Chapter Four: Poison

Voices coming from everywhere, loud, soft, crying, screaming, all begging for help, pleading...hoping. His head hurt, seriously hurt.

"Please...help us!"

"He's not going to help us! Look at him, he's weak!"

"His mind has only just been opened, he is overwhelmed and in pain, he will help us."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do.."

"It is not for us to decide now everyone be quiet, he can hear us clearly now and you will scare him off!"

The room went silent.

Alan gave a shuddered gasp before slowly opening his eyes. Children filled his hospital room staring at him. He noticed his father once again asleep at his bedside, Scott asleep on the other side. They had no clue of just how suffocating-ly full the room was, then as if they heard his thoughts they were gone. Disappearing into thin air. Alan gasped again staring wide eyed at where all the faces had been.

"Alan?" Scott whispered at the same time as he yawned. His eyes grew wide as he noticed Alan really awake and not just a figment of his imagination. "Alan! You awake! How are you feeling?" Scott shot up. Alan stared up at him for a moment before opening his mouth to speak.

"How long was I out for this time?" Alan asked wincing at how raw his throat felt.

"A week, you have no idea how worried everyone is."

"Hmm...sorry..."Alan's eyes drooped and he was gone again. When Alan reopened his eyes he noticed he was alone.

"That's strange..." Alan mumbled. As far as he knew someone had been with him at all times since he was admitted. He knew it would become annoying after he was able to stay awake for longer then a couple of minutes. But for now he felt better with them next to him. Now he just felt lonely and kind of scared. Not that he would ever admit to that.

"Hello, Alan." A small girl appeared beside him causing Alan to jump.

"Me name is Alicia, I was nine years old." Alicia was small for her age, she had long blond ringlet hair that went down to her hips. Alan knew that if she straitened her hair it would more then likely go near the floor.

"Was?" Alan asked, she nodded solemnly.

"She kille't me, I was gettin bettea! I was feelin almost well again. But then she foun out that me father had died and it was just me and me mum. She said that I would not have to miss me father for much longer." Alicia began to sob loudly. That's when Alan noticed just how quiet it was for a hospital. He looked out the glass walls of his ICU room and noticed the halls and nurses station was completely empty. The hair on Alan's back stood on end. The monitors that had been hooked up to him were gone...the room was almost empty.

"But it's common place to live with only one parent." Alan stated after taking a calming deep breath.

"Not then, this was forty years ago!" Alicia sobbed. Alan was silent for a long moment.

"Who?" Alan finally whispered, not really believing that any of this was happening. It was all a strange dream and it was best to just play along until he woke up.

"This is NOT a dream, and the nurz! Nurz Abby! Or at least that's what she was callin herself when she was workin in Maine. I think the firs time she kill't she was called Angelica..." Alicia trailed off thinking. "I have to go will meet again." Then she was gone and he was completely alone and suddenly very tired. He shut his eyes for only a moment before reopening them and finding himself back in his normal time where nurses and doctors rushed around outside and his father and Brains talked quietly at the end of his bed.

"Dad?" Alan called suddenly very thirsty. Jeff stopped talking immediately and turned towards Alan. "Sorry...umm could you hand me the water...or better yet a Dr. Pepper?"

"Haha!" Jeff fake laughed about the last part before grabbing the closed water pitcher and placing a straw into it. He handed it to Alan who took a large gulp before promptly throwing it back up along with what little was in his stomach.

"What is that?" Alan looked down at the gross liquid now all over his blanket now soaking in his lap. Jeff jerked the pitcher out of Alan's hands after overcoming his shock. He looked at the lid and noticed the numbers 218...the room next door. Upon opening the lid he found it filled with a brown bubbling liquid. Meanwhile Brain had grabbed the nearest doctor and was now coming back into the room.

A doctor and nurse ran in with Brains panting behind them, Alan meanwhile felt much better now that there was nothing in his stomach to upset it.

"What happened?" The doctor asked glancing around taking in everything.

"This is not my son's pitcher, and it does not have water in it." Jeff looked outraged. The doctor took the pitcher and sniffed the contents inside before frowning. "Did he drink it?" The doctor asked.

"Yes, but he threw up almost immediately." Jeff stated. Another nurse walked in but before she could speak the pitcher was being shoved into her hands.

"Nurse Kelly, take this to the lab, I want to know exactly what that is ASAP!" The nurse nodded before hurrying away. He turned to Nurse John beside him. "I want a full blood work up...the works, let's make sure whatever that was came back out completely, where taking no chances. I want the results as of yesterday. Have Nurse Smarts come in to get Alan cleaned up. I am going to go find out exactly who was in charge of refilling water this afternoon, if anything changes tell a nurse immediately.

Alan sighed just when he thought he was safely back with his family...maybe it wasn't anything harmful...some strange new soda that needs works...yeah... Alan yawed annoyed with himself for being so tired all the time. He tried to fight it but his eye lids became very heavy and he was out again.

The doctor frowned as he stepped up to give Alan a quick look over. His frown turned serious as he continued. Before he could say anything Alan began to jerk around. The doctor pulled the emergency cord as he pulled up the rails so that Alan did not jerk off the bed. A team of nurses ran in one pulling a cart full of different equipment. Jeff and Brain scooted to the back wall trying to not be noticed so that they would not have to leave. Brains had to physically hold Jeff back so that he would not run to his son.

"He's seizing!" The doctor snapped before grabbing a syringe a nurse handed to him. He glanced at it before sticking the needle into the IV pump and pushing the medication in. Alan stopped seizing...and stopped everything else as well. Alarms were now blaring.

"He's crashing!" Another nurse yelled before beginning compressions. Another nurse charged up a pair of paddles, as another cut the gown on Alan off and placed pads on his chest. Another doctor seemed to appear out of no where and had a tube down his throat and began pushing air into his lungs manually.

"Charge 300!" The paddles were passed to the doctor. "Clear!" Everyone backed up.

The paddles were pushed onto the pads on Alan's chest, Alan jerked up word. The lines on the monitor hooked to Alan jumped before they continued in the straight line. The nurse began CPR again and the Bag Valve Mask was placed back onto the tube breathing into his lungs.

Jeff made an almost squeaking noise in terror. He let himself glance out the window wall and noticed his other sons leaning against each other wide eyed in terror themselves. They had just finished eating and were standing up from there table when they heard the code blue announcement with Alan's room number. They ran as fast as they could up the stairs earning several glares from families and staff alike.

"Charge 400!" The doctor ordered. "Clear!" The cycle was repeated three more times, each time the shock was charged higher and higher. The doctor looked grim as he stepped back, Jeff gasped as he realized what was about to happen.

"No, don't give up...please don't give up." Jeff cried out falling to his knees. Scott ran in and held his father, Virgil stood rim rod straight shaking while John and Gordon leaned on each other also openly sobbing.

"Time of death..."

"WAIT!" Everyone looked up startled. A nurse ran in with a vial. "I have it! The antidote machine had a little trouble, being the poison is unknown but I have the cure right here!" The nurse handed the doctor the vial.

"Restart compressions...quickly!" The nurse who had been doing it before started again while the doctor began filling a syringe with the yellow liquid. He injected it directly into Alan's heart as was the instruction that the machine had printed out.

"Get the paddles charged at...wait..." There was a bleep on the heart monitor. The nurse stopped compressions. Everyone held there breath as they stared at the monitor...the previously steady line began to jump, unevenly at first but then it began to go evenly the way it was supposed to. There was a general sigh of relief, and the doctor looked like he might pass out.

"She's here!" A teenage boy exclaimed while he paced the small hospital room looking panicked. "You were not meant to drink that poison, the kid in the room next to you was but the aid made a mistake. You have her attention now...she might target you...your our only hope!" Watching the dead teenager pace made Alan dizzy. He was dreaming again. All together this had been a very weird dream.

It had started when he opened his eyes to find himself floating above his body. He was strangely calm as he watched doctors and nurses try and bring him back to life, at that moment Alan did not care. He did not want to die but all feeling seemed to be numb...maybe he had been in shock. Then his mom appeared. Feeling came back like a blast of water from a fire hose.

"Alan honey, it's not your time, I love you...now live." That was it, she disappeared and so did Alan, he felt the strangest sensation he would ever feel...being thrust back into his body. Then he was back in that dream where he is in his hospital bed with no one else in the hospital but himself and the panicking ghosts. He had a feeling he was going to be stuck here for awhile so he was going to get answers.

"Okay stop, everyone one says I am the one..."

"You you're the only one with the sight to see us...I mean really see us. Sure others can, but not all of us...you can. We were told by a prophet that a boy would come, that he could see, and that he would be able to stop the deaths...the murders." The boy exclaimed telling him things that mostly were told to him before...mostly.

"A prophecy?" Alan stated incredulously. "I don't believe in prophecies."

"You didn't believe in ghosts either." The boy snapped then stopped pacing and turned to stare at Alan, a sad look on his face. "Don't question it...just know it's true and help us! Please."

"Why do you need help?" Alan asked.

"Were trapped, all murder victims are...until there murder is brought to justice or dies...only something went wrong with us...we don't know why but we can't be seen by the other side, only by the dead who are in the same predicament we are in. Only most of them did not know they were in this predicament until after there killer died and they did not move on. Our killer is still alive and were told that if she is brought to justice then we may still have a chance. We want to move on...we want to see our families...to go home." The boy took a shaky breath and sat down in the middle of the floor. Alan was silent for a good few minutes before he decided to ask his next question.

"Why me? And I know, I know, the prophecy...but why are you so sure it's me?"

"We didn't...not until you walked into the old hospital...only you can as it is...only the one could. That was the other part of the prophecy, the part that told us how we would know it was you. I don't remember the exact words...of either part. Just that it said only the one could see it all, we did not know what that meant until you walked into the hospital...the one no one else could see. It said the you would be reluctant to believe...that if you are not careful you would join us. You almost joined us! Even now your barely hanging on to life, you would not live if they were to take you off those machines..."

"What do I need to do?" Alan sighed.

"We left clues...all of us except Alex, but know one listened, no one looked...we were sick, there were complications...we died. Alex started everything...I mean sure he was young but he received the prophecy first, he knew we would need evidence...he...he would come to us before we died...we did not see him but he made sure that plenty of evidence was around and would be around for a long time...please...will you help us?"

Alan sighed, he had answered this question already.

"Yeah...I'll help."

Alan opened his eyes, there was something stuck in his throat! It was choking him, he couldn't breath! Alan began to thrash around . Someone injected something into his IV port and slowly he began to calm down. Alan could feel his eyes growing heavy, he turned his head slightly to look at the nurse helping him. If it could, his heart would of stopped right there. Standing over him was the cause of all of his current problems, the reason for the haunting...the nurse...the murderer.