Ghost

Chapter 4

March 30th, 8:00 PM

Suisei pried her eyes open. An unfamiliar ceiling. Overly bright incandescent lights. Sterile white décor. Suffocating silence—only interrupted by the periodic mechanical beeps and bops of machinery. As the grogginess slowly wore off, a foul, astringent smell invaded her nose. Antiseptics. The nauseating scent instantly brought forth a wave of unpleasantness that clung to her stomach.

She was in the hospital after being struck by a car.

This wasn't the first time she regained consciousness. She had been drifting in and out of sleep throughout the day.

Each time she closed her eyes, she wished to be whisked away into a dreamlike fantasy that would make her forget these wretched events.

Each time she opened them again, she pleaded that these terrible memories were just the byproducts of a horrible nightmare.

But reality was cruel.

The doctors had already examined her body, assessed it for damage, and given her their initial diagnosis. Most of her injuries were minor. There were a few bone bruises, a slight sprain to her hips, along with some cuts and lacerations to her skin. The only major concern was her knees. Suisei glanced over, staring coldly at her left leg that had been wrapped in a cast. A set of braces were locked onto her left leg to keep it still. A piece of memory foam was placed beneath, elevating the limb to promote healing.

A fracture, she was told. Possibly some more torn ligaments as well. It happened when she hit the ground hard after the car had collided into her side. In the grand scheme of things, she got out mostly unscathed, without any life-threatening injuries.

"You were lucky."

That's the doctors told her. She nearly scoffed.

As if there was anything lucky about getting hit by a car. There was nothing lucky with her left knee being torn apart. There was nothing lucky with being robbed of her dream, her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She didn't need a doctor's diagnosis to know that she couldn't dance for her concert.

She could already imagine the flurry of comments online, lamenting and criticizing the cancellation of the concert. She won't be able to prove her detractors wrong, nor could she give back to her fans.

And perhaps what made things worse was that there was no one for her to blame. There was no evil mastermind hiding behind the scenes plotting the events that led to her downfall. There were no enemies to confront. No antagonists to overcome.

Her misfortunates had no villains.

The driver of the car apparently experienced a brake failure. A freak accident. She was simply at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

The realization drove her mad. Frustrated, she slammed her fist against the bed over and over again, in a desperate attempt to release the rage boiling beneath her chest. The taste of iron tickled her throat as she sunk her teeth into the flesh of her lips. Her trembling hands moved towards her mouth.

Was I just unlucky?

The thought that she was dealt this hand because of some arbitrary coincidences torn her apart. Suisei couldn't accept that reality. It felt too cruel. Too indifferent. If there was no villain, no malicious actor behind her misfortunates, then surely this was the work of some karmic justice. She must have done something to deserve this. Some wrongdoing that she unknowingly committed. Something so heinous that it needed to be punished by ripping away her hopes and dreams right when they were within her reach.