Finn closed his laptop and before he closed his eyes, he gave the room a quick glance.
I guess there’s only one way to find out.
Over the next couple of days, I followed Finn around whenever he was in the house. I had come to learn his habits and daily routine. It would start with ignoring his alarm multiple times in the morning before groaning as Cait banged on his door. He’d sulk and sigh as he took to the bathroom to do the minimal in hygiene—a thirty-second brushing of the teeth and a splash of water to the face—before he’d return to his room and rummage into the black sacks that held his clothes. He needn’t worry about whether his chosen items would go well together as everything he owned seemed to be black. He finished his look with a quick ruffle of his overgrown hair before leaving his room to sit in silence around the breakfast table. Knowing he had no interest in talking to them, his family would usually exclude him from their chats about the day ahead or the one before except Maia who would flash him smiles now and again which he would always return. Once Finn had returned from school, he would always be in a bad mood and storm off into his bedroom where he would play graphic shooting games for hours until Cait shouted for him to have dinner. He wouldn’t usually be spoken to again during dinner and would quickly make himself disappear to his bedroom soon after.
Watching him had made me question which one of us was the actual ghost. Sure, I was the dead one, but he seemed to exist in this world as much as I did.
The school week had almost reached its end as they all left the house in a mad rush, as usual. Cait had announced she was going to go shopping and register Mitzi at the vets after doing the school run, so I knew I would be alone for a little longer than normal. My mind was far too busy to sit and read, and so I found myself doing the usual walk around the house, ending up in Finn’s room as always. They had lived in the house for exactly a week and already it was far different to what it had been—except for Finn’s room. Somehow his room seemed to have gotten worse. Dirty clothes had begun to pile in the corner of the room and a smell of dirt and mould lingered in the air. He had done one thing: install a lock on his door so that no one could get in.
Except me, of course.
Frustrated at the state of the room, I pulled down the makeshift blind Finn had made by hanging a sheet and opened the window. In the daylight, the room looked even worse as it highlighted the rubbish in the dark corners. One corner homed the cleaning products Cait had given him the week before, and even they were beginning to collect dust. I sighed out loud as I reached into the bucket, pulling the black sacks out.
If he wasn’t going to clean this room, then I would.
After a few hours or so, the room was spotless, and almost everything had a new home. His wardrobe and drawers held the unlimited amounts of black clothing he owned while his desk was set up with his laptop and computer games. I had unrolled a grey carpet onto the swept floor and put clean sheets on the bed. I had even put up some blinds—though I had very nearly given up when I could no longer understand the stupid instructions. All I had left was one final box which I emptied onto the bed. I was ready to pack it all up again once I noticed the medals and trophies, thinking they had belonged to Theo when Finn’s name caught my eye.
‘First place at Klaxon Swimming Gala, first place at Junior Swimming Event, first place at Upper Brentfield Swimming Championship…’
It was endless.
My attention turned to a black book among the medals which revealed photos of a very different Finn. For starters, he was smiling in almost every photo. I sat down on the bed, grateful for the break as my energy was fast beginning to fade. I began to study each photo of him with friends, with Theo and his mum, even some of his dad, but there was one face that appeared more frequently than the rest. It was a boy his age, with lighter hair and dimples when he smiled. He had the kind of face that would always seem youthful no matter his age. I wondered where he was, and if he was the reason for Finn’s moods.
I didn’t have to know Finn well to know that there was no place in the room for these things. A lot like the memories I had stored away. So instead of unpacking them all, I scooped them back into the box and hid it at the back of his wardrobe. There’d be a day he’d have to face them, just like I would, but today wasn’t that day.
12
Finn
I felt I could breathe again when the school bell rang to signal the end of Friday. It was like I had spent the entire day holding my breath waiting for something bad to happen except it hadn’t been that bad at school since Theo had told TJ to back off. I wasn’t going to tell that to Theo, though. People avoided me like they had in my last school, and that I could deal with. I could be the loner kid as long as I was left alone.
Mum couldn’t pick us up today since she had to collect Maia from a school trip at the same time that we finished, so instead Theo and I agreed to walk home. Not together though. He was still playing football when I bolted out of the school, following the route that my phone had suggested.
It was the first time I had walked around in the new town. I couldn’t help but notice how much it felt like a movie set. There was no litter on the pavement, and the equally spaced trees were all perfectly trimmed. Even the buildings that were probably hundreds of years old looked new. Once I had gotten off the backroads near the school, I was greeted by a row of shops in a circle, surrounding a park which was also a circle with a fountain in the centre. Of course, every shop was family-owned and had the word ‘son’ in the name.
I wondered for a moment why you never saw ‘daughter’ instead of ‘son’ since we were in the twenty-first century, but then I remembered where I was. This town could quite easily exist thirty years ago, and it would still fit in.
‘Excuse me.’ I heard over the music from my headphones and felt a tap on my shoulder.
I pulled my headphones off as I turned to face the voice, dropping my eyes down to an elderly woman in front of me.
She was wearing a blue and white apron covered in flour while holding a large white box.
‘Are you Jack’s son?’ she said as I watched specks of flour wiggle on the little hairs on her face.
‘No…I mean, yes.’ I stumbled as her brows met in the centre.
‘Well, what is it? Yes or no?’
I nodded. ‘Yes.’ My stomach felt tight.
‘Right, well this is for your mum as a welcome to the town.’ She handed me the box. I could already smell the contents—an apple pie of some sort. ‘It’s just finished in the oven so if you get home now it’ll still be hot.’ She walked back into her shop without another word.
I couldn’t decide on whether to keep the pie or throw it in the bin. It may contain some type of poison, considering how short she had been with me. I watched carefully as someone walked into her shop and was greeted the very same way I had been.
‘Well, get a move on then,’ she shouted as she noticed me staring.
‘Sorry,’ I said not nearly loud enough for her to hear but quickly walked off. For a little old lady, she was terrifying.
I got a few minutes further down the street when I was stopped once again, but this time by a middle-aged man. He was also wearing an apron, but he was covered in blood as I looked up at the sign, ‘Malcolm & Sons – Butchers’.