Short Story: The Morning After

Whumptober 2022 fill No.28: Anger Born of Worry | Punching the Wall | Headache

Whumptober 2022 fill No.29: Sleep Deprivation | Defiance | “Better me than you.”

Follows after Deadly Grip and Sleepless Night. Read those first for context.

~The Morning After~

Silas woke to a head that felt like shattered eggs in a blender and an arm that felt like it’d been dipped in a fire ant nest.

He groaned and dug his heels and good hand into the hospital bed, as if he could press his pain into the mattress. Something happened while he was out. He remembered fire and howling, but his memory was a tight mess of yarn, both ends buried so deeply that he had no hope of finding a starting point to untangle anything.

A faint breath drew his attention to his left. He relaxed his neck so that his cheek dropped onto his pillow, and found an unexpected face.

Moving dialled up his pain from a heated simmer to bright sparks. He pushed through and snaked his good arm over the edge of his bed until he weakly jabbed the sleeping Zoey in the shoulder.

“Zoey,” he rasped.

But the girl didn’t stir. And when he actually looked at her, the shadowed bags under her eyes told him why.

There was a story hidden in the holes in his memory, but Zoey had the right idea. A good sleep solved a lot of problems.

Silas closed his eyes and followed Zoey into the land of dreams.

~End~

Genre: fantasy

Short Story: Sleepless Night

Whumptober 2022 fill No.9: Sleeping in Shifts | Tossing and Turning | Caught in a Storm

Whumptober 2022 fill No.23: Forced to Kneel | Tied to a Table (bed) | “Hold them down” 

Whumptober 2022 fill No.27: Muffled Screams | Stumbling | Magical Exhaustion

Features characters from Life After Death. Follows after Deadly Grip. Read that first for context.

~Sleepless Night~

Silas’ fever began at the operating table.

It went downhill from there.

Short Story: Deadly Grip

Whumptober 2022 fill No.7: Shaking Hands | Seizures | Silent Panic Attack

Whumptober 2022 fill No.11: Sloppy Bandages | Self-Done First Aid | Makeshift Splint (kinda)

Whumptober 2022 fill No.13: Fracture | Dislocation | “Are you here to break me out?”

Features characters from Life After Death.

~Deadly Grip~

There was a time when Zoey could walk down a street and not wonder if the people she passed by were dead or alive.

Could she have those days back?

“Hold still,” she said as she unzipped her jacket.

Silas gritted his teeth as his right arm spasmed. “I’m trying.”

People said that ignorance was bliss. When it came to the spiritual realm, that wasn’t always true, but it still provided some protection. The evidence? The fact that out of the dozens of people on the street, the spectre only attacked her and Silas.

For something that no longer had any physical mass, the dead spirit had a terrifying grip. Silas’ arm fractured like burnt sugar in an instant. Silas tried his best to guide her, but between his pain and her inexperience, the makeshift sling she made out of her jacket looked more like a sloppy braid.

“Can you walk?” Zoey asked.

Silas’ answer was his eyes rolling to the back of his head when he tried to stand. Fortunately, a passing car took pity on them and drove them to the nearest hospital.

While doctors worked on Silas’ arm in the operating theatre, Zoey glared at the pale yellow walls, steadfastly ignoring everyone around her, human and spirit.

Zoey committed every feature of the spirit to memory. Once Silas recovered, they would return to that street, and she would personally make sure to kick that crazy ghost into the afterlife before anyone else got hurt.

~Continues in Sleepless Night and The Morning After~

Genre: supernatural, fantasy

Short Story: Life Story

Features characters from Life After Death. You can start there for context.

~Life Story~

Out of the billions of people in the world, only a small portion stood out. Those who did amazing things, or stumbled into extraordinary situations, or made mistakes that history would never let anyone forget.

Zoey had long resigned herself to the fact that she was just a number in the world population statistic. There just wasn’t anything exciting about her life.

Except for that one time she drowned and woke with the ability to speak with the dead. But that wasn’t the kind of thing to publicise. Not unless she wanted to risk attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Short Story: Beside Yourself

No matter how many times it happens, you still feel surreal at the sight of yourself on the hospital bed.

But the feeling passes, and you turn your attention to the rest of the hospital. Your spirit drifts languidly. What’s the hurry? You have nowhere to go.

“Hi there. How can I help you?”

You turn to the voice, even if you know it can’t be directed at you. Except, the owner of the voice is the only one around, and he has his eyes focused on you.

“You can see me?” you check.

“Yes. Anything I can help you with?”

Your head tilts to one side.

“Help?”

“Do you have a message you would like to pass on? Or a place you want to go before you move on?”

“Move on? Oh. No. I’m not dead yet. My body’s still here.”

The man’s smile does not falter.

“Can you show me?”

“Sure.”

You drift back to your room, following the pull on your spirit. It isn’t until you reach your room that you remember strangers can’t come in. You turn around, but the man is there. You think it strange, but let the thought go.

“Have you tried going back to your body?” the man asks.

“Can I?”

“My friend did. Why not give it a try?”

“How?” you ask as you hover over yourself.

“Lie down. Fit your spiritual self with your physical self.”

You tentatively lie down, fingers to fingers, toes to toes.

And wake.

~End~

Genre: fantasy, supernatural