death || rsl

18

I took a look at my ID, my mom would be very pleased with this. Today I was assigned to read to the kids, since it was my first day and they had no one to teach me how to do harder jobs.

I got out of the elevator when I arrived to my destination; paediatrics. Then, three of the many souls I've come across on the second floor of the hospital stopped what they were doing to look at me. I nodded towards them.

"Hey." I said trying to sound friendly, and all of them seemed surprised. I turned around and followed the instructions that the reception volunteer had given me.

It took less than five seconds for me to realise that the paediatrics floor was full of wandering souls. The entire place was infested. I walked past some kids on wheelchairs who were looking at me with curiosity. I smiled and greeted them. My heart started to hurt and it wasn't because of my loss.

Watching their little smiles on their pale faces wasn't easy to cope. A little girl with long, red and curly hair caught my attention. She stood in front of her hospital room's door and looked at both sides before looking behind me with curiosity until her eyes finally focused on me. I stopped walking and looked behind my back, realising that many of the souls I've smiled to had now began to follow me. She could see them. I studied her small and sweet face. She looked at the souls one more time and smiled sweetly, and then she looked at me.

"Can you see them?" I asked her in a whisper, fearing someone would be able to hear me and think I've gone completely mad. She nodded her head.

"Can you?" She asked me, whispering as well. I nodded with a little smile. "Great." She answered with a huge smile on her face.

I winked at her and continued my walk towards the activity room. I couldn't stop to talk to a little girl about how we were able to see souls, without dragging attention. I've never met someone who could see souls before.

It wasn't easy leaving her knowing she could give me some answers. But I knew I'd see her again. I promised myself I'd find her later.

When I found the baby blue door, I knew I had arrived to my destination. This was where I was supposed to be. I opened it and I immediately found the book shelf at the end of the room. I turned my head back and smiled at the souls that had followed me.

"Alright, has anybody got a suggestion?" All of them stood there studying me, and some of them came a bit closer to touch me. I didn't feel anything. "No one?" The room stayed silent. I sighed and looked back at the books. "Well, I'll pick one myself then."

"My favourite is 'Where monsters live'." I turned around again, thinking a soul had finally decided to speak. Every soul was watching the little red head girl standing in the hallway. She then got into the room, smiling at me. "They won't talk to you, you know. They can't."

"They can't talk?" I asked looking straight into her eyes.

She slowly shook her head and sighed.

"Nope, I've tried t get them to talk. They like it when you talk to them though." She made a pause. "Well, some of them like you talking to them, but they can't answer. They're souls fighting for their return, so they're here wandering without a destination." She then looked behind her back, to the souls. "But then they start forgetting who they are or why they're here. It's really sad. If they would've been able to leave when they had the opportunity, they would've been assigned another body and another life."