Ghost In Red

---    

Staring at my unconscious self makes me feel a bit hopeless. Why can't I go back inside? What is the matter? What is the right thing to do to make it work?    

I sighed and decided just to leave the room. I will get back here after I hear anything from my father about my condition. I want to know his reason for agreeing just to let me die if ever I won't show obvious signs of getting better after fourteen days. I am just wondering why I am a ghost. Maybe I'm really dead. But no, I believe I can go back, that I am still alive. Perhaps a little longer is all I need to get better. But fourteen days is like... Shit. Especially if I really did not show any improvements since the time I got into that accident.    

Maybe I just need to sleep here, and perhaps if I could wake up tomorrow, I am pretty sure that I will be walking up in my body. Alive again. Maybe. Maybe I should try sleeping here tonight.    

After I had made up my mind just to stay with my body, I went back to my room. I laid down where my body was and tried to concentrate. And finally, sleep.    

---    

I hastily opened my eyes when I heard something strange, and I thought someone was about to enter my room. I tried to see if I was back in my body, but to no avail, still not.    

I looked at the time on the wall clock on my right and saw that it was almost midnight now.    

Then I get out of the bed and waited for the person, no, people to open the door. Maybe some doctors or nurses. I don't know. Midnight? That's weird.    

When their voices are getting clearer, I can now hear them saying, "Yeah, this one here is named Olivia Hunters. She is pretty much pretty, but I guess she's dead already ever since she got here about a month ago."    

My eyebrows met in wonder as to why that person was talking about me. If it's a doctor or a nurse, then he is the meanest person that has ever been assigned to check on me. Dad should find me another one.    

"Really? Then why is she still here? Shouldn't she be under the ground?" Answered another guy, and I let out a scoff. The fuck is wrong with these people? They have no right to make those awful judgments about me. Don't they know that I have been trying to go back into my body? Everyone has the right to live!    

"Well, she is just the same as Patty down there. What I heard is that she will be taken down soon by her parents. It's just a waste of money waiting for nothing." Replied the other, and I gritted my teeth in anger as I wanted to punch some faces. If I am a ghost, then I badly wish that I am a poltergeist so I could touch things and slam them to the ones I loathe or scare them till they lose their shits.    

To see who these bastards were talking about me, I went to the door to look at them, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw them going inside my room but not through the door.    

"Oops! She... Is... Here. Hello, Olivia!" The guy wearing a blue basketball jersey greeted me, and the other one wearing a white suit waved at me while smiling sheepishly.    

Hold on a second.    

I tried to think of what is happening right now as I am pretty surprised. Are they... Umm, are they seeing me? But damn, they just pass through the wall. Oooh, that means they are ghosts. Oh, my gosh.    

"You... Are you... Are you...?" I began while pointing at them but stuttered as I don't know what the right thing to ask is, and the guy in basketball attire replied with a bright smile, "Gay? Yes, I'm gay, bitch. I don't know about him. Nevermind. So... Umm... Are you, too?"    

I shook my head in response to his question, and I looked at the other one.    

"No, I'm not gay. I am Dylan. Nice to meet you, Olivia." Said the dude wearing a white suit, and my question was not answered. No, I have not asked them properly.    

"What I mean is... You both can see and hear me. Are you ghosts?" I asked them, and they just went to the couch and sat there.    

"What do you think, sweetie? By the way, the name's Clinton, and I am... Yes, I can consider myself as one. Ghost, I mean, or my conscious self that has been floating out of my body. Mhmm." The proud gay asked and introduced himself while crossing his legs on the glass table.    

"I just got here two days ago," Dylan said, and I nodded my head in response.    

"What about you? Are you a ghost? Of course. That body arrived here without you, and we thought that you were dead. But we really are, you know? It's just the machine that has been making our bodies live." Clinton asked and uttered, and I slowly went to sit down on the other couch to have this ghost to ghost conversation with them. I am curious, and I want to know things.    

"No, I believe I can still go back and wake up," I answered firmly, and Clint went laughing so loud while Dylan looked at him weirdly.    

"I'm sorry, Liv. I just can't help it. Well... Do you mean you are hopeful that you can go back? Girl, I have been wandering here for the last six months. My body is down there undergoing medication, making my parents spend every dime that they earned so hard just to let my body live. They even got bankrupt because of me recklessly getting into an accident caused when I fainted while playing a shitty sport, making my head bump with concrete. My skull cracked, and they did everything they could to cure me. But look at me, am I alive? No." Clint explained with a sad tone of voice, and I wasn't expecting it to be that long.    

"I committed suicide. Drank lots of pills. And, they rushed me here the other day. I was just surprised that I woke up like this. I don't know how to go back to my body to wake. I thought I had died completely. But I found out that I am not alone." Dylan let out, and I turned my head to look at my lifeless body.    

"Oh, don't bother saying your reason for being here, Liv. I know it. You got into a road accident back in Cali. Then you are transferred here because your parents have business here so they could look over you. But no matter how the specialists put their hands and medicine on you, no responses come from your body. It's so unfortunate on your part. Do you know that you only have thirteen days before everything will be over for you? I envy you, actually. If I could just tell my parents to do the same thing, they couldn't have been suffering from their daily lives just to have me alive. I want them to stop treating me and let me go." Clint uttered, and I am not entirely surprised that he knew. He's been here for so long. But I don't want to die yet. Maybe a little more time is all I need. Perhaps we have a different condition.    

"Can I ask you something? Are there any ghosts you have met here that have come back to their bodies and lived?" I curiously asked them, and Dylan turned his head to Clint when he answered, "I did. But very unusual. Only two out of thirty-seven. Mostly died, and some are being mercy-killed by their families. And there are twelve other wandering ghosts in this place right now, kept hoping as you do. It's expensive to keep your body alive, you know? But no problem with you; you have lots and lots of money. But your parents mentioned that they don't want you to suffer more and longer. They are also suffering, Liv. Especially your dad. He's been crying whenever he is the only one that visits you. Mostly, every day."    

I let out a deep sigh when I heard his words, and I can't help but feel sad about it.    

"Let me guess; the woman is not your real mother, is she? Step?" Clint asked, and I just nodded my head in response.    

Then he added, "I actually heard her say to you that if ever you would live again, she would try to be a better parent to you even if you treat her like somebody who took your happiness. She would try to make you feel that she could be your mom. Damn! This life story of yours makes me cry. It's like a soap opera. I just wish you could get through it and have a second chance to live, Liv."    

"Well, I am hopeful, too. The same goes for you both. I hope we will have that second chance to be with our families again." I replied with a small smile. I never knew that Candice would want that. Maybe I could add her to the to-do list of my new and happy life if ever I would live again.    

After talking with the ghosts, we visited everyone else in the hospital, and they introduced me to them. It's actually amazing how this dimension consists of souls of people with stories to tell about their experiences and give good advice to each other, while there are also jerks.    

---    

The morning was about to come when I went back to my room to sleep in my body again. I want to keep trying until I can finally go back.    

I was startled when I heard the door went open, and I tried to look if who has walked in.    

It's Dad.    

What is he doing here so early in the morning?