Media: Fanfic
Author: Agent_girlsname
Title: Haunted Life: Chapter 4
Rating: PG13
Summary:
Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying.
As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, however the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore.
But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it, Blaine just needs someone to believe in him
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
'Are you sure you picked up a scarf from the bus?' Blaine asked for the third time as he chopped tomatoes for dinner.
'I think I am.' Kurt sighed, hopping up onto the kitchen counter and watching Blaine work.
'I need you to be sure if this is all we have to go on Kurt.'
'I know, I know, it's just difficult!' Kurt was frustrated with himself. Almost getting murdered was a big thing; you'd expect someone to remember something like that. So why didn't he remember his own incident? The rest of the night was as clear as a photo to him, but as soon as he leaves the motel room his memory begins to jump, things he thought he was sure about begin to change and suddenly he's not too certain anymore.
Blaine continued to make dinner in silence. He would be eating alone tonight, again, as his parents went out. He didn't mind, the silence was becoming more preferable then their uneasy company. And now Kurt was always around he didn't feel so lonely.
He had survived his first week at his new school. The jocks pushed him around and given him what was called a slushy facial. Blaine had been horrified at first but as Mercedes and Tina had dragged him into the restroom and cleaned him up; laughing about their own slushy experiences it hadn't seemed so bad.
No one had found out his secret and for once he felt like a normal kid at school. Even if he did spend all his time talking to Kurt as soon as they got to Blaine's house.
Blaine found they were talking about much more than just Kurt's attack. Kurt had begun to tell Blaine everything he might need to know about McKinley. The jocks wait by the dumpsters in the morning to throw people in so don't walk by there. Keep a spare change of clothes in your locker for future slushy attacks and whatever you do, do not get in Coach Sylvester's way when she is angry. Being in Glee you were an extra target to her.
He would still get bullied, he was sure of it, but at least now it would be about normal things, like being shorter than others or being in glee club.
'Wait!' Kurt snapped him out of his thoughts all of a sudden. 'On the bus I found my iPod and scarf, but I found five dollars as well.' He grinned triumphantly. 'I remember it because Finn had asked me for some money earlier and I didn't have any, so when I saw it on my seat on the bus I picked it up and put it in my pocket.'
'Ok, I don't see how that helps though.' Blaine admitted, dropping the tomatoes into a saucepan and adding some olive oil.
'You should add some basil.' Kurt commented, leaning over the saucepan and inhaling deeply before sighing. 'Oh I miss smelling and tasting things, you don't realise how much you do it till it's gone.'
'Kurt, focus.' Blaine said, pulling some basil and adding it to the pan.
'Ok, right. So if I remember right and I found my iPod, scarf and five dollars then the five dollars should still be in my pocket right?'
Blaine understood. The police had returned Kurt's clothes after searching them for evidence.
'But won't your mom have washed them by now? How am I supposed to get into your house and look for them anyway?'
'Step-mom.' Kurt commented absent minded. 'And they're not at home. I was at the hospital when the police gave them to my dad. He got really upset and refused to take them home. The nurses put them away in my room and they're still there. You'll be able to get into the hospital room.'
Blaine bit back a groan. Sneaking into places, searching through things, it was all a recipe to get into trouble and exactly why he didn't help ghosts anymore.
Kurt seemed to sense his hesitance. 'It'll be ok, you could go on Sunday, New Directions visits on Saturday and my Dad is only there in the afternoon. I'll keep an eye out for nurses and you'll be fine.'
'Ok, but if get into trouble over this Kurt I'm calling it off, I can't have people finding out about it.' He slammed the chopping board into the sink.
'I understand.' Kurt said quietly. He felt guilty about making Blaine do things he wasn't comfortable with, but what choice did he have?
'Everything ok Blaine?' A voice at the door said, making them both jump. Blaine turned to see Cooper standing in the doorway.
'Hey, no everything's fine.' Blaine smiled, a little too brightly not to raise suspicion. He wondered how long his brother had been standing there. 'I'm making pasta if you want some.'
'That'll be great.' Cooper smiled. 'I'm going to take my bag upstairs and get changed. Shall I pick out a movie for us to watch?' Blaine nodded and watched him leave.
'Who's that?' Kurt asked.
'My brother Cooper. He comes over when he knows our parents are leaving me alone a lot. He seems to think my problem is just me attention seeking.' It wasn't ideal but at least it made Cooper spend more time with Blaine in an effort to help him rather than writing him off to therapists like their parents did. Blaine was actually quite touched, even if it did make him feel sad that he still wasn't believed.
'Ok, I'll leave you two alone. Shall I see you Sunday morning and we can work out our game plan?'
'Oh... ok.' Blaine said, it was Friday so there would still be a whole day he'd spend alone until Kurt came back. He had considered calling Tina or someone else from Glee, but as Kurt had said, they all went to visit Kurt on Saturdays, he didn't want to intrude.
'Or I can drop by tomorrow.' Kurt said, sensing Blaine's sombre mood. Blaine tried to hide his excitement; it wasn't healthy to be that happy about spending the day with a ghost instead of real friends.
But he figured if he could get Kurt back into his body he could have a real friend at last.
'Visiting hours are over in five minutes.' Kurt whispered to him, ducking around the corner to join him out of sight of Kurt's room.
'You don't have to whisper.' Blaine said, keeping his eyes trained on the floor. 'No one can hear you.'
'Right, I forgot, I think I got caught up in the moment.' Kurt grinned. Blaine couldn't help but smile back.
Blaine hated hospitals, there were always so many ghosts wandering around and Blaine was always hard pressed to stay off their radar. He had been chased out of the building once whilst visiting his Grandmother by a ghost telling him to fetch the nurse and that no one was listening to her. She hadn't seemed to realise she was dead.
So far no one had noticed that he could see them, he hadn't let his gaze linger on anyone and had walked straight through a young woman with half her chest cracked open.
'So where are your clothes?' Blaine asked, he wanted to get in and out of that room as quickly as possible to avoid getting caught.
'There's a small cupboard on the table in the corner, all my things are in there.' Kurt said, Blaine snuck a peek around the corner of the doorframe to see where Kurt was pointing, immediately spotting the cabinet Kurt was talking about. 'There's a key to it but it's just on the shelf there, there's nothing valuable in there. Dad will be gone in a minute and you'll be out of here in no time.' Kurt grinned.
Blaine smiled back, not feeling quite as anxious about the mission as he would have done before. Never had a ghost offered to be lookout for him while he ran around for them, nor were they ever that grateful when he did manage to help them.
Blaine took another quick look in the room. Kurt's dad sat with his back to the door, his head bowed and shoulders slumped as he held his son's hand, quietly talking to Kurt as if he could hear him. Blaine was quite moved by the sight.
'And is that your step-mother?' Blaine asked, indicating the woman sitting on the other side of the bed, facing the door but looking down at Kurt.
Kurt frowned and looked into the room again.
'It's only my dad sitting in there, Carole works on a Sunday.'
Blaine faltered for a moment. Of course, this hospital was filled with ghosts and Blaine figured she must just be one more occupant. But the way she was looking at Kurt, so tenderly, she definitely wasn't a stranger to him.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a chair scraping back and Mr Hummel saying goodbye to Kurt. Blaine scurried a few feet away from the door and pretended to read a notice board on the wall as Kurt's dad walked right by him. He waited for the older man to round the corner before bolting in to Kurt's room and closing the door.
The woman was still there, gazing down at the boy on the bed and stroking a hand softly along his arm. Blaine followed her gaze down to Kurt, suppressing a gasp at how different he looked.
It was almost pure irony that ghost Kurt looked far more alive than the person on the bed. Kurt's body, for that was the only way Blaine could think of it as ghost Kurt bounded into the room after him, was pale and so very still on the bed, only the beeping of the monitors and the gentle fall and rising of his chest giving indication that he was still alive.
Kurt watched Blaine for a moment before sighing.
'I know, I look awful, I'm weeks behind on my skin care regime, and I really wish someone could do something to my hair, it's so greasy.'
Blaine nodded dumbly, not really listening to what Kurt was saying.
The woman on the bed looked up and smiled at him warmly.
'Hello, I was wondering when you'd come by.' She said her voice gentle and kind. Blaine could immediately feel himself relax, this wouldn't be a ghost that would attack him or scream and shout. He looked at her for a few moments. Her eyes and her nose, her slender fingers and the way she held her head, Blaine knew for certain he was looking at Kurt's mother.
'Blaine?' Kurt said, he had crossed the room to the cabinet and was now standing right next to his mother but he hadn't even looked at her.
'He can't see me.' She said sadly. 'He's not dead, thankfully, he can't see ghosts, I think he may be on a different plane. I'm not really sure how this whole thing works.' She laughed, the noise sounding melodic to Blaine's ears.
'Um.' Blaine started, not sure what to say. Kurt knew his secret, he knew he could see ghosts but how would he react to knowing his mother was here with him?
'You can tell him if you want.' Kurt's mother said. 'Or just say you can see the previous occupant of the room is still here. Whatever makes you the most comfortable sweetheart.' She looked longingly over to her son, the spirit standing next to her looking more alive than the figure on the bed.
'Your mother's here.' Blaine whispered, his eyes fixed on Kurt's face taking in the myriad of expressions that surfaced at his words.
'What?' Kurt said at last.
'She's by your bedside, she's watching over you.' Blaine said, feeling stupidly cliché as he always did in this kind of circumstance.
'She's here? But I thought... I mean I don't believe in heaven or anything but I thought she'd... move on or something.' Kurt whispered, wrapping his arms around himself and glancing at the spot Blaine had been staring at since he entered the room.
'Oh darling I moved on as soon as I died, I knew your dad would take good care of you. But I came back, in case you need me now.'
Blaine repeated her words to Kurt; watch his expression shift from something unrecognizable to plain confusion.
'How does that work?'
'No one knows really.' Blaine said as Kurt's mother smiled and shrugged. 'Everyone I've spoken to doesn't really understand it either. I mean there are plenty of theories but everyone experience is different so...'
'Where does she go? When she's not here?' Kurt asked. 'I'm sorry, I know you don't like this, you don't have to do it if you don't want to.'
But Blaine wanted to, the way Kurt held himself, as if he were desperate to be wrapped in his mother's arms and absolutely terrified at the same time tugged at something in Blaine.
'No it's ok. She says she's somewhere peaceful, but it's hard to describe.' Blaine replied, translating her words.
There was a pause between the two boys as Kurt's mom spoke.
'She says she's proud of you Kurt.' Blaine said, feeling a lump in his throat at the overwhelming look of happiness on Kurt's face at his words. 'She's so very proud of the man you're becoming and how strong you are.'
'Tell her I miss her.' Kurt whispered.
'She knows Kurt.' Blaine could feel tears prickling at the corners of his eyes at the exchange between mother and son.
'Ok, I need to be alone for a moment.' Kurt said, his voice catching as he suddenly disappeared. Blaine was surprised momentarily, Kurt usually walked out of the room to leave, Blaine had never seen him vanish before.
'I know what you two are planning to do.' Kurt's mom said, breaking the silence. Her voice had gained a tone of motherly sternness that made Blaine pay attention immediately. 'It's dangerous.'
'I know.'
'If this all goes wrong Kurt will be fine, you can't really hurt a ghost, but you can get hurt. And don't forget you're hunting someone who has killed a lot of people without leaving a trace.'
'I know, we're not really going after the guy though, just trying to find a victim who remembers enough about him to tip off the police.' Blaine said, avoiding her gaze and staring at the floor. He knew what he was doing was foolish and dangerous, and he really wouldn't do it for anyone else. But the prospect of having someone who believed in his secret was just far too great to resist.
'If I could help out I would, I want to see my son awake more than anything. I just think you two are being too risky with this. I don't want you getting hurt.'
'I'll be careful.' Blaine promised.
And with that she was gone.
Blaine took a deep breath, shaking his head to clear the emotions dancing around his brain and heading over to the cabinet, taking the key off of the shelf and opening the door. He pulled out the clear plastic bag of Kurt's clothes and reached for the pants, searching through his pockets until he found the folded green note.
'So I guess there's a stolen scarf in someone's possession.' Kurt said from behind him.
Blaine smiled triumphantly.
