Out Of Our Control (High School Shoey)

Ch 26- Dead Babies

~SHANE'S POV~

His eyes are tinted black with death. He can see your mortal soul but you can't see his.

Because he doesn't have a soul?

Oh he definitely has a soul. It's just trapped under the tight grip of death.

His name is Joey Graceffa and he will kill you.

I wake up to find myself in a hospital bed. No one's in the room with me.

I'm alone.

I slowly get out of bed and walk out of the room, exploring the brightly lit building in nothing but my hospital gown. Somehow I find myself in the maternity ward without even realizing it until I see the nursery. What day is it? I look up at the calendar hanging on the wall and nearly pass out.

May 16th, 1998

This is Joey's exact birthday. Am I in the past? Why am I sixteen years in the past?

Wait. Who's that?

There's a beautiful young woman wearing a black and red blazer along with a matching pencil skirt, walking down the hall. Her jet black hair is pinned up in a tight and neat bun without a strand sticking out. Her ruby red peep toe stilettos click on the marble floor as she passes me by. She's wearing a hat and sunglasses to hide her identity but she still looks awfully familiar. Her blood red lipstick stands out boldly as she gives a sly smirk to me.

I follow her down the hall as she leads me to one of the patient's rooms. Inside the room is a woman with bloodshot and puffy red eyes, lying on her bed with a tissue in her hand. Next to the bed is a plastic crib holding a baby.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" the woman asks the patient.

"A boy." She answers with a hoarse voice. She must have been crying really hard.

"What's his name?"

"Joseph. Joseph Michael Graceffa."

"Was he stillborn or did he die afterwards?"

"Stillborn" she whispers. The lady picks up the dead baby and cradles him in her arms just like you would any living baby. She rocks him back and forth for a little while before handing him to the patient.

Wait. That's Debra.

"Please don't make me hold him." Debra pleads as more tears flow down her face.

"Hold him." The lady says in a stern voice. Debra gives in and takes the lifeless infant out of the woman's hands. "say vita mors est. Te potest fallere vita."

"But he's already dead."

"say vita mors est. Te potest fallere vita." She says in a more demanding tone.

"say vita mors est. Te potest fallere vita."

And then I hear a baby crying. I look at Debra and find her holding a perfectly healthy baby. His tiny hands grab for the air as he continues to cry.

"Oh my god." Debra breathes out in disbelief. "Thank you so much! But how did you...?" she looks up to ask the lady a question but the woman has already walk out the door. The clicks of her heels fade away until silence fills the air again.

~JOEY'S POV~

"Can you save him?" I ask Lisa as we sit on the bathroom floor next to Shane's lifeless body. Sawyer should be here any minute now.

"I told you already. We can't use our powers on each other. You can't kill me and I can't revive you. It's just impossible."

"No." I say, shaking my head as the tears drop. "You have to save him. You have to." I whisper as tears blur my vision. I feel like I can't breathe. I'm dizzy.

"Are you okay, Joey?" Lisa asks. Her voice sounds so far away.

I close my eyes and fall on my back before darkness engulfs me.

His eyes are tinted gold with life. His soul has more light than your mortal soul will ever be able to produce in three lifetimes.

Does he even have a soul?

Oh he surely has a soul. It's just being restrained by the grip of death.

His name is Shane Dawson and he will save your life.

I wake up to find myself in someone's bedroom. I know it's not my room, but it's someone's room. I hop out of bed and exit the room, making my way down the hall and find myself in the living room. What day is it? I look at the calendar hanging on the wall with wide eyes..

July 29th, 1998. Ten days after Shane was born.

Knockity-knock-knock

I turn my attention to the front door and see the most beautiful woman I have ever seen enter the apartment. She's wearing a beautiful white blazer with a gold outline and a pencil skirt to match. Her blonde hair is pinned up in a tight and neat bun without a single strand sticking out. She's wearing at white hat with sunglasses to shade her face but she still looks really familiar for some reason. Her shiny golden platforms click on the ground as she walks across the hardwood floor.

"Don't keep your mouth open, honey. You'll catch flies." She pushes my chin up to close my dropped open mouth before she walks away. I follow her.

She leads me down the hall into a nursery. A lady sits on the floor up against the wall with red and puffy eyes.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" the lady asks, motioning towards the crib holding a motionless baby.

"A boy." The woman says in a raspy voice. I can tell she's been crying really hard.

"What's his name?"

"Shane. Shane Lee Yaw."

"How did he die?"

"Baby shaking syndrome. My husband...he can be very aggressive sometimes."

The lady in white walks over to the crib and picks up the dead baby. She rocks him back and forth and cradles him in her arms like he's not even dead.

"Hold him." She says, handing him over to the mother.

"Why?" she asks as she wipes a fresh batch of tears away with a Kleenex.

"Because I said so. Take him." The lady gives in and hesitantly takes the lifeless infant in her arms. She turns her head so she doesn't have to look at her dead child. The pain is too much for her to bear. "Look at him."

"Please. I don't want to." She chokes out through her tears.

"Look at him. Trust me." She says in a calm, reassuring tone. The woman gives in and finally looks at her son with so much pain and sorrow in her eyes. "Now tell him that mors potest esse ad tempus. Vita potest esse perpetuum."

"Why? How is that going to solve anything?"

"I'm tying to give you a second chance with your son. Just say it."

"mors potest esse ad tempus. Vita potest esse perpetuum."

Holy shit. He's alive.

"This is a miracle!" the woman says as she tries to calm down the crying baby. How...?" by the time the woman looks up, the lady has already walked off. I can hear her stiletto heels click in the distance as she disappears.