Shay sighed. "I don't want to owe anyone my life," she told Chloe. It was only partially true, but it would have been understood better, Shay thought.
When Chloe confirmed she could have the stew, Shay set it up on a small table connected to the bed. She got out a plastic spoon and a few rolls of bread, too. "If you want something to drink, I can run down to the cafeteria and buy you something."
Once she'd set Chloe up, Shay pulled her feet up on her chair and hugged her knees, cheek resting on one knee as she watched Chloe. "Was there some kind of light or anything, when you were... not well off. After it all? I mean, did you see anything? Or... something."
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Chloe sent Shay down to get her a cola, and thanked her profusely when it came back. Until now, she hadn't actually thought about this situation in terms of Shay owing her life, but she wasn't going to stop Shay from thinking about it that way if it meant improving her hospital stay.
She was just about to start appreciating the food when Shay asked that question. Chloe stopped herself. "I, um. I did actually, I think. It's kind of hard to explain, though..." She thought about how to explain it as she enjoyed her first mouthful of stew.
"Aw man, it's as good as it smells, too." And the stew smelled good. In the grand scheme of things, it might have just been 'okay,' but after all that hospital food Chloe was loving it.
"Anyway. If you try to summon a certain type of really big demon in a certain way, it'll usually do this, uh, psychic attack thing. And I remember, like a dream or something, where I was floating around in this black void, and I could feel my body disintegrating. I felt this..." She waved a hand around, "I don't know what it was, but it felt kinda like it was trying to do that thing to me. It was getting really frustrated, too, because I was fighting it. Before it could, um, get me I guess, I woke up because they were putting in a foley catheter." She had another bit of stew. "And those hurt like a bitch," she added with her mouth full.
She chewed thoughtfully on her food. "I just assumed that was a weird dream or something, but you're the death expert. Thoughts?"
She was just about to start appreciating the food when Shay asked that question. Chloe stopped herself. "I, um. I did actually, I think. It's kind of hard to explain, though..." She thought about how to explain it as she enjoyed her first mouthful of stew.
"Aw man, it's as good as it smells, too." And the stew smelled good. In the grand scheme of things, it might have just been 'okay,' but after all that hospital food Chloe was loving it.
"Anyway. If you try to summon a certain type of really big demon in a certain way, it'll usually do this, uh, psychic attack thing. And I remember, like a dream or something, where I was floating around in this black void, and I could feel my body disintegrating. I felt this..." She waved a hand around, "I don't know what it was, but it felt kinda like it was trying to do that thing to me. It was getting really frustrated, too, because I was fighting it. Before it could, um, get me I guess, I woke up because they were putting in a foley catheter." She had another bit of stew. "And those hurt like a bitch," she added with her mouth full.
She chewed thoughtfully on her food. "I just assumed that was a weird dream or something, but you're the death expert. Thoughts?"
Shay got comforted in her seat once she'd brought Chloe's coke back up. She listened, silent, as Chloe explained her near death experience. Shay had always been fascinated in this, and some distant part of her wanted to experience it. She wanted to be close enough to death to taste it, feel it in all her limbs. It only felt right, being what she was.
"Expert might be giving me too much credit," Shay said with some mild laughter. "Maybe you were being summoned somewhere else? Or, maybe you were going to your dad's Hell. That seems the most responsible thing, that you'd go to him. Wonder if that means you're immortal?"
Just as soon as Shay had finished the sentence, something caught her attention and had her head snapping to the right. It was automatic, and the ghostly whisper faded as soon as it had been there.
Shay hated hospitals. They were more distracting than most places. Strangely, graveyards were among the quietest places she'd ever visited. Ironic.
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"It wasn't my dad," Chloe said. "I know that much for sure."
She trailed off, staring at her stew. Her mind was bursting with possibilities - what would that mean, if she went to her father's hell? If her father got her soul, would she still be useful to him as a daughter? Or would she be demoted to 'energy source,' like the rest of the souls he had collected? What would it mean for her if someone who wasn't her father got her soul?
She had enough nightmares about inflicting that sort of fate on other people. To think, she might have just narrowly avoided such a thing for herself.
"It would sure suck if someone summoned me to some random plane of reality again, though. I don't know if they'd be able to choose a worse time to summon me. All half dead and bleeding all over their stuff. Speaking of which — did you ever hear how I ended up on this island?"
She followed Shay's gaze, and seeing nothing more exciting, assumed it was just that bird near the window or something.
She trailed off, staring at her stew. Her mind was bursting with possibilities - what would that mean, if she went to her father's hell? If her father got her soul, would she still be useful to him as a daughter? Or would she be demoted to 'energy source,' like the rest of the souls he had collected? What would it mean for her if someone who wasn't her father got her soul?
She had enough nightmares about inflicting that sort of fate on other people. To think, she might have just narrowly avoided such a thing for herself.
"It would sure suck if someone summoned me to some random plane of reality again, though. I don't know if they'd be able to choose a worse time to summon me. All half dead and bleeding all over their stuff. Speaking of which — did you ever hear how I ended up on this island?"
She followed Shay's gaze, and seeing nothing more exciting, assumed it was just that bird near the window or something.
"Huh? Uh, I don't think so. It might have been mentioned once, but I can't remember," Shay admitted. She slouched in her seat, trying to ignore voices she knew Chloe didn't hear.
Chloe wasn't alone in her thought process. Shay was wondering all those things, too, not just about Chloe but about people in general, and herself and what it meant to die when you were a quarter of the way there already. Would she go to Hell? Should she strive for Heaven? To see her parents? It felt, to Shay, that no matter what choices she made in this life or the next, she would be hurting someone.
"Glad I can't be summoned around." Shay wasn't entirely certain she couldn't, but she assumed it was a Demonic problem. More specifically, a Goetia Demonic problem.
"So, what's the story? How did you find out you were Gabe's daughter? How did you get to Manta Carlos?"
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"Well," Chloe said, "the short version is, someone got drunk and tried to summon a demon. He mispronounced enough words in just the right ways that instead of the ritual fizzling or killing him, it dragged me out. Also, uh..." she hesitated for a second, deciding whether or not to dispel the illusion for Shay. "Well, I've implied, sometimes, that I'm actually centuries old, but I really am about as old as I look. I was going to a shitty high school in Montana, in an alternate universe where there wasn't much of a supernatural community. They thought I was just a human with shapeshifting powers that stopped working, since I ended up like this around when I hit puberty, and nobody knew demons were real or that my dad, um..."
Seduced her married mother. Chloe was going on an uncomfortable tangent. It was still nice to be able to talk about this, even if it was usually more fun to make people believe bullshit about her.
"Well anyway, I got summoned from high school hell in Montana. And I met dad at spring break here, when I was trying to get a virgin pina colada from a bar by the beach. We felt each others' presences. He knew I was a part of him, sort of, but also that he couldn't control me directly. I think he might have been freaking out a little until we figured it out. This was before he decided to make Gomorrah and stay here."
Chloe resumed eating her stew. She wanted to have it before it got cold. "That's the short version." The long version included narrowly avoiding genocide, and Lochlann expecting sex the moment she arrived on Manta Carlos because he thought he was summoning a succubus. She nearly killed him.
She was starting to notice that Shay looked very distracted, as though she was seeing or hearing things Chloe wasn't. She was trying to decide if it would be polite to ask.
Seduced her married mother. Chloe was going on an uncomfortable tangent. It was still nice to be able to talk about this, even if it was usually more fun to make people believe bullshit about her.
"Well anyway, I got summoned from high school hell in Montana. And I met dad at spring break here, when I was trying to get a virgin pina colada from a bar by the beach. We felt each others' presences. He knew I was a part of him, sort of, but also that he couldn't control me directly. I think he might have been freaking out a little until we figured it out. This was before he decided to make Gomorrah and stay here."
Chloe resumed eating her stew. She wanted to have it before it got cold. "That's the short version." The long version included narrowly avoiding genocide, and Lochlann expecting sex the moment she arrived on Manta Carlos because he thought he was summoning a succubus. She nearly killed him.
She was starting to notice that Shay looked very distracted, as though she was seeing or hearing things Chloe wasn't. She was trying to decide if it would be polite to ask.
"You have?" Shay asked, confused. She couldn't recall Chloe mentioning anything about living for centuries. Maybe she'd never caught it? "I always assumed you were just the age you are. Otherwise, why go to high school again at all? This isn't Twilight."
Shay laughed and rubbed the back of her neck, thinking maybe Chloe wouldn't find her cheeky joke very funny at all. Most people didn't seem to, so Shay tried to veer from them, but it was how she dealt with hard and awkward things.
She knew Chloe was staring and that was as much as Chloe was going to say. Shay let her eat before her food got cold. "Um. Sorry. A lot of spirits and whispering around her," she said slowly, motioning vaguely to the room they were in.
"So, um. Uh. I... should I stick around? I really don't know how to handle any of this."
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It was a good question, even if it was meant in jest. She smiled weakly at the Twilight reference. "Well, there's a lot of really old demons who don't have formal educations or, well, really any knowledge of our world. So, some of them decide to get one, starting with high school. Living like a resident of this world so they can understand it better. But of course I wouldn't know anything about that." Chloe smirked.
She hadn't even thought about the number of spirits that would be flying around a hospital. People died here, she knew that for sure. "Oh. I... um, I understand if that makes you uncomfortable to be here then. But I appreciate you coming by and bringing stew! If spirits are making you uncomfortable you don't have to stay."
She hadn't even thought about the number of spirits that would be flying around a hospital. People died here, she knew that for sure. "Oh. I... um, I understand if that makes you uncomfortable to be here then. But I appreciate you coming by and bringing stew! If spirits are making you uncomfortable you don't have to stay."
"Thanks," Shay said when Chloe informed her she didn't need to stick around.
It wasn't only a matter of their being spirits in the area, but that they had a tendency to gravitate toward Shay. She could feel cold hands over the back of her neck or her face, the incoherent whispers of people not ready to let go. It made her head fuzzy, and her stomach churn. If she stayed here too long, she thought she'd curl up in a corner and rapid-fire insults at nothing.
"If you need anything, just text me." She gave her number to Chloe, writing it on a slightly smudged slip of paper. "I don't know if you have a phone, I guess you could call too. I suppose Gabriel will be there for you, too? I assume that much."
She nodded once more, shuffled her feet a moment, and departed as quickly as she could without sprinting. And all the cold air, the haunting touches, they followed her like an unwelcome shadow.
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