Epilogue
EWAN
One month later.
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."
In the days after my rescue, Lana suddenly announced she was done with her family name.
She didn't want our home to bear the name of the monster who almost destroyed us.
So after a short consideration, the hostel was retitled Purrfectly Haunted Hostel, leaning heavily on the feline and spooky vibe of the place.
I must admit, I kind of I love it. She immediately commissioned a new cut-out for the main entrance, this time with a ghost cat.
"Wait until you see James wearing it, too," Shirley says. "The way the cat ears and tail fit him so well is uncanny."
My heart rate quickens. "Where is he?"
"Upstairs. He's helping all the guests get settled."
I kiss her on the cheek. "I'll drop my bag and help."
I make my way through the busy hall, then up the grand staircase.
Misty the white cat follows me to the first floor and jumps into my arms. I cross paths with three employees, all wearing the same costume.
The hostel is heavily decorated, from real pumpkins on every available surface, to garlands and skeletons.
Fake candles hang from the ceiling in the hallways.
Misty jumps from my arms when we reach Lana's office. I enter to give her a quick peck—she's busy arguing on the phone with someone. Her cat ears poke out of her red, curly hair. She pinches my cheek and smiles brightly at me.
How I love this place and these people, I think, joy filling my chest.
My return to normal life hasn't been easy.
Some nights, it's hard to know what's real and what isn't. Sometimes I feel like I'm still stuck in limbo, and this life is but a figment of my imagination, something that I made up to survive my harsh reality.
But in those moments James is always by my side, and he patiently coaxes me back to steady ground.
While I was gone, he moved into a real bedroom on the fourth floor, with a larger bed and a private bathroom and shower.
When I came back from the hospital, he simply led me by the hand and dropped my bags in his room.
I've been sleeping with him ever since. He admitted it was as much for him as for me.
He hated the thought of not seeing me first thing in the morning.
He's struggling with the trauma of losing me. They all are.
Since my return we haven't… James is handling me with care, and he hasn't touched me beyond hugging me. We just kissed last week for the first time since I came back. Gentle kisses, and it's starting to drive me mad with desire.
I reach the third floor and find him guiding guests to their dormitories.
Oh my god, I think, seeing him with the cat ears, tail, and bat wings. He's wearing a black, sleeveless crop top and his tattoos are on full display. His cargo pants are hugging his narrow waist, revealing just a sliver of his V-line. He's breath-taking, as always.
I still can't believe this man is in love with me, no matter how many times he whispers it in the dark at night when we share a bed. It still feels unreal, like something I made up in my head during my most desperate times to help me hang on to this life.
James sees me, and a bright smile lights up his face. "Ewan. You're back already."
I nod, my heart ready to explode. I missed him so much during the last three days while I was gone, it's ridiculous.
We both come to each other like magnets, our bodies melting into one with an embrace. He smells so good—like home. The guests are staring at us, but we don't care.
Then he gives me a chaste kiss before asking, "How was it?"
"Good. But also hell."
"The tattoo?"
"Aye," I say. "I tried to hide it, but one of my brothers saw it when I was taking a shower—they don't know about privacy—and he ratted me out immediately. My mother was shell-shocked. I think any other time she'd have whipped me, but she held back a little considering…"
Considering I just came back from the dead.
Last week I got the same tattoo as James on my back. An intricate circle with runes and symbols to protect me from ghost possession. As a powerful medium, I can't let entities have their ways with me like this. Never again will I be a puppet for the dead.
As much as I adore tattoos on others—especially James—I never imagined myself with one. It felt like the gentle giant persona just stuck to my skin. But I have to admit, the piece on my back fits me now. Some part of me was irremediably changed during the past year.
"So, how can I help?" I ask, gesturing to the our surroundings.
"You can rest. You had a long journey."
I shake my head. "I want to help. This is my home now, too, and I need to pull my weight."
While I was gone, nobody paid the rent for my small flat in Edinburgh and I lost it.
One of my brothers had the presence of mind to go pick up the boxes the landlord packed of my belongings.
Lana was quick to offer me to stay at the hostel with them.
How could I refuse, when I wanted nothing more in life?
The university was very accepting of my situation, and they allowed me to restart the year where I left off.
My rugby team welcomed me back loudly, even if some of them I never met before.
I'm trying to get back on track quickly by training hard and working out a lot.
I'm tired all the time, but everyone is feeding me an ungodly amount of healthy food.
"Alright," James says. "Then you can drop your bags in our room and help with the sixth dormitory. There was an incident with a group of late risers, and the beds aren't made yet."
Our room. When I moved in, Lana offered to give me one, too. Neither James nor I have voiced the desire to have separate rooms.
I squeeze his hand and run upstairs to drop my bag.
"Are you sure you feel up for it?" James asks me for the hundredth time.
We're both getting ready in our room—black clothes only, he said it could get really messy. I tried my best not to gawk as he undressed to change.
I nod. "I need to do this. I can't just hide in here forever while you go ghost hunting."
"You can. You can stay here tonight, live a normal life. If you want I'll even stop ghost hunting, and we can find something else we can both do."
My heart is in my throat. He's so… amazing. I reach for his hand and he grabs mine.
"But I can't," I say. "What happened this year made it worse. I'm even more attuned to the veil now. I can feel them, James, even before they appear. The dead are everywhere, and I'm done averting my eyes. I'm done fearing the dark."
He looks pained, but also proud?
"Then I'll follow you into the dark." He kisses my hand, and I feel lightheaded.
I believe him. James thinks he failed me on the day the monster took me, but he didn't. He never gave up on me and spent months relentlessly on pursuit, changing plans and career just so he could find me. No one in my life has ever showed me such commitment.
I'll make sure he understands how I see it.
"I'm ready," I say.
Night is falling, and I can already feel the veil come alive.
Halloween night is the one night of the year when the frontier between life and death narrows, and the spirits will haunt the living more than usual.
Pagans used to wear costumes to scare them away.
Tonight, Shirley got us simple white masks.
Not only for the ghosts, but for anonymity, too.
I still have to go to university, and it would be a shame to have witnesses of my extracurricular activities.
"Lets go," James says.
Lana and Shirley bid us a good hunt before we leave. They're busy preparing the Halloween party at the hostel for the night. They both look overly worried, and I have to smooth out their frowns with my thumb.
To my delight, Pearl rushes from upstairs and jumps on James' shoulder before we exit the hostel. She really goes on all the hunts with him. Shirley told me that she was here for him when he needed it the most. She jokes that she's his spirit animal of a sort.
Pearl headbutts the side of his head and he complains about her messing up his hair. Seeing them like this makes me melt inside.
James has a list of all the ghosts he'd like to pay a visit to tonight, in order of urgency. From a little Victorian girl haunting the attic of a house in Old Town, to the ghost of a backpacker haunting a pub in New Town.
"Those are the slippery ones," he explains as we make our way down the street. "The ones who like to hide most of the time. I was hoping Halloween night would make them easier to hunt. But that was before having you with me." He winks at me. "You can find them either way, right?"