“Well, it is a little smaller than we’re used to, but it’s still rather nice.  I’m sure you’ll learn to like it in time.”  Blaine gloomily looked around the empty house. 

“And look at this basement!  It could be like another bedroom.  It’ll be your bedroom. And you can sing all you want in here without waking me up.”  His mother babbled on with false cheeriness.

Amelia Anderson stopped talking when she realized her son was just tuning her out.  She sighed.  “Blaine, I’m sure your father will come around soon.  And maybe your brother will remember he has a family.  This,” She waved a hand gesturing to the house, “It won’t be forever.  You’ll be back at Dalton again in no time.”

Blaine winced, remembering again why they had to move.  His father, discovering his mother’s infidelity, decided that was the last straw.  His father divorced his mother, and made him choose, “Stay a useless fag and leave with the whore, or for once be my son.”  So Blaine chose and his father disowned him. 

Without his father’s money, his mother was forced to look for a job for the first time in her life, and they could no longer afford Dalton.

Now it was back to public school and homophobes. No more Warblers.  No more safety from bullies.

And this house.  For some reason Blaine felt cold, ever it was still September.  There a sinister feeling about this house.  That feeling only intensified as a reached the basement.  “Welcome home”, he whispered, to no one in particular.  Although, there was one person listening.

 The closer it got to the first day his new school, the more nervous he got.  He kept remembering that night after the Sadie Hawkins dance.  He wonders now, if one the bullies would actually kill him this time.  His friends from Dalton tried to reassure him.  He would be safe at school.  He shouldn’t be afraid for his life.

Blaine didn’t believe it. Teachers never did care.  And he didn’t want to hide who he was.  Maybe he would just be a little more subtle this time.

With that thought he drifted off to sleep.

“Fag!” One of the jocks yelled as he punched him in the stomach.

“You and your boyfriend have stayed home!” Another shouted as pain exploded on his shoulder.  It just continued on like that.  Punch.  Kick. Shout. Blaine couldn’t even hear what they were saying. He thought he was going to die. 

“We’ll kill you fag.”

Blaine woke up in a cold sweat, his heart beating fast.  He hadn’t had a nightmare like that in months.

He slowed his breathing.  Only a dream.  No one was going to kill him.

“It’s okay, you know.  I used to get nightmares all the time, too.” A voice said softly

Blaine jumped. “M-mom? Is that you?”

The voice snorted. “I am a guy you know.”  And then he saw it, transparent and flickering. A ghost.  An impeccably dressed ghost.  Kind of cute too.

Blaine shook himself out of his thoughts.  There was a ghost in his room.

“W-what do you want with me?”

“You’re in my room you know.” The ghost said not answering his question. Again, there was a ghost.

“D-do you want me to leave?” What should he do in case a ghost shows up in his room?

“No silly. It’s your room now too! We’re roommates.”  The ghost said cheerfully.

“T-that’s great.” When did the room get cold? “So who are you?”  Blaine wondered if should be screaming now.  There was a ghost in his room!

“I’m Kurt.  This is where I died.” Kurt. Nice name.

“I’m sorry. That’s really sad.” 

“But that was a while ago.  I’ve been so bored! I’m stuck here and there’s no one to talk to. But now you’re here.  The last person I tried to talk to ran off screaming.”

“I wonder why.” Blaine mumbled sarcastically.

“So what was your nightmare about?”

“A bunch of homophobic jocks beat me nearly to death about a year ago.  I keep having dreams about it.”

Kurt’s transparent face flickered with emotion.  “That’s… that’s terrible.  I’m sorry you had to go through that.”  He said in a low voice. 

“It’s just that, right after, I transferred to a school with a zero-tolerance bullying policy.  And now I’m going to public school where there’s sure to be bullies.  I’m just scared.”

“Which school are you going to?”

“Mckinley, why?”

“Oh… wow, thats…” Kurt trailed off, shaking his head.

“What! What’s wrong with Mckinley?” Blaine squeaked.

“Hopefully nothing will happen to you there.  But if something does, you can always join me.” Kurt grinned.

“Oh that’s reassuring.” Blaine muttered sarcastically.

“You’d better get to sleep.  Big day tomorrow and all.”  Kurt moved his hand to Blaine’s forehead.

“What are you doing? Wait… c-cold.” Kurt pressed a ghostly finger to his head.

“You’ll be fine, Blaine.” Kurt whispered soothingly. “My friends will take care of you.  They owe me that much.” Blaine fell asleep.

“Huh.  That worked. So I do have ghostly powers.”

Blaine didn’t have any more nightmares that night.

Blaine had so many questions going through his mind as his mother drove him to school the next morning. What did Kurt mean? Blaine was sure that Kurt’s death had something to do with Mckinley High.  And if it was, why was he still going there?

And what did Kurt mean his friends will take care of him? What friends?  Were they ghosts too?

“We’re here.” His mother said as they stopped.  Blaine looked back at her nervously.  His mother sighed. “You’ll be fine Blaine.  But call me if you need anything. I love you.”

“I love you too mom. Good luck at work.”  His mother drove off.

He sighed nervously as he walked into the school.  The secretary from the main office gave him his schedule, and handed him his locker number.  As he headed toward his new locker, he saw posters with pictures of a familiar looking boy.

“Remember Kurt Hummel.” One said.  Another had written on it, “See what bullying does?”  And another one simply just said, “Why?”

They all had pictures of Kurt, alive and smiling.  This smile was innocent, and full of laughter.  Not the sad smile the ghost had.

As he approached his locker, he saw three girls, standing closely together, talking.  One the girl’s locker was open, and there was a picture hanging, with her and Kurt.

“Excuse me.  You girls seem to know what’s going on here.  Who’s Kurt?”  Blaine asked.

One of the girls, the brunette gasped, her eyes filling up with tears.  She was shaking her head.  “I’m sorry, I can’t, I just can’t!” She cried as she ran off.

The other two girls started at him.  “I’m sorry about her. She still-“

“Why are you asking about Kurt?” The other girl cut her off, her eyes narrowing at him.  He noticed how her clothes seemed to hang off of her, and had the unhealthy look of someone who lost a lot of weight too fast.

“I- I just,” Blaine stuttered. How was he supposed to go about explaining the ghost in his room?

“Hey, are you new here? I’ve never seen you around.” The other girl said.

“I just started today,” Blaine replied.

“I can see why you’re so confused now. I’m Tina.” She pointed to the other girl, “And that’s Mercedes.  The girl that just ran off is Rachel. We were friends of Kurt before he died.”

“How did he die?”

The girls flinched.  Blaine shook his head apologetically. “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to bring up anything painful.”

“No, it’s okay.  We’re just so used to everyone already knowing. We.ve never had to explain, you know?”

“Kurt was beaten to death by a bunch of homophobic jocks that went to our school.  They went too far and his neck snapped.”  Mercedes said sadly.

“Kurt- he was gay?”

“He was.” Mercedes said.  “You have a problem with that?”

“No. Not at all. I’m gay too.” Blaine said.  “That’s terrible, the way he died.” That could’ve been him, Blaine thought.

 Mercedes’s eyes softened.  “It was.  It was terrible for him.”

“But things are better now.” Tina said.  “The school got a zero –tolerance bullying policy for one.”

Blaine perked up at that.  Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad for him then.

“It’s a shame that it happened after Kurt was already dead.” Mercedes added.  Blaine wondered how Kurt would take it if he thanked him for dying.

“Then the school finally got rid of the slushy machine.”

“Slushy machine?”

“Yeah. The jocks used to throw slushies at us.” Mercedes replied.  “Especially us glee kids.”

“There’s a glee club?” Blaine asked.

“Yeah.  Do you sing?” Mercedes looked hopeful.

“Yes! I was in glee club at my old school.” 

“That’s great. We still need someone to replace Kurt.” Tina said.  “And Finn.” Mercedes added.

“Who’s Finn?” 

“Finn… Finn’s mom was dating Kurt’s dad, and they had just moved in with them.  It was Finn who let them in.  Azimio and Karofsky and a bunch of guys from the football team.  Finn invited them over.” Tina said.

“And Finn just stood there.  He didn’t do anything.” Mercedes said, choking back a sob.  “He didn’t join in, but he didn’t help Kurt either.  He just let it happen.”

“You guys talking about Finn?” A boy with a mohawk asked as he walked over to them.

“Hey Puck.  This is Blaine.  He just transferred here.” Tina told Puck.  “Blaine, this is Puck.”

“We were telling Blaine about Kurt.” Mercedes said.

Puck gave Blaine a quick nod, then addressed the girls.  “Hey, guess what I heard? Someone moved into Hummel’s old house.”

Blaine made a noise.  “Um…” He started.

“Wait. You’re living in Kurt’s house now?” Tina asked, eyes wide.  Blaine nodded.  Tina turned to Puck. “He’s gay too.” Tina said.

“Shit,” Puck sighed.  “Okay, don’t worry, we’ll protect you.  Mercedes and Tina nodded.

Blaine was confused.  “I don’t understand.  What do I need protecting from?”  But they weren’t listening to him.

Puck grabbed his schedule and looked it over.  “Come on. We’re walking you to class.”  Blaine looked at their anxious faces as they dragged him to his first class.  He tried to ask what was going on but the three shoved him into a classroom.

“We have to go.” Tina said.

“You’ll be safe, I promise.” Mercedes reassured him. 

“Yeah, Blaine… just, yeah.”

The three walked off, leaving Blaine very confused.  Kurt, what the hell ?

As he left his first class, two new people joined him.  Two cheerleaders, Santana and Brittany, as they introduced themselves, walked him to his next class.  After that, he was flanked by an asian boy, and a boy in a wheelchair, Mike and Artie.  Then a girl named Quinn walked him to lunch.

She guided him to a table with all the glee kids.  Finally fed up by all the weirdness, Blaine said, “Okay, someone please tell me what’s going on.”

They all looked at each other, and then Puck said, “We think you’re going to die.”

“Puck!” Mercedes hissed. 

“What?” Blaine was really beginning to regret ever meeting these people.

“Well, think about it.  Hummel died in that house.  Then the next gay kid that comes into town moves in that house – dude you’re gonna die.” Puck said. The others nodded.  “But it’s okay, we’ll protect you.”

“I think you all are all crazy.” Blaine said as went and sat next to a girl that sat a little bit away from the others.  He recognized her as the girl that ran off crying earlier.

“It’s just their way of coping.” She said as she picked at her food.  “They invent these ridiculous theories.  I think it makes Kurt’s death seem less real or something.” She looked back at him.  “I’m Rachel.”

“I’m Blaine.” Rachel nodded.

“As you can probably see, everyone went a little crazy after Kurt died.”  Rachel said.  Blaine snorted.

“I suppose, after we learned the details, how horrible it was,” Rachel tried to push back tears, “It just kind of broke everyone, you know?” Blaine nodded.  Of course, these were Kurt’s friends.  They had to have felt some pain.

“It was already bad for him.  The jocks singled him out.  We were all bullied, but Kurt had it the worst.  And teachers would just ignore it.”  Blaine nodded.  He understood what that was like.

“We got used to it.  It was a normal thing with us.  But it just got worse with Kurt.  We didn’t think much of it.  He was so strong.  But it reached a boiling point, and that happened.” She choked back a sob as she rambled.

“I have two gay dads, and they don’t want to scare me, but I’ve overheard them talking sometimes, so I know what it can be like in a homophobic town like this.  I should have known something like this could have happened.  We were so wrapped up in our own lives that we didn’t realize how bad it had really gotten.” She was freely crying now.

“They did more than just beat him up before they killed him.” She said.  Blaine looked at her questioningly.  What more could they have done to this poor kid?

“I shouldn’t be telling you any of this.  You’re a complete stranger.  But you’ve seen him, haven’t you? You have to have. You live in his house.” Rachel looked at him expectantly.

“Y-you mean the ghost?”  Rachel nodded. “You saw him too?” Blaine asked.

“After the funeral, I went to his house, before his dad packed up everything and left.  I was sitting in his room, and I just saw him.  He was just standing there looking at me, the same way he always looked at me – with mild disdain, mixed with respect for my talent.  Of course, I ran out of there screaming – I had just seen a ghost.”  Rachel said in one breath.

Blaine was relieved that someone else besides him had seen the ghost, meaning that he wasn’t crazy.  But then again, he doubted the sanity of anybody at this school.

“So, I take it you too were close friends?”

Rachel snorted.  “We used to fight all the time.  We were each other’s biggest competition.  So naturally we were threatened by each other.” Rachel sighed.  “But I suppose we could have been friends if we had more time.”

Blaine thought he could use someone around that already knew about Kurt.  Maybe she could help him figure out what the ghost wanted.   Kurt had to still be here for a reason.

He turned to Rachel.  “Hey, are you doing anything later today?”