[story] seen unseen

[ib_archive]

author: flamebyrd (flamebyrd)
email: flamebyrd [at] gmail.com



"So, did you hear the old hospital they're making us stay in for camp is haunted?"

"Really? That is so cool. Oy, Marcus, did you hear that?"

Marcus didn't bother to move from where he was sleeping on the desk. "Hear what?"

"The old hospital. It's haunted."

"And ...?" said Marcus. It was warm on his desk with the sun streaming in the window. Warm and comfortable. He didn't see why he should have to give up his precious few moments of extra sleep for Candice's nonsense.

"Do you think it's true?" she demanded.

Marcus lifted his head and raised an eyebrow. "How would I know? I've never been there."

"Marcus," she whined.

"Hey," said Nick, dropping his files and pencil case on the desk with a thump. "What's up?"

Good, thought Marcus. Candice was Nick's childhood friend, he could deal with her.

"Apparently the old hospital is haunted, but Marcus isn't interested," said Candice, glaring at Marcus.

"Heh," said Nick. "Is it really?"

Candice shrugged.

"It's a hospital," said Marcus, without interest. "It's probably full of ghosts."

He regretted the statement immediately, as Candice's eyes lit up with interest.

Nick looked at Marcus, then at Candice, and hid a laugh behind his hand. Marcus glared at him.

He suspected that the teacher's arrival was all that saved him from yet another interrogation about the supernatural.

Unfortunately for Marcus, Candice brought up the hospital again over recess. As Nick's two closest friends - Candice from being the daughter of a friend of Nick's parents, Marcus from primary school - the three usually sat together.

"I hope it is haunted," she said, eagerly. "I've never seen a ghost."

Nobody else was within hearing distance, so he decided to speak frankly. "I've told you. If you don't have the gift you only see ghosts when they want to be seen, and ghosts never mean well when they want to be seen."

"I call the bed next to Marcus," said Nick, apparently ignoring him. "You can exorcise ghosts, right?"

Candice put her hands on her hips. "Hey, no fair. They won't let the girls bunk with the boys."

"Most ghosts are harmless," said Marcus, patiently. "I shouldn't need to exorcise anything."

Nick knocked on the wooden table, making Marcus roll his eyes.

"You know, when Nick told me he had a friend who could see spirits, I thought you'd be more interesting than this," said Candice.

"I like to think there's more to my life than the gift," said Marcus, taking a large bite out of his apple.

"Yeah, sorry about that Marcus," said Nick with a grin. "I don't know what came over me when I told her."

"I told you ghosts didn't exist," she said, promptly. "You told me I was wrong because you had a friend who could see ghosts."

"You created a monster," Marcus told Nick. Candice was all right when she wasn't hounding him about his gift, but she did bring it up with unnecessary frequency.

"So I begin to see," said Nick.

Despite himself, Marcus decided to ask his mother about the supposed haunted hospital when he got home.

His mother just told him to talk to his grandmother.

"Nonna," he said, looking at the floor, "for the school camp, we're staying in an old hospital that's supposed to be haunted. What do I do?"

His grandmother smiled at him and patted his hand. "They're only ghosts, child," she said. "You know how to deal with ghosts."

Somehow, her reaction didn't really ease his misgivings.

When the bus came in sight of the hospital, Candice nudged him in the side, hard. "Well?"

The old hospital was a red-brick, two-storey affair with a large, angular roof and three chimneys. The wooden balconies and window sills were painted in a pleasing cream. In the bright autumn sunlight, it didn't look creepy at all.

Marcus glared at Candice and rubbed his side. "Well, what?"

"Is it haunted?" she whispered, darting a glance at the building.

"Lots of places are haunted, Candice," said Marcus, lowering his voice in deference to the topic, but still trying to portray the depths of his contempt. "Like I said before, this used to be a hospital. It's covered in ghosts." He yawned.

"Seriously?" she said, excitedly.

He shrugged. He could see the outlines of what appeared to be some kind of supernatural presences against the windows, but they could easily be shadows or even real people.

"What kind of ghosts?"

"Dead people," said Marcus, punctuating the statement with another yawn.

"How did they die?"

"It's a hospital, Candice. And how am I supposed to know, anyway? We're too far away for me to see clearly, and it's not like ghosts go around holding signs up. 'Hi, my name is Mr Spooky and I was murdered in 1883 by a candlestick in the sitting room.'"

She pouted at him and shook the back of the seat in front of them. "Nick," she whined, like it was his fault she didn't know when to leave off. "Marcus is being mean again."

Nick turned around and looked at them for a moment. "Just leave him alone, Candice," he said.

Nick could always be relied upon to step in when Candice became too annoying. It was the only reason he'd forgiven him for introducing them.

Candice sighed theatrically. She picked up her plait and started nibbling at the end of it, clearly ignoring Marcus.

Marcus smiled, and returned to staring out the window.

The dinner hall was lit on the sides by a thousand fake candles, giving the room a rather dark, ominous appearance. The open fireplace at the end of the hall was lit, filling the room with the pungent scent of wood smoke. Marcus found it all rather tacky. The current owners were obviously trying to cash in on the old hospital's 'haunted' status.

"So I imagine you've all heard that this place is supposed to be haunted, boys and girls?" said Mrs. Kazakoff, after they had all finished eating.

"Yes, Mrs. K.," chorused the class.

Beside him, Candice sat up expectantly.

"Does anybody have any good ghost stories they'd like to share?" asked Mrs. Kazakoff, with a smile that Marcus found rather patronising.

Marcus groaned, and wondered if anybody would notice if he just walked out.

"Hey Marcus, you should tell a story," said Candice loudly, after Conner Blake had finished retelling a particularly cliched hitchhiker story.

Marcus thought he saw Nick put his hand to his forehead in despair.

"Candice, if Marcus would like to tell a story he should volunteer himself," said Mrs. Kazakoff, firmly. "Marcus, would you like to tell a story to the class?"

"I don't know any ghost stories," he said, with a glare for Candice.

"I see," said Mrs Kazakoff. "Well, would anybody else like to volunteer?"

"What?" Candice whispered. "Why not?"

Marcus shrugged. "Why would I?"

"Because you..."

Marcus shot a pointed look at the rest of the class, who were well within hearing distance.

Candice shut up, at least until the teacher announced the end of dinner and an an hour of free time.

Marcus hung around in the dining hall, taking advantage of the open fireplace until he grew fed up with Candice's incessant questions and announced his intention to go back to the dorms and read.

The dormitories were all converted hospital rooms on the second floor. The rooms had a whitewashed, sterile look and chemical smell that Marcus found more disturbing than the deliberately creepy dining hall, but at least they were quiet.

"What are you doing?" said Marcus, staring at the group of girls
sitting on the staircase.

"We think this step is haunted."

The steps were carpeted in an urky blue-green and the carpet was pulling away from the floorboards in several places. Marcus looked at the girls, then the steps.

He rolled his eyes. "Do you mind if I push past you?"

"No, seriously, look at this, Marcus," said Emily Moon, excitedly. "When you slide your clipboard down the stairs, it always stops on that one step. And people trip over this step all the time."

"It's obviously a different size or shape to the others," said Marcus. "I'd like to go to the dorms, please."

"Don't you believe in ghosts, Marcus?" said Emily Moon, indignantly.

Marcus considered his answer for a moment. "I don't believe that step is haunted. I think any self-respecting ghost would have something better to do." Unless the ghost had somehow died falling down the stairs - which, he admitted, was not totally impossible - the ghost would be haunting the place of their death. Ghosts could move around, but they always returned to their own place.

"But don't you think it's weird? I never fall down stairs but I've fallen down these ones twice."

Marcus shrugged. "The carpet's loose." He poked at the edge of one of the steps with his toe to demonstrate. "See?"

"What's the problem, children?" asked Mr. Hoffman, coming up behind Marcus and making him start.

"I want to get upstairs," said Marcus.

"Girls, why are you blocking the stairs?" said Mr. Hoffman. "Stairs aren't for playing on."

Mrs. Kazakoff might have been interested in the girls' ghost story, but Mr. Hoffman was the no-nonsense type.

The girls muttered and glared at Marcus, but dispersed.

Marcus's bed was hard and cold and uncomfortable. He thought they could at least have replaced the beds since the place's hospital days. Maybe the owners thought it was part of the 'atmosphere'? Surely these couldn't be the original beds. People had died in them.

He rolled over. From outside, he could dimly hear some crickets chirping. He wondered how long he'd been trying to get to sleep. An hour? Two?

"Marcus," whispered Nick, slowly. "Don't look now, but I think there's a ghost on my bed."

Marcus didn't move. "Nick, I was almost asleep," he complained. He stopped, as the meaning of Nick's sentence became clear. "Why don't you want me to look?"

"Um. You might scare her?"

Marcus very slowly rolled over to face Nick's bed and opened his eyes.

Nick's visitor was a pretty girl of about fourteen, dressed in some kind of old-fashioned clothing. When she was alive, he thought her hair would have been blonde, and it fell over her shoulders in ringlets. She was staring at Nick intensely, her expression somewhere between curiosity and confusion.

"You probably remind her of somebody," said Marcus, yawning. "Just ignore her."

"She's kind of cute," said Nick, swallowing rapidly.

"She's dead, Nick. Just go to sleep." Marcus rolled over again and closed his eyes. Their two other roommates appeared to be fast asleep. He could hear Tom snoring.

After a few moments, he heard Nick talking quietly. "Do you have a name?"

Marcus sighed.

The little ghost girl was following Nick around the next day. Marcus wasn't sure if Nick had noticed.

"What's wrong, Marcus?" said Candice, over breakfast. "You keep flinching."

"Nick picked up a friend last night," said Marcus, making a mental note to watch his body language next time.

Candice blinked at him, and looked between them both, confused. She started chewing on her plait again.

"The ghost girl?" said Nick, turning around excitedly. "Is she still here?"

Marcus nodded, ignoring Candice's squeal of interest. "You should have just ignored her." The ghost girl didn't look curious anymore - she was staring at Nick with undisguised interest.

"Where?" demanded Candice. "Marcus, I can't see anything."

Marcus described it in great detail to Candice, but no matter how she squinted, she couldn't see the ghost. Secretly, he was just amused by the funny faces she was making.

"Oy, Nick, can you see her?" She put her hands on her hips indignantly.

"Not now," said Nick. "I could last night."

"What was she like?"

"Like Marcus said," said Nick. "Only I couldn't see her as clearly as all that."

"Was it scary?"

Nick thought for a moment. "No," he said, although Marcus suspected he was lying. "Not really. More eerie than scary. She was floating above the bed and just staring at me." He paused. "Kind of good for the ego, actually."

Candice punched him in the arm.

The ghost girl finally disappeared around lunch time. "She's gone, at last," said Marcus.

"What?" said Nick, at the same time Candice said, "Who?"

"The ghost girl."

"She's been following me around all this time?" said Nick.

Marcus nodded. "Told you you should just ignore her," he said. "If she appears again, I'll probably have to exorcise her."

"What?" said Nick. "No! I thought you said ghosts were harmless."

"She's harmless now," said Marcus.

"That doesn't seem fair," said Candice. "She isn't hurting anybody. We can't even see her!"

"Just because you can't see her doesn't mean she can't affect you," said Marcus. "I don't like how she was following you around, that isn't normal."

"Even so," said Nick.

"You don't understand," said Marcus, starting to get frustrated. "Ghosts aren't people: they're emotions. They're very strong feelings without any inhibitions. If she decides she wants to hurt you, for whatever reason, it'll be dangerous, Nick."

"So why don't you exorcise every ghost you see, if they're so dangerous?" demanded Candice.

"I don't have that kind of time!" said Marcus. He didn't feel like going into the details of exorcism spells with Candice. "Besides, as long as they're... unaware of the human world, they're fine. The fact that this one has latched onto Nick personally means she wants something from him."

"Maybe we can ask the caretaker about her?" said Nick. "Find out who she was, how she died?"

Candice looked at Marcus, who looked away.

"I'd like to," said Candice.

"I'll bet," muttered Marcus under his breath.

"I would, too," said Nick. "Come on, Marcus."

The caretaker's cottage looked just as Marcus imagined a caretaker's cottage should. There were flowers planted around the edge and in boxes under the window sills, and the paint was peeling away from the wood in several places.

Candice knocked gingerly on the wooden door. It was opened a moment later by a man with short, slightly mussed brown hair, dressed simply in jeans and a t-shirt. He smiled to see them. "How can I help you, children?"

"Oh," said Candice. "I wanted to speak to the caretaker."

"I am the caretaker," said the man, with a grin. "My name is David. Are you with the school group?"

Candice nodded, trying to cover her surprise. "I'm Candice, this is Nick and Marcus. Are you really the caretaker?"

"Yes, I'm really the caretaker," said David, laughing. Marcus had to admit, he seemed too young to be the caretaker for a haunted hospital. He should be old, and grumpy, and he should have chased them away with broom rather than smile at them. "How can I help you, Candice?"

"I think I saw a ghost last night," Nick blurted out. "It was a girl." His expression dared David to laugh.

"A girl, you say?" said David, with interest. "How old?"

Marcus unfocused his eyes to study David's aura. He didn't have the gift, he decided, but he was certainly sensitive. Maybe this conversation wouldn't be a total disaster.

Nick screwed up his face in thought. "Thirteen? Around our age, definitely."

"What were her clothes like?" asked David.

Nick frowned. "I don't know, she was kind of... fuzzy." He looked helplessly at Marcus, who shrugged and looked away. "Maybe... early twentieth century? I dunno."

"Which room are you in?"

Nick told him their room number.

"Sounds to me like Amy Waddington," said David. "She died around the turn of the century in that room."

Marcus committed the name to memory while attempting to maintain an expression of extreme lack of interest. He would need the name to exorcise the ghost later.

"How did she die?" asked Candice.

"I don't remember offhand, but I can look it up. Would you like me to?"

"Do you have the hospital records or something?" asked Nick.

"I'm writing a book on the ghosts of the hospital," said David. "I have all kinds of information about the hospital and the ghosts people have seen. I think I recognise your description, and the room sounds like the right area to see her."

"Has she been seen often?" asked Marcus.

"I was starting to wonder if you ever talked," said David, a smile taking the sting out of the words. Marcus looked away. "But to answer your question, you're not the first to come asking about her."

"What kind of people see her? Kids like us?" asked Nick.

David thought for a moment. "I think so, yes."

"Why?" asked Nick. "Do you think she's lonely?"

David smiled. "I really couldn't say."

"Marcus said she was following me around," said Nick. "Is that normal?"

"Marcus saw her, too?" said David.

Marcus shrugged. If he explained, David would probably try to recruit him to help with the book. Marcus didn't want to spend his entire life hunting ghosts.

"Well, anyway, no, I can't say I've ever heard of her following people around before," said David. "But..." He spread his hands in a shrug.

Marcus nodded thoughtfully.

"I think I hear your teacher calling," said David, with a wink. "Let me know if you see the ghost again, okay?"

"OK!" said Nick.

A group of girls came screaming into the common area as Nick, Marcus, and Candice were poring over a pack of cards after dinner, attempting to remember the rules to 'Presidents and Assholes'.

"Blood!" shrieked Emily Moon. "Blood on the stairs!"

Nick and Candice both looked at Marcus.

Marcus got up quickly, determined to put an end to this nonsense as quickly as possible.

"Marcus, can I speak with you for a moment?" said Mrs. Kazakoff, from where she was sitting with some of the parent volunteers in the corner of the room.

Marcus stopped. "Of course, Mrs. Kazakoff."

The teacher led him to an out of the way office and closed the door. The room smelt musty and full of dust. Marcus sneezed.

"Would I be correct in assuming that you are not a believer in the supernatural?" said Mrs. Kazakoff.

Marcus hesitated, rubbing his nose. "Well, I..."

"Marcus, none of them actually believe there is real blood on the stairs. It's just a game."

Marcus blinked.

"People like to be scared. It's not supposed to be real, Marcus. Just relax a little, try to have some fun. Nobody is going to get hurt."

"It's silly," Marcus insisted.

"That may be so, Marcus. Just stop trying to ruin everybody's fun, okay?"

Marcus considered for a moment. "Alright," he said.

"Good kid," said Mrs Kazakoff. "And try to stop being so serious all the time, okay?"

Marcus nodded obediently.

Candice and Nick greeted him eagerly as soon as he walked back into the common room.

"What did the 'koff want?" asked Nick.

"She thinks I'm being a party pooper about the supernatural stuff," said Marcus.

"Oh," said Candice, as if she wasn't sure whether to be amused or sympathetic.

"She says," said Marcus, daring them to comment, "that even if I don't believe in that stuff I should just play along."

Nick started to laugh. Some friend he was.

"So what was the blood?" asked Marcus.

"Tomato sauce," said Nick. "Think it was somebody's idea of a joke."

"Man, it's so not fair," sighed Candice. "You and Marcus don't give a stuff about supernatural, and you've both seen a ghost, whereas I would die to see a ghost, and - nada. Nothing. Not even a hint of ghostly coolness!"

"You would not 'die' to see a ghost. Stop being ridiculous," said Marcus.

"It's just an expression," Candice shrugged.

Marcus was only too glad to climb under the covers of his uncomfortable bed that evening. With any luck, the little ghost girl was gone, and that was the end of it.

"Marcus," said Nick, shaking Marcus's shoulder and startling him out of a sound sleep. "I can see her again."

Marcus rubbed his eyes. "Nick, for heaven's sake..." He scrabbled on the floor by the side of the bed until he found his watch. He squinted at the glowing numbers. "It's midnight." Of course. The 'witching hour'.

"I tried to talk to her, but she doesn't seem to hear me," said Nick.

"No," said Marcus. "Ghosts can't hear humans." He squinted in Nick's direction until the blurry outline of the ghost cleared.

"Can you talk to her?"

Marcus shook his head. "People with the gift are invisible to ghosts." That little fact would also explain why the ghost was now looking at Nick leaning on Marcus's bed with a puzzled expression.

"What. Really?"

Marcus nodded, then remembered Nick probably couldn't see him in the dim light. "Really."

"I like her, Marcus," said Nick. "She's cute, and it's not her fault she's a ghost, is it? Can't we do something?"

Marcus felt helpless, put on the spot like this. "Nick, I ..." Sometimes, his best friend was just a little too nice.

"Would you two kindly shut up?" said Tom acidly. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

Nick sighed, and went back to his own bed.

Marcus threw a hand over his eyes. This is the last night, he told himself. Tomorrow night you'll be safe at home and Nick will go back to normal and you'll be able to get a complete night's sleep.

He hated ghosts.

The little ghost girl was following Nick around again the next morning. Marcus tried not to stare at her, but her presence was starting to worry him more every moment.

He didn't like her expression when she looked at Candice.

"You seem twitchy," said Nick, raising an eyebrow at him. "What's up?"

Candice peered at him closely. "Does he?"

Nick had always been far too good at judging Marcus's moods. "It's the ghost girl," he said. "She's back."

He might have been imagining it, but he thought Nick looked pleased at that.

"Ooh," said Candice. "Where? I want to see!"

"For heaven's sake, Candice, this isn't a game!" he snapped. He would tolerate it from his classmates if Mrs. Kazakoff insisted, but damned if he'd put up with it from Candice.

Candice jumped.

Nick raised both eyebrows. "Do you want to talk about it?" he said.

Marcus sighed heavily. "It's the ghost. I'm worried about how she's latched on to you. I don't know what it means."

"Just because you have the gift doesn't mean you automatically know everything," pointed out Candice.

"Okay, why do you think a girl who's been dead almost a century is following Nick around?"

"Well," said Nick, looking uncomfortable. "Maybe it's like I said to David. She's lonely."

"That's so cute," said Candice, nudging him. "You're blushing, Nick!"

"I am not!" he said, hotly.

"Are too!"

The ghost girl disappeared. Marcus frowned in thought.

Nick cleared his throat, ignoring Candice. "So there's really nothing we can do for her?" he said.

Marcus shook his head. "She's not a person, Nick, she's, like... the memory of a person. She's gone now, anyway."

"Oh," said Nick. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Are ghosts more powerful in their own places?" he asked, suddenly.

"What?" said Marcus.

"I mean, the place where they died. That's the only place I've seen the ghost. Is that because she's more powerful there?"

Marcus shrugged. "I guess. You've only ever seen her close to midnight, too. Nonna always said ghosts were more powerful at night."

"Then let's go to the dorms," said Nick. "Maybe we can keep her company for a bit."

The ghost girl was sitting on Nick's bed when they entered the dorm. Her expression was one of delight when she saw Nick enter, but it turned to anger when she saw that Candice was with him.

"Um," said Marcus. "I think we should leave."

"What's wrong?" asked Nick, sitting on the bed.

Candice bounced down next to him. "Wow, these beds really are terrible," she observed. "I thought it was just mine."

"I don't think the ghost girl likes Candice," said Marcus. He was suddenly thinking through what the ghost girl would be seeing, without his presence. Nick and Candice, alone together, all the time.

Ghosts didn't think rationally.

"Come on," said Marcus. "Please, let's just go. We're not staying another night here, so if we go now..."

"Marcus, what are you going on about?"

"The ghost girl," said Marcus. "She..."

The ambient temperature of the room dropped suddenly.

Marcus swore.

"Marcus?" said Candice, in a small voice. "I think I see the ghost girl now."

Nick had backed up against the wall, watching the ghost girl in undisguised horror. "What's wrong with her?"

The light in the room appeared to have all been sucked into the vision of the ghost, her face a mask of anger and her hands stretched out like claws.

Marcus ripped the cross down from around his neck and clutched it tightly in his left hand, muttering a few words in Latin under his breath. Power rushed through him. It was a heady feeling, like he was part of the world and he could do anything.

The ghost grabbed Candice by the throat, and she scrabbled helplessly at translucent hands.

"Marcus, do something!" screamed Nick. "Stop her!"

Marcus ignored him as he muttered the beginning of the exorcism ritual, still in Latin. Suddenly all the time he had spent with his grandmother memorising this didn't seem so pointless.

To exorcise the ghost, he needed her name and something to ground her to the human world. He had the name, thanks to the caretaker, and he would just have to hope that whatever it was she thought she felt for Nick would be enough for the second half.

"Amy Waddington," said Marcus. "Amy Waddington, you will listen to me," he continued, in Latin. The ghost paused in her actions. The name was to let her hear him.

Marcus grabbed Nick by the arm and pulled him close. "Amy Waddington, look at me." He needed Nick, the grounding item, so that she could hear him.

"Amy Waddington, let her go," he ordered, in English because he didn't know the Latin. He desperately hoped it wouldn't matter.

Candice fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"You do not belong here," said Marcus, the familiar words of the exorcism ritual coming back. "There is something else waiting for you. Follow me, and your pain will end."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Candice push herself up onto her knees. Relief almost - almost - made him lose momentum.

The ghost screamed her defiance in the sound of the wind against the windowpanes.

He could feel the cross digging into his flesh as he yelled the final verses of the ritual.

It wasn't like how he had imagined it. There was no light, no doors opening. She just disappeared, like a candle that had been blown out.

Marcus let Nick go and leaned heavily against his hands on his knees, panting.

"Marcus?" said Nick.

"It's over," said Marcus. His voice sounded hoarse to his ears. "Go take care of Candice."

They came up with a story about Candice peering around a corner when a door blew shut on her neck before they escorted her to the nurse.

The nurse had regarded Marcus and Nick with obvious suspicion, but Candice managed to convince her of their innocence in her injury.

"Don't say 'I told you so'," said Nick, when the three had a moment alone.. "I don't think I could take it."

"I wouldn't," said Marcus. "You... You couldn't be expected to understand."

They stood around in uncomfortable silence for a moment or two.

"So what happened?" said Nick. "What did you see, Marcus?"

"Um. I didn't see much more than you did, I think," said Marcus. "But I think when she saw the two of you, together in her room, alone, I think she just snapped."

"But you were there," protested Candice.

"She couldn't see me," said Marcus. "Because of the gift."

"So she tried to kill me out of... jealousy?" said Candice. "Because she liked Nick?"

"Nick was kind to her," said Marcus. "I guess she misinterpreted it? I dunno. Ghosts don't make sense." He sighed heavily. "I'm sorry." He felt like he'd been saying it for hours.

"No," said Nick. "I should have listened to you, Marcus."

Candice sniffled. "Me too."

"But I knew better," he insisted. "I could have..." He couldn't really think what he could have done differently. "It didn't have to end like that."

"You looked pretty cool, though," said Candice, smiling weakly. "When you did the exorcism. Your hair was all puffy." She made pushing motions with her hands around her head.

Marcus blinked.

"And if you're worried I'm going to stop hanging with you because of this, you are sorely mistaken," said Nick, firmly.

Marcus felt himself relax a little.

"Stop hanging around with him? Man, he'll be lucky if he gets rid of me in a million years now," said Candice.

the end