Dearest Penguin People,
Here is the latest installment of Max and Sebastian.
If you are new to this serial, please start here…
And as always a special thank you to P.Q. Rubin for the tipsy penguin up top.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13
Excerpt from the last chapter:
Larry couldn’t contain himself anymore. “Short stuff is afraid to tell you that your dad is standing next to you.”
Eve dropped the disinfectant bottle. “That’s enough.”
“But it’s true.”
Eve stood in the center of the hallway, shaking. “My father died in this hospital.”
Part II - Chapter 14
Eve walked across the ER parking lot. Fiona was nowhere to be found. She approached another ambulance crew seated on the tailgate of their unit. The EMT, a short stocky man called Billy, was smoking a cigarette. The medic sat on the far corner writing a report, trying his best not to breathe.
“You guys seen Fiona?” she asked.
Billy flicked his ashes onto the parking lot. “She said something about the cafeteria.”
“Thanks.” She turned back to the ER, checking her phone. No texts from Fiona, not that she expected any.
“Hey, wait a second.”
“Yes?”
A smirk stretched across Billy’s round face. “I don’t think you should bother her right now. She said you’re being a total beeyotch tonight.”
She took a deep breath. Explaining would be useless. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
And with that, she reentered the bustle of the emergency room.
*****
Max yawned. Two hours had passed and she was no closer to having a brain scan done. And to be honest, she didn’t see the point. It wasn’t like the tumor had gone anywhere. Adults really were stupid.
The charge nurse flitted by. “Sweetie, we’ll have a room for you soon, an hour tops.” Then she hurried away, a phone clamped to her ear.
Max’s mind screamed. An hour in a dismal hospital hallway. If the tumor didn’t kill her, she would die of boredom first.
Larry was trying to get Sebastian to talk. “So, you died here?” he asked.
Sebastian scowled and looked at the floor.
“Come on, I’m bored.”
“Then feel free to go somewhere else more exciting. The Psych Ward is on the third floor. I think they’re doing macramé.”
“Ah yes, fond memories. I made macramé socks once. They were a bit lumpy and a few of my toes poked through. But they turned out better than Armadillo Annie’s scarf.”
“What are you going on about now?” Sebastian asked, his patience at an end.
“Well, she said it was a scarf but somehow it ended up around my mouth instead. I couldn’t say a word until a nurse finally came by and took it off.”
“I like her already,” grumbled Sebastian. “I take it you were a frequent visitor to the third floor?”
“I may have sojourned there a few times.”
“I never would have guessed.”
Max propped herself up on her elbows. “Why was she called Armadillo Annie?”
Larry leaned back in his chair, a faraway look in his eyes. “She had a pet rat named Charlie. She mistakenly thought it was an armadillo due to an unfortunate skin condition. It was quite disturbing, all scales, with only a few puffs of hair. In fact, Charlie and your friend here could have been cousins.”
“Would you shut up already?” Sebastian threw him a dirty look.
“I’m just making conversation.”
“Well, I don’t talk to weirdos.”
“You’re one to talk, Lizard Lips.”
Sebastian faded and reappeared behind Larry’s left ear. “Not in front of the girl,” he hissed quietly, his tongue flicking Larry on the cheek.
“Why not?” he whispered back.
“Because she’s the only one who doesn’t see me as a monster.”
Max was craning her neck toward them in frustration. “What are you guys talking about?”
Larry looked at her tiny face with the sunken eyes. “Your friend,” he said, “was just about to tell me how he died.”
Max yawned again and lay back in bed. “It’s not a huge secret. Sebastian died of a heart attack.”
“No doubt caused by sleeping hanging upside down all the time. It’s got to be bad for the old ticker.”
Sebastian’s face curled back in a snarl, showing a row of glistening black teeth.
Max gave Larry a baffled look. Just what was he going on about? Sebastian’s normally placid features seemed positively miffed, like he needed a Tums or something.
Joe, the ER nurse, looked up and saw the little girl and the homeless guy talking to the wall. He wondered if the moon was full. All nurses knew that the loonies came out in full force when it was. His phone made a pleasant little ding. The pretty physician assistant was texting him back. He smiled and turned his chair away from the fruit loops.
Meanwhile, Larry poked through the items on the supply cart next to him.
“What are you looking for?” Sebastian asked.
“There’s got to be some holy water tucked in here somewhere.”
“Could you possibly be more annoying?”
“Absolutely.”
Max giggled and then groaned. Even laughing hurt her head.
Sebastian patted uselessly at his pockets. “What I wouldn’t do for a cigarette right now.”
“Is that how you died? By choking on nicotine?”
“No Larry. I was annoyed to death by people like you.”
“Ouch.”
Max was counting the cracks in the ceiling. They made her dizzy so she closed her eyes. “Just tell him already.”
“Fine. I died the usual way because my heart stopped. My wife cried over an empty bag of bones and skin while the real me watched.”
“That sounds awful.”
Sebastian focused on his fingers, willing them to reappear. He fanned them out and gazed at Max through the narrow spaces. She lay motionless on her bed, a harbinger of what was to come. He lowered his head and spoke to the floor. “I stayed with Anne until they led her away. Then everything turned gray, the walls, the ceiling, like walking through a tofu tunnel.”
“No bright light for you?” Larry was watching him intently.
“No, nothing like that. The Gray kept getting thicker and I fell into a mindful indifference.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means to willfully forget everything you know. I would think someone like you would be very familiar with this.”
“Very funny, but why would you want to forget?”
“If you dwell on things that connect you to this world then you never leave.”
“Oh.” Larry’s eyes grew pensive. “What if I can’t forget?”
“Then I guess you’ll be haunting whatever mad house you die in.”
Sebastian smirked but Larry seemed unfazed “Finish your story.”
“Fine. As I walked, a row of doors appeared. I could have gone into any one of them. But one stood out.”
“What made it stand out?”
“Not sure.”
“Me thinks someone is lying.”
“Why are you talking like a golem now?” Sebastian asked.
“Funny you would know how a golem speaks.”
Sebastian glared down his scaly snout at Larry, yellow eyes gleaming. He leaned in and whispered, “We knows lots of things and we knows this is better left alone.”
“It must be awfully crowded in that head of yours.”
Sebastian licked his lips. “I have nothing more to say.” He evaporated and sulked in the corner, wanting to be away from prying eyes.
But truthfully, this was the part he owed Max. He just never knew where to start.
When he died, The Gray was new for him. He was used to a fast track to hellish limbo with night terrors as his bunk mates. But this time, The Gray beckoned, and promised everything would be wiped clean. No more tears, anger, or love. Love was the worst, since nothing hurt more. And as a bonus, he wouldn’t have to wear a tie.
He walked faster along the gray tunnel. More doors appeared through the haze. Some were anchored and stagnant while others floated and shimmied. But none of them called to him.
Then a trapdoor opened, the frame lined with sharp, hooked teeth that snapped on the hinges. He edged around it, careful to avoid the bleak shapes swirling inside.
“Nice try,” he said.
The door yowled in frustration, spitting out a tooth, and then slammed shut. He realized, that even now with death behind him, he wasn’t safe.
So, he walked. The presence of something else, something old and oddly empty, prodded him on. He sensed no light or dark, just a vessel waiting to be filled.
A naked ghost, the color of spoiled meat, passed him in the hallway, going the opposite way. He gave Sebastian the slightest nod before passing him. There were always some ghosts who chose to stay behind. Some dumbos just didn’t know when to leave, though most did wear clothes. A moment later, the same ghost passed him again. When he passed him a third time, heading toward the wearisome world of the living, Sebastian knew something was up.
The Gray gave way to darkness. His heart sank. This wasn’t fair. He had done better this time.
Every door but one vanished.
He entered a sad room. A group of doctors and nurses worked furiously to save an infant. Forgotten in the corner, the mother lay silently on the delivery bed, her eyes hollow and unseeing. Track marks lined her arms. The father, a teenager with bad skin and neck tattoos, stood beside her, scared but resolutely holding her limp hand.
The naked ghost from the hallway stood over the baby. He watched the medical team put defibrillator pads on the tiny body and watched it jump. Chaotic little squiggles went up and down on the heart monitor. Then slowly, the squiggles started to flatten. The ghost’s hands hovered above the infant.
Sebastian moved closer and watched a small ghost rise from the tiny body towards the gray fingertips of her abductor. The color of melted ice, she was almost impossible to see, an empty casing. No emotion registered on the ghost’s face as he continued to draw the baby out. Sebastian waded through the unsuspecting nurses and doctors and slapped the ghost’s hands away.
The ghost looked up in surprise. “You can’t have her,” he told Sebastian.
“You can’t either. Let her go.”
The ghost sniffed. “I don’t associate with common scavengers. Go now, and feed on someone else.”
Furious, Sebastian raised his fist and then froze. The darkness had truly taken him. His hand was gone, instead a razor-edged claw covered in dark, smoky scales stared back at him. He reached up and felt the long nibs of pointed teeth protruding over his top lip.
His better had not been good enough.
The naked ghost read Sebastian’s face. His eyebrows arched over mean little eyes. “You can’t change who you are. And like I said, you can’t have this one.”
They were interrupted by the light chittering of a soul awakening. The infant’s spirit rippled, like a pebble in a clear pond. Then the water became muddy. She started to drift back into her body.
“I have to collect her now.” The naked ghost pushed Sebastian aside.
The infant’s spirit looked up at Sebastian. A defiant spark, drenched in darkness, flickered in her eyes.
At that moment he knew everything had come full circle. If he wanted to flee the agony that would surely follow, he should leave now.
“Get out of here,” the naked ghost said.
But he couldn’t. His soul ached. It was empty and here was a shimmering gem of dark energy that he could not ignore.
The infant caressed his face. His insides went thud.
Sebastian faced the naked ghost. “Leave her alone.”
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” the ghost said.
“And neither do you.” Sebastian punched the ghost in the face and sent its head flying across the room.
Immediately, shadows seeped into the room through the door frame and gathered around the table, within reach but never quite touching the infant’s spirit. Something held them back.
“Go away!” he screamed.
The shadows fled.
Behind him the head bounced in place like a yo-yo. “You can’t do this.”
“Watch me.” Sebastian punted the head out the door. The torso, with arms flailing, lunged toward him. He dodged and then flung the body into the dark hallway. A door opened and the body flew through it.
He turned around. The exhausted team was unplugging their machines.
And still, the infant waited.
“What do you want from me?” Sebastian asked.
Tears spilled from her eyes in fiery droplets. The air began to hum.
Unknowingly, he let a forked tongue flick out between his scaly lips to lick her tiny fingers.
Then she began to laugh, like the peal of a thousand tiny silver bells across a frozen sky.
In his heart, he knew it wasn’t her time.
“Go back,” he told the tiny ghost. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Her eyes blazed dark fire as she slowly drifted into her body.
A nurse noticed the baby’s hand move. Then the slow beat of the heart monitor filled the room. “Wait.”
The team converged on the tiny body.
Sebastian turned to the baby’s mother. Surely, she would be relieved. But she stared motionless into the dark bit of space that held her. The father took her hand and whispered in her ear, “It’s a girl.”
The new mother pushed his hand away.
“Let’s get her to NICU,” a young doctor said, his face still pale. They placed her in a neonatal cart that looked like a huge incubator.
“What’s your baby’s name?” A nurse asked the mother.
The girl turned away on her side. “I don’t care. I don’t want it.”
Beside her, the young father whispered, “Her name is Max.”
Sebastian saw the anger in the nurse’s face. She nodded at the father and then looked down through the glass at the newborn. Max lifted her head slightly to look at Sebastian.
“What is she looking at?” the doctor asked.
“For her sake, I hope it’s an angel,” the nurse said.
Sebastian knew he wasn’t an angel, but he desperately wanted to believe in one.
As a side note…none of this was written with AI and I kindly ask that no one use it for training purposes. Thank you :)
"A naked ghost, the color of spoiled meat..." 😨👽
Awesome!