Hold Me

## Variant Covers

* "Falling Man" Variant
* "Go to the Light" Variant

 *{{{1}}}*

## **Synopsis**

At Gaiman High, there was a couple. Homecoming King and Queen, Tessa and Big Luke. Tessandra was a cheerleader who went by Tessa for short, and Big Luke was the star quarterback; they called him Big Luke because he was the big man on campus. They were drunk and walking home from a party, so they didn’t notice a scruffy young man named Arthur following them. The two decided it had become too cold, and Big Luke’s letterman wasn’t enough for Tessa, so they ended up at Motel 8 for the night. Booking the only room they had, the two curled up in a bed to give each other warmth, but due to them being drunk still, they didn't notice that Arthur was in bed next to them, curled up and looking for warmth.

It had been roughly a year since his parents had died. **Chas Constantine** had endlessly bounced between house and home for a seeming eternity. However, he could never maintain a singular spot. He could not commit. Due to the extremity of his parent's deaths, Chas was forced by the State and County to attend weekly therapy sessions. His routine handler was Dr. Joanna Hendricks. She was a solemn yet compassionate therapist and reminded Chas of Cassandra, which is why he most likely was able to commit to attending. They ran through that night again, as they did every meeting. Chas deflected as he typically did, and Dr. Hendricks would redirect and write notes as she always did. She would tell him that there was nothing he could have done, and Chas would routinely tell her that he could've done more, and around they went.

Margaret, Chas' foster parent, picked him up. They drove down the road, and she listened to music. She had an odd penchant for the sounds of K-Pop which is the genre Chas hated the most. Chas was greeted by a strange young woman when they arrived at the foster home. Helena Calcio. She explained that she was a friend of his father's, and the two talked, leaving the house. Helena expressed her sorrow and explained that she would help navigate Chas through the occult. This comment piqued his interest as she seemed to be the only one who could understand. From then on, Helena became an ally.

Elsewhere, a Gaiman High senior named Monica cared for her 4-year-old daughter, Elise. As the moon rose, the temperature dropped, and it was a cold night in Roseland. Their apartment had no heating, so they bundled together on the couch. Cold and tired of caring for Elise all day, she threw on a sweater and put one on Elise. Staring at the tv screen as she was freezing and Elise in her arms, the pair drifted off to sleep, but neither noticed that Arthur was beside them on the couch.

The same night, Chas lay restless. It was one of those nights of nightmares and terrors from beyond, but an alert on his phone saved his mind. A news report wrote about a double homicide in Motel 6 and another double homicide in an apartment. All individuals died due to hypothermia which already interested Chas as this was unnatural. But the fact that they died with no one near them made it something Chas would investigate. He called Helena, who already planned on calling him about the homicides but invited him to a magical bar called The Forever Lounge, along with specific instructions on entering. With some lead, Chas grabbed his coat and went into Roseland.

Chas arrived in Voodootown, approaching a diner but stopped when a little girl coldly touched his hand. He asked what she was doing outside this late at night, but when she introduced herself as Elise, Chas somberly looked down as he remembered the little girl's name from the news report. He offered to walk her home, and the two strolled through Voodootown. Elise told Chas about her favorite cartoon, and Chas told her his. She talked about how she liked drawing and that her favorite color was red, and he joked about how he should get a red tie. When they reached Elise's home, she had finished telling him about her favorite breakfast food and vanished when they came to her door. Chas stood in silence for a moment, listening to the echo of her last laugh on this mortal coil, and sighed, kicking in the front door.

A foul smell greeted Chas. The police remove the bodies from crime scenes but typically don't clean up afterward. He opened his mouth to speak, but that's when he saw the spots on the couch where Elise and her mother were. A saddened frown crept onto his face as he uttered words into the vast nothing in the darkened apartment. A figure stepped out of the shadows and entered the light from the opened door. He was a teenager not much older than Chas and begged for someone to hold him. Using magic, Chas entered the spirit's mind and learned that his name was Arthur and he was scared.

Arthur wasn't intentionally doing this. He was some poor bastard who fell in love in high school. A freshman at Gaiman High last year, Arthur had a crush on a popular cheerleader. What started as a secret became a well-known fact in the school, and the cheerleader invited Arthur to the cafeteria after school one fateful Friday. Believing this to finally be a time to talk to her, Arthur foolheartedly went. He waited for fifteen minutes, but it wasn't until he turned his back that the cheerleader and her friends pushed Arthur into the cafeteria freezer. She locked the door behind Arthur and left with her friends, laughing and belittling him. Again, however, it was Friday, and public school staff went home after a specific time, and Arthur froze to death inside the freezer, with his last words being, "Hold me."

Arthur reiterated his final words, and Chas reached for him, feeling how he felt. Dying of emotional coldness and not having anyone to save himself. And so, Chas figured that he could save someone else. The two embraced, and Arthur thanked Chas, telling him that he didn't feel as cold anymore. As Chas began to feel cold, Arthur's spirit evaporated, passing over into the next life if there was one, and Chas stood in the darkened apartment alone again.

Chas stepped outside as this case filled him with mixed emotions. Arthur was not his first spirit case, but the first to make him feel. All Arthur wanted out of this life was to be loved, held, and have someone to want him back. Chas wasn't that person, and he would never be, but at least he was the person Arthur needed to pass over. When he reached into his father's coat, he discovered a pack of Marlboro Reds and an engraved zippo. Finally releasing why his father smoked, Chas lit one of the small tobacco sticks and returned to Voodootown.

He entered The Forever Lounge, and Helena was residing in a booth in the far back. Subtly, she flagged him down and motioned toward the two beers before her. Chas felt heavy as he walked towards her. Not a physical weight but an emotional one, and when he sat down next to her, she started to talk. She talked about the homicides and her theories about what it could be. Poltergeist, Wraith, new breed of Vampire. Chas stopped her after putting out his cigarette. He stopped her when she asked what was wrong, and once more, he stopped her when she asked why he felt cold to the touch.

Chas looked at her in the eyes, tears welling up in his own. And he asked for her to hold him.

## **Notes**

* This story started Chas' nicotine addiction.
* Dr. Joanna Hendricks (Debut)
* Helena Calcio (Debut)
* Arthur (Debut)