Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Unfortunately, both her mom and dad had been killed instantly in the wreck that took their lives and their spirits must have gone directly to the afterlife. So she and Sam had only been able to see their bodies—a terrible sight that Hanna would never forget. But she had looked anyway—hoping against hope that the policeman who had come to their door was wrong and that the people under the bloody sheets in the morgue weren’t her parents.
It had been her parents after all though, and while she and Sam hadn’t seen their spirits, they had seen plenty of others during that visit.
The hospital was crawling with dead people.
Hanna winced and looked away as a gray man with a huge, open wound in his abdomen walked past her. He was naked and the look in his eyes was dull and confused. There were still a few surgical instruments sticking out of the open cavity.
To her right a teenager with a gunshot wound that had taken off half his head was muttering to himself. Hanna couldn’t hear what he was saying and she didn’t want to hear—she just wanted to get past him.
She saw the ghosts of a few children too, but none seemed to be hovering near any particular room, trying to get back into their body. They were mostly playing quietly to themselves, but always alone—for some reason, the dead didn’t often congregate together. Maybe because most of the spirits who were stuck in the Earthly Realm were confused—too confused to find the afterlife. Often, they were even too confused to know that they were dead.
Case in point, Hanna saw a gray, translucent man who looked to be in his sixties striding importantly down the hall, holding a ghostly chart in one hand. He was wearing a long white coat and it was clear he’d been a doctor during his lifetime and he thought he was still seeing patients, even now, years after his own death.
Hanna hadn’t missed seeing ghosts one bit. But one thing she’d missed even less was the Imps and they seemed to be everywhere. She saw a few Lust Imps clinging to the nursing staff and most of the doctors had Pride Imps riding on their shoulders, assuring them in hissing whispers of their own importance.
One of the Imps—a red, wrinkled one with long teeth and glowing green eyes—jumped out and made a face at Hanna as they rounded the corner and she had to fight not to gasp out loud. No, she certainly hadn’t missed these little bastards one bit!
At last they made their way to the Pediatric ICU where the little girl was. When Aunt Luna said they were visitors, the nurse in charge was reluctant to let them in. However, when she explained that they were there for the grieving mother, the nurse reluctantly allowed them to enter.
“But if anything happens, you’ll have to get out right away and give us room to work,” she told them sternly.
They promised not to interfere and to leave at once if they were told to, and finally they were allowed to go back to the little girl’s room.
Just inside the door Hanna saw a heartbreaking sight. A woman with short brown hair was standing at the foot of the hospital bed with tears rolling silently down her cheeks. Lying in the center of the bed was a still, small form hooked up to tubes and wires and machines which were all that was keeping her alive.
“Oh, Luna—you came!” the woman who must be Summer cried as Aunt Luna entered the room. She threw her arms around Hanna’s aunt and sobbed as if her heart would break. “I turned my head for just a minute—less than a minute—and little Luna was gone!” she wailed, her words coming out muffled and heartbroken. “Tom and I searched everywhere but we never thought she could get over that fence to the neighbor’s yard. By the time we thought to look, she was already…already floating…face…face down…”
At that point her words dissolved into sobs and she clearly couldn’t say any more. Aunt Luna was crying too—her heart clearly breaking for her friend’s tragedy. She looked over Summer’s head at Hanna, her eyes filled with tears and Hanna knew what she was asking. But when she looked around the room, she didn’t see the little girl’s spirit hovering nearby. In fact, she didn’t see anything at all that would indicate she was still near.
But that doesn’t mean she’s completely gone, she thought and felt a stab of fear. You know what you have to do, Hanna—you have to look for her. If there’s any chance she’s anywhere near, you have to find her and bring her back.
It was a terribly risky thing to do…but it was also the only thing to do. She hadn’t come here just to stand around and cry—she had come to help and Hanna knew she was the only one who could.