𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 ~ 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀

~ Chapter Seventy Two ~

Mmm... what is this? Gravel? Klaus groggily looked at his surroundings, discovering he was no longer in the hotel, but instead on what appeared to be a gray beach. As he lifted himself from the ground, his hand immediately went to his chest, searching for the harpoon wound. But when he looked down, he realized that it was gone, meaning he came back to the place he went plenty of times before. The ring of a bicycle bell only confirmed his suspicions, as he looked up to see the little girl dressed in old clothes and a hat staring down at him. 

"Oh great, you again. So, to what do I owe the pleasure this time?" he grouched. But the girl said nothing, only continuing her lengthy stare. "Not talking, huh? I'm not in the mood for all your riddles and allegories, and sick little parlor games. Could you just point me in which way I'm supposed to go?" She pointed in the direction of the beach, though it was a long way from where Klaus was sitting. He got up from the ground, pushing past the tall grass.

Soon, he heard the sounds of waves lapping at the shoreline, meaning he had reached his destination. A stone path greeted him, leading to a tall metal door, another object that was oh-so-familiar to him. He walked up to it, pushing the door open, immediately spotting all the engravements on the stone. This wasn't just a random door leading him to nowhere. It led him to a mausoleum. What kind of snuff movie is this? As he looked down at the ground, he was stunned to see the eight-year-old version of him unconscious, surrounded by a pool of his own vomit.

"Hey hang in there, little me," he whispered. The sounds of footsteps approached from behind him. And out of the corner of his eye, he caught glimpse of his Dad stooping down to the little boy, talking into a voice recorder. "Experiment Number 73, cessation of life function at 12 hours and 22 minutes. Restarting the timer to reanimation," The stopwatch started ticking, and light slowly began to fill the room, taking Klaus somewhere else.

When the light faded, he found himself on top of a busy rooftop, full of teenagers sucking each other's faces off. He soon caught glimpse of the teenage version of himself, drunk out of his mind as he chuckled and joked around with some of his friends. The guests began chanting his name as he climbed onto the stone ledge, holding a giant liquor bottle. "Tonight, we drink to childhood trauma!" He toasted. Older Klaus's eyes widened as his past self's foot slipped on the ledge, plummeting him to the ground below, the sound of a car alarm followed.

As Klaus looked down at the ground, seeing the damage he had done to the car, he inhaled sharply, thinking it must've hurt. The light came back, this time taking him back to the present. He found himself back in the White Buffalo Suite, right before he was shot with the harpoon gun. "Come on, Stan. We gotta go see a man with a buffalo-" His mouth dropped as he watched himself get shot in the chest, his heart breaking at the anguished scream of his girlfriend.

"So, these weren't near-death experiences. These were actual death experiences," he came to realize. He walked towards his crying girlfriend as she held his body in her arms, believing he was gone and wasn't coming back. "Oh, Dusky..." He softly spoke, reaching a hand out to her. And though he knew she couldn't feel it, he hoped to see the relieved look on her face when he woke up, if he ever woke up.

~~~~~~~

"Aunt Dusk, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Stanley whimpered as the raven continued crying into her dead boyfriend's stomach. She had been sobbing for hours, not wanting to let go of him. She wanted him to wake up more than anything in the world, but just from the shot to his heart, part of her knew he was gone for good, but she refused to believe it. "Please say something... Anything!" Stanley pleaded.