Page 59 of The Neighborhood Ghost

Hugo climbed up the stairs. Each step burned his legs. His body wasn’t recovering as quickly from the mask as he had hoped. He braced himself on the wall, sliding his body up with every step. He grunted with every climb until he reached the top.

He entered the bedroom and shut the door behind him. He shambled to the bathroom, sealing himself inside. He flicked the light switch. The gold-framed mirror awaited him.

He wasn’t surefooted, and his body wobbled. He lifted the mirror and removed it from the wall. He carefully placed it on the black and white checkerboard tile flooring. He collapsed on his side next to it, his face laying on top of the looking glass.

“Can you hear me?” he asked.

“I can hear you,” Alice’s reflection said.

“Is she on her way?”

“Yes, she’s coming.”

“Are you real?”

“What a silly question to ask.”

His voice wavered, growing low. “I need to know. Are you real?”

“Of course I’m real, Hugo Dodds. You doofus.”

Hugo chuckled. “I see you still have your sense of humor.”

“Do you still have yours?”

“I wish,” Hugo said. “I could use it right now.”

“What’s happening?”

“They’re torturing me. They want me to submit to their despair and become like them. It’s hard. Part of me wants to give in. Part of me is holding out hope.”

“You have to hold on, Hugo. She’s coming. Hang on.”

Hugo belted out a few lines from the chorus of “Hang On Sloopy.” With his hands, he gestured the spelling of Ohio. “O . . . H . . . I . . . O . . .”

“What are you doing? A spelling bee?”

“I was thinking. Years ago, I made a decision that altered my life. I had a scholarship to play hockey at a small school. Elizabeth wanted to go to Ohio State. I had a choice to make. I could have gone and played hockey. I would have never gone pro, but I would have kept playing.” Hugo rolled onto his back.“We might still have gotten married, but we knew we would be far apart. We could have found someone else. Fallen in love with other people. Never married. Then I would have never met you. I probably wouldn’t have returned to Newbury Grove.”

“I never knew,” Alice’s reflection said. “Why didn’t you tell her?”

“Didn’t think it mattered. I gave up my hockey playing days and decided to follow Elizabeth to college. She was more important to me than playing hockey. I knew I wanted a life with her. So, I went. Then I ended up living next to a purple-haired witch. Funny how one decision changed my life forever.”

“For the worse?”

“No, for the better. I wouldn’t change a thing, and I loved every minute of it. Elizabeth and I loved each other. But with Alice . . .I was alive in ways I never felt before. She’s the hope stopping me from slipping into despair.”

There was a pause.

“Can you see me?” Alice’s reflection asked.

“No.”

“Good. I don’t want you seeing me ugly crying.”

Hugo chuckled. “I haven’t forgotten about you. We’ll get my reflection back.”

“You better. Or else I’ll have her stake you again.”

---