Sweet Dreams

[Admin Sydnee]

Jade heard the girl's faint whisper. The realization that someone could see her. She only nodded at her. A lot of spirits were fascinated by Jade being able to see and hear them, but to Jade it was pretty much a normal occurrence by now. It made since that she was a spirit, because kids that young did not go to school there. She was blonde and tiny and her face was etched with worry. Spirits were always concerned about their loved ones because they could not help them, most of the time they could not be seen or heard, except in some special cases, like Jade with Lanie.

She nodded at the little girl. "Where is he?" Her body was on full alert now, as well as her mind. Maybe it was the nicotine kicking in, but she knew it was much more. She followed the girl, breaking into a sprint down the hallway. She wasn't a weak runner by any means and got there quite quickly, throwing open the door to the girl's bathroom. That was odd that the girl had led her here. The bathroom seemed empty as far as she knew.

"Hello?" she asked, taking a few steps forward, her heart beating out of her chest as her voice echoed. She spotted the little girl again. "Where is he?" And why was he in the girl's bathroom?

[Admin Courtney]

She ran through the bathroom door, literally, knowing the girl would follow. She had come this far...
She looked around in a panic. Talon was no where to be seen! Had he changed his mind? But no, he can't have. She had seen him with the blade.
"Talon!" she called out, and then she spotted the pool of blood by the sink. "No," she said, following the blood trail to a stall. She stared inside where her brother had not bothered to close the door. A sob escaped her and she turned away, staring pleadingly at the girl. She couldn't speak anymore. Please help him, her eyes said. Please help my brother.

Talon stirred slightly when he heard the bathroom door open and someone speak. His heart rate picked up. No. Had someone found him? Why did someone always find him? He did not see anyone, though. Maybe he was just imagining it.
He dug his uninjured arm into his pocket, searching for a cigarette. Yes. One last one. Then he could die not by what had killed his sister but with the killing thing in his mouth. That was close enough, yes.
He found a cigarette but no lighter and groaned in disappointment. He stuck it in his mouth anyway. Good enough.

[Admin Sydnee]

Jade followed the younger girl's gaze, from the sink to a stall at the end of the bathroom. A small puddle of blood by the sink turned into a trickling trail on the tiled floor and the younger girl seemed unable to handle what was happening. Instead she looked to Jade to help, a pleading expression on the young girl's face. "It's okay," she said hastily. "I'm going to help him."

Jade wasn't so queasy when it came to blood, but she did feel a little uneasy, following the trail to the stall where a boy lay slumped up against the wall, his arm punctured and smeared with blood. And he was still bleeding. Sharp parts of a razor littered the floor. If Jade wasn't already as pale as could be, she would have turned white. A cigarette hung out of his mouth and the saddest part was that he looked almost at peace.

She snapped out of it quickly, thinking of the little girl and moved towards the guy. She thought she'd seen him around campus before, or outside smoking a cigarette every now and then when she'd went out. He was a student here and she didn't know him that well, but that didn't stop her from rushing to his side. "Oh my god," she whispered, kneeling down. It occurred to her that he wasn't just hurt, he'd been trying to hurt himself, to end his life. Jade knew that feeling, that feeling that ending your life and saying goodbye to it all would be easier, but it wasn't and his sister did not want that for him. She frantically unrolled some of the toliet paper near them and pressed it to his wound, not caring if he protested. His sister was watching over him and she was in agony. It was right in the vein, he'd been taking this seriously. With her other hand, she took her cell phone out of her pocket, her hand trembling. "We need to call 911...or something. We need to get you help." This was beyond anything she could do.

[Admin Courtney]

Leah watched in terror as the girl walked towards Talon. She turned away. She could not stand to look.

Talon looked up at the girl who had appeared out of no where. So he hadn't been imagining it. Darn.
He sighed audibly and tiredly. If only he had done this sooner. Then no one would have found him. Or they would have, but too late. But maybe she was too late anyway.

He smiled at her and held out the cigarette. "Got a light?" he asked her. "Hey stop that," he added, sticking the cigarette back in his mouth and pulling the toilet paper away and tossing it aside. He saw the cell phone and his eyes widened. "No! Don't! Please, just go away. Just leave me alone. I don't want help!" Why wouldn't people understand this? Why did everyone have to interfere?

[Admin Sydnee]

Jade ignored his request for a lighter and swatted the cigarette away. She knew he'd fight him, anybody who wanted to leave this world would and she remembered the many times she'd contemplated offing herself, only to have Lanie appear and make her regret ever thinking it was a good idea, but Talon didn't have that because he couldn't hear his sister pleading, he couldn't see the look in her eyes, how much she loved him. He was yelling at her to go away and telling her not to call 911. And he'd tossed the bloody toliet paper away. She put a cold, pale hand on his arm and looked at him.

"Listen to me," she said sternly. "I know that you don't want to live right now, but I also know that it was probably an impulse decision after something happened that you didn't like. It was another thing to add to the list of things not going right in your life. I get it, okay? But your sister...your sister is here....with you, watching the pain you are in and she cannot bear to lose you. She brought me here. She is outside this stall right now and she pleaded for me to help you. She wouldn't want you to waste your life when she is no longer able to live hers. She cares for you." Her hand was shaking even as it was on his arm and she felt tears prick her eyes, almost feeling the despair that his younger sister was, having connected with her spirit. She had wanted to be seen and so she had.

She didn't know what the boy would think. He might call her crazy, but it didn't matter. She'd heard that enough. The name came to her mind easily. "Leah, honey, I'm going to call 911. He's going to be okay," she assured her, speaking loud enough for her to hear. She looked back at the boy, her icy blue eyes settling on his, pleading for him to understand.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon gaped at the girl in front of him. Did she seriously just toss away his cigarette? He glared at her.
"What kind of a person are you to take away the wish of a dying man?" he accused. He began to argue with her. "You don't know me, whoever you are. I want this. I've always wanted this. I-- what?" he stared at her, his face gaunt, his eyes haunted.
"Shut the fuck up about my s..." He shut his eyes tight. This had to be some kind of nightmare. Even as he was dying he couldn't get away from thoughts of his sister. But it would all be over soon. It would. And finally nothing would matter.
"Leave me alone," he whispered, his head feeling too heavy for the rest of his body. A wave of dizziness washed over him and he slumped back further against the stall wall. He could barely keep his eyes open anymore.
"What a crazy chick," he muttered.

--

Leah sniffled, nodding at what the nice girl was saying. But she heard her brother. He didn't want help and he was angry. The only way to get him help would be to make sure he can't do anything about it. But he was doing that to himself. She couldn't even look anymore. What if he died? What if he died in a bathroom?
"Thank you," she whispered. "Make sure they help him soon. I don't want him to die."

[Admin Sydnee]

Jade honestly expected him to argue with her, to hate her for what she was trying to do, but when a spirit called for her help, when they wanted to be seen by her, by someone, she couldn't just refuse them, especially not a little girl like Leah who just wanted what was best for her brother. He was yelling at her and telling her to leave him alone, but she wouldn't.

She could hear Leah outside of the stall, thanking her and telling her to get help soon. I don't want him to die.

"He's not going to die, Leah. I promise." She got to her feet and as promised, punched 911 into her cell phone, waiting anxiously for someone on the other end to pick up as she stole glances at the guy slumped up against the wall, hoping that she wouldn't be too late. She would never forgive herself if she was.

She wasn't crazy. She wasn't. Tears blurred her vision and suddenly she felt the presence of another spirit. "Jade," Lanie whispered, standing beside her. "I felt like you needed me. What's going on?" Lanie's eyes panned over the boy and she put a hand over her mouth. "Jade, is he dying?"

"It's okay, Lanie. I'm getting him help," she said, gulping as someone finally picked up on the other end.

"911, what's your emergency?"

She made herself find words. "I'm at Veritas Academy in the dorms. The girls' bathroom. I need help right away. Paramedics, an ambulance. I found someone. He was trying to kill himself." She felt her voice break at the end of the sentence.

They told her someone would be on their way and all she could do was whisper "Hurry" as she hung up the phone. "Leah, help is coming. Okay? Your brother is going to be okay." She hoped so at least.

Lanie was still standing at Jade's side, worried and scared. "Jade, is he going to be alright?"

Jade just stood there numbly, her hand falling to her side with the phone in it, as tears rolled down her face. She didn't know what she could say to make him believe her.

[Admin Courtney]

Leah hugged her arms around herself as she stood there anxiously. She knew the wait for the ambulance would be torturous. She nodded as Jade spoke to her, and eventually made her way back over to Talon. Even though it hurt to see her brother like this, she had to be near him. She wished he could feel her presence, but was glad he could not see her. It might destroy him even more. She knew he carried guilt with him, even though it was not his cigarettes that had killed her. She crouched next to him, staring at his face because she could not stand to see the blood. She called over her shoulder to Jade.
"You have to stop the blood!" she cried out. "Please. I think he's passed out!" She pressed her hands to her mouth to keep herself from sobbing and to keep herself from trying to shake him. She knew she could not touch him, and that hurt so much worse. She was as helpless as he felt.

-------

Talon was cold. So cold. But he welcomed it. He welcomed the darkness that was taking over him, making him sleepy. Still, a part of him was holding on to conciousness against his will, and he heard the girl talking to.. someone. He wasn't sure who. But at the moment, he didn't care. He didn't care about anything.

[Admin Sydnee]

"No," Jade whispered, as she watched Talon slip into unconsciousness. She heard Leah's pleads echo off of the bathroom walls. Normally Jade would have been exhausted, but she was running on nicotine and adrenaline. She would save this boy's life. He would live. She wouldn't let him die, no matter how strong his death wish was. And he might hate her when he awoke in the hospital, but Leah wanted her brother to live and no matter how much Jade identified with what he was feeling, she couldn't let him go like that.

"On it, Leah!" Her eyes darted to the toliet paper. She needed something with more to it than that, but she didn't have a towel near by and she wasn't about to leave his side. She panicked for a moment, unsure of what to do when a voice spoke up.

"Jade, use your shirt." It was Lanie, frantically offering advice from beside her before walking out of the stall to see the other younger girl in the bathroom, trying not to sob. "Hey, it's okay. He's going to be okay. Jade's good at this."

Jade nodded, frantically shrugging off her leather jacket and pulling her heavy black t-shirt over her head without a second thought. She pressed it to Talon's arm with as much pressure as she could muster, trying to keep her breathing regular. She could feel her body trembling because of how scared she was. If he died, would she see him everywhere too? No, he wasn't going to die.

She kept the material pressed to his arm to stop the blood, her black hair falling into her face. "God damnit, you're going to make it," she told him, shivering as she felt the cold air on her bare skin. At least she hadn't worn an incredibly ugly bra today. But nevermind that.

[Admin Courtney]

Leah crouched on the opposite side of Talon's bleeding arm so she would be out of the way. She watched anxiously as Jade's eyes darted towards the toilet paper, but Leah knew that would hardly work. The paper was too thin and would not be enough. Then another ghost spoke up and Leah chewed her transparent lip as Jade removed her shirt and used that instead. It would be much more effective; she only hoped it would be enough to keep Talon alive until he could be saved.

More silver tears streamed down her face as the idea of Talon's life being in danger as well as a stranger to Talon helping save him overwhelmed her. "Thank you," she whispered as Talon stirred, his eyes opening for a moment before they fluttered closed. She saw the emptiness in them and wanted to start sobbing, but held it together. She did not want her pain to distract from the situation. Her life was over; Talon's was more important. His pain mattered more to her. It always had.

[Admin Sydnee]

The days had blurred together since Jade found that guy in the bathroom. She'd learned of his name. Talon. He was in the hospital for days, on suicide watch after he'd healed. She'd saved his life. She'd been told that enough, but it was different when you saved the life of somebody who didn't want to be saved.

She went to her classes, forced herself out of bed each morning and tried to be cheery enough around her roommates, but she couldn't stop thinking about him, about if he was alright and the presence of the spirit of his sister who was still lingering around her brother and he didn't even know it. She couldn't imagine being blind of Lanie being with her. It was something she was so used to, even if it made her appear crazy.

She'd heard whispers around school that Talon was back at Veritas and she knew she needed to talk to him. There wasn't a day when somebody wasn't talking about it, about how he'd tried to kill himself in the girl's bathroom and how a girl on the swim team had found him. Jade was annoyed by how a lot of them talked about it and she only hoped that it blew over in time.

She was in the common room, flipping through channels boredly in front of the television. She was more or less looking over at the figure in the corner of the room, his hood pulled up, sitting in silence. She'd been meaning to approach him, but she couldn't make herself get up from the sofa and muster enough courage to go over there. But she heard what people were saying, the whispers.

"Jade!" Lanie had been trying to get her attention. "Do we really have to watch this?" She'd noticed that she'd stopped on the food network. "It makes me miss food and we both know I can't eat anymore."

"Sorry," Jade mumbled, her gaze still set upon Talon.

"You know, if it's bothering you so much, you should go talk to him," she suggested just before Jade shut off the television and got to her feet.

"You're right." Jade hadn't seen Leah in a while and wondered if she was still around. She assumed that she'd been at the hospital with Talon, watching over him, but Jade needed to talk to the girl. She had questions for her. "Wish me luck, Lanie."

It was no different from any other day. She got weird looks from other students as she talked to someone who seemingly wasn't there and then she crossed the common room to where Talon sat, sitting down on the sofa next to him where nobody else had dared to go. "Talon?" she began.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon hated being back. Back to life. Back to school. All of it.

This time he had been so close. So much closer than before. He remembered the bathroom. He remembered some girl. He remembered the ambulance. But between that and after he had blacked out. So close, and then his chance was ripped from him, all because some stupid girl had found him and not listened and now here he was, in the Veritas common area wishing he was dead.

He had been on suicide watch in the Cranbrook Hospital for a couple of days after 'the incident', as his parents referred to it. They had flown in from Toronto once they had been notified of the situation, and his mother had not stopped crying. She kept asking him why he insisted on doing this, and then burst into ugly sobs when he told her the truth: he did not want to live, and why waste the air of people who did? His father had scolded him for upsetting his mother, and then Talon had shouted at them both for not being this upset about not having a daughter anymore. He told them they were horrible parents for having moved on with their lives after Leah's death. The entire conversation had not turned out well, and his parents had been shooed from the room when Talon's machines began beeping like mad.

He knew they had called Summer. He knew she would be arriving at the school any hour or day now. Why couldn't they just let him die? It was what he wanted. They all kept talking about him finding happiness, but would not accept that death to him would be the closest thing he would get to feeling happy.

So he sat in his usual corner in the common area, ignoring the whispers that now followed him. He hated the attention he was getting, but just ignored everyone who talked about him. Apparently his attempted suicide was hot news. It certainly made everyone more wary of him, which helped his self-proclaimed solitude. He had laughed in the doctor's face at the hospital when they insisted he go back to school. They said social interaction would help and that they were sure his friends were worried. Friends? Sure, he didn't hate Persy. But he doubted he could even face Dakota. He had been sleeping in the common area because he could not face his roommates. He knew they had been especially informed on 'the incident' and were probably asked to keep an eye out for him. He did not want to see Dakota's reaction. How pathetic he must seem, trying to kill himself after Dakota rejected him. The very thought churned his stomach. No, it was much better hiding in the common room corner with his hood pulled up over his head. He was not allowed his headphones because anything that could kill him had been confiscated. Belts, headphones, hoodie strings, shoe laces. He had been given a pair of velcro shoes to replace his regular runners, but refused to wear them and instead walked around in socks or barefoot in protest. The only things they had not taken from him were his cigarettes. He was completely addicted and making him stop cold turkey was luckly detrimental to his mental health. They did not want to stress him out anymore, and so he was allowed to keep smoking. The only upside to everything.

No headphones meant no music. It was torture. So he stared blankly at the empty couch opposite him - no one dared sit near him, for which he was thankful. His legs were drawn up beneath him and he leaned against the back of the couch, his shoulders slouched and his eyes dull. The voices around him were barely heard, as he was an expert at tuning things out.

He heard someone near him, and then he heard his name. Talon looked up, taking by surprise that someone was so close. He looked to his left at a girl who was speaking to him, and blinked, his face shadowed by his dark hoodie. He had completely given up on being fashionable. He wore sweat pants and a hoodie, and had not even bothered with boxers or a t-shirt. He had basically completely given up.
"What?" he said to the girl, intending to be spiteful, but instead his voice was just hoarse from lack of use.

[Admin Sydnee]

Jade awaited him to answer, her hands together in her lap, fidgeting. She glanced over at her sister every so often, who was giving her an encouraging smile, urging her to continue. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked over at Talon who had only said one word.

What?

She tried to think of what to say in reply. Did he remember? Did he know it was her? She bit her lip again. "I, uh..." she stammered. Damn, she needed a cigarette. She took a deep breath. "I'm Jade Parrish." She tucked a loose strand of black hair behind her ear. "I know you probably aren't my biggest fan right now, but I thought I owed it to you to at least talk to you."

[Admin Courtney]

Talon's brows knitted together slightly when she mentioned her name. Why was she introducing herself? Did she think he cared? Then she mentioned him not being a fan of hers and it clicked. Jade. The girl who had saved him. The girl doctors kept mentioning to him and saying he should be grateful she got there in time. Grateful for what?

His eyes narrowed into a glare. "I hope you aren't expecting a thank you from me," he said dully. "Because, and this might come as a shock, I tried to kill myself. On purpose. And you ruined it. So yeah, thanks so much. I mean wow. You saved my life. I am forever in your debt and all that shit." He rolled his eyes and pulled his hood further over his head, wishing he still had the strings so he could pull it tight and hide from the world. "Why'd you have to interfere? You know I have to be monitored now? I can't wear normal shoes because of laces. I have to eat food with plastic cutlery. And my stupid therapist is going to be the school's councellor which basically means I'm now being babysat. So thanks. Thanks a lot for interfering where you weren't wanted, Jade."

[Admin Sydnee]

Jade expected this. She expected the sarcasm and the bitter tone. She expected his harsh words from the moment she'd seen him in the bathroom and she began to help him at the pleas of his younger sister. So why did it still sting a little bit? She took it in, sighing before speaking again. "Look, I realize that you wanted to die, okay? I knew it was no accident, but I can't just let someone...die when I could have stopped it." She also could have stopped Lanie's death. She could have gotten her out of that fire, but instead she'd ran out of the house, concerned for her own life instead, and she still regretted it. "I know I wasn't wanted, but somebody else wanted me to help you and I did. Spirits go to me for help. They know they can rely on me." She knew she probably wasn't making any sense and so she stood up. She really needed a cigarette and eyes were on them in the common room. "Wanna go have a smoke? Get away from people? I'd much rather talk to you there." She pulled a cigarette out of her pack and held it out to him, a sort of peace offering, although she knew it wouldn't make up for what she'd done.