Page 91 of Purrfectly Haunted

When we separate, he says, "Two police officers were here earlier."

"What did you tell them?"

"Part of the truth. I said I was confused, and that I was kidnapped. I suspect they think I was on a bender for a year, and so they asked for a detailed blood work. I told them I was kept in the dark, and that I finally escaped last night and walked to the hostel and found you. They want to ask you questions."

I nod. "We'll get our story straight with the girls. You did so well." I caress his hair. He's filthy, but I couldn't care less. "How's your throat?"

"A little sore, but they put me on some powerful painkillers, and I'm floating."

It must be why he appears so calm. I have no doubt that the upcoming days will be hard, when all the events of the past year finally come to bite us all in the ass. But we'll be here to help him process.

I hug him again.

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"I might have told the nurse and my family you were my boyfriend so that they'd fetch you."

My heart skips a beat. "I'll be anything you want me to be, baby. Even the rug under your feet if it pleases you."

He lets out a surprised laugh. It sounds rusty and a little unhinged. "What?"

"I'm serious. I love you so much, I'll do anything for you."

He pulls back and stares at me, eyes glittering. "Oh."

I chuckle and embrace him again, heart hammering. "No need to say anything. I just wanted you to know. Now relax and enjoy the drugs they gave you."

We have a long and tortuous road ahead of us, I don't add.

Later that evening Lana, Shirley, and Pearl come to visit Ewan in his room. The nurse, of course, barges in on us while the cat sits on Ewan's chest, and she isn't too keen on it. They kick us out, visiting hours being over anyway, and we promise him to come back tomorrow.

The next morning, the two police investigators drop by the hostel around nine to ask us questions. The guests watch them leave curiously. Ewan's blood work came out clean, and apparently his low level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D indicates an insufficient sun exposure, matching his story. They're now looking for his kidnapper, a middle-aged man. Of course, they'll never find him. I almost feel bad for the wasted time and resources, but we can't very well tell them "It's alright officers, we kicked that particular ghost to the curb."

Two days later, Ewan is released from the hospital. His family insisted on taking him back to his childhood home, but he refused and told them that what he needed was the be with us at the hostel. He couldn't explain, of course, that his trauma was related to the afterlife and that he needed to be with people who understood what he went through. He promised to come visit them very soon.

When at last, he walks through the hostel entrance in the evening, he falls to his knees on the carpet as the cats all rush to him, purring and meowing. The three of us pull him into a group hug, ignoring the guests walking around us.

Epilogue

EWAN

One month later.

October 31st

To no one's surprise, the hostel is in an uproar this afternoon as I enter through the main entrance. Halloween week is one of the busiest weeks of the year, and guests from all over the world are checking in. I have to do parkour between luggage and people queueing in front of the reception desk. The cats are zooming between everyone's legs, to the newcomers' dismay. They are keeping the peace and ensuring everything goes smoothly.

Shirley looks at me wearily from behind her computer. "Oh Ewan. How was your trip?"

I just spent three days with my family in the Scottish countryside. My mother fed me way too much, still haunted by the image of me in my hospital bed, hollow-cheeked, while my father liked to pretend like nothing happened. My brothers practiced their usual tough love by dragging me to the rugby field every day, no matter the weather. My arm is healed and the cast is off, but I still have to be careful. Truth be told, I'm already filling out nicely.

"Good," I simply say. "Love your costume by the way."

Shirley is wearing black cat ears and whiskers… and bat wings?

She snorts. "Lana made us all wear the same costumes. To fit with our new brand and all that."