DYING MOURNINGS, original

nine : a sudden visit

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𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 : 𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐓

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The ghosts were everywhere.

They crept through walls and passed through tables, unbothered. Some wore old hospital gowns, their feet bare save for a few with dirty socks on. There were even a few towards the back, lurking, wearing bloodied clothes that I could only assume was what they died in.

They died here like you will, one day.

They weren't the only ones in the room because on three metal tables were three bodies, all covered with thin white sheets. I knew instantly that the middle table was what held my mother, because there were two ghosts hovering around their respective tables.

Mama, where are you? Don't you wish to see me? Mama, please?

None of them looked dangerous, rather, they all looked kind of calm and lost.

The gray consumed all of us, their faces hollow and pale, looking eerily like skeletons. I took comfort in knowing they wouldn't hurt me. They needed me.

I caught the eyes of the watchful spirits as they all suddenly realized I was not like them, I wasn't just another dead thing, and that I could see them for what they truly were. I searched their faces, part of me hoping I could find my mother amongst the growing crowd.

But she wasn't there, because these were all faces I didn't recognize.

"You can see us," a voice from the middle of the pack stated. The man came forward, standing in front of the small group that was forming, beginning to resemble a chanting crowd outside a locked store. The ghosts were coming together, standing in a huddle before me. They came from the walls and from the floors like creatures being woken from a deep slumber.

"Why can't we go back into our bodies?" another man asked, pointing to the closest body on one of the tables. "Because it always works in the movies."

"Please, you have to help us," a woman whispered and I could see the tears in her eyes. "I have a husband, a son–"

"My baby!" another wailed. "Where's my baby?!"

A woman raced forward, clutching at my shirt as I yelped, stumbling backwards as she screamed. "Help me, please, you've got to help me! Get me out of here, get me out!"

"How come you can see us and no one else can?" the one who had spoken first asked once the woman had released her hold. He was older than the rest, like he knew what this world we were in was actually like. He gave me a curious look, changing his stance as he looked me up and down. "You're her, aren't you?"

"The necromancer, the necromancer," they echoed, whispering to themselves. The news of me being here spread through the small crowd, some ghosts gripping each other as they stared.

"We've heard of one coming, we didn't believe it," the older man said. "You're the one."

I frowned, feeling the bubbling beginnings of panic rise to my throat. "Surely there have been others before me–"

"Not like you, you're the one we've been waiting for."

"Save us," they whispered. "Send us home, please, send us all home!"