Chapter 24: And he cut my heart

Director Bianco stood by the window with his hands behind his back as one of the nurses who filled in when June wasn't on shift took a last look at Vlad. The patient had been nursing a low fever since the other day since his death had made itself known to all since June had tried to help.

June hadn't been on shift for three days already.

He hoped she was alright – he knew he'd hurt her.

She had to be on medical leave.

or worse

Eventually the nurse packed up her tools and left without a word.

Bianco looked Vlad over approvingly.

"I'd found a particularly strong exorcism to try for your case, but it seems like it will be unnecessary, Mister Masters. The ghost must have left your body after the incident the other night. Your appearance had started taking on ghostly traits, I must confess, ever so slowly that most of the staff didn't realize right away, but all of it disappeared overnight. This is good, really good."

Vlad didn't know what to answer, instead biting down on his tongue with his overgrown left lower canine – that was thankfully not as sharp as it used to be just last week – as he grew more and more convinced that the visible signs of "possession" might have waned but they could resurface any time if he wasn't careful.

it wasn't a ghost possessing him

only himself

dead and cold and monstrous as the tales of the deads from his mother's home country

The director went on, unaware of Vlad's certitudes:

"Of course, it will still take time for the infection to completely disappears. You've been exposed to a constant production of ectoplasm for more than a year and there's still a build-up of it within your body, but now it can be filtered out without anything to fill up the levels once again. We might get true improvements now."

Vlad wasn't feeling all that good right now, but that might have something to do with the fever and the dehydration – which, if this was a normal infection, would indeed mean his body was fighting off a foreign intruder.

The young man didn't know why he kept having fevers like this, but it wasn't because his corpse body thought the ectoplasm within wasn't supposed to be there. At first, yes – but not anymore.

Then again, perhaps it was just the lie of him still being alive and normal and human that was catching up with him, his ghostly nature at odds with the corpse it kept inhabiting. It would be just his luck if he turned out to be allergic to his own ectoplasm.

So instead of hoping, instead of believing that this could end one day, Vlad rasped a question:

"Where's June?"

Bianco's face – the small smile he'd been displaying as he'd shared his beliefs in recovery with Vlad – froze for a moment.

Once he decided on what to say what was he keeping to himself what wasn't he saying, the older man looked apologetic and understanding.

Vlad hated it, because he didn't want to feel understood especially not when it was clear no one did and that it was better than way – he wanted to know if June was alright.

"A new head nurse will be assigned to your case tomorrow, Mister Masters. She should be..."

"Where's June?"

The director sighed and took off his white hat.

"Nurse Porter was injured the other night, exposed to a high-level specter that inflicted a severe ectoplasmic burn on her arm. She needs time to recover and make sure there aren't any side effects. She's a few doors past yours, and I do not know if or when she'll be able to come back to work."

your fault

"Oh."

Vlad bit harder on his tongue, drawing blood this time.

his fault his fault his fault his fault

he'd hurt June she'd been trying to help it shouldn't have happened to her