Unnatural// 5SOS & 1D

O' Death// part four

l.p: Dead and Dying

Death was everywhere. Death was imminent.

"So what, she's real. That doesn't mean anything." I said to myself out loud. "What are you talking about?" I asked myself. "Of course it does. If you see a reaper then you're most certainly dead." I ran a hand through my hair, tugging at the ends as I talked to myself in my cubical. "Dead and dying, that's what she said. My mother had heard her, does that count?"

"Liam, are you okay?" A voice asked behind me. I jumped up, startled. Jenny stood behind me, her hand on the frame of the wall. She was eyeing me worriedly. Had she heard me talking to myself? Shit.

"Yeah I'm fine just... Stressed." I murmured, folding my hands In front of me and staring at the ground. She nodded her head slowly before licking her lips.

"How's.. How's your mom?" She asked lightly.

"Oh, she's great. Tired but great." I smiled to hide the pain and she seemed to buy it. We talked a bit more after that about the weather or something before she left me alone. I sighed and removed my reading glasses, rubbing my eyes. Everybody in the office knew who I was. I was the guy whose father had died, who had lived through his sister being killed and was now going through his mothers death. I know some of them have talked about it, how I have bad luck and maybe they're right. I was sort of beginning to think our family has been cursed in some way.

"Felling down and out kiddo?" I jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Down and.." I stopped as I turned around. If I was the only one who could see her, then I would look crazy talking to nobody. They would surely put me in a mental institute. I grabbed up my office phone and put it to my ear as I faced her. "Down and out." I repeated. "And I'm not a kid." I said lowly. Our boss didn't approve of using the company phone line for personal use.

"You kind of are. Do you know how old I am?"

"You look like a seventeen year old." She rolled her eyes and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear before sitting on my desk, rustling the papers. "Don't do that." I said trying to shoo her away. "You'll mess things up."

"No I won't and I'm not seventeen. This is just the form I took so humans wouldn't be so creeped out by my true form." True form. I almost felt nauseous at the thought.

"I can appear as anyone and it's not like I chose this form exactly. You did."

"I what?" I questioned.

"How old was your sister when she died?" I stiffened.

"Why?" I asked lowly.

"Was she twenty-two? That's how odd this body technically is." I just stared at her. My sister was twenty-two. She was going to turn twenty-three a month before she was killed.

"Why would I manifest you as a twenty-two year old."

"Usually we manifest as someone the other would be comfortable around. You loved  your sister, your sister was twenty-two so I'm twenty-two." I shook my head at her and turned back towards my computer.

"What are you even doing here? I thought you were only checking up on me every now and then. This is twice in one day."

"Like I said before, the closer it gets to crunch time.." She stopped but my heart was already racing. Was I dying soon then? When? Tonight? On the drive to visit my mother? Hell, I could die right now. Natalie had disappeared by the time I looked back up. I slowly put the phone back down on the receiver.

----

I was erratic the rest of the afternoon and night. Nothing happened but there was a close call when I was driving to the hospital that night. A car ran a red. I was just about to drive through the green light too. Shaken up, I quickly parked my car and headed to the elevator where I pressed the button for the floor I needed and impatiently tapped my foot against the floor.

As I walked down the hall to my mother room, I noticed how a cluster of doctors was talking just outside her door. They were passing around a file and some x-rays. I panicked. "What's going on? Is something wrong with my mom?" I questioned.

"Liam." Doctor Vallon said in relief. "There you are. We were wondering."

"My mom?" I interrupted.

"Yes, of course. Your mother is fine. In fact, she's more than okay by the looks of it." I was confused by what he meant until he stuck up the x-rays on the machine just outside the door. I knew what I was looking at immediately. It was a scan of my mothers head. The left showed her head with a massive tumor near the spinal cord. The one on the right didn't have that.

"What is this?" I demanded. "Are you sure these scans are my mothers? Did you tell her? Because I don't want to give her false hope you guys messed the.."

"I assure you Liam we didn't." He pointed at the scan on the right. "This one was done today. And I ran it myself. This scan, both of these scans are your mothers."

"Where's the tumor then?" The doctors around the circle gave each other curious looks.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. We've never seen anything like this before."

"Did you remove some of it during the surgery?"

"Yes but not a lot. Not enough to make it disappear. In fact, it should have gotten bigger but it's completely gone, erased, like she had never had a tumor." How? How was this possible? Had Natalie done something to her? She said she thought she was here for my mom. Was it not her time yet then? Had Natalie removed my mothers tumor?

"So she's cured? She's got in to get better?"

"We're not sure yet son. We're going to run some tests, take some blood samples but.. It's looking really good." I smiled. God I was practically beaming.

"Can I see her? Is she awake?"

"Of course." Dr. Vallon opened the door and I entered as the doctors began to disperse. My mom turned towards the door when it opened and smiled when she saw me.

"Hello honey! Have you heard the good news?" My mom asked excitedly. I rushed to her side and took her hand as I sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"Yes. Dr. Vallon just told me. This is such good news mom." I said excitedly. She smiled, nodding.

"Some of the best yet." She looked towards her sheets. "Looks like I get to stick around a bit longer to bug you." I laughed before hugging her. My mom wasn't dying. She wasn't going to die. But if she wasn't, that meant I was.