"Understand what?"
"That I'm dead."
The Old Man smiled briefly. "Dead? No, you're not dead. You're. . visiting. An unusual event, but necessitated by circumstances." He leaned toward Ed. "Mr Fletcher, you have got yourself involved with something."
"Yeah," Ed agreed. "I wish I knew what it was. Or how it happened."
"It was not your fault. You were a victim of a clerical error. A mistake was made — not by you. But involving you."
"What mistake?" Ed rubbed his forehead wearily. "I–I got in on something. I saw through. I saw something I wasn't supposed to see."
The Old Man nodded. "That's right. You saw something you were not supposed to see — something few elements have been aware of, let alone witnessed."
"Elements?"
"An official term. Let it pass. A mistake was made, but we hope to rectify it. It is my hope that — "
"Those people," Ed interrupted. "Heaps of dry ash. And gray. Like they were dead. Only it was everything: the stairs and walls and floor. No color or life."