HeartStopper: Haunted

5. Intrusive Thoughts

October 31st

9:00 P.M. 

His tea is cold. When it's cold it doesn't have the same effect. There's no sense of magic. It's all just meaningless taste. 

The nurse wont make another lap to in for twenty more minutes. He doesn't like to be a bother, especially on such mediocre terms. Tara and Darcy could wake up soon then he could ask them. 

A doctor comes in that he doesn't recognize and he smiles. She's tall, bulky, and tan. She holds hispanic DNA just like he does. Her eyes are familiar and in an instant he knows he can trust her. 

"Hi Charlie." She says quietly as she crosses the room. 

"Hi." He whispers back. 

She tells him, "I'm Dr. Callie Torres. I'm just preparing your room for another occupant."

"A roommate?" Darcy questions revealing she's awake, "Over half of this wing is empty."

Dr. Torres nods, "Special request." 

There's a weird silence between them. Charlie looks at Torres with curiosity but she seems stunned. Charlie Spring knows she's looking at him. 

He's small. His skin clings to his bones. His eyes sink into his skull. Charlie has a hollow stomach and a ribcage that presses out above the rest of him. He's, quite simply, a ghost.

Dr. Torres is a physically strong woman but emotionally she's fragile. She knows about Christina's special case but she never imagined this is what it would feel like to see him. Callie Torres has worked on cadavers that have more meat on their bones than he has. Charlie is just so incredibly small. 

"I am trying... Dr. Torres." He says, "I'm trying to get better." 

She chokes on her own whimper. He watches as she composes herself. This is a professional woman. Who's seen darkness and knows how to come back. She'd be able to help him. 

Dr. Torres checks his vitals and tells him, "I believe you."

Tara is in and out of sleep. She's making an attempt to wake up but her efforts are no match for the weight of her eyes. Neither Charlie or Darcy imagine it's too much to worry about. 

A sound down the hallway, someone's on their way. Charlie caves letting Dr. Torres do what she's going to do to his veins and his chest stickers. A while needle comes out of his arm and goes away completely. 

He doesn't pay much attention too it as there is now a pair of nurses leading a gurney into his room. Charlie, in the surge of recognition, ignores the pain in his spine as he rises. That sleeping patient's face belongs to Nick Nelson. 

"Ahhhhh!" The scream he echoes out makes his gut bubble. 

Tara and Darcy snap to awareness. 

"Nick!" They shout in unison. 

Nick Nelson takes a deep breath as he peels his eyes open. He rolls his head to the side where he sees Charlie. A big goofy smile spreads across his lips.

He's breathing heavily between his words as he says, "Hi you... a-alot's happened... since I last... saw you." 

Charlie Spring reaches out his arm and his fingers moves easily over the bandage where they operated on his boyfriends wrist and shoulder. The fear on his face is impossible to hide. Nick sees this.