"Never in my life before have I experienced such beauty, and fear at the same time,”
–llen MacArthur
. . .
February 2022
NYU Seaside Health
Walking down the long, spotlessly white hospital halls behind a nurse is bringing back a whole bucket of memories Raven would rather forget. It reminds him of the time he had been called from work because his mother had been involved in a probably not-a-car-accident.
Looking back, he had been stumped.
…and rightfully so.
It had been so quick, so sudden.
They told him that she was already dead-on arrival. That her death had been quick and painless… though not a pretty sight.
The sudden wave of memories almost makes Raven want to tear up as he recalled the last sight he had of his mother, and he has to actually blink several times before his vision was successfully cleared. He chances a glance at the nurse ahead of him as he tries to subtly wipe at his eyes.
Did he notice?
Well, he’s reading something on his clipboard, so… yeah.
Probably not.
Raven was about to open his mouth to ask some questions regarding his visit, but they have reached the door at the end of the corridor, anyways. The nurse stops in front of it with his free hand resting on the door’s handle.
“It’s rather kind of you to visit,” the nurse tells him, “Other than her editor, she doesn’t get many visitors ever since she came here. And she always keeps to herself most of the time too. Were you a friend of her’s, sir?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Raven tries not to look too nervous, or a very guilty liar, “She’s always been like that.”
The nurse seems to agree and finally turns to open the door to let them inside the private room where his patient has been staying for the last few years, long before the pandemic has broken out and the world has gone disarray.
It took quite a long time–and a whole lot of digging that involved a lot of paperwork, calls and online stalking just to get here, to be honest.
But Raven is here now.
To his one lead.
…Bea Blessing.
Unsurprisingly, the name had been a pseudonym–which is why, other than her book, the name had been a dead end since her editor (when Raven managed to get ahold of them via social media) wasn’t too inclined to meet, let alone reveal her name to ‘creepy fans’ like ‘himself’ no matter how much Raven denied being a stalker.
And from what Raven had gathered, Blessing was a young author that had been a graduating college student from the university nearby last school year… and the phone number that had been jotted down on his mother’s book had been linked to her aunt’s house before she had been admitted by her relatives in a private hospital due to a severe case of narcolepsy and spontaneous bouts of seizure.
Raven still couldn’t get over the fact that the young writer had suffered her very first bout of seizure on the night his mother died. More so since she had no history of epilepsy or anything of the like.
It was way too horrible to be a coincidence.
Bea Blessing’s room was your average hospital room–all white and plain, too clean and too sad-looking, Raven almost pitied the kid had to stay here. The thing that gets to him the most though, is the absolute lack of noise.
One would think the patient is sleeping if it weren’t for the fact that when the nurse had opened the door, Bea was standing by the large window overlooking the city from afar.
The nurse called, “Ms. Blanc, you have a visitor.”
“Ms. Elle?” she asked, turning to look at them.
Raven already knows she was a graduating student when he looked her up over a year ago, but she honestly looks way younger in person than he expected, it was rather jarring.
Her voice sounds too soft, like a whispering wind. The clothes were too white, oversized… and appeared to be swallowing her whole because of her skinny frame. She doesn’t look like a college student. She looks like a child that needs a lot of bed rest.
Or maybe it’s because of the height.
She stares at him for a moment, tilting her head slightly to the side as she did so. Her face pale but unreadable.
(…definitely the height.)
“You’re not my editor,” she finally says.
Raven swallows uneasily, “Yeah… I’m aware.”
“Says he was a friend of yours from school.” The nurse shrugs, patting Raven on the back before stepping out back into the hall, “I’ll be going, now. Still have lots to do but call if you need anything, ma’am. Mr. Fall.”
The door closes soundly behind him.
Raven waited for the footsteps to grow quieter till his ears could no longer pick up the sound, “Uh… Ms. Blessing?”
“Why are you here.”
He really should have looked up how to talk to girls first. Or ones that looks like a creepy little kid. “My name is Raven Fall and–”
A thin eyebrow rose up, “You’re Mrs. Fall’s son.”
“Yes, t-that’s right. I am. Listen, I don’t have much time but–” Raven paused, glancing behind him for a moment before looking back at her again, “…we have so much to discuss, I believe.”
As he was speaking, Raven shows her the book she had written over a year ago. In it, the word ‘Thalassophobia’ was marked in big, bold letters of dark blue above a silhouette of a being that appeared to be an unholy cross between human and monster.
The young woman slowly leans away from the window as if to get a closer look at it. She blinks once, then twice.
Crossing her arms, she cranes her neck to look up at him, her pale lips twitching into a barely-there smile, one that seemed to be tinged with the tiniest drop of amusement that didn't seem quite right. Her eyes, the color of the ocean, seemed to glow eerily against the dying sun.
“…I suppose we do.”