Page 25 of Dancing with a Ghost

"Oh, Toby," he said, moving closer. "You shouldn't have gone, but you know I'm not there. I'm right here with you."

"I know," I whispered. "I've been here all afternoon, reading these." I gestured to the pile of papers on the table in front of me. "Giles brought them over. None of the soldiers are in their graves. They're all empty. Every single one. That should give us some hope then, that we can set you free."

"Yes, it does and I remembered more. This connection we talked about, 'an emotional and physical connection, one to last for all time'. Those were her words. I'm still unsure exactly what that means. If you're willing, though, I think we have to try."

"Of course we do. We have to try. It's a pity we don't know exactly what we're supposed to do. I think we have the emotional connection covered. I've never felt like this about anyone, ever, and so soon."

I wasn't sure about how Matty would deal with the physical side of things. He was inexperienced and shy. I'm not saying I was an expert. I'd had a couple of boyfriends and I knew what went where, but anal sex had never been an important part of a relationship for me. Maybe that's why I'd never kept a boyfriend.

"But we have time. Time to build on this." I held our hands up between us as we looked at each other. I was completely smitten at this stage, and from the way Matty smiled, I thought he might like me too.

"Are we interrupting something?" Georgie stood in front of me. I must have been so engrossed in my conversation with him that I didn't hear her. "Just you're sitting there with a goofy smile on your face, your hand in the air and don’t get me started on talking to yourself."

Well, at least one thing had been proven. Only I could see him. He was still sitting there, and Georgie had no clue.

"I was just going through all this information Giles left for me. Makes for some intriguing reading." I placed my hand in my lap, refusing to let go of his hand. "And I have Matty here with me."

"Really? I can't see him." She peered closely at the seat next to me, right into Matty's eyes.

"I assure you, he's here." I turned and smiled at him, knowing they couldn't see him, but I didn't think I was ready for them to meet him in the flesh just yet.

"Hmm, well. What did you find in the papers?" Giles returned with a drink and they both sat across the table from us and I told them what I'd found, becoming more incensed as I thought about what the MoD had done.

"So, in essence, the MoD knew and did fuck all about it other than bury empty coffins. The families think their sons died. Instead, they could be in the exact same situation that Matty is, waiting for their kindred soul, or maybe she absorbed them."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Georgie asked.

"We're not going to do anything, Toby." Matty said. I'd almost forgotten he was there. "What's done is done. I said this before. It'll do no good to dredge up old memories, put their families through all the heartache again."

I agreed to a certain extent but thought how I would feel if it were one of my family members.

"Matty thinks we should do nothing and leave it."

"And I agree." I looked at Georgie. I thought she'd be on the side of justice, and justice meant telling the families. "How are you going to explain that and how will families take it? You have Matty as proof. We don't know where any of the others are, so what are you going to tell them?"

I hadn't thought about that, but she carried on. Georgie was as tenacious as hell sometimes.

"Tell them that their sons could be around here somewhere? They could be floating as dust in the universe or perhaps they were absorbed by an angel of death. How do you think that would go down? I agree with Matty, you should let it lie."

"I like her." Matty whispered in my ear, "she knows what she's talking about."

They both had a point, but I turned to Giles to see what he thought.

"What the lady said. I agree with her and also I can't go in there demanding the MoD do anything about it. You got what you needed from them. You have the answers you were seeking. Let's just leave it at that."

"Please drop it, Toby. For me." Matty whispered.

I thought about it for a moment and knew they were right.

"Okay, if that's what you want."

"It is and thank you."

Chapter Twelve

Matthias

Georgiesurprisedme.Ithought she'd agree with Toby, that we should inform the other families, and was happy when she said no.

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