Author: Agent_girlsname
Title: Haunted Life: Chapter Two
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, but 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...
'How was school?' Blaine's father asked as soon as he walked into the kitchen. It was a pretty simple question but the implications were clear; 'Did you show yourself up? Has anyone found out about your problem?'
'It was fine, I covered a lot of the work we're doing already so I'm not behind in any classes. And I've joined the glee club, so I think I'll have a few friends.' Blaine said, watching his finger trail along the counter top to avoid his father's gaze.
'No little incidents then?' His father gave him a hard look over the top of his newspaper. Blaine shook his head.
'No, none at all.' Blaine gave an uneasy smile, as though his father could feel he was lying, that he could somehow feel that Kurt was standing over his shoulder, reading the page of the newspaper he was on. But of course he couldn't, he didn't even believe that Blaine could, that was the problem.
'Good.' His father said finally, turning back to his newspaper without another word, turning the page and earning a huff of annoyance from Kurt.
'Dinner will be at eight.' His mother said from the other side of the kitchen where she was chopping vegetables. Blaine nodded and stood there for a moment longer, wondering if his parents had anything more to say to him, any more questions to ask or if they even cared if Blaine liked his new school or not. But they both carried on as if he wasn't even in the room.
Without another word Blaine left the kitchen and climbed the stairs, his anger and frustration rising with every step he took.
When he had been a child and told his parents about the 'invisible' people he was speaking to they ignored the implications, assuming, as most parents would, that their child had an over active imagination and would grow out of it in time.
By the time he was eight he had learned to keep quiet about the ghost he saw, knowing that something about it wasn't right and that it was making his parents angry every time he mentioned a new 'friend' that no one else could see.
It wasn't so bad then, he would meet these 'ghosts' and only speak to them in secret, in the dark of his room or behind the gym at his school, away from people who would look at him strangely for speaking to someone they couldn't see. It was mostly the ghosts of children that sought him out, although he didn't realise they were ghosts then, none of them seemed to realise they were dead and were just happy to play with Blaine.
He should have realised when he met Scott, a boy of nine with bright blue eyes and thick blonde hair, by the swings. Scott was funny and liked to show Blaine how far he could jump from the top of the slide. He should have seen the way his neck was twisted at an odd angle and questioned it.
It was only when his brother told him caught him trying to out-jump Scott that he learned. Cooper told him that he shouldn't jump from there, that a boy died of a broken neck after jumping and falling awkwardly.
After that Blaine saw these invisible people for who they really were; the girl who played in the garden next to his who wore strange clothes like from the really old movies. The old woman down the block who walked in front of cars that passed right through her and the boy in his class who stood in the corner all day, facing the wall.
They were all dead.
Strangely the realization didn't scare him. He thought maybe that deep down he had always suspected but he didn't think that ghosts should look like people. In cartoons they always looked like people with sheets over their heads, or Casper.
But after that he was careful not to let anyone find out he could see dead people. He was a smart enough child to know that it wasn't something that was normal.
It wasn't until he was thirteen that his 'gift' became an issue. All throughout his childhood he had played with the ghosts of dead children, spoken with lonely spirits or just observed the actions of people that no one else could see. He thought the whole thing was harmless and it made him special.
But when he was thirteen he learnt that not all of them were harmless or friendly. Some of them were angry and some of them were very scary.
He had been shopping with his father, the two of them looking for something for his mom's birthday, strolling through the shops, conversing and joking with an ease that made Blaine heart ache to remember.
They had been queuing to pay for a perfume that his mom had been hinting at for weeks when a man started screaming. Blaine started and stared at the man, recoiling into his father's side when he saw the man's neck.
A large gash ran across his throat and blood was streaming down his chest, splashing onto the floor and drenching his clothes. He was screaming obscenities and getting right up into people's faces, yelling at them and trying to hit out at them when they inevitably ignored him.
Blaine pressed into his father's side as the man drew closer to them. His dad had asked what was wrong and Blaine became aware that he had begun to whimper. The erratic behaviour of the man scared him and just the sight of him was enough to make his stomach clench in fear.
'What are you looking at?' The man screamed at him, standing almost on Blaine's toes and towering over him. Warm blood slashed down onto Blaine's face and he chocked as he felt the warm liquid seep into his mouth. The man raised him hand and Blaine could see a knife glinting in the florescent lights of the store.
He screamed and fell to the floor, curling up into a ball in an effort to protect himself from the knife's blade as it swept down towards him.
He could feel his father's hands on him, trying to calm him, his voice calling Blaine's name over the screaming, but nothing could quell the terror inside him. He had never felt so threatened in his life, so scared and defenceless.
It was only when he was in his Dad's car, having been carried out of the store, perfume left on a counter completely forgotten, that he managed to calm down enough to realise he was safe.
His father drove them home in silence, letting Blaine curl up into himself and try to wipe away the blood that only he could see. He was calmer now the man had gone but still deeply shaken. He hadn't realised that the ghosts he could see could ever be threatening or scary, but now he realised he probably should have guessed they wouldn't all be happy.
When he got home his father sat him on the couch and covered him with a blanket, asking him if he was ok. Blaine sighed and decided that now was probably the time to tell his father the truth. It was his father after all, the man who had promised to love Blaine no matter what.
And Blaine had genuinely believed him; he had believed that when he told his parents they would be shocked, after all it was a little unconventional to be seeing dead people, but that they would be understanding and supportive.
He hadn't expected for his father to be so mad, to start shouting at him and send a new wave of terror coursing through him. He hadn't thought for a second they wouldn't believe him, or accuse him of making things up. He hadn't predicted that they would send him to a therapist and act as if he was crazy.
Blaine was seething by the time he got to his room, slamming the door behind him and turning on the radio immediately so that his parents didn't hear him talking to 'no one' and send him away again.
'Well your parent's seem nice.' Kurt said as he walked through the door and into Blaine's room.
'Why can't you people leave me alone?' Blaine said, his voice ragged with the tears he was trying so hard to keep back. 'What have I done to deserve this?'
Kurt stopped in the middle of the room, looking startled at the sudden change in mood. He and Blaine had been chatting quite easily on the way to his house and all of a sudden he was shouting at Kurt.
'I'm sorry.' Kurt said, although he wasn't sure just what he was apologising for.
'You don't get it, no one gets it.' Blaine said exasperated. He sat down on the floor against his bed and buried his head in his hands. That morning he had been expecting everything to change; new school, new friends, no more acknowledging ghosts and maybe having his parents treat him like he was their son again.
None of that seemed to have worked out for him.
'I just want to be left alone by you lot, I want to have friends again, I want my parents to stop thinking I'm some sort of freak, I just want to be normal, and that's never going to happen if you don't leave me alone!' A chocked sob escaped his lips before he could stop it.
'I'm sorry.' Kurt said again, sitting next to him on the floor and putting his hands in his lap. He genuinely meant it this time. 'I never meant to cause you any distress.'
'I know, I know, you just want help.' Blaine snapped. 'But no one ever wants to help me. No one ever tells me how to fix things or make people believe me, no one ever believes me.'
'I can't imagine anyone would.' Kurt said honestly. He wasn't sure he would if he wasn't the ghost that was currently haunting the poor boy.
'Everyone just thinks I'm a freak, or making it up to get attention. I've been run out of two schools because people have found out, I've had my best friends turn on me, call me names and disown me. I never wanted any of this!' Blaine sobbed, burying his head in his arms.
Kurt sat there for a moment, his heart torn to see this boy, who he'd only known for less than an hour, pour his heart out to him.
'Hey.' Kurt said after Blaine's sobs died down. He reached over to try and tug Blaine's arm away from his face before remembering he could touch the boy. 'Blaine.' He said, leaning a little closer to get his attention.
'Yeah?' Blaine sniffed, wiping his eyes and wishing he hadn't broken down like that in front of Kurt. Although, who could the boy tell when no one else could see him?
'If we get this sorted and get me back in my body then there'll be at least one person who'll believe you.'
Blaine sniffed again and looked at Kurt.
'I'll believe you, because I know, because I'll have been one of the ghosts you've seen.' Kurt smiled. 'If you can help me with this then when I'm awake I can help you. I don't know if I can get anyone to believe you, or get your parents to stop ignoring you. But at the very least you'll have someone who genuinely believes you to speak to.'
Blaine stared at him. He hadn't considered that. With ever other ghost he had met there was never anything in it for him, only for them. And none of them ever had a chance of waking up and seeing him again.
A weight lifted from his heart that seemed to have been there for years. At last he could have someone in his life who would believe him, someone he could talk to about this who wouldn't look at him like he was crazy. Someone who could help.
'I'd like that.' Blaine said, smiling back at Kurt and feeling hope rise in his chest for the first time since that day in the store.
'Right!' Kurt grinned. 'Then let's get to work.'
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