Life Support

It had been about two weeks since the first time the doctors visited me when I met Rabi. I was sitting in front of the window staring into the light and hugging my knees. The doctors and the nurse had visited a few more times and kept using those awful words about me. I hated it there.

"Hello?" I heard someone say at the door. By then I had learned not to respond to anyone, they weren't talking to me. I continued to stare off into the light.

"Yes, little girl? I am talking to you. The one sitting in front of the passage way there." The voice said.I turned around this time. At the door was a boy about 3 years my senior. He had dark features-Dark hair, dark eyes, brown skin. I stood up slowly, he placed his hands on his hips and smiled at me, showing all of his bright teeth.

"I'm Rabi!" He said excitedly. I could hear his accent now, it was subtle, but it was definitely there.

"Y-you can see me?" I stuttered.

"Well of course I can see you, silly girl. Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"Because nobody else can!" I shouted, he furrowed his brows at me. "My parents have been in here everyday and I can't get them to look at me!"

"Well of course not!" He laughed. "The dead can only be seen by other dead...and by those who accept that you are dead."

I cringed at the word again. It left a bad taste in my mouth and a queasy feeling in my stomach.

"Well which are you?" I managed.

"You are very straight forward aren't you!?" He crossed his arms. "Asking a person if they are dead or not before you even tell them your name?"

"I'm Cara Melanie but my parents call..I mean <i> called </i> me Caramel."

"Oh that is clever! caramel like the sticky sweet! I get it." He laughed again. He was starting to get on my nerves.

"So...Are you dead?" I asked him.

"Yes," He said, suddenly less cheery. I felt bad for asking him. "I've been dead for...3 years?" He strained to find a number. His gaze fell to the floor for a moment, his eyes filled with sadness. "You have been here for about two weeks, or that's how long I've heard you screaming anyway."

"You heard that?" I blushed. "Well why didn't you come sooner?"

"Everyone heard. You were very loud! I didn't come because I was busy."

"What could you have possibly been busy with?"

"I was busy trying to ignore your screams." Rabi laughed again as he crossed the room and stood over my hospital bed. He ran his fingers through his thick dark hair. He shook his head as I stood up and stood on the opposite side of the bed.

"You said everyone heard me? There are others?"

"...Yes" Rabi said, still gazing down at my body. "Mr. D'annuzo is right across the hall. You haven't seen him?"

"No."

"Huh, he said he's seen you a couple of times, but he didn't come over because...well he's kind of a grump."

"A grump?"

"Yeah, you know. He finds a reason to complain about everything." Rabi finally looked up at me. "So what happened to you anyway? How'd you die?"

I shook my head and crossed my arms. That word left a bad taste in my mouth, I didn't think I'd ever get use to it. "I don't know. The last thing I remember was coming here for a tonsillectomy."

Rabi raised a thick eyebrow at me and frowned.

"So you were one of the unlucky ones?" He said quietly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well it's just that tonsillectomy is a simple procedure, but a number of things can go wrong. A lot of the time people just lose too much blood." He made his way back to the door.

"How do you know that? you're too young to be a doctor." I followed him.

"I've been stuck in a hospital room for years, all I do is read medical journals." He laughed and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Well, I should be going now, I've got some things to do. " He stopped at the door for a moment before turning around and shrugging. "Welcome to the after life, I hope you make it out of here, kid."

"Wait! don't leave me alone again!" I whined.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're the first person I've been able to actually talk to in weeks! and you seem like you know a lot about all this. I'm begging you, don't go." Tears were welling up in my eyes, making Rabi appear blurry.

"Hey! don't cry," He said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You can come talk to me anytime, I'll be around."

"No I can't. I can't step one foot out of that door without feeling like I'm about to die...again. " I wiped the tears from my face.

"Oh right, I forgot. Your soul is still connected to your body because of the machine."

We both looked back at my body. I felt the tears coming up again.

"Well why can you leave? How come you can leave your room but I'm trapped?" I questioned.

A look of sadness washed over Rabi's face. He shook his head and forced out a laugh. "Different strokes for different folks I guess." He muttered.

"It doesn't hurt you?" I whispered.

"Not anymore."

"Well then maybe one day it won't hurt me either." I proclaimed.

Rabi looked at me, pain in his eyes. "I hope that never happens Cara." He said before turning away from me quickly and rushing out the door.