The Ghost of Sang Sorenson

one

The screams of my stepmother sound below me, but even that can't cause the smile to wipe from my face. Today I turned eighteen, and was finally capable of leaving. I went to school like normal, Ashley Waters, and stayed to myself like always. Maneuvered through the huge crowds, went to Japanese with the weird Doctor I had as a teacher, and tried to stay away from the one group of boys trying to make themselves seem like normal students.

It was obvious they didn't belong at this school, obvious they weren't really here just to try and make the school a better place. I don't know who they thought they were fooling, but I always tried to stay as far away from them for the past three years. They were perceptive, and way to observant.

I shoved everything I owned into my faded pink backpack, covered in patches and buttons I'd picked up over the years. I'd grown into someone I wasn't before starting public school; where I use to be meek and pathetic, I was now sarcastic and not afraid anymore. My bag was stuffed with three shirts and two jeans, and as many books as I could get in there.

I sighed as I opened my door, stepping out and going down the stairs like I wasn't afraid. Truth was, I was terrified. Terrified she'd somehow figure out how to keep me here, keep me locked inside this house and never let me leave. I looked up once I reached the bottom of the stairs, meeting the cold eyes of Marie and my mother next to her.

Marie simply nodded, as she expected this of me, while my mother sneered and snarled at me. "Such a fucking whore, how're you going to make it on the streets huh!?"

I grit my teeth before turning, quickly walking to the front door and throwing it open. I didn't care how bad the storm was, I had to leave. If I stayed, I'd be dead by the end of the year. I shut the door behind me and smiled, walking down the drive and onto the road without looking.

The sound of a horn and flash of bright lights was the last thing I heard before a searing pain erupted over my chest, the ground beneath my feet leaving as I tumbled across something. I hit the ground, staring up at bright burning lights as I felt pain on every inch of my skin. I could barely breathe when I felt someone standing over me, looking up to find perfection in a suit.

His grey eyes were wide as he held a phone up to his ear, his mouth moving rapidly as he spoke. I couldn't here a single thing, only the high pitch ringing of something within my ears. The man leaned down as he stared at me, his phone away as someone ran up beside him.

He spoke to the other man, someone with black frames that covered emerald eyes much like the one in the suit, both of their hands moving around as they spoke. I didn't like the look the man in the suit wore, almost as if this disheveled look didn't belong on him.

The other one in the glasses looked down at me, his eyes wide. That's when I recognized him, his name was Kota and he was in my AP English class. Everything clicked, my mind racing as I tried to keep my eyes open and not succumb into the darkness that so desperately wanted me.

Did the vice principal just hit me with his car?

Flashing lights took my attention away, my head shaking the best I could as I tried croaking out to them. "No hospitals, no hospitals."

I didn't know if they could here my whispering, but I kept saying it over and over again until I felt myself get lifted. I feel being set on something, before straps get crossed over my chest and legs. I cry out in both pain and pure fear, the straps covering me quickly being taken off as a man looks down at me.

I'm scared, so scared as we begin moving again and I feel something sharp pinch the crook of my elbow. I can barely hear anything, my breathing ragged as I try to not scream from the pain pulsing through me. I feel the ambulance I was in half quickly, before we began moving again. My eyes kept going in and out of focus, something I didn't even know they could do.

My eyes finally settle onto a curly haired blonde man with bright green eyes, my eyebrows furrowing before another round of pain shoots through me. I can feel tears trickling down the side of my face, the mans eyes wide before his mouth begins moving. I can't hear him, I can't hear anything.

I know the man above me, but I don't care. A bright light blends into my eyesight, the pain ebbing away as my mouth begins to move. A soft song escapes me, something I use to listen to when life became too much for me. The light became brighter as the weight on my chest lessened, tears trickling quicker and quicker until all I could see was the bright light above me.

And at once I knew I was not magnificent
Strayed above the highway aisle
Jagged vacance, thick with ice
And I could see for miles, miles, miles

***
Sean's POV

The song she sang as she died haunted me. Her voice was barely above a whisper, yet it was filled with so much pain and haunting agony, it broke my heart, and the hearts of the other nurses in the room. I knew the girl, she went to Ashley Waters with the boys and had kept to herself. We looked into her, but quickly brushed her aside when a huge bust in the case came in.

She was just another student, or so we thought.

Having to explain to our team, that someone as badly abused as her slipped through our fingers, was tough. Multiple healed breaks, burns, words carved into her skin scared so deep it had to have bled for almost a week. I don't know how she lived as long as she did, honestly.

The worst part, was having to go to Owen in the waiting room. He was a mess, his suit wrinkled and shirt untucked. His hair was everywhere and his glasses weren't even straight. When I told her she didn't make it, I watched him break down and cry.

He hadn't cried since his mother died and he had to kill his father at five years old, or so I've been told. I've never seen him cry, but I did that night. I don't know if maybe it was the guilt, or maybe he felt like it was his mother all over again, but all I could do was hold him while he cried.

It's been days now, and I don't think I've slept more than a couple of hours. The boys have been zombies, I've been a zombie. Owen has became a machine that did nothing more than prune his roses, and listen to classical music that only he and Victor ever enjoyed.

When the girls parents came, well, her father came to identify the body, he simply asked for her to be buried in a grave somewhere. He didn't ask where, simply told the hospital to forward the bill to a different address. North was murderous, but Owen was worse. He looked like he was going to hunt down the father, and showed more emotion that I had seen him show in years to anyone besides us.

I ran my hands down my face as I stood up, glancing at the clock on my way out. It was 2:48, well past my time to go home. I walked to the elevator, watching the door slide open and let me slip inside. I pushed the button and kept my eyes on my phone in hand, texting Owen and telling him I'd be at the home we were all starting to share soon.

I glanced up before doing a double take as the doors shut, my eyes meeting wide tear stained green ones, right as the door shut on my face.