Ghostfinders 03 -Ghost of a Dream

this place better than you.”
    Laurie managed his small smile again. “Aye. Maybe I have been here longer than most. I can still remember when Bradleigh Halt was a going concern, and the old trains came through here regular. Marvellous it was, the sight and sound of a steam train coming into the halt. My old dad used to work here, in the Bookings Office. I used to bring him his lunch every day, when I was a kid, along with a bottle of beer now and again.”
    “Do you ever see your father among the ghosts?” said Melody.
    “No, lass,” said Laurie. “I would have liked to…but it’s not spirits, as such, you see. I’m not sure whatever walks here now has anything human left in it. Whatever’s not finished with this place, it’s nothing to do with human needs or human business. No…Something bad is coming. And it’s getting closer all the time.” He broke off abruptly to glare at JC. “Why in God’s name are you wearing sunglasses at this time of night, boy?”
    “Sensitive eyes,” said JC. “Work-related injury. You know how it is.”
    “Hello!” Happy said suddenly. “That’s new. That’s…really quite nasty, actually.”
    He’d moved away on his own, staring into the dark tunnel-mouth. He was frowning hard as though trying to focus on something he couldn’t quite identify or pin down.
    “Excuse me a moment, Mr. Laurie,” said JC.
    He moved quickly over to join Happy and laid a heavy hand on the telepath’s shoulder.
    “What is the matter with you, Happy? I was starting to get some useful information out of the old man! Have you been indulging yourself with mother’s little helpers again?”
    “It’s not the pills,” said Happy. “Wish it was. No; when the old man said something bad was coming, I got a flash…There is definitely something Out There, outside the world we know…dragging itself closer, struggling to break in. Something connected to this station, but not in any way human…”
    JC waited, but Happy had nothing more to say. “From now on, keep it to yourself,” JC said quietly. “We do not want to freak out the natives till we have to. Mr. Laurie is our only source of first-hand information, and I don’t want him spooked.”
    He moved back to join Laurie, smiling easily and reassuringly. “No problems. Everything’s fine. Oh yes. Happy’s a little…highly strung. Now, you were about to tell me what’s really going on here.”
    “No I wasn’t,” Laurie said stubbornly. “You’re not ready yet. It’s not like I’ve seen anything definite…”
    “None so blind as those who will not see,” said Happy. “Ow! That hurt!”
    “It was meant to,” said Melody. “Carry on, JC.”
    “Most people never encounter the hidden world,” JC said carefully to Laurie. “Never see a ghost, never hear voices in the night. It takes the right kind of person, in a really bad place, at a very bad time…to actually see anything from out of this world. Ghosts are rare. Mostly, the dead go where they’re supposed to. Please don’t ask me where. I don’t know, that’s not my department. It’smy job to deal with the problems of this world, not the next. No, only very rare people, under very rare circumstances, become ghosts; otherwise, we’d be hip deep in the things by now. Like you said: it’s mostly people with unfinished business. Hanging on to places like this, that mean a lot to them.”
    “Aye,” said Laurie, unexpectedly. “Like I’m fond of this place because me dad worked here, and my son is so keen on reopening it.”
    “And most ghosts can only be seen by the properly trained,” said JC. “People with the proper skills…”
    Laurie looked at him steadily. “Who are you people? Really?”
    “You don’t need to know,” said JC, just as steadily. “In fact, you don’t want to know. You’ll sleep more easily that way. Think of us…as the clean-up crew. And that’s all that really matters. Isn’t it?”
    “Aye. I suppose so,” said Laurie. He nodded briskly, as though he’d made a decision. “Suppose I’ll stick around for a while. Come with me. I’ll get you settled, get you started. Fill you in. But I’ll tell you now, for nothing—this isn’t a good place to be, even before the sun goes down. Ghosts or whatever, there’s something in this place that wants us out. Doesn’t want anything human here. No-one’s actually died of fright here, not yet; but if I was a betting man, that’s where the smart money would be going.