No. No, he couldn't do this. He couldn't. He shook his head, hurried back down the sidewalk, keys in hand. "Let's go have lunch." He couldn't go in and look at his best friend's things, at the whole life his mentor, his Mags, had left him. It wasn't fair. People shouldn't get old.

"It's not going to be any easier tomorrow, baby." Billy's hand slid along his spine, the loved voice soft with concern.

"It might. You don't know."

"Or it might be harder every day that you put it off." There was no judgement in Billy's voice, none at all.

"Maybe." Tanny chewed his bottom lip. "I'm scared to go in." He kept having nightmares about Margaret -- dead and rotting and swollen, wandering through her house. The last thing he wanted to do was go in and find out it wasn't a nightmare at all. He didn't want to see Margaret like that, not for real.

"Hmm." Billy frowned and considered him. "Then let's go do this together."

Tanny shook his head. "I don't know if I can. I think I need to go home."

"I'll come with you. Hold your hand through it." Billy held his hand out, clearly waiting for Tanny to take it.

"What if..." What if her ghost was in there and she hurt Billy?

"What, baby? Tell me." Billy grasped his hand and looked into his eyes.

He looked away, down the street. "What if she's in there? Like a monster. A horror movie."

Billy didn't laugh at him. "Baby, you know horror movies aren't real, right?"

"I know, but..." He knew, but the dreams were constant.

"The only way to prove that she's not in there is for us to go in. I have your hand, baby. Nothing's going to happen to you."

"That's not what I'm worried about." He was worried something would happen to Billy.

Billy looked confused, eyebrows drawing together. "Then what are you worried about?"

"You," Tanny blurted it out. "You getting hurt."

"Oh, Montana." Billy cupped his cheeks and stared into his eyes again. "I'm not going to get hurt. Nothing in that house can hurt me."

"We don't know that. I dreamed..." Over and over again.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was a dream."

Billy's smile was soft, warm. "Then let's go in together."

"Just to the door." Maybe.