The Weight of Souls

“It isn’t really a game, Oh.” Justin was no longer looking at me. His eyelids seemed half closed, threaded by a network of tiny blue veins as he stared downwards at an ant scurrying through the grass. “It’s more like a way of life. If you want to play, if you want to be ‘cool’, you have to join the V club. V for Veritas. Truth.”

“James came up with that? It doesn't sound like his style.”

Justin shook his head. “The club isn't James’ baby. It's been around for a while. I think his stepbrother put him onto it. There’s even a motto: Qui audet vincit. Who dares wins.”

“Wait a minute, didn't Mr Barnes say that?”

Justin nodded. “I think the club has been around for longer than even James realises.”

“But Mr Barnes...”

Justin’s eyes flashed upwards. “Once you’ve done the initiation and joined the club, you’re in for life.”

“You think he’s an old member? Don’t you think we would have heard something about it?”

Justin shook his head. “There’s no talking about it with outsiders, no telling what’s said in the confessional, that’s where we hear truths. There’s no discussing the dares. If anything goes wrong, there’s no admitting that you were doing something for V.”

“Pete’s in your stupid club, isn’t he?” I thought about my friend, how, just after our fight, he’d suddenly become popular.

Justin nodded.

“But how can you say you’re in the club for life? What happens when you all go to uni or whatever?”

Justin swung into a sitting position and crossed his legs. “Something was going to happen at the end of this year. James had a dare, something huge involving everyone. Something so big it would tie us together for life.”

I leaned forward. “Why don’t you just say no?”

Justin’s long fingers weaved in and out of his fists. “You don’t understand. When you’re there, with everyone watching, you follow the rules. You just do.”

“So take truth. After all this time there can’t be much they don’t know about you.”

Justin fidgeted. “The rules are a bit more complicated than that, mostly it’s easier to take the dare.” He twisted his tie between his fingers. “Anyway, what’s important is what happened Friday night, right?”

He dropped his tie and his hands lay on his lap like poisoned spiders.

I nodded. “Tell me.”

His fingers twitched, but didn’t rise. “You can probably guess, I was doing something for the club.”

“A dare.”

“I was hoping it was my last one.”

“It was.”

His hands curled into fists. “I had a plan. It should have got me out. But I had to do this one last big thing. I had to climb to the top of the scaffolding and walk along one of the pipes. It was only maybe fifty centimetres or so without a handhold.”

“If this is what the dares are like, I’m surprised no one’s died earlier.”

“The stuff we’ve been doing, it’s only been getting really dangerous recently.” He groaned. “I know how it sounds. It’s one reason I didn’t want to talk about it.” Justin looked away from me. “So now you know.”

“I need to know more. Did you go to the building site alone?”

“Dares have to be witnessed by at least three other people, and videoed. I went with–”

“James, Harley, Pete and Tamsin.”

“Right.” He hunched his back. “You saw us on the bus after we checked it out the first time.”

“Well, what happened when you went back?”

“We got to the building site, there was a bit of banter and then I went up.”

“You didn’t see anyone else?”

“It was deserted, I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

“So… you went up,” I prompted him.

His shoulders tensed as if he was still climbing. “I must’ve reached the top. I-I remember stepping out onto the scaffolding. It hadn’t looked so high from down on the ground. The others waved to me. Tamsin blew me a kiss. I waved back.”

“And you fell?”

“No. I was holding on tight.” His hands closed around a bar that wasn’t there. “I gripped the best I could with my trainers and edged towards the bit without the handhold. Maybe I should have taken my trainers off.” He glanced at his feet.

“Maybe.” I rubbed my eyes. “Then what?”

“I-I reached the bit with no handhold.”

“And you let go.”

“No! I could hear the wind below me. I could barely see Tammy. I stretched out as far as I could, so I wouldn’t have to be too long without holding on. But I didn’t let go of the bar behind me. I edged forward and my foot just slipped. It flew out from under me and I-I swung out. I was only holding on with one hand. I think I heard Tammy shout, but I’m not sure. Then I f-fell.”

I was silent for a moment. Justin’s cheeks were colourless and his hair was a black wing against his face.

I inhaled. “No one pushed you. No one distracted you.”

“No.” His voice was as colourless as his face. “See, I wasn’t murdered.”

I looked at my hand and then across at the barely twitching shadows. Across the park the old man had shifted position. I turned back to Justin. “You were murdered. I wonder if…”

“Hey, do you know that guy?” Justin pointed. The old man had levered himself up and was ambling across the garden towards us.

“No,” I dismissed him. “He’s just leaving the park. You need to focus.”

“It’s just that he keeps looking at you and there’s something about him.”

I lifted my spine from the tree trunk. “He keeps looking at me?” I frowned. “It looks like I’m talking to myself, Hargreaves, I’m going to get odd looks.” Still, I shifted onto my heels. “How long’s he been looking at me?”

“I haven’t been paying him much attention, Oh.”

As the old man drew near I studied him. His trousers were frayed at the bottom and his great coat was warm for the weather. But he was old. Old people liked to keep warm, didn’t they?

He kept his eyes cast down. When he reached the tree nearest me his head rose. Our eyes met. He touched the brim of his hat with twisted fingers, nodded and went as if to walk on. “Kids.”

Hope lit Justin’s eyes like a sunrise. “You can see me?”

“Crap.” The old man’s face twisted and he lunged at me.

I dove sideways and his arm hissed through the tree trunk where I’d been sitting.

“Geezer, what’re you doing?” Justin scrambled to his feet. The ghost ignored him, focused completely on me.

“I can’t take another Mark right now,” I cried. The Darkness was already moving and if he touched me I’d be carrying two Marks, with no idea who had killed Justin.

The ghost lurched towards me, grinning hugely. “You can help me. It won’t take long.”

I tried to get to my feet but slipped on the grass. “Leave me alone.”

The old man bent over me. His hooked nose had a bead of moisture on it. It trembled above my face as he reached for my cheek with cracked fingers. I scrabbled backwards but he was faster than he looked.

Suddenly he grunted and flew sideways.

I blinked. Justin had tackled him and now he had both arms round his waist. “Run,” he shouted.

I leaped to my feet. “Justin–”

“Go.”

The old man was wriggling and swearing viciously.

“Meet me at my house. Do you know where it is?”

“Pete pointed it out once.” He renewed his grip on the great brown coat. “Go.”