Stupid Deep (Julie and the Phantoms)

21

"Thank you," Emily said as she held the paper to her heart, letting sobs escape her lips.

"You have no idea," Mitch told Julie.

Julie smiled. "We write music in the same room that he did, and we can tell you that it's a magical, happy place." The two adults chuckled.

"That's nice to know," Mitch said.

"I know he was only 17 when he -- but he lived doing the one thing he was born to do. Not many people find that, but Luke did. He was so lucky."

Luke poofed away. Emily, with tears stinging her eyes, ran to her room.

Julie smiled. "It was so nice to meet you."

"It was nice to meet you, too," Mitch replied.

Julie left the house and looked for Luke, but he was gone.

OUTSIDE JULIE'S HOUSE - NIGHT

"Hey," Julie greeted as she walked up.

"Hey," Luke replied.

"I'm sorry for overstepping."

Luke moved from the pillar and closer to Julie as he said, "No, I... I just had to leave. That was..."

"You don't have to say anything."

"Yeah, I do. Uh... I didn't have many regrets in my life except for running out on my parents. Especially my mom, and Emily never got to know me... so thank you."

"You helped me feel more connected to my mom, so... I wanted to do the same thing for you."

"That was perfect." Julie tried to take his hand, but she phased through him. She faced forward with a disappointed expression.

Luke let out a sigh. "This is an interesting little relationship you and I have.

She paused and chuckled lightly. "Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to tell you. Flynn said the video that my dad made is trending on YouTube." Luke stared at her, confused. "That's a good thing. That means people love our music. We'll definitely be getting calls from managers now."

"There's something I have to tell you, and Em should know. I'm gonna tell her after you."

"Oh... Okay."

"We figured out that we have unfinished business. That's why we came back as ghosts."

"Oh. What is it?"

"We have to play the show we never got to play."

"At the Orpheum; that makes sense," Julie said as Luke was jolted back.

Luke yelled in pain and groaned before he said, "We don't have a lot of time."

Julie frowned. "What was that? Are you okay?!"

"We did something we shouldn't have. The night that we missed the dance, we met this ghost and he put a curse on us. And if we don't do what he says, the jolt will destroy us."

"Well then you have to do what he says! What does he want?"

"He wants us to be in his house band for eternity. But if we can play the Orpheum soon, then we can avoid all of that and actually cross over."

""Cross over?" As in like what? Go to Heaven?"

"That's what we're banking on."

"So it's either you cross over, be in his band for eternity, or be destroyed by jolts?"

"Yeah."

"That's just great."

"Julie-"

Julie walked into the house.