I See Dead People

Dane Moretti's the name. I see dead people...sort of. Come buy a burger at the Hungry Llama.

[dane-moretti]

Ghosts That We Knew (Last Self-Para)

Dane Moretti didn't remember much of his life before coming to Crystalmont, perhaps because he didn't want to, or because things moved to quickly back then to pinpoint a single moment down in history. But what he did remember with crystal clarity was this parents' funeral. Like his, everyone was dressed in black; like his, there were flowers stacked on the grave, and just as he did now, Dane had sat with a lump in his throat and his hands folded in his lap. The only difference now was that instead of sitting in a church pew, he was sitting on the coffin itself.

It was a strange feeling, knowing that a few inches below his own ass was his real, chemically preserved body. They'd probably dressed him up in a suit, though it wasn't an open casket; he'd been too bloody, to ripped apart for anyone to see him now. Luckily, this form he'd taken here (was it the after life? Purgatory?)--be it a ghost, a memory (he wasn't quite sure), or something yet to be discovered--was clean. A white t-shirt, no blood stains. Dress paints, nicer than anything he'd owned in his own, real, breathing life. For the very, very first time (and he supposed the last), Dane almost felt important.

After all, he'd never expected a crowd to gather for him. And yet gather they had; he could see Courtney at the front (he'd tried wiping away her tears, but his hand seemed to go right through her, and after several tries, he'd given up, too scared of frightening her); Jamie, Kasey, Reese...Elijah was at the back, finally (Dane had been frightened he wouldn't come; he shouldn't have clung so tight in his final moments, but for a couple brief, painful seconds, he'd almost felt like he'd had a dad, and that was a nice way to go--he'd forgotten, over the years, what it had felt like). Bryson and Jensen were there (he hated to see the normally happy couple looking so blue, but hopefully that would pass in time); Adrianna (he wished he'd been able to say goodbye to her), and even a few folks in town he'd never met before. To say the event surpassed his dreams would have been an understatement. 

Dane jumped off the casket and walked to the back of the room. Evony was there, trying to blend in, and perhaps the living had overlooked her, but Dane glared as he passed. He waved his hands over his head, yelled and pointed, but no one could see; no one would ever understand his warnings. He sighed and moved on. As he passed the last row of seats, a head turned, eyes staring right at him, and Dane's heart would have skipped a beat if he'd had one. She could see him. Someone could see him. He hurried over and sat beside her. "Can you see dead people?" he asked.

She nodded. 

"Good," Dane said. "I mean, not good. I'm sorry. I know how it sucks. I just saw when people were going to die. Talking to the dead must be hard. We should have been friends. We could have had a business or something." He laughed, shakily, and ran a hand through his hair (it didn't matter much now; no matter what he did, it never seemed to get messed up). "Can you pass a message along for me?" he asked quietly. "Can you tell Eli it's okay? Can you tell everyone it's okay? I'm doing fine," he said. He smiled to prove it--that big, goofy, too big for his face smile that people seemed to be talking about now more than anything else about him. He didn't mind. He'd tried at a lot of things--tried to go to school, tried to work, to be good at his job, to be a good friend--but if he'd succeeded in nothing else, at least he was always happy. That had to count for something. 

The woman nodded, and Dane reached for her hand, but his slid right through her. "Whoops," he said. "Thank you." As he rose from his seat, he looked around the church again and overheard Florence and Bryson discussing putting a donut in his casket; he grinned. He'd like that. Hell, he'd love that. 

---

Later, having overhead the promise of fire, Dane followed Reese as she walked behind the Hungry Llama and started a fire. He danced around the flames, whooping excitedly, and telling Reese repeatedly how cool her power was, though she couldn't hear his praise anymore. He only hoped he'd told her enough while she was still living. By this time, he'd begun to notice the faintness of his own skin, and he knew (though he wasn't sure how), that his time was up. He'd spent so long thinking about the dead, wondering where they went when they were no longer on earth, wondering if they were happy, if they were okay--if his parents were okay.

He supposed now he was going to find out. 

[dane-moretti]

Borrowed Time || Self-Para

Dane and Death had always been closely linked; perhaps it was the Double D's (if he'd been alive to laugh, he would have laughed at that), or the irony of his constant, un-eraseable smile. He'd seen his first death--mentally, not yet physically--when he was five years old, a gunshot, a man yelling, and his parents bodies hitting the ground in unison. Then there were neighbors, baggers at the grocery store, book store owners, and friends. He'd be lying if he'd said it didn't take its toll, that after the second, the fourth, the seventh, the thirtieth vision, he'd tired of his "power," tired of living in a world so very temporary. Some people were strong enough to handle lives full of death and destruction, but Dane had never been one of them. 

He'd always thought he'd be scared--terrified, even--to see his own death predicted, but the moment the vision came racing across his vision, all he'd felt was relief. And he couldn't say that those last few days were bad either. He'd finally kissed Courtney, after all, had had time with friends, had had some great days at work. But all good things come to an end eventually, and Dane's only regret was that Courtney would have to add another person to the list of those she'd lost. The very small amount of savings he'd left for her couldn't erase that. 

And it truly was his only regret, because if there was one thing Dane had always known for sure, it was that life was short and he had to live every single last day like it was his last--up until the real last one. And it wasn't such a bad way to go either, making sure that the people this town really needed--the soldiers and the firefighter, the ones always fighting for everyone, always making Crystalmont a safer place--would make it one more day. The visions were always foggy, and he'd tried so hard for so long to change them, but if there was never going to be a way to stop it, then at least now it would mean something.

[ohboyomii]

Visit Original Link

Everything collapses around me

Overwhelms and astounds me

[dane-moretti]

House of Hallways || Dane, Elijah, Bryson, Jack, David

[elijahxgraham]

Time had been sped up with the adrenaline coursing through Eli’s body. He was hyper aware of everything. He’d known about the knife, known that David had dropped it and known that he was fighting against the very people he’d brought in to help. But everything flipped when the knife was pointed at his chest, completely exposed due to his arms being restrained on either side by Bryson and Jack. Time slowed to a crawl and Eli was completely powerless to stop the events that unfolded in front of him. Dane rushing forward, the knife disappearing in his gut only to reemerge bloody. The boy falling. 

And as he went slack, Bryson and Jack let him go, leaving Eli to crawl toward Dane. No longer concerned with their common enemy, he only cared about the life of the boy who he was in front of. Pressing his hand to his stomach in a foolish attempt to stop the bleeding, he tried to keep himself calm, if only for Dane’s sake. “It’s okay, Dane, it’s okay. You’re okay. We’re gonna fix this.” His voice sounded foreign to him and he repeated the words over and over as if they would help.

[brysonnicolausheartcock-blog]

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Bryson had been sure they’d get hurt—how could they not in a situation like this—but he hadn’t thought anyone would die, surely not Dane who the real innocent in this situation, the one they never should have brought along because there was no possible way he could be prepared. Bryson’s heart dropped into his stomach, and everything seemed to flash into black and white; his breathing quickened, and just like that, he was back in the war—bombs went off in the distance, a gunshot right by his ear, and his friends were falling, bodies everywhere.

He blinked, forcing himself back into reality. While Eli caught Dane, Bryson rushed forward, knocking the bloody knife out of David’s hand and pinning him to the wall. 

[thesoldierjack-blog]

"Heartcock," Jack said. "Fall back." He grit his teeth and carefully pulled the gun out from his pocket. It wasn’t pointed at anyone, not yet. But he knew that engaging with this shit stain was going to hurt Bryson just about as much as stray bullet would. "How many people have you hurt like him?" he barked at David. "Huh?" The rage in his voice was clear, but his hand was steady as he raised it. Jack took a few steps forward, ensuring that any shot he took wouldn’t be one the scientist could survive. "Cause that’s a kid you just stabbed. I don’t care what your motives are, it doesn’t mean you get to throw away a human life."

[itsbetternottoaskquestions-blog]

As Bryson released him and stepped away, David suddenly found himself with a gun pointed at his temple. Not exactly how he’d seen his night going. He glanced at the boy where he lay on the ground and shrugged, seeming almost bored by the night’s events. “He created a problem that needed fixing,” he said simply. He turned back to Jack, staring down the barrel of the gun. “I’m going to save the world, don’t you get it? It’s all for the greater good. Our work here is going to cure cancer! We could save everyone. And if it takes a few…” He paused to look at Dane. “Stupid lives to make it a reality, then it’s a risk I’m wiling to take.”

David took a step forward, looking directly past the gun and into Jack’s eyes now. “You’re not going to pull that trigger, so why don’t we all stop pretending now?”

[dane-moretti]

"I knew..." Dane tried to speak, but was forced to pause as he spit out a mouthful of blood. So this was what it was like to die, he thought. He had seen the visions so often that death had almost become a normal part of his life; he'd watched people fall down the stairs, watched them have a heart attack, watched his own parents taken down at gunpoint, and each and every time he'd known what it was like to lose, but never what it was like to die. 

In a way, he thought, his brain foggy, the room growing dark around him, it was better this way. He'd always known he was headed for the end; everyone'd he'd known had always died, and he couldn't bear to keep watching it happen, time and time again. He'd experienced quite a lot of pain in his life, but there was nothing quite like watching life end. He couldn't do it anymore. Now, finally, he'd see Jack again; he'd see his parents. 

Reaching blindly around the room, Dane finally found Elijah's hand and gave it a squeeze, putting all the force he had left in his body into that one tight hold. "Don't let them hurt anybody," he said, his voice as weak as the rest of them. He glanced down and laughed shakily as he saw his own blood pooling out over his t-shirt and over Elijah's hands. "They said...in biology...that we had a lot of blood. I never believed it until now." He coughed again, the blood pooling over his lips and dribbling down his chin. He'd seen enough of them to know that dying was never dignified, no matter what the movies said. He squeezed Elijah's hand again, tighter this time, as though trying to transfer every last ounce of life in him into that grasp.

"Tell...tell Courtney, okay? Tell...it's okay. It's okay." It's better this way, he thought again. He'd known it was coming, had predicted it weeks ago and spent his last days putting things into place; he didn't have much to give, but Courtney would get every last cent left in his bank account; Kasey would get his coffee mug, because he thought just maybe she'd appreciate that, and he nothing left to give buy pennies and empty boxes. Dane had always tried to live life to the fullest, but he'd never exactly had a full life. 

Coughing non stop now, Dane buried his face into Elijah's chest. He'd never had parents; his own had died when he was five, and every foster family after that had come and gone faster than he could remember their names, but Elijah had always been kind to him, always been someone he'd thought he could trust. He closed his eyes, his coughing finally subsided, his shaking eased by the steady pounding of Elijah's heart just next to him--prove that there was still life in the room, that not everything Dane touched died after all. 

He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. "Sorry," he mumbled, and then shut them for the last time. 

[dane-moretti]

House of Hallways || Dane, Elijah, Bryson, Jack, David

[elijahxgraham]

Eli had heard the plan, he knew he was supposes to stay back. Hell, he wanted to stay back, had every intention of it. Maybe even get Dane to the hospital finally. Apologize for the part he’d played in making this kid’s life shit. But all rational thought went out the window the instant he saw David. The look on his face, even when angry he still held that smug expression in his eyes. And he was blaming Dane, the one true victim in any of this. The rage that had been building up since Kasey found Eli had finally spilled over. Without thought or concern, Eli lunged forward, past the trained military, grabbing David and slamming him into the wall with all the force he could muster. For Dane, for the town, for Reese, for the nights they’d all stayed up afraid of what might happen next. He just kept throwing the man against the wall, wanting to break him the way he’d broken this town.

[brysonnicolausheartcock-blog]

"Woah!" Bryson shouted, everything in front of him seeming to happen in a split second: David appearing, Dane shrinking back in fear, and Eli practically leaping across the room. If there was one thing Bryson had learned over the years, it was that there was no room for hesitation. His gun was up and back down in a split second; there was no point trying to shoot, no matter how good of a shot he was, if Eli was constantly weaving in and out of his line of shot. "Damn it," he mumbled, pushing the gun into his waistband and rushing forward instead. He moved his way in between David and Elijah, grabbing each one by the wrist and holding them back. "Dane, get out!" he shouted.

[thesoldierjack-blog]

David. Knife. Clear shot. Then a frantic blur as Eli rushed the guy. Jack cursed under his breath, pushing the gun into his back pocket. This was certainly a plan. He mirrored Bryson and grabbed Elijah by the shoulders to pull him back. The man just wouldn’t let up though. Jack tried to tighten his grip, forcing the firefighter to back the fuck off. He couldn’t remember where the knife was and they didn’t know what else David might have on him. As much as Jack might have wanted to punch the guy himself, it wasn’t going to help anyone if one of them got hurt.

[itsbetternottoaskquestions-blog]

All it took was a second. The men—stupid as they were—were so busy fighting amongst themselves that they couldn’t have noticed as he grabbed the knife from where it fallen upon the lab table. Smiling smugly, he brought it forward, aiming for the chest of the intolerable fire fighter. 

[dane-moretti]

It was like dejavu, seeing the world unraveling the same as he'd predicted in his vision. There was the gun, the fighting, the chaos, and then he zoned in--the one detail his vision had missed. The knife in David's hand. Elijah had come here for him--they all had--dragged into this mess because Dane had been too childish to take care of himself, because he'd been naive enough to allow himself to be dragged into this chaos in the first place, allowed himself to trust. 

But that was the thing about his visions; they were never wrong. He'd learned that the hard way. Without thinking--there was no time to second guess--he rushed forward, hoping to knock the knife out of David's hand, but instead felt it plunge into his own stomach. He gasped, staring down at the blood--new this time; funny how much he had left in his body. In a way, the pain was invisible to him--something he was briefly aware of, but something far away, as though he was drifting out of his own body. Or perhaps it was just him falling to the floor. 

[dane-moretti]

House of Hallways || Dane, Elijah, Bryson, Jack, David

[elijahxgraham]

Eli followed him silently, keeping his eyes open for anything that he could take to Daphne as evidence. But even as his eyes scanned the room, they fell on Dane and he stopped short. This was no place for someone like him. Someone so obviously broken. He’d remembered how only a few days before he’d been feeling the guilt of knowing he’d turned Dane’s name over to his sister. He was probably the unluckiest teen in the world and Eli felt that guilt and self-rage bubble up within him. “Hey,” he said quietly, his hand reaching out for the boy’s blood encrusted back. “You don’t have to do this. You did all you needed to by getting us here. You can go back.” 

[brysonnicolausheartcock-blog]

Bryson pulled his gun from his belt the very moment they stepped into the lab. Keeping close to the wall as he’d been taught, he did a quick surveillance of the room, confirming that they were, in fact, alone. He dropped his gun back to his side and nodded. “It’s empty,” he said. He turned back around, noticing for the first time how upset Dane truly was; they should have known. He’d just been experimented on, tortured, for Heaven’s sake, and now they’d forced him to step back into the room of his captor’s. “He’s right,” he said, looking from Eli to Dane. “You got us here. We can figure it out from here. Go home to Courtney.” 

[thesoldierjack-blog]

"The next room we enter, either Bryson or I go first." Jack’s voice was steady and almost soft, but that sure has hell wasn’t a question. He wasn’t going to yell out orders with such a mixed bunch. Wasn’t that much of an idiot. But he wasn’t going to let them make any more casual steps in this. "You could get hurt easily," Jack admitted as he looked over the room. The scene was grim, not anything he expected some naive kid to deal with in a quick few minutes. Besides, they already had two guns in the mix. Having fought with Bryson before decreased the potential for friendly fire, but each additional person was going to make it riskier. And who knew what that creep David had on him.

[itsbetternottoaskquestions-blog]

David heard the movement in the room across from him as it echoed through the walls. He looked up; Evony and Adam shouldn’t have been back for several more hours (and he didn’t look forward to the moment they arrived; he had fucked up this time, and he didn’t even know where to begin in explaining it to them). He pushed out his chair and grabbed the first knife he could find before tiptoeing into the other room. Immediately, he found himself face to face with a near army—those two soldier men, Elijah (the nosy, overeager firefighter) and Dane. “You,” he growled at the boy; he had started this whole mess.

[dane-moretti]

Dane nodded, suddenly comforted by the presence of the two soldiers in the room, not to mention Eli who he had always felt comfortable with; the man just had a way of making him feel safe. He didn't want to run, didn't want to be a coward, but he was smart enough to know that he'd be of no help here. He didn't have the skills to fight, and he'd no nothing but hold them back. "Be careful," he whispered. Maybe his vision wouldn't come true; maybe, just maybe, this wasn't the night after all (but even as he thought it, he could hear the door opening, hear David's voice, and he knew his hopes were just that: the stupid dreams of a child). Tonight was the night his vision would come true. 

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Kasey

Kasey: Who?

Dane: Me.

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Kasey

Kasey: Yes, I did...You are going to come back.

Dane: My vision said something a little different, Kase.

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Kasey

Kasey: Don't you dare make it sound like a good bye Dane. I will hurt you if you do that. You are going to come back, I swear you will.

Dane: Did you see a vision of that? Because I didn't.

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Kasey

Kasey: You not telling me anything isn't making me want to stay calm Dane. What are you guys doing? Where are you now? Are you alone? Please tell me that there are adults with you!

Dane: No, I'm with Bryson and Elijah and Jack. It's going to be okay. But uh...if it's not. You're a really great friend. I love you, Kase.

[dane-moretti]

House of Hallways || Dane, Elijah, Bryson, Jack, David

[elijahxgraham]

Eli wasn’t entirely sure that he should be following this kid back to the scene of his… attack? Experiment? Well, the place where this David guy had almost killed him. He should have been taking him to a hospital, but time wasn’t on their side when it came to the three people trying to destroy and dissect his home town. So he swallowed the lump in his throat that rose every time he looked at Dane’s blood soaked back and continued to follow, glancing over his shoulder briefly at the other men who’d come to help. There was a tiny ray of hope in knowing that he wasn’t alone in this, even after all the shit that had been said the night before.

[brysonnicolausheartcock-blog]

Bryson watched Dane walk, his eyes focused on the blood dried onto his t-shirt. How many people Dane’s age, younger even, had Bryson seen bloodied up and killed in the name of the “greater good”? There was nothing “good” about this plan except the end result. It was time to be a soldier again, to fight the good fight no matter the cost, no matter what it lost them, because this was a war now, and they had to win. He glanced back at Jack, feeling that tangled knot gather in his stomach as he remembered what this was costing him; he had no right to be dragging Jack back into battle when they had both just gotten out. Sighing, he squeezed Jack’s shoulder and gave him a weak smile. “Remind me to let you kick my ass tomorrow, alright?”

[thesoldierjack-blog]

The walk to meet up with them had felt longer than it should have. Jack wished he knew just what he was getting into and what they’d find once they got there. But he couldn’t show any of that apprehension right now, could he? Dane, even more of a kid than any of the others, was leading them. He didn’t need any of this shit. Kid had a girlfriend, didn’t he? The one he’d been in love with since forever? Should be out with her, not here. “You don’t need to be so worried about this. I’m fine,” Jack said to Bryson with a smile. He wanted to say that he was really worried about the other soldier, what this could potentially do to him. It wasn’t as though Bryson was faring spectacularly well even without evil fucking scientists doing…whatever the fuck they were doing. Jack had almost thought twice about bringing his gun, not wanting to trigger anything for his brother in arms. But the potential danger had, unfortunately, out-weighed that.

[itsbetternottoaskquestions-blog]

David was pacing around the the lab. The boy was not supposed to get away; he’d seen what they were doing—seen everything: the diagrams, the research. Even his own blood was evidence of what they were doing, and he’d never screwed up this badly before. Growling, he threw a box of medical supplies at the opposite wall. “Damn it!” he yelled.

[dane-moretti]

Dane spotted the door he'd come out of, the door to Crystalmont University. The "lab," if that's what it really was, was underneath. He told the other three men this before stepping inside, carefully stepping around the room until he found the door hidden in the wall and the staircase behind it. He took it one step at a time before arriving in the lab--a room full of medical equipment, tables, and dead bodies--but it at least appeared to be empty. Dane tried not to cringe, but the tears were already appearing in his eyes no matter how hard he tried to stay strong. 

[dane-moretti]

House of Hallways || Dane, Elijah, Bryson, Jack, David

Dane was shaking all over. The blood had dried by now, stuck to the tips of his hair and his scalp, coating his hands so they looked nearly black under the moonlight, but nothing hurt anymore; he was too numb to feel a thing. Still hearing Courtney's voice in the back of his mind--not for the last time, he hoped--, he stepped out into the street and gestured for the three men behind him to follow. "It's just down the street, and then across a couple more," he said vaguely, watching his feet as he walked. He kept thinking back to the vision he'd had two weeks ago; tonight, he knew, it would come true.

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Courtney

Courtney: Hey...you're gonna make it back to me. Don't make it sound like you're sayin' goodbye.

Dane: I love you [Hang up].

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Courtney

Courtney: Shit, I'll catch up with you. Where are you? Please tell me.

Dane: I don't want you to get hurt. I'm sorry. I love you, Court. I really do. Our special at the Hungry Llama is going to be milkshakes and cookies, and our name is Daney. I almost forgot I wanted to tell you that.

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Courtney

Courtney: Dane? What's...I love you too. I love you so, so much. What's going on? Don't tell me you're going after that weird family.

Dane: It's too late. I have to.

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Kasey

Kasey: What happened? Dane! What happened? Did he get you? Were you hurt? DID THEY EXPERIMENT ON YOU?

Dane: Kasey, calm down. Just be careful, okay? I have to go. We're going to end this..I think. I don't really know what's happening, I just know a lot of good guys are going after the bad guys. It's going to be okay, I think, but if it's not, you need to get out of here.

[dane-moretti]

Phonecall @ Courtney

Courtney: I'm just about to leave work. Did you want me to bring you some food or something? We can have dinner if you want.

Dane: I don't think I can tonight. Listen I just...I love you. I know I never said that enough. I should have said it the very first time I thought it. I should have shouted it or something. And I wasted a lot of time being scared of you when all I wanted to do was kiss you. I love you. I really, really do.