𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 = 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐈𝐍𝐉𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠(𝐬): 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 - 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞
━━━━━ • ஜ • ❈ • ஜ • ━━━━━
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
"How is he still alive?"
"Impact caused major blunt force trauma on his head"
"Both arms and left leg are broken"
"Internal bleeding"
"Possible damage to his chest and ribcage"
Doctors surround Tsukishima as they do their best to save his life. He was ejected from his seat through the windshield, hitting the ground approximately 40 feet away from the initial impact of the car into the railing. His body practically bounced and continued rolling until it finally came to a stop. When the ambulance was called, his heartbeat was barely there and his heart stopped numerous times before reaching the hospital.
His mom suffered from blunt force trauma as well, but she was able to be cleared to go home the next day. His mom waited anxiously in the lobby, calling Akiteru and the rest of her family to tell them the news. The crash had been broadcasted all throughout Japan, meaning everyone at school had seen it.
"Mrs. Tsukishima?" a voice called.
"Dr. Kugisaki," Tsukishima's mom said breathlessly, "Is Kei alright?"
"Well," Dr. Kugisaki took a huge breath in, "He's alive. He's currently in a coma due to his state of condition, we're not sure when he's going to wake up. He suffered from a lot of damage to his head and internally as well,"
"Oh my god," she put her hands on her head, "this is all my fault. If I didn't ask this wouldn't have happened,"
"Ma'am, it's okay," Dr. Kugisaki reassured her, "what's important right now is that he recovers while under the coma, to speed up the process. He's still fighting," he looked at his paper, "Do you want to see him?"
Tsukishima's mom just nods. He led the way to Tsukishima's room. She nearly fainted at the sight of her son.
Tubes were connected throughout his entire body. His face was unrecognizable due to the swelling and damage. He had casts on almost every limb except his right leg. She couldn't help but clench her chest. She hesitantly walked over to him, trying her best to not collapse. The moment she went to his side and sobbed hard.
"Kei I'm so sorry," she cried, "This is all my fault, I'm so sorry," she continued until Akiteru arrived. They both cried together, while Tsukishima's body lay still, the sound of his slow heartbeat withers off in the distance.
━━━━━ • ஜ • ❈ • ஜ • ━━━━━
Beeping could be heard, as well as the cries within the hospital.
"Ugh, where am I?" asked Tsukishima, prying his eyes open. His eyes immediately adjust to the hospital lights decorating the ceiling. While staring at the ceiling, he notices that he feels weightless. He also feels like he isn't necessarily connected to his body. He moves to sit up, and that's when he finally realizes.
He looks down at his body and sees that he's in the same outfit he wore when he died, and underneath him was his actual body. He lets out a yelp and falls off the bed. He sees his injured body on the hospital bed. He also sees his mother and brother both sleeping on chairs next to his bed, dried tears visible on both their cheeks.
"What is this?" he asked out loud, looking down at his hands. He was in his normal clothes and his skin looked really pale, not transparent, but extremely light and pale. He shakily stood up and took note of how light he felt. He walked over to his body that lay still, barely moving for a breath of air. He saw how unrecognizable he looked. The amount of mutilation done to his entire body was indescribable.
"What is going on?" he said to himself. He felt his phantom body start to tremble. He felt the world spin, his hands shakily grabbing the hair on top of his head. He fell on his knees and let out a scream. He screamed for a long time, wanting someone to hear him, tell him that he's just in a horrible nightmare.
But alas, no one came. No one heard his scream. No one was there to reassure him that he was okay.
He got up from the floor and looked at his mom and brother. He hesitantly walked over to them, seeing their tired and depressing complexions. He felt the tears build up in his eyes, freely falling down his cheeks.
"I'm so sorry mom," Tsukishima did his best to hug his mom. He pulled away, wiping a stray tear that escaped his mom's eye. He was planning to stay in the hospital room until he heard doors close and footsteps coming from the other side of the door. He took a deep breath in, looking at his body lying on the hospital bed once more, then looking at his mom and brother, before turning to the door. He tried opening it up, but the moment he put his hand on the handle, he felt through it.
He let out a yep, catching himself from falling completely on the ground. His eyes widened as he turned around and looked at the door that was still closed.
'What?' he thought while walking up to the door, trying to grab the handle again, 'So I really am a ghost.
He sighed to himself, putting his hand back down. He heard the same footsteps and door closing, causing him to turn his head and face the dimly lit hospital. He shuddered at how eerie it was. He heard the noise slowly fade farther into the hallway. He decided to follow it, what more could he lose?
Tsukishima walked through the hallway, hearing the beeping coming from multiple machines. He heard the occasional coughs coming from the rooms he walked by. He made it to the end of the hallway, where he had the option to turn right or left. Before making his decision, he heard a small voice come from the right side of the hallway. He turned right, following the voice. Walking down the hallway, he noticed a patient's door open. The loudness of the beeping compared to a different room indicated that it was open. He quietly stepped to the very edge of the wall, as if he was making sounds while he walked. He peeked his head ever so slightly and peered into the room.
He saw a girl, who looked to be his age, in a school uniform. He couldn't recognize where the uniform was from though. He looked to where the girl was looking, and his eyes widened. Over the patient's bed, there was what looked like a person from where he was standing. They wore a long black cloak and wore the hood over their head. One thing that indicated Tsukishima that it wasn't a normal person, was the scythe that appeared in the things hand. It wasn't until the thing sliced through the patient with the scythe that he realized who it was. The Grim Reaper. The representative of death.
He continued to watch as the patient's heartbeat flatlined. Doctors that were on the night shift came rushing into the room, doing everything they could to save the poor patient. Unfortunately, the patient was gone for good. The girl he saw stayed in the room, along with the Grim Reaper, both sitting on the sidelines, watching as the doctors tried their very best to bring them back to life. It was no use, the patient's time was up, their trial was past its extension.
The doctors covered the patient with a white sheet and wheeled them out of the room, that's when the girl finally spoke.
"That was an easy one," she said quietly, looking at the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper just nodded before patting her head and walking to the window of the patient's room. Before leaving, it waved at the girl and disappeared through the window. The girl sighed, looking at the empty room, before getting up and walking out of the room. She walked past Tsukishima, not acknowledging that he was there. Before she walked too far, he mustered up the courage and finally spoke.
"Hey," he called out.
The girl stopped walking. Her eyebrows furrowed as she turned around. She saw Tsukishima standing there, looking at her helplessly. She blinked a couple of times before replying.
"You can see me?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Yes," Tsukishima replied, "You can see and hear me?"
"Yes," the girl eyes Tsukishima up and down, "You're not dead though,"
"What?" Tsukishima scrunched his face up.
The girl sighed. For her, it was too late to be dealing with all of this. Not like she had a bedtime or anything, ghosts never sleep. But she wanted to go somewhere for the night.
"C-can you tell me what's going on?" Tsukishima pleaded, "I don't know what's happening to me,"
The girl sighed again before walking up to Tsukishima. She grabbed his hand and held it up to hers.
"Huh," the girl clicked her tongue, "Astral projection,"
"What?"
"How clueless are you?" she put his hand down, "Astral projection is where your body enters a trancelike state and leaves your physical body,"
"No I know that," Tsukishima looked at his pale hands, "But why am I here?"
"There could be a multitude of reasons," the girl explained, "Why are you in the hospital?"
"Car crash," Tsukishima looked away, "My body is in a coma,"
"Wait," the girl moved to see Tsukishima's face, "You're the patient everyone has been talking about,"
"Huh?"
"Yeah," the girl started walking away, "All the doctors have been talking bout how you should be dead with how badly damaged your physical body is,"
"Oh," Tsukishima looked at her, "Wait, where are you going?"
"Well," she turned back, "It's kind of eerie talking in a pretty empty hospital right?"
Tsukishima didn't say anything. He caught up with her, following her small steps towards whatever direction she was going towards.
"What's your name?" she asked, putting her hands in her blazer pockets.
"Tsukishima Kei," he answered, "What about yours?"
"(F/n)," she answered.
"So, (F/n)," he asked, "What were you doing in the patient's room? And why was the Grim Reaper there?"
"Do you always ask this many questions?" she looked at him, "I was just hanging around the hospital till I felt the patients lifespan on the brink of death, so I just waited in their room till Grim showed up,"
"Grim," Tsukishima chuckled slightly at the small nickname that (F/n) used, "You guys know each other?"
"Sort of?" she questioned herself, "I'm usually there when they kill off another patient,"
Tsukishima stopped walking. (F/n) noticed how he halted his steps and turned to him, raising her eyebrow.
"What?" she asked.
"What are you?" he asked.
"Um, what?"
"What are you?" he repeated, not knowing how else to phrase the question.
(F/n) looked at him for a good couple of seconds before she finally answered.
"I'm a ghost,"
"S-so you're-"
"Dead," she finished his sentence, "Yes, I'm dead,"
"H-how'd you die?"
"Seems like a personal question don't you think?" she turned away, "We literally just met,"
Tsukishima didn't say anything. He caught up to her again, awkwardly walking next to her. The air was now tense. He probably struck a nerve asking those two questions. He looked down at his feet while walking, not knowing what to say next.
(F/n) bit the inside of her cheek. She continued walking till they were out of the hospital building. That was when she finally spoke.
"Come on," she gestured her head, "I'll show you where I live,"