The first thing Marius saw when he opened his eyes was a set of enormous white teeth, flanked on the north and south by thick, fleshy lips curled up in a broad grin. "Well now, Lawyer." A voice as thick as the lips that uttered it came bemusedly from the hulking shadow, perched on the foot of his bed. "Having a pretty sleep? You well enough took your sweet time getting out of it." Marius started upright, squinting to adjust his eyes as the figure became slowly more distinct. A single shaft of moonlight from the crack in the curtains seemed to split the face diagonally in two, highlighting the monstrous pair of flashing mashers, half of a dark, curling handlebar moustache, and a single eye of merry black. Shocked beyond mere startlement, Marius cast a furtive glance at his wife, sleeping peaceful and still by his side, undisturbed by the shifting behemoth at the foot of the bed and his deep bass rumble. "Bahorel?" Marius whispered, peering again at the shadow. "Am I dreaming?" The spectral bruiser laughed rich and deep, the shaft of light flashing across his throat as his head flew back and then again to his teeth. "Not as such, friend lawyer." It were certainly Bahorel; the amused derision that quirked the word 'lawyer' into a familiar insult was unmistakable. This only heightened Marius' agitation as the man looked about his room appraisingly, and whistled. "Well! You've done well enough for yourself, haven't you now? Nice, Pontmercy. Very nice." The lawyer stiffened. "What..." "Am I doing here, do I want, aren't I dead, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. Of course I'm dead you old idiot; A bayonet in the gullet isn't a love tap." He grinned. "Well, just when you thought things had settled down a bit, eh? No rest for the quick or the dead, really." He laughed, and Marius stared at him, blankly. "Mais alors. As for what I, specifically, am doing here, is playing Jacob Marley." "Who?" "Brush up on your English, Baron. The cream of it is that your old friends miss you. We want to come and see you. So I hope you've got a lot of sleep this past year, cause you'll be missing out on not a little of it!" He threw back his head and laughed richly. Marius, literally and figuratively, was still in the dark. "But... why?" "Hold it, comrade citizen bourgeois. Hold it right there. You can ask that question, but I warn you, it's the last one you get, and then I go. Not my rule." He held up his hand, then placed it over his heart, solemnly. Marius licked his lips in vain, his mouth and throat were quite dry. "Please, I want to know." "And I want a good glass of stout ale." Sighed Bahorel wistfully. "But never mind that. All right. It's really, quite simple." the shade leaned closer to Marius, who scooted forward a bit, that he might catch all his dead friend wished to say. Bahorel moistened his lips, then answered. "Because you're still here, Pontmercy. And We're not." Marius blinked, there was a sensation like wind blowing over his face, hot and fast, and the ghost was gone. Marius blinked several more times to be sure, unsure whether or not he was relieved or disappointed by the sudden disappearance of his old friend. His words and his appearance in the first place were... alarming, at the very least. Cosette, beside him, slept on, all the serenity of dreaming angels on her face. He thought to kiss that loveliness, but could not bring himself to disturb it. And so, with that convenient distraction, the lawyer slid down into the covers, closed his eyes, and woke up. tell me quickly what's the story... Yes, yes, to be continued... Tell me quickly what's the ghost story