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In the ghosts' experience, a ghost can only attach to a place. In Anthony's experience, ghosts attach to many things. Places, causes of death, something that means far too much to someone. He is attached to a watch. It wasn't his watch, but instead it had belonged to James. It had been a departing gift before he'd left for the front lines. Something to remember him by.
Now he was stuck in the back of a shabby car being transported who knew where. Sure, being attached to a watch was nice enough he got to see the world as it changed, but it meant he never got to form a routine. His surroundings were constantly changing.
As he stared out the window the roads the couple were taking seemed to grow familiar.
"Mike," he heard the woman whisper.
"Yeah," Mike said
"That army ghost I saw at the sale is still in the car," she whispered. So this woman could see him.
"It's rude to talk about someone when they're right here you know," he said, causing her to jump.
"Did he say something?" Mike asked.
"Yes, he said I'm being rude," she said.
"I'm Anthony," he said. "I'm attached to the watch you brought."
"Alison," she said, nodding at him. "He's attached to the watch."
"So what's he like?" Mike asked.
"Seems nice enough. Probably going to confuse the others," Alison said.
"Us returning is going to confuse them enough," he said. "They think we left to sell the house not to go out and consider ways to make money while my mum babysits for the weekend."
"Yeah," she said.
"There are others?" Anthony asked.
"There's a lot of them. There's a plague pit and I've never been in the attic so there could be someone hiding out up there. I'll introduce you to everyone when we get there," Alison said.
"So hang on, you're attached to the watch? How far can you go from it?" Mike asked, glancing to Alison so she could pass on Anthony's answer.
"If the watch is in a house, I can go as far as the grounds," he said.
"In a house it's as far as the grounds," she passed on.
"If the watch is in a pocket a few steps around the person," he said.
"Don't put the watch in your pocket, he'll be stuck to a few steps around you," Alison said. He could see the face Mike pulled in the rear-view mirror.
"In a car, I can't leave the car," he said.
"Currently, stuck to the car," she said. Mike nodded.
"You don't happen to live in button house, do you?" Anthony asked. Alison turned to him then, her eyebrows scrunched up.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"I recognise these roads," he said.
Anthony never thought he'd see the house again. It held some of his happiest memories, yet it also held his saddest memory. He hadn't lived much longer after James had died. It had been his heart too, and he'd known it was coming. He'd died alone in his flat, in his uniform, waiting for the nurse to come. He'd had the watch clutched in his hand as he had started to pass, and then he'd dropped it on the floor, breaking the glass. It was a miracle no one had fixed it yet, but he wasn't going to complain.
Alison grabbed the watch from the cup holder she'd dropped it in, and didn't put it in her pocket. She took the keys from mike and left him to pick up the rest of the things they'd brought. She could see the other ghosts crowding the window to stare at them.
"They told us to move. We had a baby recently and they can be overwhelming," she explained to him. Anthony looked up to the window. If he were capable of freezing in that moment, he would have.
"James," he whispered, despite knowing that from there he wouldn't be able to hear.
Alison unlocked the door and placed the watch on a shelf. As soon as she did so, he started running up the stairs. He froze in the hallway. At the other end stood James, and he too was frozen staring at him. Alison had followed after Anthony, and the other ghosts of the house crowded around the back of the James.
For a moment both Anthony and James stood staring at each other. Both slightly in shock that the other was there. It was Anthony that reacted first. He broke out into a grin and let out a sort of breathless and shocked laugh. James smiled back at him. He had never thought he'd see his awkward smiles again, never thought he'd see him again at all.
"James," he said. That seemed to be enough to set everyone into movement. James ran towards him in the familiar slightly awkward run, and he ran to him.
"James?" an old woman asked from the crowd that had gathered behind him.
"Is anyone else really confused?" a trouser-less man asked.
"Anthony," James breathed out as he crushed him in a hug. "How are you here?"
"Alison and Mike bought the watch I'm attached too," he said. "I never thought I'd see you again James."
"We're here now, together again," he whispered. James pulled back and smiled at him.
"I never got to finish saying what I had tried to say all that time ago," James said.
"I know what you were going to say James," Anthony said.
"Let me say it," he said. "Just this once."
"What were you going to say?" he asked.
"I love you Anthony," James said.
"I love you too James," Anthony said, smiling at him.
"I'm very confused," a man with a bullet wound said. "I thought you and Mike were leaving."
"Would you accompany me on a walk?" James asked him quietly.
"I'd love to captain," Anthony said. He took James' hand into his and let him lead him back down the stairs. There would be time for introductions later. They had all the time in the world now, together again.