‘Audrey’s thoughts’
’Ryan’s thoughts’
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She woke up, suddenly, and found herself on a hospital bed.
She looked around, to her left was a machine that seemed to check her heart rate. There were curtains which separated her from the other bed. To her right there was a stand with a transparent packet of liquid being dosed to her, a side table with her phone on it, a red emergency button on the wall, and... that man.
He was leaning on the wall on one leg, looking down on the floor.
She gasped at the sight of him, her eyes wide and her heart rate increasing.
He noticed her awake and smiled at her. He began, "ah, you woke up. I'm Ryan-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!" She screamed. She sat up and brought her knees to her chest, her breathing fast and shallow, rocking herself, whimpering in a shaky voice, "I'm a fluffy cloud, I'm a fluffy cloud, I'm a fluffy cloud..."
"Woah- calm down, miss! I'm not going to eat you alive! I will not possess you! I promise! Please calm down!" Ryan stretched his arms in front of him and slowly walked towards Audrey, who was still whimpering.
When he reached the bed, he began explaining, "my name.... Is Ryan.... I'm a ghost. I guess you figured that out already. I know it's scary... I know it's weird.... But.... I won't kill you.... I'm a good ghost." He said slowly and smiled again. "Now, the reason I'm following you around is because...well... you're the only one in this whole multiverse who can see me or hear me. Except for the demons and angels, of course, and God too." He continued.
Audrey grabbed her phone from the table, its screen was broken, it must be from the fall. But she used it anyway. She was entering her password when Ryan floated towards her and looked at her phone from behind her. "That's what you call a mobile, right?"
She turned her phone away from Ryan and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "What?" He asked, clueless. "You're not supposed to look when I'm typing my password." She said in a voice just over a whisper. "Oh.." he said and floated away. "I know a lot of people's passwords, even the PIN numbers they use to get money from the ATM." He continued.
"Why would you do that?" She asked him, looking at him as if he just said he eats jam with mayonnaise.
He shrugged in response. She hurriedly tried calling Irene, but she only got a pre-recorded message saying she does not have enough money to call. She then tried texting her roommates, only to find she does not have internet connection. She sighed and fell back into the bed.
"What's wrong?" He asked, floating towards her.
"GO AWAY!" She shouted.
"Okay, okay, God... why are people so complicated?" He backed away from her immediately.
"Would you please- just- ugh.. I can't call my friends, I don't know where I am, I am talking to a person who doesn't exist. I- I- this is just so bad.." she started sobbing. Tears filled her eyes thinking about her own condition. She turned to her right and cried.
Ryan stood by the curtains uncomfortably. He looked at the floor while twisting his fingers nervously.
Suddenly she gasped, "wait, am I dead? Is this a dream?" She asked aloud. She looked at Ryan looking for an answer.
"No, you're not dead, I'm dead, you're alive and well." He replied.
"I don't think I'm well..." she said, turning back.
"Why not?" He asked. "Because I'm talking to the dead. I can see a ghost, and I can talk to him." She replied thinking carefully. "Clairvoyance." She continued, "the ability to see ghosts." "Clairaudience, the ability to hear ghosts. Clairsentient, the ability to feel ghosts...?" She stood up and walked towards Ryan, dragging the machine and iv stand behind her. She reached to touch his face, but he backed away.
"What're you doing?" He asked confusedly. "Can I touch you?" She reached out to touch his face, "cold." Her hand went into the middle of his face. "You're really cold." She backed away. "So you're just a patch of cold air." She said, her forehead creased.
"Yeah, I am air." He said, waving his hand through her head. "Stop it. You're cold." She walked back to the bed.
Just then, a woman with a green uniform pulled open the curtains. "Hey, doc!" Audrey shrieked with happiness. "I'm not a doctor, I'm a nurse." The woman replied emotionlessly.
"Oh ok. Well then, hey nurse! Could you tell me where I am and how I got here?"
"This is obviously a government hospital, your dad brought you here unconscious." The nurse replied looking tired. She had bags under her dark brown eyes.
"My dad?" Audrey furrowed her eyebrows, trying to remember who got out of the pickup truck .
"He wasn't your dad. Definitely not. He was some beardy muscular guy with a kind heart." Ryan interrupted. Audrey looked at him, she had forgotten he was there. The nurse looked at Audrey in confusion, "umm, ma'am?" "Oh yeah, can you see that ghost there?" Audrey pointed at him.
"Where?" The nurse turned back. "There, by the curtain." Audrey said.
"But there's nothing there ma'am." The nurse replied in confusion. "See, you're the only one who can see me. That's why-" Ryan began floating towards her with a smirk.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" The nurse asked, concerned. "Stay away from me Ryan." Audrey warned. "Okay, okay." Ryan floated back. "Should I call the doctor?" The nurse asked. "Yes, I think you should, she fell from the balcony, two floors down to earth." Ryan said. "Should I?" The nurse asked again.
Audrey nodded. The nurse walked quickly outside. "What's the time?" Audrey grabbed her phone to see the time. It was midnight already, all her roommates must've come back. They must be searching for her. 'Irene must be so worried.' She thought. Her phone switched off. "Oh shoot!" She shouted. "What happened?" Ryan floated towards her bed. "My phone is dead." She slumped on the bed. "Does it have a heart?" He asked putting his index finger on the broken screen.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked, irritated. "What? If it's dead it should have a heart, right?" He inquired, putting his whole hand inside the phone. "When did you die?" Audrey asked sitting straight. "I'm not sure, but not in this era. Definitely not in this era." His eyes widened and he shook his head as if he had seen something terrifying in this era.
The doctor came in. Along with her a male nurse and the other nurse too came in. All of them looked sleep deprived, all of them looked serious. "Heart rate?" The doctor asked the nurse. The female nurse checked the machine. "Normal" she replied. "Temperature?" The doctor asked again. The male nurse felt her temperature on her forehead. "Normal." He replied.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Wilson. What's your name?" The doctor, with a notepad in her hand, asked Audrey, smiling tiredly. "Audrey," she replied, "Audrey Barlow." The doctor wrote it down on her notepad. "Good, how old are you?" She asked again. "20." She replied. The doctor wrote it down. "What happened to you?" She asked. "She fell from the balcony." Ryan interrupted. Audrey looked at Ryan and then back at the doctor and said, "I fell from the balcony."
At once, everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at her. "Yeah, I saw this- this- ghost in my balcony. I got scared and I fell." She looked down at her hands, her cheeks red. "From which floor?" The doctor asked, her eyes showed concern. "The second floor." Audrey replied. "Get the x-ray room ready." The doctor ordered the male nurse. He nodded and walked out of the room.
"Are you okay? Do you feel pain anywhere?" She asked. "No, no pain anywhere." Audrey replied. The doctor's eyes widened. "You must be having super strength or something."
Audrey chuckled, "maybe." "Do you still see the ghost?" The female nurse asked. "Yeah, he's there." Audrey pointed at him. Ryan waved his hand at the doctor "hello." "Can you see him?" Audrey asked. The doctor squinted her eyes to see. "We should take you to a psychiatrist."
"A psychiatrist?"
"Yes, you might be having brain damage, to see such hallucinations." The doctor started writing on her notepad and walked out.
"It's okay, ma'am. Everything's gonna be alright." The female nurse comforted her, as she brought her knees to her chest, thinking about her situation.
