Jessica

I saw a car speeding towards me and I didn’t feel anything anymore. Everything was black and I was afraid, very afraid. I kept on thinking about Tiffany and Krystal, and called out for them, but no one appeared in the infinite darkness. I called out to everyone I knew, even my deceased parents, but no one came to help me. I was in this alone. Am I dead? Then everything was bright and my feet found its footing on the soft, carpeted floor of a hospital. I’m alive! I was wearing a blue hospital gown and had a tag around my wrist, which practically showed my full name and my ward. I walked down the narrow corridor, avoiding nurses, doctors and patients who were bustling about. But something was wrong; none of them were looking at me and some were looking past me. Brushing it off, I walked to the reception desk, finally realising that I was barefooted, but the floor wasn’t cold. Strange.

“Hi, may I ask where this ward is?” I showed her the tag on my wrist, but she seemed to take no recognition of me.

She continued to organize the stack of paperwork on her desk without looking at me at all. I blinked, and shoved the tag in her face, but she didn’t seem to see it. In confused irritation, I snapped my fingers in her face, but got completely no response from her. Not even a blink. It was as if…as if she couldn’t see or hear me at all. I turned to the crowded corridor and yelled as loud as I can.

“Hey! Can anyone hear me? Can anybody hear me? Hey, anybody?” I yelled, but no one even looked at me.

I ran to an elderly lady who was seated on a chair with a blank look on her face. I stood directly in front of her in a way that she had to look at me. I flailed my arms, hoping to get some attention.

“Excuse me ma’am, can you see me? You can hear me, right? Or you can see me? Both? Neither?” I began to shout desperately, but the old lady just bore the same expression as before. 

“No, this can’t be happening. This isn’t real. I’m just in a very bad dream,” I muttered to myself as I finally decided to look for my ward.

I ran to my ward, making no footsteps as I ran. It was deathly quiet except for the quiet chatter between staff and the whirring and beeping of machines.

“T29C…here it is.”

I saw myself with tubes sticking out of my mouth, into my mouth, out of my wrist, everywhere. I walked into my ward, staring at my own unmoving body. I was deathly pale, with my messy blonde hair spilling on the pillow. This machine was helping me breathe, I realised as I saw the larger blue tube that was pushed into my throat. I was on life-support, meaning that I was in a coma. That was when I realised that there was a mass of brown hair by the side of my bed. She was wrapped in a purple blanket and was shivering against the cold blast of air-conditioning in the room. I felt my heart tighten when I saw Tiffany fast asleep on the side of my bed.

“Tiffany,” I whispered, kneeling next to her.

By some kind of magic, she stirred and looked up, glancing at my wasted body. I could see her red, puffy eyes and how tired she was. She still had tears streaming down her face when she grabbed my lifeless hand carefully and played with my cold, stiff fingers.

“Tiffany,” I tried again, louder this time. “Please…look at me…I’m right here. Please, Tiffany.”

She didn’t seem to hear me. Thinking that no one else was in the room, she began to talk aloud, hoping that I would’ve heard it somehow. And I was listening to her.

“Jess, please wake up. You have to wake up. Krystal is hysterical. Amber had to pry her away from your bed just to take her home. You need to wake up, Jess. You…you can’t leave me all alone in your apartment. I can’t live in your apartment without you. You have to wake up, Jess. Please, just wake up. Just move your finger, I know you can do that much. Please…don’t do this to me…,” her voice broke as she spoke and I felt my heart shattering into even smaller pieces.

“Tiffany, I’m right here. Look at me, I’m here. Tiffany, please look at me!”

“She can’t hear you,” a smooth, adamant yet familiar voice said.

A familiar figure walked up to me, and I rose to my feet, but the figure still towered over me. She was a female, from her posture to her curvy body. I knew it all too well for me to forget.

“Yuri…”

“Hello, Jessica. It’s been a very long time,” Yuri smiled warmly at me, and it made my heart pound faster, but it didn’t pound as fast compared to when Tiffany gave me her eye-smiles. “I know you’re confused. So, before you begin to say anything, let me explain first. One: I’m not a ghost. Two: I’m not an angel either. Three: You are not dead yet.”

I grimaced. “Hey, how did you read my mind?”

Yuri laughed good-naturedly. Well, at part three, I heard someone yelling at the top of her lungs at the corridor. The other two…well, it’s obvious from the way you think.”

“Yah,” I smacked her arm teasingly, glad to have someone as company and someone to explain what was happening to me. “So…if I’m not dead yet…then why am I like this?”

“Have you ever heard of an ‘out-of-body’ experience when the soul of a person wanders around?”

I nodded my head, becoming more perplexed than before.

“Well, that’s what you’re going through now. You’re not the only one though, there are quite a few down here, but they usually follow their loved ones back, or,” Yuri made a flinging gesture with one finger, “pass over.”

“Pass over?”

“Right. Like go over to the other side and go to Heaven or something like that.”

“Then why are you here? Didn’t you die…?”

“A few years back, yeah. I know. But a little angel told me that you needed help. Who else better to help you than me?”

“So…where you went…there’re beautiful angels too? Huh, Kwon Yuri?” I couldn’t help it; my jealousy was unstoppable in spirit or solid form.

“Huh? Oh yeah, but there aren’t as beautiful as you, Sica,” Yuri smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of her head almost guiltily. “Anyway, until your body wakes up, you can’t communicate with them. ‘Them’ as in humans. You can see and hear them, but they can’t hear or see you. , I know.”

“Until I wake up? But that could take years!”

“I know. That’s why I’m here to help you. I’ve been keeping an eye on you from where I was. I know you love her,” Yuri eyed the sleeping Tiffany with a loving expression. “I want you to watch. Well, it’s nothing offensive or anything, but you’re going to have to watch her like how I watched you for the last three years. I want you to see how she responds to this. I want you to appreciate the true meaning of love.”

Readers’ Note:

Did I get you there? Aha, Jessica’s in spirit form. I don’t really have anything to say about this chapter. Aside from some YulSic moments, it’s basically about Jessica coming to learn that she’s a ‘wandering spirit’ and how she adapts to it.

Thank you for reading!

Yours Faithfully
Jazzign