Paranormal

15. Human

DAY THREE

Phil

I groan when I wake up. I feel sticky and sweaty.

God, will this heat wave ever end?

Without opening my eyes, I feel around the bed in search of Dan. His cold skin is sure to cool me down. I feel around blindly and frown when I feel the empty spot beside me. I open my eyes and see that he isn't here. He isn't even in the room.

I jump when I hear two loud thuds followed by Dan shouting, "Fuck!" I quickly put on my glasses and venture out of my room to find him.

He sits on the hallway floor. There is a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair is wet. Did he take a shower? He has both of his hands covering his nose.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I don't know..." Dan says. He sounds surprised. "I woke up feeling weird. Everything felt hot so, I took a shower. Then, I tried to walk through the wall to get to our room, but I ended up crashing into it."

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"Yeah, I just hit my nose really hard."

He moves his hands from his face to show me. Both of our eyes widen when we see that his nose and hands are covered in dark, red blood.

"What?" he gasps. "Oh my god!" he cries. Dan gingerly presses his hand to his nose. He brings it back down and inspects the blood on it. "Blood? How is this even possible?!" I notice that his hands are shaking and he looks scared.

"Dan, oh my god..." I say in disbelief.

I go to help him up, but almost drop him when I feel the temperature of his skin. He is no longer cold. His skin matches the same temperature as mine.

"Dan, you're warm," I say in shock.

His tear filled eyes look up at me, his expression the same as the one I have.

"I'm what?!"

"You're warm," I repeat.

I touch his face, his chest, his arms. They are all warm.

"But I'm dead!" Dan says.

The blood from his nose is starting to go down to his chin and into his mouth. He wipes it away with his hands and spits it out in disgust. It falls and stains the carpet.

"C'mon, let's get you cleaned up," I say as I grab Dan's forearm and lead him back into the restroom.

He doesn't say anything after that. He just stares in disbelief at all of the blood that continues to drip from his nose. He sticks a piece of toilet paper into his nose to stop the blood from falling. (He calls it a nose tampon.)

Once he is clean from blood, we change into some shorts and shirts. He sits at the foot of the bed and I sit next to him.

"I can't believe this is happening," Dan whispers. He stares at the floor.

I wrap an arm around his waist and pull him closer to my side. He rests his head on my shoulder.

"I'm sure it's nothing," I say.

"This is most definitely something, Phil," he shakes his head. "First, you find me asleep. Then, it was the hickeys and the reflection. After that, I'm no longer cold and I can't go through walls anymore. And now, I start to bleed! These things only happened when I was human, but I'm not human! I'm a fucking ghost! I'm dead! This shouldn't be happening!" Dan yells hysterically.