"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
—Rick (Casablanca)

()()()

Blayze.

  The day had been stressful, to say the least.

  I hadn't meant to spook the girl, but she had to be Zanna (aka the girl in the hospital bed), right? She looked exactly like her without all the bandages and tubes, of course.

  The girl had been pissed when she'd caught me in her bedroom (Zanna's bedroom) looking through her underwear drawer.

  So, she had to be Zanna.

  At the moment, I was standing alone in a hospital room with Zanna's comatose body. This made me feel kind of depressed, seeing her in this condition. She'd been walking home alone, they say? I would've given her a ride then if I'd known who she was, but I hadn't known a Zanna that went to Wayward High.

  Perhaps I had horrible observational skills.

  I took a seat on the chair by the door.

  All I started to think about was how weird this whole thing was. And what about that one thing that happened when I'd touched her arm? That was freaky. I almost peed in my pants. It was as if my hand went through her arm.

  Then the way she went through the wall when she left the room a little while ago. I hadn't seen that kind of shit since Casper the Friendly Ghost.

  "Blayze!"

  I jumped at the sound of her voice.

  She was back.

  "You need to explain to me how that gir—I mean me... How did I end up in that hospital bed?"

  So she is Zanna, I thought.

  Looking at her, I saw that she looked stressed.

  Not that it was unnecessary, she had every reason to feel stressed.

  I founded myself scratching the back of my neck. It was a nervous tick, and I rarely got nervous, much less around a girl. "You got hit by a car," I simply stated.

  She didn't say anything.

  She took a glance at the body.

  I didn't miss the slump of her shoulders.

  She then shoe-gazed a little bit before looking back up at me and asking, "What was I doing when I got hit?"

  At first I didn't get what she was trying to say, but then it came to me. "You were walking home from school and while you'd been crossing the street..."

  I didn't have to finish my sentence.

  She got the gist.

  Neither of us said much after that, and I couldn't help but glance at her. We'd went to the same school? I didn't see how she could've gone unnoticed by me. She wasn't bad looking. She was pretty with her red hair, pale skin, and soft brown eyes. I've dated a few gingers, but she topped the cake on looks. Eh, that was weird. How could I be looking at her like this, when she was...

  I couldn't explain.

  Nevertheless, I was about to suggest on leaving when the door opened.

  "Blayze?"

  It was my dad. He was wearing the typical doctor's outfit; blue scrubs and the white coat. He was holding a clipboard in his hand. The look on his face when he saw me, was a look of surprise and... Surprise.

  "What're you doing here, son?"

  I quickly stood up from my seat and tried to think up any excuse of why I was in here. Zanna's eyes were filled with alert at my dad's presence. "Uh, tell him we were dating... Before the accident, I guess," she suggested, pacing around the room. Like he'd believe that, but it wasn't as if he was ever around much to notice my love life. When I'd dated Hailey, he'd met her one time, and one time only.

  Hailey stepped on a tack while we had been going to some festival our town was having—she'd been wearing flip flops that day. I had to carry her to the car and into the hospital. My dad had been on duty. He founded Hailey to be a "nice girl".

  I didn't even think he knew me and Hailey had broken up.

  "Eh, she's my friend," I said.

  Dad gave me a look bordering on confusion. Maybe he was a bit unconvinced by my answer. Again, how could he keep tabs on my love life when he wasn't around much to notice who I was dating, anyway?

  "Well Blayze," he said importantly, I wanted to roll my eyes. He was about to say something authoritative and grownup like.

  He tsked. "Only kin can come in here... What relations do you have with Miss Purgeth, anyway?"

  Did he hear me when I said she's my friend?

  I gave in.

  "We're dating... Well at least we were starting to, before the accident happened."

  Dad gave me another questionable look. "I think her mother would've written your name on the visitor's list, don't you think?" He didn't wait for my answer, he began to check things off on the clipboard he was holding in his hand, as well as taking a few glances at Zanna's body and her heart monitor.

 "We never really revealed our relationship to her mom,"

  He perked up as soon as those words left my mouth.

  "Nor to me or your mother for that matter..." he added.

  I resisted the urge to talk back to my dad. He acted as if it we're my fault, that he didn't know about my relationship with Zanna—though this relationship was a lie. Him working these long hours, weren't my fault.

  The subject on me and Zanna's relationship was left open.

  Anyhow, I took one more glance at Zanna's comatose body, before exiting the room with my dad.

  I didn't see (ghost?) Zanna. Where did she go?

()()()

  Dad had gotten off early, so I'd rode home with him.

  Yeah while I'd been in the car with him, he began to question me on my relationship with Zanna. I wanted to jump right out the car when he started to ask me questions like:

  Dad: When did you guys start dating?

  Me: Eh...A week after Labor Day.

  Dad: What happened to that one girl... Hailey was it?

  I had been surprised he remembered Hailey.

  Me: Didn't work out.

  The questions went on from there. He kept asking me about Zanna's interests, which I had no clue what they could be. I'd winged it, though. She played tennis and her favorite color was blue. Too bad she hadn't been in the car with me.

  Yet I'd found it irritating, that she hadn't been there to help me out.

  So it was like that, she could just choose to stay and go whenever she pleased?

  I knew I couldn't control her, but she could've had the decency to help me out with this charade. Also, I didn't think I was looking depressed enough for my dad to fully believe that I was dating Zanna.

  I figured, I wasn't playing the grieving boyfriend role as convincing I should. I bet I looked to Dad as if Zanna being in the hospital was an everyday thing, when in reality it wasn't like that at all. She was in a coma for Pete's sake. And here I was playing her "I'm doing okay" secret lover, when in reality I should be depressed and sad about the whole thing.

  I think I had him a convinced only a little.

  I could've just told Dad the truth, but he would've registered me into the nearest looney-bin there was.

  Maybe Zanna wasn't real. Maybe she hadn't been real all along. Maybe that was why I couldn't see her anymore. She'd just been some kind of hallucination. That was it! She hadn't been real all along. However, I knew that no matter how much I tried to convince myself that Zanna wasn't real. I hadn't persuaded myself enough to think that.

  She is real Blayze.

  "Blayze, honey?"

  I looked up at my mom who said my name.

  "Yeah Mom," I said, really wishing she could hurry up with whatever she was going to ask me. The steak I was eating was juicy and tender, just the way I liked it, and I wanted to finish it before it got cold. Steak tasted horrible when it got cold.

  "Why didn't you tell me, you and Zanna are dating?" she asked.

  I dropped my fork and knife on my plate. "Are you kidding me, right now?" I mumbled.

  Mom looked a little hurt. "Well Blayze, I find it odd how you're saying you're with Zanna... And earlier when I told you she was in the hospital, you didn't seem to know who this girl was at all... So Blayze, be honest with me and your father. Why were you in her hospital room?"

  I froze. I was a complete dumbass, wasn't I? I wouldn't be able to continue this charade any longer with my mom's foresight. Want the truth mom, I thought, glancing back and forth between her and dad. Zanna's ghost is haunting me and I had to show her what was really going on.

  Awkwardly I started to cough. Man, that steak went down the wrong pipe. I took a sip of water. "See, I didn't want you guys to find out that me and Zanna were dating, regardless of the accident. Cuz I didn't know if you guys would like her. I guess, I was kinda scared to tell you—"

  "Blayze, sweetie," Mom said, looking hurt. She looked at Dad. "You didn't think we'd like Zanna?" She started to cry. "Brandon, our boy is afraid to tell us things!"

  I didn't expect that reaction. Yeah, she was a bit over emotional at times, and too nurturing. But I didn't think I'd make Mom cry. It scared me.

  "Janine, calm down. I don't think Blayze meant it in that way," Dad said. He took her hand, and tried to give her a reassuring look. He then looked at me and frowned.

  "I just don't know..." Mom went on as she grabbed a napkin and blew her nose. "I don't want you to ever lose faith in us, son. I'm sure we'd like Zanna once she's out the hospital...right Brandon?" She looked to Dad for support.

  He looked to be thinking, like he was doing math in his head; trying to use 100% of his brain, even though it was 50% (Right? Yeah, I believed in the myth) "Well, I'm not even sure if she'd get out of the hospital. I talked to the guys at work, and the brain activity...."

  "Brandon!"

  Dad stopped talking. He looked at Mom, and then at me. "Oh, I'm sorry Blayze. We will like Zanna! I'm sure of it. She seemed- uh, seems like a nice girl."

()()()

  Once I could finally excused myself to my room, I found Zanna sitting on my bed. She looked down, and a little upset. She hadn't noticed me come in. So, I stood there and studied her looks a little more.

  Why hadn't I noticed her?

  When she finally came out of her thoughts, and noticed my presence. She blushed when she caught me staring. I felt a little embarrassed myself. But when I saw her wipe the tears from her face, the embarrassment almost turned into concern. Had she been crying?

  "Umm, sorry," she said quietly, "you probably don't like me being a stalker ghost. I'll just leave..."

  She sighed. I was most certain she was going to have herself disappear, or perhaps, phase through a wall.

  But I didn't want that. I felt compelled to say, "Wait, Zanna. Don't leave, I just wanna say—"

  She didn't let me finish. Because she let her guard down for one minute, and asked me, "Blayze, am I going to die?" She was tearing up, then she started to pace my room. "I'm already like this- a ghost!"

  Then she started to ramble.

  I didn't know what to do, at first.

  Then, for some reason, I took her hand, and stopped her. "You're, y-you're not a ghost, okay?"

  She didn't look convinced. "But no one can see me."

  I gave her a goofy grin. Shit, I didn't need to start acting mushy. That wasn't me. "I can see you."

  She almost smiled, I swear she did. "Yeah, I guess." She shrugged, and looked down at her hand I was still holding. She took it out of my grasp quickly, and didn't look at me. "Can you stop looking at me like that, you look stupid," she commented, returning back to her normal self.

  I smirked. "Yeah, and can you leave for the night? Some people have school ya know?"

  She scoffed, and crossed her arms. When she saw that I was about to change into my PJs.

  She left.

  Sure, I still had some school work to do. But now was not the time. I just hoped Zanna wouldn't follow me to school. People would think I'm crazy; just talking to mid air. I wouldn't be able to handle the weirded out looks and stuff. Maybe there wasn't anything to worry about. I could simply ignore Zanna, and continue on with normality.

  Blayze, you're still cool. Remember that.

  I got into my bed. After enduring an eventful day, it wasn't a surprise that soon enough I fell asleep.

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A/N: Like the chapter? Please tell me what you thought about it. Please don't be scared to leave a comment or vote. Also, I gave a little hint towards Blayze and Zanna's connection when Blayze held Zanna's hand. She's a ghost, and earlier when he had grabbed for her hand, his hand had phased through her arm. So why is he able to touch her now?

Continue reading, and you'll find out.

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Thank you!

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