when you were my father

the hospital

"You what?" Micah asks.

"Micah. Turn around." I whisper under my breath, staring over his shoulder.

He turns around and sees what caused me to go speechless. A man stands in the corner of our small room, but it's not a normal man. He's pale, too pale. Like he's transparent or something.

"Hola, small child." The man speaks in Spanish, looking straight at the two of us. "Cómo estás?"

I stare at the man, he's talking to us but at the same time it's like someone else is standing where I am and they're having a conversation.

"Who are you?" I reply, wondering how the man got into the room, since the door's remained closed.

"What'd you say?" Micah asks, and I elbow him in the ribs. "I just asked who he was." I whisper towards my brother, not wanting to confuse the man.

"I am Roberto." The man replies, not dazed at all. "And who are you?" He asks kindly, in return.

"I'm Mai. How did you get in here?"

"I walked through the door of course." He replies, a hint of humor in his voice. In normal circumstances it would be obvious, but it just doesn't really make sense.

"What'd the two of you say?" Micah asks.

"I'll tell you in a minute." I quickly whisper, he's starting to really annoy me. I'm just trying to have a conversation with this mysterious man, "Sir, this is the hospital room my sister's staying in. The door was closed and had been closed when you suddenly appeared. You don't really have a reason to be in here, do you?"

"What's that? Oh, I'm sorry. I did not mean to do that. Sorry,"

"It's no problem, but why did you come in in the first place?"

"This was my hospital room. It's where I passed, and now I like to stay here and watch the young ones that come through, wondering if they'll pass to come with me." The man begins to wander around the room, looking at the decorations and such. He just walks straight through each solid object. It hits me, this man is so pale because he's a ghost.

"Now will you tell me whatever the two of you were using to communicate." Micah demands, obviously annoyed he was left out of our conversation.

"Wait, you don't even know which language we were speaking?"

"No. Why would I?"

"Micah. We were speaking Spanish. You literally took Spanish last year." I tell him, shaking my head. He's supposed to be the smart sibling, but this makes me seem so much less dumb.

"Well, I'm sorry. How do you know Spanish?"

"You know that show you always say is stupid that I watch?"

"Oh, that weird one called rice Lulu or whatever?"

"No. It's called "Soy Luna" and it's a telenovela. I picked things up as I go, so it's actually not so stupid anymore is it?" I tell him, rolling my eyes.

"Right, well what did the two of you talk about?"

"His name's Roberto. This was the room where he died, and now he comes and watches young people die here."

"Okay...That's a little weird."

"Yeah, yeah it is." I agree, turning to see Roberto leaning over sleeping Isla.

She turns over on her back, seeming to be uncomfortable.

"Roberto." I call to the man.

"What?"