Chapter 26: Darker
It was three in the afternoon when the world shifted under him – and Vlad wasn't on his bed anymore, wasn't even in his room.
He didn't even scream as he slammed against something hard and cornery: it pushed out all air from his lungs, leaving only a short and dull "hah" through his lips.
For a moment, Vlad couldn't see anything through the blurred pain.
Then the sound of a door being opened roughly somewhere to his right centered him again and a man dressed in a white suit was staring at him, a hand on an old-looking revolver. Vlad had to blink owlishly and wipe out glowing pink rivulets from the corners of his eyes did he see? he wasn't saying anything but did he see before he could truly look at the space around him.
The walls, the ceiling, the floor... The white suit. He was still in the clinic, or at least in the building. Vlad could only suppose that the clinic took the entire building, even if Director Bianco's organization wasn't only the clinic.
The hard corner against his ribcage belonged to a desk, and he was kneeling in what looked like an office. The agent wearing white who had burst in almost immediately was saying something in a walkie-talkie and keeping a wary eye one Vlad – who, for now, felt more like throwing up than anything else.
Considering he tended to vomit blood with suspiciously pink ectoplasm in it more often than not, he tried not to throw up quite yet. So far he'd kept the abnormality of his new situation – better, not dying anymore, with no ghost using him as a resting spot according to the clinic but he knew better he knew the truth there was still ectoplasm in his blood a tooth too long and sharp he'd just fallen through the damn floor – from being obvious to the doctors and nurses even if sometimes he wondered how they could not see if he was the only one seeing it if he wasn't turning into a lying ghost if he was only losing his mind, and he'd rather not give them reasons to think...
that he was the problem
"...see if anyone noticed a ghostly presence in the building. Humanoid, blue skin, solid red eyes, pointed ears and fangs. Last time it wore a black coat and you could see the ribcage through translucent skin. It might not be there, but if it is, trap it, don't dispel it."
The agent put his walkie-talkie back on his belt and got closer.
"Masters, right?"
Vlad blinked once more, opened his mouth – felt the upheaving coming and closed it again. He nodded instead.
"Do you know where you are? How you got there?"
Technically, no. He had strong suspicions, but. It wouldn't be a lie to say no.
He shook his head.
The agent scowled at nothing and threw a suspicious glance around before pointing up.
"Your room is just above us, this is Doctor Hogan's office. Either you sleepwalked and no one saw you, or that ghost came back for a ride and brought you here. Considering the door was closed and the racket you just made..."
The man in white squinted around once again.
A nurse appeared at the door and the agent nodded at him. The new arrival looked Vlad over critically before helping him up.
"Mister Masters, I'm taking you to do some tests. We need to know if there are traces of overshadowing in your body. Do you need medical attention first? You don't seem hurt, but I'd rather not overlook anything."
Vlad had to squash down the rising dread no overshadowing of course not but there was definitely something they'd find something they would maybe his level of ectoplasm "contamination" had shot up again because of that burst of ghostly powers maybe they would finally realize he was the only problem they had he was the ghost he was the monster he'd burned June it was his fault to mumble an answer:
"...feel like throwing up."
The nurse pursed his lips and directed him towards the door with a hand on Vlad's back.
"A stop by the toilets first, then."
They walked through a long corridor, and stopped by a restroom long enough for Vlad to noisily empty his stomach in the toilet bowl while the nurse waited outside – luckily, Vlad didn't end up with blood all over his chin and therefore didn't have to counter a more thorough and standard medical examination.
They took the elevator to go another floor down.
Vlad realized this was the first time he saw anything from the clinic that wasn't his bedroom or bathroom.
more than a year in the same two rooms and he hadn't noticed
like a ghost with no measure of the world moving on
did he even exist out of the clinic? out of his two rooms?
he was out now not out of the clinic but still and sometimes he had letters from his parents and there was the correspondence course with the university but even so
The words the man in white had said in his walkie-talkie "you could see the ribcage through translucent skin" followed him into the examination room, and when Vlad sat down and the nurse and a doctor one of his but which one he couldn't focus couldn't manage to care what was that about his ribcage what had June seen what had she told them he never never never started looking him over once more, he was clutching at his chest, fingers trembling.
Barely aware during the testing.
lungs hanging out of his torso
a grotesque sight to behold
"There's no active trace of overshadowing, no possession either, but the ectoplasm that still remains in his system is more active than before. I wonder..."
"clear!" shock
a long shrill note
he'd been shocked before
"...might have bonded with him..."
How many times had the doctors needed to do CPR on him, how many times had he been treated for cardiac arrest? How many times had they taken out the defibrillator, back at the hospital? Here, in the clinic?
He had no idea.
Electric shocks weren't supposed to burn the skin into becoming translucent, but who knew what happened to a ghost that remained stuck in its own body and was repeatedly "brought back to life" through defibrillation? It wasn't like his human skin was translucent.
"Mister Masters, do you hear me?"
Vlad started and stared at the doctor.
The woman shook her head for a moment, but didn't say what she'd been thinking.
"Mister Masters, it seems there is no other conclusion possible, even if this all sounds outlandish: whatever ectoplasm that ghost you were hosting left behind has... bonded... with you, to levels we've never seen before."
Vlad repeated dumbly how could they not realize how could they always find another explanation why weren't they seeing him for what he was a satire of life a revenant a damned ghost:
"...bonded?"
The woman nodded, her brow furrowed.
"Yes. It happens that people who have been exposed to high amounts of ectoplasm in one way or another develop a liminality, a sixth sense for ghosts and ectoplasm. That's where psychics come from, actually. But even for them... They don't have ghostly powers, their bodies only react to the presence of ectoplasm. You... Well. The ectoplasm that's still in your system and that doesn't seem to want to diminish anymore, though it has gone down a lot compared to when you had frequent heart attacks, that ectoplasm reacts to you instead."
of course it did
it was his
The doctor continued:
"It's possible that a nightmare or a strong emotion triggered that ectoplasm into doing something, and since you are human and not a ghost you had no awareness and no control over that reaction."
What had Vlad been doing before he'd fallen down – literally, into the lower floor? He didn't remember. He'd been awake, of that he was certain, but what...
alone
Maddie and Jack never came Dasha was an ocean away Mama and Dad couldn't move across states easily June wasn't coming back
the only one who still cared was Director Bianco and Vlad couldn't be honest with the older man
Something started clicking in the background and the doctor's gaze sharpened, instinctively looking around – searching for something – before she seemed to realize what was going on and looked back at her patient.
"See, the clicketeer is reacting to a rise in ectoplasmic activity. Mister Masters, would I be wrong to suppose you were feeling a strong emotion?"
Vlad almost didn't answer – he didn't want to talk about it and he didn't want to let them know – but the doctor had another theory one that didn't involve him being an undead abomination.
He reluctantly nodded.
"You should be particularly careful, Mister Masters. If the ectoplasm has truly bonded with you and keeps reacting to your feelings, it could get dangerous for you. You aren't a ghost, you can't control those powers. This time... You fell through the floor, didn't you? You got slightly hurt, too. Next time you might be less lucky. I've seen what happens to people who are stuck inside solid matter by a ghost before, Mister Masters. You do not want it happening to you."