We've Always Loved The Color RED

Memory Lane Pt. 2

Ghost tightened his grip on Toast's hand as a few memories began to come back to him. The first thing he remembered where he was running from. It was the very building they were walking towards. Why did it need to be an abandoned mansion though? Like, that was the most stereotypical place ever, and Ghost hated stereotypes. 

"Sir? You know... it's fine if you don't want to go in there." Toast told him. He had apparently noticed the way Ghost was acting.

"No. It's time that I know what happened to me, especially since Jimmy is busy. I have a weird feeling that he would try to stop us." Ghost muttered. Toast frowned.

"Why would he try to stop us?" Toast asked. 

"I don't know. That's just the feeling I have... you just need to trust me on this one." Ghost sighed, looking up at his partner. Toast nodded, then looking away. The two continued towards the mansion. The closer they got, the more familiar everything became. The two stepped through a hole in the black rusty fence. Oddly enough, the lawn was relatively short. The only thing that was weird about it was that it was brown. Dead. Almost as dead as Ghost's hopes and dreams. He hesitantly let go of Johnny's hand. He hadn't realized how badly he was shaking until then. Ghost took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He made a beeline towards the back door, quickly grabbing the door nob. He opened the door, cringing as the smell of mold wafted into his face. Ghost looked around observing what he saw. As it turned out, the room was actually an enclosed pool. The bottom of the pool was filled with a foot of old, dirty water. Ghost began to walk closer, letting out a gasp as he tripped on something. 

"Sir! Are you alright?!" Toast exclaimed, jogging over to him. Ghost stood up, blushing out of embarrassment.  

"I-I'm fine, Johnny! I just tripped on... this?" Ghost muttered, frowning as he looked down at the object on the floor. It was a crusty, dried up piece of cardboard stuck to the tile. He bent down, prying it off of the tile with his nails, watching as layers upon layers of dust came off. Ghost looked at it for a moment before hesitantly tossing it back into the pool. Something about it just didn't feel right. Ghost glanced over to see that Toast had already opened the next door. He quickly caught up to his partner, not wanting to be left behind. Especially in a place like this. 

"This place is old! These wood in these floors are ancient!" Toast told him, his eyes wide. Ghost nodded, cringing as the boards squeaked under his feet. He really, really didn't want to draw attention to himself. The was probably the last thing he wanted to do. That or have Jimmy show up. That would be the worse. 

"Jeez! This wall paper is hideous!" Ghost exclaimed, backing away from the nearest wall. It was covered in pink triangles, among other things. 

"And old. It's from the 50's, at least." Toast mumbled, gently running his fingers along the cracked surface. Ghost sighed, turning around. He looked around, surprised by how many ways they could go. There were two staircases, one that went up and one that went down. He decided that he wanted to finish exploring the level he was on first before he went to any other floor. Ghost turned back to Toast, frowning. He was just standing there, staring out the window. 

"Johnny? What are y-... are you looking at the moon?! I thought we cured you!" Ghost exclaimed. Toast turned around amazingly quick, his eyes fogged over with shame.   

"I... I'm sorry, Sir. I meant to tell you before, but I didn't know how to go about it." Toast mumbled. Ghost just shook his head.

"You should've told me earlier. I could've helped you." Ghost muttered, observing his partners face. 

"I guess we're even, then." Toast told him, smirking. Ghost frowned. He had never seen Toast smirk before. Not in the 11 years that they had known each other.

"...are you really Johnny? My Johnny?" Ghost questioned. Toast's eyes widened, realizing what Ghost meant

"Oh my! Y-yes, Sir! I guess the moon is just really affecting me tonight..." Toast sighed. Ghost grabbed his partners hand, his frown turning into a smile. 

"Well, now matter what happens, we're in this together. Remember that." Ghost told him. Toast returned the smile. The two did their weird little secret hand shake, laughing quietly. They were going to look out for each other, no matter what.