A/N: Alright, I'm continuing 'Nephew Dearest'.
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"Whaddaya MEAN we can't see him?!!!" Stretch thundered at the trembling receptionist behind the desk who was hiding behind his Morning Post. The Ghostly Trio had immediately headed for the hospital when they heard about Casper. And when they reached there…all hell broke out. They couldn't get directions from anyone even though they reassured people they weren't trying to hurt them. A feeble senior citizen had even fallen flat when they approached her. And now this idiot wasn't allowing them to visit Casper because visiting hours were over. They were here for an urgent matter and they weren't stopping at nothing to go through the matter. Stinky tapped Stretch on the shoulder cautiously. You should be extremely careful and gentle when Stretch gets all huffed up and testy. "I'll handle this," He offered before floating over to the receptionist. "Look, we just want to see our nephew, Casper." He explained as clearly and as politely as any human could understand. The receptionist stood up shaking while straightening his paisley tie and arranging his glasses. "You're the casualty's uncles?" He clicked his pen open. All fear and helplessness had flown out the window.
"Yeah, we are," Fatso replied. The receptionist smiled, his wrinkly face amazingly lifted up because of that. He jotted down their names before clasping his hands together and eyeing them suspiciously. "You're ghosts?" He inquired, using his eyes to analyze every part of their DNA. Stretch rolled his eyes. How could fleshies be THIS stupid? "Duh, we ARE," He replied, stressing the word 'are' to its fullest. The receptionist raised his grey lined eyebrows at the reply. "I have no idea what to do; freak out, be scared or just faint." He ticked the choices of his fingers. Stretch was becoming irritated with all this stupidity. What had this 'ghost' issue got to do with seeing Casper? Stinky decided to appease him by asking again, firmly this time. "Look, allow us to see our nephew and we'll leave straight away." He decided to form a negotiation with this stubborn and rather oblivious receptionist. The human with a face of fantastically formed wrinkles appeared unfazed.
"Visiting hours are over," he stated firmly but flatly. Now it was Stinky's turn to be irritated. "Just long enough to send him this chicken soup?" He pleaded as he gestured to the chicken soup they had attempted to cook with an instant chicken soup mix. They had garnished it with spring onions to make it seem as though it were home cooked. The receptionist sat stone silent. Now, Stinky was ticked off! "Allow us in or you'll finally discover ANOTHER definition for the term 'halitosis'!! The receptionist, sensing a challenge, stood up to his full height. "You're threatening me to violate a safety procedure or disturb an emergency E.R?" He concurred bravely. Stretch intervened. "NO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!! WE WANT TO SEE OUR NEPHEW!!!!" He yelled right in the receptionist's drooping face. "I'm not allowing you in no matter what." He stated quietly, his arms folded. The Ghostly Trio exchanged scheming smirks. Time for Plan B!
Later,
After locking up the bounded and gagged receptionist in the toilet, they immediately started leafing through stacks of paper to find the ICU ward. They had tackled the receptionist as though he were a football dummy and dragged him to the bathroom before bounding and gagging him with sheets of 2-ply toilet paper. Hey, desperate situations call upon desperate measures. Stinky and Stretch were thumbing through files inside the file cabinets while Fatso flipped open a leaflet that read 'Recent E.R Emergencies'. "Hey, guys, I found Casper's ward!" He alerted his older brothers. Stretch snatched the leaflet and begun reading it. "Casper…13 years…ICU ward…3rd floor…left wing." After learning where Casper was located in this sanitizer-smelling jungle, they glided off. What they didn't was the fact that Casper had contracted hypothermia!
Later,
"Casper," alerted Stretch as he flew silently to Casper's side. Casper looked too horrible and gruesome to describe in mere mortal words. His normally translucent body had taken on a greenish tint and his eyes were shut. Tubes were pumping some sort of glucose substance into his frail frame. Stinky placed the thermos of chicken broth on the table and stroked Casper's head. Fatso came forth and gently caressed the kid's stomach. The Ghostly Trio felt helpless, sympathetic, depressed and afraid all at the same time! It had been 8 years since Casper lived with them and they had begun to realize that the kid was more darling to them than all the twelve wonders of the world. Casper fidgeted before rolling onto his side. The kid was in serious pain. When a ghost's paleness turned a putrid poison green, that probably meant the ghost's spirit would disintegrate and head for that huge palace in the sky. Stretch cautiously grasp his hand. It had been so long since they had ever bonded and now that distant feeling of parenthood was welling up inside the older ghost's heart. "Come on, Short Sheet. We don't want you to leave. We never did want you to. Just please get up and act friendly again." Casper's eyes fluttered open. He looked up in his eldest uncle's violet eyes. How long had he been strapped up to this hospital bed? How long had he been trapped in the foreboding ice? He grabbed his uncle's hand with tears in his eyes.
"I'm sorry for running away, screaming and getting drunk. The doctor said since I'm a ghost my recuperation will be shorter than expected. Probably a couple of week's time." He assured his uncles. He glanced at the thermos of broth, his uncles' reddened and moist eyes and their trembling hands on his frame. He managed a weak smile. "So you guys DO love me?" Stretch smirked at this. "Why of course, you idiot! A ghost can only be uncaring for so long." Casper returned the smirk before flopping back on the bed and falling asleep. His uncles took this cue to leave. They floated home, unintentionally scaring passer-bys. There was no thrill though when the fleshies screamed. For when they did, they would vividly remember Casper writhing in agony at the ICU. When they saw the fleshies run, they could fantasize Casper being prodded and poked with the doctor's apparatus. It seemed as though EVERYTHING reminded them of Casper. There was definitely no doubting it. It was supposed to happen. They had loved and cherished this special little ghost.
When they returned, the house seemed as lonely and spooky as how it looked like externally. From now on they would position themselves near the telephone just in case of any news about Casper. Two weeks sailed by without a word. Finally, before they would've lost it, it rang. It was news that illuminated the sun. Casper was well again although a bit wobbly at the sides. He arrived and his uncles nearly attacked him while hugging him tightly. "You're finally A-okay!" Fatso declared, hugging Casper more gently after the ghost boy pleaded him to quit suffocating him in his blubber. Casper's face was all smiles and beams. But it fell flat instantly. "Where's Uncle Stretch?" He asked, discovering his hot-headed uncle missing. Stinky explained that Stretch had flown to the seashore for a breather and to think. He had also brought a Jack Daniels beer bottle along with a martini glass. Casper decided on a nap before looking for his uncle. He flew upstairs and flopped onto his soft mattress, sinking into the cotton sheets and falling into La-la land.
Later,
Casper awoke and floated downstairs. His uncle was still not back. As he flew outside, Casper thought of the recent events. His uncles DID love him. They were heartbroken when he fell ill. And now his uncle was drowning his guilt and sorrows in cocktails. Casper sighed heavily and shot icy glares that would freeze anything harder than the frigid atmosphere at the lake. The water under the crackling ice would only remember him of something. The day he died in water. The beach would bring back worse memories but he had to convince his uncle to stop all this drinking; it was unhealthy. But there was something else.
"It's because I love him."
