pengychan:

Title: The Bedside Ghost
Summary: The bell falls but, instead of waking up in the Land of the Dead, Ernesto de la Cruz finds himself with a broken spine – and an unwanted guest at his bedside who claims he can let him have the sweet release of death, if he gives back what he took from him…
Characters: Ernesto de la Cruz, Coco Rivera, Héctor Rivera, Julio Rivera, Imelda Rivera.
Rating: T
Status: in progress

[This is the fic’s tag for all chapters up.]

A/N: I’ll focus on oneshots, I said. No more long fics for a while, I said.
Well, fuck me.

***

For a time after that one, deafening toll, there is only silence.

Little by little, sound returns – but it’s different from what he left behind. He remembers music, he remembers his own voice, the last note of a song leaving his voice… and then that toll before all went quiet. Now there is no music: only hushed voices, the rustling of sheets. There are smells, too; flowers, he can smell flowers, but beneath it all there is another smell that frightens him, that of disinfectant.

Where am I? What happened to me?

He tries to open his eyes and he manages, for a few moments, but all he sees is blinding whiteness, and then darkness once more. Again, he drifts.

After a time – how long? All he knows is that there is a bell tolling somewhere, there must be a church nearby – he can tell he’s lying on his back someplace soft. A bed, but not his bed. And worst of all, someone is touching him, moving him around, taking off his clothes and no, stop, what is going on?

He tries to cry out, but he can’t find his voice, and that is terrifying. He tries to move, but he cannot, and that is worse. Finally, with a terrible effort, he opens his eyes. The whiteness is blinding, someone is towering over him and he tries to get away, but his limbs do not respond. His body doesn’t respond. There is a hand holding his wrist, he can see it, but he can’t feel it – he can’t feel a thing.

Why can’t I move?

“Señor de la Cruz? Señor de la Cruz, please, stay calm–”

Ernesto de la Cruz shakes his head and that is all, it’s the only thing he can do. Shake his head, and scream. Because his voice, that he does find again.

His body, however, will never again respond to his will.

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