Max found himself in the same dark place he had been moments ago. He looked around and found a familiar figure sitting in the distance. Weird, Max didn’t remember ever having the same dream twice… Oh well, he might as well go talk to the boy and be done with it.

As he got closer to the boy, he started to feel a faint smell of death and bleach. It took him back to when he went to the hospital to see his brother… No. Not now. He had time to dwell in the past and feel like shit later.

Max reached the boy and sat next to him without saying a single word, there was a monster walking around over them after all, they couldn’t risk making any noise, right?

“You’re alive!” the kid said with excitement “Oh thank God, I thought I had killed you!”

“Huh?” Oh, it was a different dream after all…

“Oh yeah, you were practically asleep the whole time so… Well, you’re in a hospital right now, your ribs cracked and one of your lungs defle- de- It went boom like a balloon!” he yelled frustrated “And I think I was probably my fault…” the kid said, looking at his bare feet.

“What?!”

“But don’t worry, I heard the doctor, and she said you will be just fine, they’re just waiting for your bones to heal a little bit so they can send you home.”

“Oh, ok…” he blinked and suddenly he was in a dark room.

He looked around and tried to sit up, only to slowly lay back down with a hand on his chest.

“Fuck fuck fuck…” he whispered in pain.

The teen moved his head slowly from one side to another. The blinds were open, letting the moonlight in, giving him just enough clarity to see what was around him and distinguish some colors.

He was in a minimalistic white room with blue curtains and at least six tiny round lamps embedded on the ceiling. Next to his extremely comfortable bed was an IV pole with an IV drip connected to his wrist, and on the other side there was a drawer with flowers, four get well soon cards, his phone connected to a charger, and a book.

“What the…” He remembered what the kid in his dream told him. The hospital, the broken ribs, and the collapsed lung… Well, he was definitely in a hospital, and his ribs felt broken for sure… He grabbed the collar of his hospital gown and looked under it. Half of his chest was covered with a large square-shaped band-aid.

He was too scared to rip it off because of his ribs, but he was sure he would find a surgical suture under it.

Yup, the collapsed lung thing was also real… Wait. That meant that…

“Is-ing-ne?” said a familiar voice, deep inside his stomach “May-tors, t-them you-ke.”

“What the fuck… Calvin?” he called, hoping to not receive an answer.

“I’ m-re” the voice said in a reassuring tone.

Max’s eye widened. Oh, God… He was going crazy… Was he going crazy? He was just going crazy, right? Otherwise, that meant that there was a dead kid with a thirst for revenge inside his belly… That ghosts were real… And that he had been an asshole for no- Wait, a ghost in his belly?!

“Did I eat you?!” Max yelled, making his chest hurt “Ok, fuck... fuck... calm down... ah fuck...” he said with his face contorted in pain.

“No, I-ding-dam-d,”

“I’ll be real with you, I can’t understand half of what you’re saying, but I’m pretty sure that that first part was a ‘no’ so…” he said more calmly.

“Oh… W-yo-ld-me-dre-so-wa-ll-ain. B-fo-now!”

“I still can’t understand you.”

“For-et-t.”

“Are you making this on purpose? Ah forget it…” he sighed, closing his eye and letting himself sink into the unbelievably comfortable bed. There was no use trying to talk with a bugged hallucination or ghost or whatever anyway, he would just get more frustration than answers. God let it just be a hallucination...

He tried to fall asleep again but was just too nervous for that, so the boy decided to grab his phone and use the flashlight to read the cards.

The first card was written in really fancy and wavy cursive, and Max couldn’t understand a single word, that one was definitely from his uncle and aunt…

“I don’t get it, why do adults write like this? Can they even understand each other?” the teen asked himself.

The second one only had a cheesy pre-written message scratched off and a “Get well soon. -Bruno” in the ugliest handwriting he has ever seen.

“Yep, it’s from Bruno alright…”

The last one had a “Get well soon. I left the second volume here for you, so you have something to do besides going through the same four channels all day :D -Elisa” and an envelope with Daniel’s name written on it.

“Thanks, Elisa.” He said with a smile while opening Daniel’s letter “Let’s see…” The letter just said: call me now it’s important.

“Ok…” He turned the phone’s flashlight off, went to his contact list, and pressed the call icon.

“Hey…” answered a sleepy Daniel.

“Hey, ah… I read your letter and…”

“Is your heart alright? Do you think you could handle some bad news?” he said in a severe tone.

“Ah…”

“Will your heart fail if you see something scary or if you receive bad news?” he asked a bit impatiently.

“No… But I would still prefer not to.” He said with a nervous chuckle. Was that one of Daniel’s jokes?

“Ok, I’m stopping by, give me a moment to get down- Fuck!” he said with a loud crashing sound in the background.

“Are you alright? I think visiting hours are over, by the way, maybe you should wait until morning or--”

“Time is a lie, and I don’t give a shit; this is too important to wait and- Fucking hell!” Another crash was heard through the phone, making Max flinch away from the device.

“Daniel?” he called cautiously.

“I’m fine! Just tripped on a tree!”

Max heard a knock on the window and slowly turned his head towards the sound.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw what looked like a skeleton wearing a fur hood.

“Max is-th-ith?” Calvin asked, hearing the boy’s heart accelerate. 

The skeleton slowly brought a phone up to where its ear would be.

“Can you open the window?” the skeleton asked with a slight French accent.

Max kept looking at the creature. Yep, he was either going crazy, or that was the reaper coming for his soul... Both scenarios sucked...

“Let me guess. Too wounded to get up?” it said “Ok... I’ll just get in through the fire exit.” it sighed, slowly levitating up out of the orphan’s sight.

“I need help...” Max whispered, grabbing onto the IV pole “And maybe a priest...”

“A p-st? Wh-w-ha-ing, I ca-thing!”