A Wrench in the Gears [Damien Haas]

16. We're giving birth to a ghost!

Hey, hey, hey! Welcome back to AWITG.

Thank you so much for 800+ reads! Onwards and upwards indeed.

I might have mentioned before that this book would have 20-25 chapters, but now I'll be raising it to 25-30 chapters because I'm not sure if I can fit the rest of the storyline for the next chapters. Anyway, that's still unsure.

So let us proceed, yeah? Jade's point of view. See ya!

-/-/-

Do you ever get that vibe where, one day before a big trip, you suddenly want to do so much research on where you're going? I mean, Damien's gone to Japan before and he knows where we're going, but I'm just so excited about the whole idea of two weeks in Japan with just the love of my life and Food Wars merch.

When I hear Damien snore, I get out of our bed to open my laptop and do some research on Japan. I even put my glasses on for extra focus, and when I'm literally walking my way in Google Maps, I write down notes on what to buy. Mom would like some of this, Dad would like some of that, Marilyn would absolutely love that red and white bowling ball, Ian would love that.

But of course, even though I loved shopping, I kinda wanted to go and see the sceneries. I look for all the locations shown on "Your Name" and book us for some of them. When I finish doing some research, I re-pack my bags (which might be the second time now), choosing the clothes that fit the weather. It was going to be extremely cold, and as someone from LA, that was going to be hard.

"Baby, what are you doing?" Damien asks as he emerges from the bedroom, rubbing his eyes. "It's... one in the morning. Our flight leaves at ten."

"I'm just really excited about this trip," I tell him. "I did a bit of research and re-packed some of my stuff. Don't worry, go back to sleep. I'll be there in a bit."

That was a lie. I was not going to be there in a bit. I ended up watching random Japanese documentaries on Netflix and sometimes even travel vlogs. I read travelogues and took notes on where we should go. It was around three in the morning by then when I realized that no one was going to feed our five cats, two dogs, and two imaginary bunnies (because we never bought them), so I texted one of the most reliable people ever.

From: Jade Blue
Shayne! I don't know if you and Courtney are busy, but I think so. We're in a bit of a stretch here, we don't know who'll be feeding the pets, so...

From: Shayne West
Wow you're really texting me at three in the morning

From: Shayne West
But you know, good timing. Can you meet us at the hospital?

From: Jade Blue
Is something up? Are you guys okay?

From: Shayne West
Yep but don't bring Damien

From: Shayne West
Even though I know he's asleep

From: Shayne West
Just come over here

I put on a hoodie and change my pajamas to pants before getting one of the Athens cars and driving to the hospital. I was in a state of panic, because if Shayne ever says something calmly like that, there really is something up. I didn't want to see anything graphic, so I had to mentally prepare myself for that. I find Shayne in the ER, greeting him with a friendly embrace and he sits down, sighing.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask him.

"Cort's been puking since this morning, so I was worried that we got food poisoning," he answers. "We ate this really awesome lobster yesterday, but something kinda felt off with her when we got home. This morning, she just belched everywhere, and it wouldn't stop until around midnight earlier. So I had to take her here, because I'm no doctor, and now here we are. Anyway, how are you guys?"