Page 64 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

It’s dangerous for me to trust people, Walt admitted. Early on, I used to just sit back and not touch anything. Explained stuff up front. It got real messy. Jail, hospitals, work camps. I’ve been murdered twice. Y’wait longer and the risk of the screaming sickness gets higher though. It’s hard to find middle ground.

Hollis understood.

Have you ever met anyone else doing this? Another ghost?

Walt shrugged their other shoulder.

I’m the only me I’ve ever known. Spirits are more common. They’re less like a person and more like bad energy attached to a space where something bad happened.

So you’ve been alone. This whole time?

Ninety-two years?

Walt shrugged again.

Wasn’t all bad.

Just most of it, huh?

Hollis placed his hand on his chest over their heart to cover Walt’s aching.

It’s not happening, that wild feeling.

It has to be skin to skin. You’re the first person who actually likes it, you know. Dina said it felt like hitting her funny bone or sticking a fork in a socket.

Walt sighed and closed their eyes.

We didn’t do it often, and when it happened it was an accident. I did it to you because I thought it would scare you some, ’cause you scared me some. Wasn’t sure what to do when it didn’t.

Hollis smirked, and Walt let him.

I’m an unusual guy.

It reminded him of standing in front of a train. The overstimulation of it, the rattling at the back of his teeth. He liked things like that. He wanted to do it again, now that he knew what Walt’s tears tasted like, knew the speed of his fist.

Can I . . . ?

It’s your body, Hollis. Walt cracked their eyes open just a sliver.

But it isn’t anymore, is it? Hollis thought soft, like a wish. Too quiet for Walt to hear.

You can’t just touch people; you have to ask, Hollis insisted, louder. Now I’m asking.

Walt turned his face to the wall and shut their eyes tight.

Rome

Hollis thought about touching Walt’s neck, but that seemed a bit too much to start with.

He reached over until Walt adjusted. Until they were settled firmly on their side, curved like a comma in the dark, back to the moonlight.

His fingers landing on his left wrist sparked enough that they both flinched, but Hollis didn’t pull away.

Instead, Hollis pushed down the curve of their palm until the tips of him were nestled in the hollow of Walt’s fingers. The shock rattled their bones and set their teeth on edge.

This was easier when they didn’t have to stand.

They went nearly blind with it, tremors racking up their spine, light flashing behind their eyes. Walt threw their head back and made an incredible noise into the silence of their room.