“Yes,” Cameron said. “That’s how I’ll know he still loves me.” His eyes were wet. “I hope he yells as loud as he can.”
“Until you think your eardrums will burst,” Wallace said, patting him on the top of the head. “And then he’ll never let you go.”
“I’d like that.” He looked away. “I’ll find you. When you come. I want him to meet you. He needs to know you and what you’ve done for me.”
Wallace couldn’t. Everything was hazy. The colors were melting around him. His strings had been cut, and he was floating away, away, away.
“Then yes,” Wallace said. “I’ll be there when you go.”
* * *
Cameron hugged Mei.
He hugged Nelson.
He patted Apollo on the head.
He said, “Will it hurt?”
“No,” Hugo said. “It won’t.”
He looked to Wallace, holding out his hand. “Will you?”
Wallace didn’t hesitate. He took Cameron’s hand in his own. Cameron clutched him tightly as if to keep Wallace from floating away.
Mei, Nelson, and Apollo stayed on the bottom floor.
“I expect you to come right back, Wallace,” Nelson called out. “I’m not done with you yet.”
“I know,” Wallace said, squeezing Cameron’s hand to get him to stop. He looked back at them. “We won’t be long.”
Nelson didn’t look like he believed him, but Wallace couldn’t do anything about that now.
Hugo led the way up the stairs to the second floor.
“Can you hear that?” Cameron asked. “It’s singing.”
To the third floor.
“Oh,” Cameron said, tears streaming down his cheeks. “It’s so loud.” He looked out the windows as they passed them by, and he laughed and laughed. Wallace didn’t know what he saw, but it wasn’t meant for him.
To the fourth floor.
They stopped at the landing.
The flowers carved into the wood of the door bloomed on the ceiling above them.
The leaves grew.
“When you’re ready, remove the hook and let it go. I’ll open the door. Just tell me when,” Hugo said.
Cameron nodded and looked up at Wallace floating above them. He squeezed Wallace’s hand before pulling him down to eye level. “I know,” he whispered. “When you brought me back, when you put your hook into my chest, I felt it. They’re yours, Wallace. And you’re theirs. Make sure they know that. You don’t know when you’ll get the chance again.”
“I will,” Wallace whispered back.
Cameron kissed his cheek before letting Wallace go. Hugo grabbed the leash, eyes soft and sad.
Cameron breathed in and out once, twice, three times. He said, “Hugo?”
“I’m here.”
“I found my way back. It took a little while, but I did. Thank you for believing in me. I think I’m ready now.” And with that, he grasped the hook Wallace couldn’t see. Cameron grimaced as he pulled it from his chest. He gasped in relief as he opened his hand.
“It’s gone,” Hugo said quietly. “It’s time.”
“I feel it,” Cameron said, looking up toward the door. “I’m rising. Hugo, please. Open the door.”
Hugo did. He reached up, fingers grazing against the doorknob. He gripped it and twisted it once.
It was as it’d been with Alan. Light spilled down, so bright Wallace had to look away. The whispers gave way to birds singing. Wallace heard Cameron gasp as his feet left the floor. He raised his hand to shield his eyes, trying to make out Cameron in all the blinding light.
“Oh my god,” Cameron breathed as he rose in the air toward the open doorway. “Oh, Wallace. It’s … the sun. It’s the sun.” Then, the moment before he rose through the doorway, a great and powerful joy filled his voice as he said, “Hello, my love. Hello, hello, hello.”
The last Wallace saw of him were the bottoms of his shoes.
The door slammed shut behind him.
The light faded.
The flowers curled in on themselves.
The leaves shrank as the door settled in its frame.
Cameron was gone.
* * *
They stood under the door for what felt like hours, the leash in Hugo’s hand as Wallace floated. It was almost time. Not yet, but close.
* * *
They drank tea as if it were any other day, the morning turning into afternoon as they pretended nothing was changing.
They laughed. They told stories. Nelson and Mei reminded Wallace of how he’d looked in a bikini. Nelson said if only he was a couple of decades younger, he might consider going after Wallace himself, much to Hugo’s dismay. Wallace made Nelson show him the rabbit costume. It was quite startling. The basket of brightly colored eggs only made it worse, especially when his ears flopped all over the place, his nose wiggling. Nelson didn’t need to open the eggs for Wallace to know they were filled with cauliflower.
Wallace had to grip the underside of the table to keep from rising farther. He tried to be inconspicuous about it, but they knew. They all knew. He’d forgone the leash, not wanting any distractions for what came next.
As the sun moved across the sky, Wallace reflected back on the life he’d had before this place. It wasn’t much. He’d made mistakes. He hadn’t been kind. And yes, there were moments of outright cruelty. He could have done more. He should have been more. But he thought he’d made a difference, in the end, with help from the others. He remembered how Nancy had looked before she’d left the tea shop the last time. The way Naomi had sounded on the phone. The relief on Cameron’s face when the Husk he’d become melted away, life returning to the dead.
Wallace had done more in death than he ever had in life, but he hadn’t done it alone.
And maybe that was the point. He still had regrets. He thought he always would. Nothing could be done about that now. He’d found within himself the man he had thought he’d become before the heaviness of life had descended upon him. He was free. The shackles of a mortal life had fallen away. There was nothing holding him here. Not anymore.
It hurt, but it was a good hurt.
Hugo tried to keep up appearances, but the closer it came to dusk, the more agitated he became. He fell silent. He frowned. He crossed his arms defensively.
Wallace said, “Hugo?” as Mei and Nelson quieted. Wallace gripped the table.
Hugo shook his head.
“Not now,” Wallace said. “I want you to be strong for me.”
He had a stubborn set to his jaw. “What about what I want?”
Nelson sighed. “I know this is hard on you. I don’t think that—”
Hugo laughed hoarsely as his hands curled into fists. “I know. I just … I don’t know what to do.”
Mei laid her head on his shoulder. “What you have to,” she whispered. “And we’ll be there with you. The both of you. Each step of the way.” She peered up at Wallace. “You turned into a pretty good dude, Wallace Price.”
“Not as good as you, Meiying … what the hell is your surname?”
She chuckled. “Freeman. Changed it last year. Best name I’ve ever had.”
“Damn right,” Nelson said.