Reapers

Chapter 2: Oh... Oh That's Not Good

CW: death (both child and animal), mentions of cancer, and more hospital stuff!

Roman slowly sighed, trying to ease the pain that had been building in his chest ever since he had woken up. It must be the broken ribs, the medicine must be wearing off now, that's probably why he can think clearly.

It was dark outside, and the lights were off which Roman was thankful for since the light made his headache worse. He doesn't have a concussion, but he does have a head injury from when he hit the window. Bandages were wrapped tight around his head, pressing a gauze on his temple where he has stitches from a deep cut that the glass gave him.

He really just wished that he could go to sleep so he could wake up the next morning, but the pain seemed to keep him up. He knew he could ask the nurses to give him some more medicine, but he also knew there were other patients that needed their attention more.

Besides, he could handle a little pain. He should be able to fall asleep eventually, even with the pain. He just needs to lay still and quiet his mind, or at least distract it until he falls asleep.

"Mommy?" a little kid called from somewhere in Roman's room.

Roman looked over to see a kid, standing at the door. He couldn't tell if they were a boy or girl, mostly because they looked super young and they didn't have any hair. A cancer patient. How did they get in here? Roman didn't hear the door open.

The little kid looked at him, eyes big and sad. They asked, "Do you know where my mommy is?"

"Uh..." Roman tried to figure out what to do. However, he blinked and the kid was gone.

Roman's heart skipped a beat and he looked around. The door never opened, so the kid couldn't have left so soon. There weren't many corners to hide behind, and the kid looked pretty skinny so they couldn't have moved fast enough to hide behind anything.

"Hello?" Roman asked, trying to slowly sit up. "Where'd you go?" He looked all around the room, but didn't see anywhere that the kid could have gone to. They just disappeared.

A chill went down Roman's spin and his heart started to beat fast. He carefully reached over and pressed the button that called a nurse, still looking for where the kid went.

His heart pounded against his chest so hard that it hurt, he felt cold and nauseous. Where did the child go? Are they okay? Were they even living?

The thought made him panic even more. It was ridiculous! Sure it's a hospital, but there's no way he just saw a...

"Mr. Prince?" the nurse asked as she walked in.

Roman was suddenly at a loss for words, should he tell her? What if the child really didn't exist? Or what if they did, but they weren't living? They would make him stay even longer, he does have a head injury after all. Yeah, that's right, he's just seeing things! It'll get better, he will get better.

"Can I get some more pain medicine? I can't sleep," Roman decided to say, thinking fast.

"Of course, I'll be right back." The nurse left, closing the door.

Roman laid back down, trying to calm himself. He'll just go to sleep and then everything will be alright. He was fine, everything was fine. I mean, there's no way he actually just saw a ghost.

~~~

"Okay, do we have everything?" Logan asked as Roman carefully got into the back of the car.

"The only thing I actually have that is mine are the clothes on my back and my medicine, so I think I'm good," Roman told him. He was wearing a red shirt with a Disney logo on the chest and jeans that Logan and Patton had gotten from his apartment.

"I suppose that's true. Patton and I were given the things salvaged from your car, which is totaled so you're going to need a new one."

"Good thing I have insurance," Roman sighed, resting his head on the back of the passenger seat.

"We also have gotten you a week's worth of clothes from your home, as the doctor suggested that you stay with us for a while."

"Thank you."

"Of course, kiddo!" Patton said, climbing into the driver's seat. "Anything to help you out!"

Logan got into the passenger seat and buckled up. "Let's go home."

"Can we get food on the way?" Roman asked. "The hospital food is disgusting."

"Only if you buckle up."

Roman quickly grabbed the seat belt, a little too fast since his ribs protested at the movement. He just held his breath and buckled up, moving slower.

Logan sighed, rolling his eyes at his friend. "Okay, what do you want?" he asked as Patton started to pull out of the hospital parking lot.

"Dunkin's Donuts?"

Logan pulled out his phone and started to type it in google maps to find the closest location. "Very well. Do you need the breakfast menu?"

"Nope, I already know what I want!"

"Patton, would you like anything from there?"

"Donut holes?" Patton asked, smiling at Logan for a second as they stopped at a stop sign.

"That much sugar this early in the morning?"

"I'll pay!"

"There's no need for that, I have more money than you. Fine, I'll get you the donut holes."

"Such a gentleman!"

"Make a left at this light."

"Got it!" Patton sang as he moved into the left lane.

Roman looked out his window, trying to relax and not move his ribs too much. They were already sore enough, and he couldn't take any more medicine for the next two hours.

Two birds caught his eye, they were flying above the light on the right. One was bigger than the other, and it looked like they were fighting.

Roman's eyes widened when the bigger bird scratched the smaller with sharp talons, making the smaller fall to the ground. He shut his eyes before he could see the bird fall to the ground, but out of pure curiosity he opened them again, looking in the air.

He expected to see the bigger bird fly away, or land somewhere else in peace. What he didn't expect to see was a man sitting on the traffic light, draped in a black cloak with purple plaid stitched several places with white thread. He had purple hair that almost seemed to sparkle, and in his hand was a bird that looked exactly like the one that had lost the fight against the bigger bird.

The man looked up from his hands, and looked right at Roman. Though he couldn't see his face, Roman still felt a cold shiver running down his spine. He knew that man, though he couldn't remember for the life of him where he saw him before.

He blinked and the man disappeared, taking the small bird along with him. Roman felt himself pale and he looked around desperately below the light for where the man could have gone.

"Okay," Patton sighed, almost painfully. Roman looked over to see him holding the steering wheel tight, the light had just turned green for them to turn.

"Is everything alright?" Logan asked him.

"Yup, I just had a bad feeling is all. I'm sure it's nothing though," Patton answered.

Roman didn't know if his eyes were playing more tricks on him, but he could have sworn he saw Patton look over to where the man was. There's no way he did though, he was probably just looking into one of his mirrors.

The cloaked man... there's no way he was real, it was just the head injury. He'll need to talk to the doctors about it when he goes back to the hospital for the follow up appointment. After all, the cloaked man shouldn't be familiar, Roman doesn't know anyone with sparkly purple hair.