine pairs of eyes look back at her, nine bright smiles that should not be there, if everything she knows about the ghosts is true.
"No way," she breaths.
"Alison."
Her name carries around the circle of ghosts, like one thing they've been hanging on to.
"You... you moved on!" Alison shouts. She waves her hands frantically, like that will solve anything. "Robin..." Her eyes land on the caveman, who simple smiles at her, and she can't say any more.
"Not really," Pat explains kindly. "We just went searching for a while. Robin here called us back. Like... a beacon or something. It took a while, but we found our way back."
Alison can't help the grin spreading on her face. "So... you'll be staying?"
"Yes!", "Sure!", "Definitely.", and "Where do you think we'll be going?"
"And you, fair Alison?" Thomas asks. It's so familiar, so Thomas, that Alison almost laughs.
She takes out her phone and dials a number.
The ringtone lasts for one, two, three seconds. "Hello?" comes the equally familiar (and much more heard) voice from the other end of the line.
"Mike? Come to Button House immediately. We have some work to do."
It's taken a lot of time (a year, in fact), and a lot of money, but it's finally done.
Button House stands in its old glory and grandeur, a splendid image in the sunlight.
The ghosts mill around her, equally amazed.
Alison's had to spend a lot of time moving around. From place to place, each house to flat smaller than the other as they struggle to pay for the renovation of Button House to its old state, with artefacts and pieces of history delicately fixed.
But it's been worth it.
Even Mike, who can't see the ghosts and therefore can't possibly compare to Alison's wild rollercoaster of emotions, can feel the excitement.
"The grand reopening of Button House!" Alison shouts, grinning hugely. The ghosts all clap, wearing similar expressions of joy and mirth.
She flings open the doors and for the first time in eleven years, Alison sets foot in the house.
She's forgotten how good it feels to have the ghosts around again.
Alison's arrived in Button House, and she's not leaving any time soon.