Page 34 of Inbetweeners
“I was going to suggest we dump him,” Phoenix said. “He’s slightly more annoying than you, but maybe he’ll come in useful.”
A few moments later, Harry re-emerged. “The dead guy is Malcolm Patrick. He’s on the bed, no weapons around or blood that I could see, and the other version of him is standing in the corner of the bedroom crying. His wife, Tricia, is lying next to him on the bed. She’s crying too, but alive. Their kids are downstairs watching TV. I don’t think she’s going to come down and let you in. Her eyes are practically swollen shut. She needs some slices of cucumber. I stuck my head in the fridge. There’s half of one in there.”
“How old are the kids?” Emmett asked.
“Little. Maybe two, three? The carpet’s covered in cereal. A mix of three different sorts. See how observant I am?”
“Shall we phone the police?” Emmett looked at Phoenix.
“They’re not going to let us into the house. Let’s keep ringing the doorbell for a while.”
Emmett bent down and looked through the letter box while Phoenix kept his finger on the buzzer. A little boy came into the hall.
“Can you let me in?” Emmett asked. “I want to help your mummy.”
“She’s upstairs.”
“I know, sweetheart. She’s crying. I want to talk to her.”
“We’re hungry.”
“We need to get Mummy to feed you. Can you see the key? Is it on that table? You could post it through the letter box.”
Emmett was shocked when a set of keys fell in front of him. He opened the door and they went in to see the children still in their pyjamas, faces filthy.
“First things first.” Emmett closed the door. “We’ll go and see if Mummy is okay. You stay down here. Watch them,” he told Harry. “Call us if there’s any problems.”
Emmett followed Phoenix upstairs.
The couple lay next to each other on the bed. The ghost-husband was crying in the corner.
Emmett knelt next to the bed. “Tricia. Your children need you. You can’t do anything for your husband now except remember him.”
“Who are you?” She turned, looked from Emmett to Phoenix and rubbed her eyes. “How did you get into the house?”
“Don’t be alarmed,” Emmett said. “My name’s Emmett and this is Phoenix. We’re here to help. We’ve come to take Malcolm where he needs to go. Not the body you’re lying next to, but Malcolm’s ghost who’s standing crying in the corner.”
She whimpered.
“You need to call someone to come and help you and the kids, Tricia,” Phoenix said.
“You can see Malcom’s ghost?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Can he hear me?”
“Yes,” Emmett said. “You need to let him go.”
“I don’t want to go,” Malcolm said.
Phoenix walked over to him. “You want to stay in that corner forever?”
“I wasn’t supposed to die yet.”
Phoenix grabbed Malcolm’s hand. “You need to go. Now.”
“I don’t want to. I shouldn’t be dead.”
