The Ghost Story

Chapter 10

Emerson steps off a small bus with a backpack on, he glances at a paper he pulls out of his pocket and looks around for a moment. He’s in a town not far from LA, called Anaheim. It’s pretty early in the morning so he’s somewhat tired, he had been harassed by several people on the ride not to mention. In front of him lies a somewhat old apartment complex called Hermosa Village Apartments, he walks up the stairs of one of the few buildings and finds a door. This is the place Andy gave information to, he just hopes he doesn’t end up meeting a stranger instead. Emerson’s already awkward about this enough without having to discuss anything with someone he isn’t supposed to meet. He hesitates before knocking lightly, after a moment someone answers the door. A very tall man answers, having raven colored hair and snow white tips. His hair is similar to Andy’s but shorter. He looks down at him with dark blue eyes, outlined with eyeliner and mascara. It was only his guess that this guy was nearly 8 feet tall, he looked somewhat scary that way. The man’s hands slightly shake as he holds the door, “Oh, hello, who are you?”, he asks. What did Andy tell him to say again? Something nice he supposes, but he’s nervous and might just seem reluctant to even answer him. This guy seems just as nervous as he is though, making the situation harder. “Are you Axel Sixx?”, Emerson asks, already fearing that he got the wrong guy. The man nods and looks around before laying his eyes on Emerson again, “Yes, how do you know that? Are you a cop or something?”. That startles him a bit, was Axel in some sort of trouble? Maybe he’s in trouble for drugs if he’s on them, Emerson doubts he isn’t on anything. “No, I’m an old friend of Andy’s.”, Emerson replies, “I remember him mentioning you before and I thought he might want someone to make sure you were ok. I’ve been pretty busy so I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.”. A moment passes before Axel steps aside, “It’s ok, just come in, any friend of Andy’s is a friend of mine.”. As Emerson enters, he notices the place is pretty clean, almost too clean. It doesn’t look as if anyone really lives there besides the furniture being there and pill bottles on one of the shelves, where some pictures are framed and on display as well as a ton of books are piled in on the shelf. Everything was extremely neat. Why did he have those pills visible if he was worried about the police finding him? He takes a closer look at one of the pictures and notices a younger Andy, a younger Axel, and a smaller boy he assumes is Alex. “Make yourself at home, I don’t usually have guests so I’m sorry if the place isn’t welcoming, uh, do you prefer tea or coffee?”, Axel questions as he closes and locks the door. Many locks are on it, Emerson can tell he’s probably paranoid due to his behavior. Emerson sets his backpack down, “Tea.”, he says. Axel walks past him and into the kitchen area, it’s pretty bare as well besides a table with a few chairs and some kitchen appliances. There’s rustling as Axel grabs a teapot and boils some water on the stove, “Regular, ginger, herbal, green, or white?”. Why does one person need that many kinds of tea, did he drink all of them?  “Regular is fine.”, Emerson replies, sitting on the couch in the living room. The stove makes a click as the knob for the stove is turned on. Axel walks into the room and sits beside Emerson, if it wasn’t already obvious before, he was definitely drugged up. Probably on whatever pills he has. “So, what’s your name?”, he asks, looking at Emerson with interest. “My name is Emerson, I already know yours so I don’t have to ask that I guess.”, Emerson replies. Axel surprises Emerson by asking a question neither he or Andy thought he’d ask. He questions him with a slight twitch in his body, “How’s Andy? He hasn’t spoken to me in quite some time which is unusual, and…I think you were implying something earlier. Do you two not talk anymore?”. Uh oh. It wasn’t expected that he didn’t know what happened, Andy sent him there to make sure he was ok and to talk to him about how he’s been doing after Andy’s death. They were certain he needed help getting through Andy’s death, but apparently he wasn’t even aware of Andy’s fate. The ghost was sure that Ashley had told him something but now that he knows Axel is clueless to it, it’s safe to assume he didn’t tell Alex anything either. It makes him wonder if the two saw each other at all or if Alex was even involved with Axel, was Axel just on his own this whole time without Andy? For a second, Emerson just stares at him. Should he really be the one saying this? What if Axel did something rash once he told him everything, this isn’t something he’s had to do before so he doesn’t exactly know what to say, “Well um, you see, There’s something that happened that I assumed you already knew but um…I’m guessing Ashley didn’t say anything?”. Now Axel looks a bit concerned, “Didn’t say what?”, he asks. Emerson wants Andy to be there to coach him, he doesn’t exactly know the full details of what happened. So whatever he says might be lies that he can’t decipher to be correct or not, he finally decides to just keep things simple. He’s going to have to be as gentle as he can with such a touchy subject, this wasn’t just any death. It was a suicide. “How long has Andy not spoken to you?”, Emerson asks, his heart thumping in his chest. He isn’t sure how long it’s actually been since Andy died, but from what Andy said he had called him a few times right before he kicked the bucket. Axel seems to hesitate before responding, “It’s been nearly 2 years. I’m not sure if I did something or not…there’s a reason Alex doesn’t talk to me now..but Andy never gave me a reason.”. It was as if the situation was only getting worse, Axel really was on his own out here. Being in such a tight spot, he decides to spill out the truth, “There is a reason actually, and I’m sorry that I have to be the one to tell you. I lied ok? I barely even know your brother and I don’t even know the whole story of what happened myself. I’m sorry, it’s…I was told to come here because I thought I’d be comforting you or maybe raising your confidence. I was sent here to help you. I can’t lie even to you anymore, and I don’t want to even be the one doing this because I don’t know how to even express to you what happened. I shouldn’t even have to be the one to tell you after all this time because I only recently got involved, it should have been this guy Ashley who told you who I haven’t even met before! I don’t want to upset you but you’re gonna be in a sort of h-ll when I tell you the truth.”. The taller male stands, “Let me get the tea first.”, he says. Axel walks to the kitchen to finish making the tea.