Winds Of The Apocalypse

by Novak, Karina

  His voice got stuck in his throat, he couldn't go on, and to tell Morgan that he was seeing him hurt so bad…It was just impossible.

  "So I am dead." Morgan concluded, the images of the night still a blur in his head.

  “But if I am dead…” He began slowly. “Oh no…” Morgan suddenly sprung to his feet, startling his friend and making Din jump back in fear, making him fall on his ass.

  "Oh my god! Casey! Is she all right?! I have to go talk to her! If I'm dead and she knows it …I can't even imagine what state she is in right now. What she might do!"

  “No! Morgan! Wait!”

  Din scrambled to his feet and tried to halt his friend as he sprung to the door but of course he couldn't catch his unobtainable body, he watched him reach for the door when the door suddenly flew open and Colin, sweaty and exited ran in, not even noticing the surprised Morgan who stood back by the door, inches from him.

  "Din! I have something really important to tell you! Morgan is…What are you staring at?" Colin closed his mouth, noticing Din's gaze at a spot behind him, he looked as if he was in some sort of trance, mesmerized by that unique point. Colin blinked.

  "Ohh…Hmmm…" Din muttered. “It’s...Ehh…nothing. What did you want to tell me about Morgan?"

  "Ohm!" Colin smiled. "Do you know where he is now?"

  "Right here." Morgan said, clearing his throat, a little smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

  Colin froze and Din grinned as his friend turned from him, his eyes going wide and blank from horror and then Din had also managed to catch Colin when the poor kid's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell unconscious to the floor.

  Morgan looked at Colin, slightly amused.

  "Is he ok?" Morgan asked, looking down at his friend as he examined Colin's fainted body.

  Din nodded, combing Colin's hair from his face and looking up at Morgan.

  "He is fine." Din smiled. "He just doesn't respond to ghosts as well as I do." Din smirked, shaking his head and shaking Colin awake in tow.

  ---

  It's not easy to cope with loss, and as Morgan soon found out it's never easy to accept the loss of a brother, even if up until now you knew nothing about him, and more than that, if you were the one that was lost.

  "Fuck! This kid is so much fucking heavier than he looks! A little help please?" Din puffed in annoyance as he lifted the still unconscious Colin onto his unmade bed.

  Morgan grinned.

  "Sorry dude," He raised his arms up. "Ghost, remember? Can't touch shit."

  "Convenient." Din heaved. "Fuck, what the hell did he eat?" Din growled, letting Colin drop and then he straightened, looking at Morgan.

  "Try to wake him up, will you?" Din turned to the door, walking past his ghostly buddy. "Huh?" Morgan blinked. "You are leaving us alone? And where are you going?"

  Din shook his head.

  "Well, we need to wake him up somehow; he can't just stay here like that, can he? So I'll go to get some water for the sleeping beauty over here."

  Din put his thumbs up and then walked out, leaving Morgan to baby-sit Colin and even though Morgan was not so much alive now that didn't mean he had lost the mischief spirit that he had in him, in fact, with all that unlashed ghostly anger, it only seemed to increase.

  Morgan leaned over his sleeping friend and whispered in his ear in the sweetest voice he could master.

  "Colin…Colin…earth to Colin…come in Colin… COLIN!!!WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!"

  Colin screamed, jumping into a sitting position. His eyes flew open and as he heaved to regain his breathing he looked up and saw Morgan again, standing next to the bed, a well satisfied grin plastered over his features. Colin screamed again, falling to the floor as he tried to get away from him, yelling for help that would not come.

  ”Oh my god! Oh my god! What is this?!” Colin muttered and Morgan shook his head, laughing.

  "C'mon, I don't look that bad, am I?" He smiled cheerfully, attempting to calm his frantic friend.

  "Oh my god…I must have lost it…" Colin whispered to himself. “You can’t be here…That’s that’s…Just impossible!”

  "Great." Morgan frowned, going over to him, with Colin yelping in fear as he got closer and then staring at him puzzled as Morgan sat down on the bed, looking up at him. "Another one gone mental." He muttered, shaking his head. “We are not going to get anywhere like that.”

  Colin took a sharp breath. “But you…you…am I seeing things?” He asked, taking another step back.

  "Yes, we are all sharing a collective hallucination but you're not crazy." Colin turned in surprise as Din's voice came from the door and the boy walked in, closing the door behind him and handing Colin a glass of water which Colin downed in one sip, nearly choking to death.

  "Hey now! Slow down! This school isn't big enough for two teenage ghosts." Din laughed, giving an apologizing gaze to Morgan who nodded in agreement.

  ”A what?” Colin set the glass down on the night stand and glared at Morgan.

  "What are you doing here?" He asked as if he was expecting him to be elsewhere.

  Morgan sighed. "Again with the stupid question? Get it through your thick heads, I live here. Where else can I be?" He asked, raising his hands up to emphasize. “God, I’m surrounded by teenage morons, I’m doomed.”

  Colin growled and sat down on the bed beside him, ignoring Morgan’s speech of self-pity. “Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn't injured people be in the hospital maybe?”

  He asked annoyingly cocky and Morgan’s eyes widened in astonishment.

  “The hospital?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t you mean the morgue? In case you haven’t noticed I’m a ghost, there for, I’m dead.”

  ”No….” Colin prolonged the word as if he was explaining it to a five year old. "That’s what I came here for, to tell Din that Casey called from the hospital to tell us that you are not dead. Yet." He emphasized ‘Hospital’ and ‘Yet’ and Din laughed.

  "Well, 'yet' makes all the difference." He smirked, looking over at Morgan to see his eyes shine with delight.

  "I'm still alive? I'm not dead?! Are you sure?" Morgan exclaimed and Colin nodded.

  “Yes, I’m sure, you should have heard Casey, she was practically crying of happiness, your mom said that she hasn't left your bed since they took you out of intensive care.”

  Morgan couldn't believe it, he was so happy that for a second he forgot that he couldn't touch anyone and gave a high-five to Din who seemed to forget about that little fact as well.

  "Dude!" Din stared at their palms.

  ”Did you see that?!” Morgan raised his eyebrow, staring at their joined hands as well. "I can touch you now!" Morgan grinned.

  ”That’s so awesome!” Din nodded, letting go of him. "Man and the good news just keep on coming." Morgan turned to Colin who was looking at them, confused.

  "What was that about?" He asked, staring at both of them.

  "I couldn't touch him earlier…And now I can." Morgan explained. “It was like a ghost thing you know, when we tried that earlier he kind of went right through me, it was bizarre, you should have seen that…”

  "Oh." Colin nodded. "It’s probably cuss you accepted what happened to you so now you can channel your emotions to become corporeal." He said in a well-educated voice, that didn't sound anything like him.

  "Corpo-what?!” Din chuckled. “Who died and made you the ghost specialist?”

  Colin stuck out his tongue at him and then straightened. "Corporeal, is a state of mind of a ghost that living people can see and touch." Colin explained, smiling at the others.

  "So he wouldn't have to touch himself…” Din said slowly, thinking about the idea.

  “Do ghosts get horny?" Din smiled at Morgan.

  "Remind me again how we got to that?” Morgan chuckled. “And Yes. We apparently we do, I’m still thinking about our hot school nurse."

  Morgan smiled back, giving Din a playful slap on the forehead. "Owww!! Wish you didn't acc
ept it so quickly." His friend muttered, turning away from him and rubbing his sore forehead.

  Morgan ignored Din’s muttering and looked back at Colin.

  "So back to what you were saying earlier, how do you know that? I mean the ghost thing."

  Colin shrugged. "Read it in a book somewhere."

  "Oh my god! You can read?" Din laughed, making Morgan smile again, but then he shoved him.

  “Not the time.”

  Din shrugged. "Sorry, Colin, it just demanded it…"

  ”Yeah, yeah.” Colin muttered. "So…Mmm…About that phone call…”

  Morgan’s voice was suddenly unsecured and quiet. “What did Casey say about me?" Morgan asked Colin who sighed and shook his head. "She just said that you are out of surgery and currently in a coma because of the head trauma.” Morgan hissed.

  “A coma?”

  “Yeah…And she also said the doctors can't tell them the real extend of the damage until you wake up…If you wake up…It’s kind of unclear right now…I’m sorry." He paused for a moment. "God, I can't believe I am having this conversation with you right now." He said and Morgan smirked.

  "kind of blows my mind a little, you know?"

  "Yeah well," Morgan shrugged. "Think about how I feel, will you? If you would have told me yesterday that I was going to wake up this morning as a bloody ghost I would have asked you what you are on and where can I have some of that. I’m still hoping to wake up in the basement. Nice stash by the way."

  Colin glared at him, angry. "You been through my stash?! If you wouldn't have been almost dead already I would have killed you!"

  Morgan took a step back and pointed at Din. "His idea."

  Colin frowned. “You I can kill! Din…Consider yourself dead!"

  "Wait!" Morgan stopped Colin before he jumped Din, coming to stand between them.

  ”Please.” Morgan's face softened, he was serious now. "You can kill him later. Right now I need to know, Colin, how is Casey doing, how is she handling this?" He asked, knowing the answer he was already dreading.

  "Well…you know your sister." Colin said with sadness that wasn't there before. ”Like I told you before…She is just…Partly gone with you I guess.”

  “What do you mean?” Morgan pushed and Colin swallowed hard, Morgan had to hear this.

  "She can't stop crying…I talked to your mom after Casey couldn't form coherent sentences anymore and she said Casey wouldn't do anything but sit at your bed side. She refused to have breakfast or leave the room since you came out of surgery three and a half hours ago. I honestly think that this is not going to change until you wake up."

  He said and Morgan nodded, he knew that this would happen; he would have probably reacted in the same way.

  "If I stay like this for long and she won't eat or take care of herself she is going to get sick and skinnier than she already is." Morgan growled.

  Colin let out a little laugh. "Is that even possible? She is such a tiny little thing…"

  Morgan smiled sadly. "Probably not. But I have to make sure she takes care of herself, I don’t want her to end up joining me."

  Din crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think that anyone would be stupid enough to try and assassinate her in the hospital.”

  "Not her, me. Whoever hurt me might come there to finish the job." Morgan looked at Din. "And that’s not funny. I have to see her; she needs to know that I'm ok. The sooner the better."

  He said, making his way towards the door as Din jumped in front of him to stop him again. "Wow! Wait a minute here! You can't just walk out of here like this. If anyone sees you…Well, it would be impossible to explain. Not after what happened. You know doctors, they will probably do all sort of test on you, dissect you and staff and then we will never get you back."

  "But I need to see her." Morgan repeated, almost desperate. Colin mumbled something to himself. "What was that?" Morgan asked him.

  "I was just wondering about something you're mother said to your step father after she thought that I hung up the phone." Colin said.

  "What?" Morgan rubbed his head, he wasn't sure it would have the strength to contain any more information at the moment.

  "She said that she wouldn't be able to handle it again, loosing you too. But…She didn't lose you or Casey before so…what was ‘it’ all about?" His voice trailed off, he didn't finish, he didn't have to, something was defiantly off here but they really didn't have time to dwell on that at the moment.

  Morgan looked away, he didn't tell his friend about the box in the ethic that he and Casey discovered before they came there and the mysterious Jon their mother was so hard set on not to mention, but he did have a strong feeling that his mother's slip up and his 'little' accident were somehow connected, the ‘it’ thing too.

  He just didn't know how right he was.

  "We need to test you." Din said, snapping Morgan out of his day dream and making him frown at Din.

  "What am I? A guinea-pig? You want to dissect me too? I thought that, that was the doctor’s job, something we are trying to prevent from happening."

  "Not that kind of test!" Din laughed.

  "Then what do you want to test?" Colin was confused as well. “If you don’t want to dissect him, I mean.”

  "We need to know who else besides us can see you." Din said to Morgan. "Maybe you are not visible to everyone, but just to your closest friends since no one saw you as you came up here, we need to be sure of that before we let you out."

  Morgan nodded, it made sense. If he was in fact visible only to a handful of people then he won’t have to worry about hiding in case someone walked in on them uninvited, like Mrs. Kafka for instance, actually, he grinned, he would have loved it if she was able to see him, then he would be able to scare crap out of her, that could be a lot of fun.

  "Ok." Morgan said. “I agree. Man, who would have ever thought that you of all people will have such a marvelous idea Din?” He smiled.

  “We just found out that ghosts exist, the world is changing.” Din smirked.

  "Right, so how do we do it?" Morgan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Din thought for a moment, cracking the door open and checking the hall as he did so.

  "Perfect." Din grinned, looking back at Morgan. "Hmm…" He looked into the room, his eyes going to his table. "Can you pick up that book over there?" He asked, pointing at the big unused encyclopedia.

  Morgan nodded and grabbed the book from Din's table without any special difficulty.

  "I guess that corporeal thing works on everything." He said, smiling.

  "Now what?" He asked and Din stepped aside, holding the door open for him.

  "Now Morgan, you go outside."

  "And…?" Din groaned. "Do I need to explain everything?"

  "Yes." Both Morgan and Colin answered in unison.

  "Well…you put the book over your head and wait, if we hear screaming we know for sure that the two girls that currently stand outside couldn't see you and it would look to them like a floating book is coming towards them."

  "And if they can see me?" Morgan argued.

  "Then you just look like a moron with a book over his head." Colin explained to him.

  "Great." Morgan smirked. "A supposedly hospitalized moron, remember? Everyone in the school probably already knows about this. If they see me…How are we going to explain it?"

  "Well…" Din muttered. "Well, we will cross that bridge when we get to it."

  "Good philosophy." Morgan smiled and Din grinned.

  "I'm all full of good ideas today. Bow to the king." Din exclaimed, putting his right hand on his hips and waving air kisses at them.

  "Yes, he is full of himself all right." Morgan whispered to Colin and they both laughed at Din's pose.

  Din frowned. "Why does it work for Casey when she does it?"

  "Cuss she is cute." Morgan pointed out.

  "You look exactly like her you nark.” Din reminded him.

  "I know." Morgan smirked.


  "Well, Will you go on already? We are wasting our lives here on talking!" Din said as he forcefully pushed Morgan out the door.

  "Ok! I'm going, I'm going. Hold your horses and your pants up." He smiled and jumped out, before Din had any time to comment.

  Din and Colin glanced at each other, listening for any noise that would surreally come from the hallway; they didn't have to wait for long. A mere moment after Morgan had left them a loud screams came from outside Din’s bedroom door, and while Colin and Din recovered from their uncontrolled laughter Morgan came back in, looking really pleased with himself.

  "I scared the shit out of them." Morgan said smirking widely. “You should have seen them run. I think I actually saw underwear.” Morgan said delighted, looking at his jealous looking friends. "I guess we know the answer now. You were right Din, only you can see me."

  "Oh, I feel so privileged and honored." Colin smirked, crossing his arms over his chest, winking at Din but Morgan ignored him.

  "You should have seen their faces; their eyes went so wide I thought they would pop out of their sockets at any second. It was like they saw a ghost or something." Morgan mused.

  ”They did.” Din nodded. “I feel like you should have a nickname.”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, Casper had one.”

  "Morgan the horny ghost right?” Colin laughed at him.

  "Right. So can we go now?" Morgan laid the book he had used down, watching for his friends reaction.

  "Actually,” Din said gently. “I think you should stay here.“ He said quietly, already expecting Morgan's enraged reaction.

  "What?!” Morgan’s face practically turned red with fury. “What the hell should I stay here for?!"

  Din shrugged. "Well, think about this for a moment. If you just walk into the room where your body is lying, injured and Casey sees you as you are, a ghost, standing next to your body, she might just loose it. Think what her reaction could be. What it can do to her, we have to prepare her first."

  Colin nodded, agreeing. "Listen to him Morgan, he has a point here. Again. We don't want Casey freaking out in the middle of a hospital. They might commit her if she starts screaming about seeing her brother's ghost. I think that we should really bring her here before we tell her. We would be able to calm her uninterrupted if she loses it here."