GHOSTS - GRAYSON DOLAN

four: attached

Grayson and Valerie spent a few hours apart, after their little spat. It wasn't very serious, but she was getting tired of him insisting they were going to die, so she didn't follow him when he walked away again. Instead, she went back to her room. Her head was pounding for quite a while afterward, so she didn't practice manipulating things. It hurt until the sun dipped below the skyline, and she couldn't get it to go away.

Just as it was starting to, her mom came to visit.

"Mom..." Valerie breathes, stepping closer. She puts her hand on her arm, focusing, trying to get her attention. "Mama, please!"

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her mother to feel her. That was a limitation that would drive her crazy, but she could make the curtains flutter, and push some small things over. Her mother barely noticed. It was bringing back the ache in her head.

"Val, please wake up," her mother whispers, holding her hand--her sleeping body's hand.

Unable to take it, she walks back out and finds herself wandering the identical hospital corridors. That's practically all she's done lately.

Her mother was reaching out, begging for her to be okay. She couldn't even let her know that she could hear her, and it was too much to bear.

"Valerie!" Grayson groans, the sound of his footsteps echoing in her ears. "Hey, where've you been?"

"Walking around," she shrugs. "Not much else to do. Why, you wanna bug me about dying again? Why do you insist on being an ass?"

Scratching the back of his neck, he frowns at her. "Alright, I get it. I'll drop it--we obviously want different things and that's cool. I don't know... maybe I was being mean so I don't get attached or something. My plan is to die, when I make my choice," Grayson whispers, hating the fact. Saying he genuinely plans to die makes it so much more real. Another sign he isn't ready. "I've also been getting irritated being so bored in here. Like right now. I'm so fucking bored, dollface."

"Well you can walk around with me all you want," she smiles. It was nice to see him show feelings for once. "So, tell me about yourself."

Grayson snorts, "like, just my life story?"

"Yeah, whatever. Who is Grayson?" Valerie laughs as they continue walking. "Anything you feel comfortable saying." He sighs, not answering. Grayson wasn't really sure what he wanted to say, or what he should say.

How close was too close to get to this girl? She didn't know who he was, obviously, but what did he want her to know? The two had all the time in the world to go over everything, yet he couldn't think of even one thing.

"Alright, I'll start," she interrupts his thoughts. "I'm Valerie Santos, I'm 20, and I'm currently in school for graphic design. Though right now, I work at an art gallery.

"I have a turtle named Pecan, my favorite movie is Would You Rather, and I had a horrible emo phase when I was 15," Valerie blurts some random facts, a few of which he chuckles at. She just wanted to get some kind of conversation going. Even if it was stupid, she wanted to get to know him.

Despite him saying he didn't want to get attached, she wasn't worried. How attached could you really get to someone who was just a distraction from your boredom?

"Hm, alright. I'm 21, I make YouTube videos with my brother, we were supposed to go on a trip to Australia in a few days... it's one of our favorite places.

"Uh, this is hard," Grayson pauses to let out a laugh. "I'm allergic to cats and dogs, and--oh! My name is Grayson Dolan."

Valerie thinks the last name sounds familiar, but can't place her finger on it. Hearing he makes videos, she just brushes it off as just that.

"You make YouTube videos and you have trouble coming up with cool things to talk about?" Valerie snorts. "...so, got anyone you love in your life?"

She wastes no time getting into the personal stuff.

Grayson chokes for a second, glancing to the side where she was already staring back at him. She's nosy, and stubborn, and frankly a little bit annoying. But he likes it.

"I guess? I've got my brother, my sister, my mom... some friends. People I care about." Grayson wasn't sure if she wanted a real answer or if she was asking if he was single. He opted for the former.

"Do you think they'd want you to die?"

There it was. She was asking so she could pry into his business again, try and get death off the table.

"No, they wouldn't," he shakes his head. "But it's not really their choice. It's mine."

Valerie doesn't know Grayson, not really. But so far he was the only one to speak to her, one of the few who could see her, and despite his attitude, he was mostly kind.

She couldn't live with herself if she didn't at least try to convince him to come back. Of course, the whole choice was still a mystery for her, but she just assumed it was something he had figured out in his time here.

Grayson Dolan doesn't want to die--not really. Valerie doesn't believe that, even if he does.

"Listen, dollface, you're not gonna change my mind. Loss is part of life."

Loss was a major part of life, but that never made it easy. It certainly wouldn't be easy, for a lot of people, to hear that Grayson had died. In fact, many were already distraught knowing he was in a coma. Grayson wasn't thinking about that though, he couldn't let himself think of it because then he wavered.

He knew this was all selfish, but he'd never been that selfish before. This was a decision he didn't want other people to influence.

Valerie, however, wasn't going to just let him make that choice. Not without a fight.