4

Daniel ‘Danny’ Aldoun brought down a fist into the bathtub that splashed an arc of water high above his head. He laughed and brought a second fist down just beside his leg and a second column of water erupted. His freckled face stared at him from the mirror beside the tub; a soapy hat of bubbles coated his head. His chest tightened in one gust of wind that crawled up his spine.

He was far away from me—Danny was still back in New York. I could tell that immediately. Danny didn’t know it, but he was actually in the apartment next to the one that I grew up in. Good old Perennial Complex Room 28B. Of course, that apartment is long vacated now—and I’m now in Colorado and have been since I’ve moved out of Mom’s spot in Utah when I was eighteen.

Danny felt the sudden chill in the air as I felt my way around his mind. He stopped breathing for a second and his eyes widened as he sat still in the tub—I could tell he was trying to listen for the sound of the ghost that had entered his bathroom. I made not a sound. He noticed that his hair stuck up from the water and while normally it would make him smile, today it didn’t. He only stared at himself for a moment longer before his eyes began to grow like pale moons on a starless night. A tear started in his eyes and all of a sudden he was crying. He didn’t even fully understand why.

Danny was beginning to miss nap time from school when things were quiet, but not the scary quiet that filled his tub. They were the kind of quiet that brought about good dreams and the promise of snack time right after. Now, all that was in his mind was a sharp coldness that brought both of his hands down quickly to his right leg. Danny squeezed the tiny foot submerged in the water and twists it until the tears turned to whimpered sounds.

He screamed. It sounded...relieving. I can’t begin to express how it feels to say that. No matter how much it hurt—how much he wanted to let go his hands wouldn’t obey. It was the first time I heard a child’s bones crack so clearly. Any other times I saw kids die it was usually too noisy to hear anything substantial. I wasn’t really listening out for it then, mind you, but now it was almost like a drug. Take a hit, never quit.

I grabbed his feet harder and with a force stronger than a boy his age could ever muster. His wail overpowered the cracking sound and...to say it all went to shit would be an understatement. Danny’s mother would soon slam the door open open to tell the kid to just shut up before noticing the bathwater dyed crimson.

She’d be too coked out of her mind to have noticed her own boy’s ‘suicide’. Danny twitched in the tub before the light left his eyes. His foot was at a bad angle and the bone tore through the skin. My invisible hands crawled all the way to his brain and slammed them down. He could still see in his final moments.

He could still feel, but he couldn’t scream any longer. He felt an immense pain from his foot until it was no longer there. His foot had been disconnected from his body as I tore it with immense strength. He couldn’t begin to fathom what had been leaving his body until his mind began to flutter. His last thought was how at the very least he could have nap time forever now.

I sighed with a sense of relief as the deed is done, waiting for the water to leave my senses and return to my body. A whole minute passes in silence and a sense of dread I’ve never felt before climbs up the boy’s unresponsive spine. I was still in the tub. This was different...the boy was dead—there was no other energy left in his body. There was no doubt about that. For some reason I wasn’t back in Colorado. I never expected anything like this to happen because it never did happen. Anytime a host died I went straight back to—

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The door burst open just as I had thought. I just didn’t expect to be here when she did. His mother clutched a Jack Daniels tight in her fist (I was close) and was about to yell when she saw Danny in the tub. His eyes were open and looking at her because I was looking at her, but not for that fact this boy would be dead. Still, his mother screamed the same and called for emergency services just the same. I was still inside Danny as the paramedics entered the bathroom fifteen minutes later and dragged his body off on a stretcher. I dared not move. I was awake when they brought him into the hospital. I was awake when his legs were operated on—no amount of sedatives could bid me unconscious—because I wasn’t physically of his body. I stared at the doctors as they operated. I could tell they were scared—that they’ve never seen anything like this. I knew that feeling, but I didn’t tell them that. I sat watching as they fixed my damage.

When the surgery was finally finished I felt tired. I had resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to be returning to my body anytime soon. It was a new situation, but one I would have to deal with. Even if Danny was dead that only meant he needn’t fight with Danny’s will until he made it back into his own body.

I realized I didn’t know when I was...back when I was younger I traveled to people who were close to me temporally, but as I grew the variation grew larger. I could be anywhen. I didn’t think to check Danny’s memories when he was alive—I didn’t think I’d need to. I rested Danny’s head back and closed his eyes.

~...~

Dreams are nice because they’re not real. It feels different when I’m dreaming than when I’m inside someone else’s head. I can’t control anything, and I get to watch my subconscious do all the work. It’s a fascinating thing. I’m always thankful when a good dream comes around. I see a girl with shoulder length black hair sitting on the side of a country road. She looks to be...teenage? Maybe a little younger? I can’t really tell. She looks like she’s been thrown through a washing machine that used rocks instead of soap. Bold blue eyes looked to the sky as a car approached in the distance and the world melted into strands of light that flew up toward the top and bottom of the universe. All at once it began to vibrate as a melody began to play slowly and smoothly. The strands of light twanged like guitar strings as the notes echoed through the now-dark atmosphere.

Stars are painted into the sky and as if by a painterly stroke the scene changes and a cliff side enters view. Two figures shrouded in darkness sit out among a city down at the base of the cliff and talk about things I don’t understand. I understand the word collapse but that’s all I get out of the strange tongue they’re speaking in. As soon as one of them leaves the other begins to glow a bright white light. Everything then is filled with the white.

~...~

I feel an awful aching in Danny’s side when I wake. Still in the damn hospital bed. Light spills into the room through a crack in the drawn blinds. I can do little but lie still. The silence rings in my ears. It has been a very long time since I’ve been able to hear silence—that I’ve been able to sit and stare, and then I lick Danny’s lips as a thought begins forming.

I have been looking for a way to stop my mind for as long as I can remember. Any way that could keep me in one place...and I think that it has found me. Danny isn’t here anymore, but I still am. I can use this opportunity I’ve been given to live the life I haven’t been able to. There were a few problems. I didn’t know anything about Danny’s life. The kinds of things that were expected of him—he’s young, sure, but not young enough that I could make a smooth transition. He’s nine years old; enough time to have imprinted a certain personality and history with those around him. Claiming that as my own would require a lot of careful note taking on my end. Second, I still don’t know when I am. This is a small hurdle, but one nonetheless. The last thing I can consider a problem is Danny’s mother. From what I know she’s big on the bottle and doesn’t seem occupied with staying with her son in the hospital.

All obstacles, and all will need plans to overcome. For now, I think I hear the doctor’s shuffling outside. I don’t want to talk to any of them yet...not yet. Now I will sleep.