Hazel opened her eyes to the dim lights of that old room. She expected pain, expected to feel her many bruises and cuts.

But it never came.

She looked down at her hands, saw the dark bruises engraved into her skin. When she pressed her finger against one, no pain came as if it had never been there to begin with.

"Woah..." she felt herself grin at the relief. When she looked around to find Frank, her heart stopped when she saw the two young men in the corner. They sat near each other, their pale skin visible in the lighting. "Are you friends of Master Anderson's?"

The blond one looked over at her, a smile breaking out on his face when he saw that she was awake. "How do you feel? We've been waiting for you to wake up."

Hazel sat up with a sense that she was going to float away from the wooden floor beneath her. She looked again, just to be sure, but Frank wasn't in sight. "I..."

"You don't need to be scared of us." the man continued, his voice soft. "My name's Will. I'm not a slave owner or anything like that."

Hazel eyed the rope indent around his neck. "What h-"

"I'm dead." Will stated simply. "I died...a long long time ago. Nico here died even before me. From a sickness."

Hazel backed up. "How? How can I see you? This is all a prank. Frank set this up, didn't he? Or Master Anderson wanted to get back at me. That's what happened."

Will shook his head sadly. "Sorry, Hazel. I saw what you went through. I'm sorry you had to die that way."

Hazel's dark eyes widened. "Died... no..."

"It's why you're without pain." Will explained. "Why you can't feel what he did to you anymore. It's why they don't notice you're just laying in here."

Hazel wiped at her eyes but no tears had escaped. "This... it's impossible... I... I can't go without Frank...I can't go anywhere without Frank. I love him."

"Calm down. You can wait for him." Will ran a hand through Nico's hair, the man in question having rarely fallen asleep. "Can I tell you something?"

Hazel nodded once, shook her head, nodded again.

"Nico died from a sickness." Will repeated. "He became what we now are. Ghosts. So he waited for me. He watched me live until I died. Now look how we are. We're together, everything is okay."

Hazel looked back down at her hands. "I can see the floor through myself."

Will nodded. "That will happen. You don't have a body anymore."

Hazel shivered at a sudden chill that ran through her veins. "What was that?"

Will grimaced. "Someone walked over your grave."