Day Twenty - Bulb

Teddy took the day off of work today. Since discovering that William, or should I say Billy, is his brother, all he wanted to do was spend the day with him.

The strange thing is, they don’t seem to talk to each other much. Last night Calvin and I came up with the bright idea that Teddy and Billy could communicate through a notepad if I wasn’t around. If William wanted to say something, he could write it down. And Teddy wouldn’t have to do anything but speak. Calvin even offered to write for Billy if all Billy wanted to do was speak.

After the party, everyone left Billy and Teddy alone to catch up. You would think that they would have talked all night long, but Mrs Thompson came barging into my room the next morning to tell me that the notebook was hardly filled with any words at all.

And now, the two brothers are more than content to continue working together in the sitting room. No new attempts at communication between them were made. They’ve just spent the day working together as usual.

I wasn’t listening in on them, but everyone in the house has taken turns telling me that they’re just not talking to each other.

So when I get the chance to, I ask Teddy to speak to me away from Billy.

I pull him into the closet under the stairs and reach past him to shut the door behind him. Then I pull on the chain above my head, and the closet is illuminated from the light bulb above our heads.

“I see you couldn’t resist some alone time with me.” Teddy says with a mischievous smile on his face.

I smile and shake my head, placing a hand on his chest before he can close the distance between us. I don’t bother removing my hand and I feel his heart beating strongly in his chest.

“I wanted to talk to you, about Billy.” I say.

Teddy still continues to smile. “What about him?” he asks.

“Don’t you want to want to talk to him more? Make up for lost time?” I ask, feeling my own heart speeding up in my chest.

Teddy shrugs, “We were never really like that. The best times we had together were when we worked side by side. It’s like we never really had to speak to each other to understand each other.”

I nod, and let my hand fall away from his chest. “But don’t you want to talk to him? Aren’t there things you wish you had said to him when he was alive?”

Teddy’s face falls slightly, “When I lost my brother, I was lost. He was all I knew, and I didn’t know how to spend my time without him. There are things I want to say to him, of course, but at the same time, how can I be sure he hears me? And if I say it all to him, what difference would it make?”

Teddy grins at me but I can see the first start of tears gathering in his eyes.

I don’t know if I should say this to Teddy, but from my experience, sometimes all a ghost needs to move on is to hear from their loved ones. To hear what couldn’t be said when they were alive. But having just gotten his brother back in some way, I doubt Teddy would want to send him off so soon.

“When you’re ready, I’m sure he would appreciate hearing what you have to say to him.” I say.

Teddy reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze. “I’ll tell him when I’m ready. I just want to make the most of this extra time I have with him, for however long that is.”

I smile at him and give his hand a squeeze back. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here for you.”

Ted nods and I reach up to turn off the light above our heads.