Anwyll fell completely still and turned to look at her, startled. Forgetting his determination to not make a scene.

“Orion's?” he repeated, just in case he had heard it wrong. Jay fell silent and frowned at Anwyll, her eyes wandering over the spot Anwyll was staring at in a concerned manner. The exact reaction Anwyll had tried to avoid.

“Anwyll?” she asked carefully. Anwyll glanced at her, but turned quickly back to the ghost girl. Perhaps he’d have felt more regretful about it, if Orion’s name wasn’t playing in his head like a broken record.

A ghost was the last person he’d have expected to hear about Orion from. The last person he wanted to hear about Orion from, because what did that mean for Orion, who Anwyll had not heard from in months?

“Orion is in trouble,” the ghost told him, “he needs your help.” Despite the severity of the tone and words, Anwyll exhaled in relief. If Orion was in trouble, he was alive. Behind the ghost, Jay moved as if to stand up and Anwyll forced his attention from the ghost to her.

“It’s a ghost,” Anwyll turned to Jay, trying to smile reassuringly at her, despite the way his heart was beating fast in his chest. “I should- Um. She wants to tell me something about- She knows a friend of mine.” He fumbled over the words, realizing there was a lot of context Jay was lacking and Anwyll had no idea where to start or if he even should. His father and Cadell would not want to hear anything about it and if Jay would tell Anwyll’s dad…

Jay nodded slowly. For as long as Anwyll could remember, Jay had been pretty much his only friend. Her and Cadell and Koresh.

“Friend?” Jay’s tone conveyed the same thought. “Koresh? The ghost who told you to hurt yourself?” Her voice turned more alarmed until Anwyll shook his head, relaxing slightly. He should have known. Jay had never judged or treated Anwyll differently due to his perceived weirdness from the Gift. He really was a terrible friend.

“Someone new,” he clarified and Jay seemed to relax, if only slightly.

“Someone new?” she prompted, impatient. Not that Anwyll could blame her. He wondered briefly what it was like to know the room that seemed empty to you was actually full of people. Or remnants of people, at least.

“We are friends,” the ghost said, interrupting his thoughts, shifting nervously as she looked at Jay. She seemed almost just as unnerved by the fact that Jay couldn’t see her as Jay was by the fact that there was someone in the room she couldn’t see. The ghost still hadn’t let go of Anwyll’s hand, but at least she wasn’t squeezing it anymore.

“They were friends, this ghost and my friend,” Anwyll told Jay. Jay nodded shortly, curiosity still burning in her eyes.

“So who is this friend of yours?” Jay asked, “do I know him? Her?” Anwyll shook his head. He was sure they were both aware that had Anwyll befriended someone they both knew, Jay would have known about it. And would have likely known where Anwyll had run off to as well, through them. As it was, any friends Anwyll and Jay had made at school had faded away once his dad had pulled him from school and had him homeschooled instead.

Only Jay had remained after that.

“I met him after I left home,” he explained, his voice becoming a bit more uncertain, “it’s a long story.” The way Jay seemed to lean back in a resigned manner made Anwyll slump slightly, guiltily.

“We don’t have time for long stories,” the ghost girl cut in hastily, “we need to go. He’s in danger.” Anwyll turned back to her. He could feel his heartbeat picking up speed at the words. Orion was a careful person, but he was also kind. He had taken Anwyll in when he had nowhere to go, despite Anwyll having been a stranger. While Orion wasn’t naïve, Anwyll dreaded to think what kind of trouble he could have gotten himself into.

Not least because of the timing. Logically, he knew Koresh couldn't have harmed Orion. No ghost could interact with the living without the help of the medium, but.

“Where is he?” he asked, already pushing himself to sit up to slip off the bed. From the corner of his eye he saw Jay startling and straightening.

“I don’t know,” the ghost told him, “he could be at his apartment. We need to go quickly.” Anwyll shook off the frustration at the vague answers.

“Okay,” he told her, “let me put on some clothes and we can go.” He paused when Jay grabbed a hold of his upper arm, a frown on her face.

“Where do you think you’re going? You’re still recovering. They still want you to speak with you therapist too,” she reminded him and Anwyll made himself stop and consider what the situation looked like to Jay, who only heard half of the conversation. It wasn’t like he had the time to stay and explain though, if the ghost girl was telling the truth. He was worried and he would rather risk being lied to than Orion getting hurt because Anwyll did nothing.

“I need to go look for Orion,” he explained, “if he’s in danger I need to help him. I’ll be back.” Jay shook her head before Anwyll could even finish. Frustration flared through Anwyll. How could he convey the urgency in the ghost’s voice to Jay? Or to quickly explain the phenomenon that was Orion? How could he explain how utterly terrifying it was to have a ghost he had never seen to come and tell him that the person he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about for three months was in danger?

“I need to go, Jay,” he told her more seriously, locking his eyes with hers, “I feel fine, I promise. Please.” He saw her determination faltering at the look and at his tone and he held his breath as he watched her fiddle with her coffee cup, before she brought it to her lips to empty it.

“I’ll come with you then,” she stated firmly and when Anwyll opened his mouth to protest he continued: “If this is important, I want to help.” Anwyll cast a look at the ghost, then at Jay, restless energy forming inside him. But from the way Jay was looking at him, determination coloring her expression and posture, the restless energy faded into relief. It wasn’t something he would have known how to ask for, but now that Jay offered it, he felt glad.

 So he simply nodded and reached out for the bag Cadell had brought him. Jay turned her back to him politely as he changed his clothes.

The ghost girl took a moment longer to do the same and Anwyll saw a furious blush on her face when he pulled the shirt over his head.

Shaking his head, he stumbled into his jeans and rushed to pull on his shoes on his way to the door. His legs felt weak, but they didn’t give out from under him. It had to be enough, for now, he decided as he headed to the door.

The ghost rushed past him to lead the way.

“So who is this person we’re looking for?” Jay asked as she followed after Anwyll, “can’t you just call him?” Anwyll shook his head.

“He hasn’t picked up or responded to my messages for a few months now,” he explained hesitantly, “we fell out of touch, I guess.” Jay looked back at him expectantly and Anwyll bit his lip. What was the worst thing that would happen if he told Jay about Orion?

A small part of him felt resentful at the idea, because Orion was his. He was Anwyll’s friend, one he had made for himself. Not a family friend or a friend of a friend. He was Anwyll’s.

But so was Jay. She was Anwyll’s best friend and if Anwyll couldn’t tell her things, who could he?

Koresh. He had trusted all of his secrets and thoughts to Koresh and then Koresh had told him to-

Shaking his head, he forced his thoughts elsewhere and in an attempt to distract himself, thought back to the day he had met Orion.

“It was the same day I left home,” he started slowly as they crossed the courtyard of the apartment building. He could not tell Jay everything, couldn’t bring himself to tell him about Koresh for one, but he could tell her some things. Most things. “I had been walking for hours…”

-

The streets were washed with burned red-orange light from the setting sun, barely resting above the high buildings. Any other time Anwyll might have stopped to admire it for a moment and snap a picture of it to show to Jay. Even now, with his feet aching from walking and exhaustion heavy on his limbs from not eating since breakfast, he found his hand slipping to his pocket. His hand met empty space and he frowned. Belatedly he remembered leaving his phone home, like Koresh had told him to.

He glanced to the side, frowning slightly at the man walking beside him, dressed in white, collared shirt and charcoal jeans. The sunlight made the tips of his hair turn almost auburn. Over the years, Anwyll had seen him turn more and more lifelike, until it was impossible to tell him apart from the living even under close scrutiny.

Koresh glanced at him with a smirk and Anwyll rushed to turn his eyes away. The last thing he wanted was for the ghost to catch him ogling at him.

“I’m tired,” he stated in an attempt to interrupt whatever the ghost was about to say, “and my feet are hurting and I haven’t eaten anything since morning. Can we stop already?” Koresh’s smirk faded to a more sympathetic smile.

“It’s not much farther, you need to keep moving. Just a bit longer,” Koresh told him, voice reassuring, encouraging. Anwyll frowned, glancing behind the next corner and slowing down when he realized he had no idea where they were.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Anwyll muttered and cast a nervous look at Koresh, “don’t people usually just… hitch a lift or something?” Not that Anwyll was an expert in running away from home. His experience came from TV and games mostly. He had wanted to call a relative or a friend, Jay even, but Koresh had advised him not to.

Apparently that is what most runaways did too and that is how they were found and brought back home. That, and tracking his phone and credit card.

Anwyll didn’t want to go back home, so he had brought nothing with him but his clothes and cash.

He flinched slightly when he felt fingers brush over his arm, but relaxed when he realized it was just Koresh. With a faint smile, he brushed his arm against Koresh’s when he pulled his hand back.

“You said you wanted to stay in the city,” Koresh reminded him, “so no hitchhiking. There is an Aarni’s shelter here you can stay the night in. You’re over eighteen so they won’t contact the police or your parent either. Still, you shouldn’t stay too long.” Anwyll sighed softly and nodded. They had been over this, it wasn’t like this was an idea born in the spur of the moment. It was just the one day Anwyll actually dared to act on those plans, with Koresh’s encouragement.

"Why can't we just go see this friend of yours right away?" he asked, unable to hold back the whining undertone from his tone.

"We talked about this, " Koresh sighed, "you will come across too desperate like this. He will not believe you are actually talking to his very dead best friend if you go to him like this." Anwyll had to admit it made sense, but grinned under his breath anyway, just to make it clear that he didn't like it. 

They continued walking in silence and Anwyll found his eyes wandering again, lingering on the street signs, spray paintings on the walls. The reconstruction projects and worn paint jobs that never had been or would be finished.

 He didn’t come to these kind of areas often, not least because his dad would have had a fit if someone spotted Anwyll there. Last thing he wanted was for his younger son to be associated with the kind of people who lingered here. Junkies, prostitutes, thieves, poor people. All of them might as well have been synonyms to his dad. 

“I don’t want to be here,” Anwyll said then. It wasn’t just the apprehension of what he knew about places like this, or his dad's opinion. It was the not knowing where he would be sleeping or eating, Koresh refusing the idea of staying in a hotel even for one night.

He could still go home. His dad would scold him and Anwyll would bear through it and prepare better for next time. He could apply for a job first, look up the shelters…

All the things he should have done for tonight, but didn't because he worried his dad would find out. Koresh had told him it would be fine, but now he wondered if he had been acting on an impulse. Just because he had been scared and angry. 

Like a child, his dad would have told him. The thought made him embarrassed while he knew that just hours earlier it would have made him angry. 

Koresh had stopped as well and turned to look at Anwyll with a surprised expression that shifted to a frustrated one.

“We are not staying here,” he reminded Anwyll. When Anwyll didn't move, he stepped closer. The frustration faded from his expression to be replaced with something closer to concern. ”Do you really want to go back? We both know you'll go straight back to the basement if you go back now."

Anwyll frowned and lowered his eyes, but nodded slowly. He knew Koresh was right, even if he didn't want to. Because maybe this time his dad would listen to him. Maybe this time would be different. He felt Koresh rest his hands on his shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.

Anwyll exhaled heavily. At some point he had to admit change would not happen unless he made it happen. He just had to keep in mind why he had wanted to leave in the first place. 

It was just unnerving to leave everything behind him when he didn’t know much about making a life for himself no matter how much he wanted to. He had never had to, his father had always taken care of everything for him.

Anwyll just wanted to show that he could do things by himself as well.

“Anwyll,” Koresh brushed his fingers over Anwyll’s chin and prompted him to lift his eyes.