[F1 - PP] Ghost’s Daydream

[Ghostie 0]

Quote

 

The sun reminds her

Of hopes beyond just her own,

And clouds, of her fears.

 

Ghost rested on the hills of Floor 1, hands bracing her as she sat in the grass. The temperature was perfect. The rays and solar glow that illuminated the fields around her was soothing, as if it were blessing her lightly paled skin with a warmth that she hadn’t taken the time to properly appreciate in a very long time. 

 

The tree nearby had given just the optimal amount of shade, relieving her from having to squint from the light as its leaves projected an opacity that dimmed the sun from her face. Her fingers running through the thin blades of grass was therapeutic, encouraging her to gently kick off her sandals and feel them between her toes as well. Comfortably reclining, she rested onto her back, reaching a hand up to the small glimmers of light that hit her face through the trees, and sighed. 

 

This… is real.

 

~Flashback, beginning thirteen years ago~

 

“What do you mean, ‘there’s nothing you can do’?? There’s always something!!”

 

“I’m sorry, Professor Sato, but there’s still only so much that even our BEST medical facilities can accomplish. There are currently only a very limited number of experimental methods, which you have mentioned, and those methods as of last month have been reported to have an outrageously abysmal success rate.”

 

“Abysmal?? …Doctor Lin, I don’t believe you truly understand the meaning of the word. For the past five years, I’ve had to bring Ko to you. I’ve watched as my little girl couldn’t breathe. I’ve watched as her screams and cries produced mere fractions of frequencies. I’ve watched while her throat has swelled, and while her mother was in tears in fear of losing her, and I have watched while our girl, sitting in YOUR OFFICE right now, damn near lost her life because of an abnormality sixteen god forsaken times. And you’re sitting here, in front of me now, telling me that the few options that she has in this world to be able to live a life where she can live without constant pain, and can TALK, is abysmal??”

 

“…I’m… I’m sorry professor, I—“

 

“You have NO concept of what it means to be comparable to an abyss, Doctor Lin. Not even an inkling. Abysmal is how my wife and I feel every morning getting out of bed, wondering if she’s alive and just sleeping. Abysmal is comparable to any sense of ease that we’ve been able to have, to clear our fears and doubts about her future. IF she even has one. ABYSMAL, Doctor, is how it feels to not be able to trust even medical god damned professionals to be capable enough to perform their duties. And abysmal… Well, abysmal is comparable to the chances of you having your license after today. Thank you for your time. We’re leaving.”

 

Ko jumped as the side door to the office was slung open, her father walking in and slamming it behind him. Despite his actions, he looked completely calm, a caring warm smile on his face. Despite hearing everything he and Doctor Lin had said, she almost instantly pushed that aside, just beaming up at her dad. At the time, the little girl only saw his smile, and had no way to understand the look in his eyes. The look of worry, of anger, of pain.

 

“Come, Ko. It’s time to go home.”

 

On the way home, Ko kept looking over at her father as he drove. His favorite song was playing; Island in the Sun, by Weezer. He tapped his finger to the beat, his eyes steeled and more relaxed. He looked over at Ko, noticing that she was watching him with her usual smile, and he smiled back before looking back at the road. “Would you like to go get something to eat?” he asked her. Ko nodded her head and rapped on the dashboard with her knuckles with the familiar double tap that she used for ‘Yes’.

 

Her dad chuckled, keeping his focus on the road. “Do you remember the sign for yes, Ko?” the girl pondered for a while, and then remembered, taking her right hand and making a double pawing motion. Her dad glanced over to see if she did it right, and smiled again, nodding in approval. “Very good, Ko! So, where would you like to eat? There are a few places we could stop on the way home. There is a ramen walk-in up ahead for one, two for an ice cream parlor, and three for the fruit smoothies.”

 

Ko shook her head no, tapping her middle and index against her thumb for ‘no’. Even though the girl didn’t specify, her dad knew what her reason was for signing no. His brows creased, and he sighed. “Ko, I’m sorry but I can’t get you any hard or scratchy foods. We’ve been over this; it’ll hurt you, okay? I promise, once your neck starts feeling a bit better, I’ll buy you all the food you could ever want. But for right now, we have to stick to softer things, okay?”

 

Ko didn’t respond for a bit, but after a little while, she raised her hand and held up two fingers. Her dad looked over, giving a sad smile and nodding. “Ice cream it is, then! Excellent choice.”

 

~a few hours later~

 

Ko happily patted her dad’s head like a fuzzy drum with her hands as he gave her a ride on his shoulders, ice cream all over her face. Walking up to the front door of their home, he unlocked and opened the door. “Kei, we’re home dear,” he announced while kicking off his shoes and slipping Ko’s off her feet, placing both pairs by the door.

 

Not hearing an answer immediately, he set Ko down and walked toward the kitchen, the little girl following after him with a bounce in her step. They found Ko’s mother in the kitchen, grinding up up leeks and asparagus into a paste, and she glanced over at them with a beaming smile that explained where Ko had gotten hers from. “Welcome home, you two!! I’m just prepping things for dinner tonight! Judging by your faces, I hope you left room for it,” she teased before skipping over to Ko’s father and giving him a light peck on the lips. “How did things go at Doctor Lin’s, Toshiro?”

 

Ko’s father looked down, his smile slightly fading at the mention of Ko’s appointment. “Ehhh… it could’ve been better,” he replied. “We probably won’t be seeing him again.” her mother’s bubbly attitude was replaced with an odd tension in the air, her face retaining its usual smile but her eyes narrowing. She looked down at Ko, and gently ruffled her hair. “Ko, dear, please go wash your face and go to your room for a bit to play, okay? Daddy and I just need to talk about some grown up stuff; I’ll call for you when food is ready!” She told her in her singsong voice.

 

Ko nodded, oblivious to the tension, and skipped out of the kitchen to the bathroom upstairs, cleaning her face off. Then, she made it to her room, laying down on the bed and looking through some old CDs that dad had let her listen to. In the meantime, she heard the faint echo of her parents’ voices downstairs. 

 

“Again?? Are you KIDDING me right now?! Toshi, you can’t keep doing this!!”

 

“Well what do you expect me to do, Kei?! Keep taking her to the same damn doctors that keep giving us all of the issues but none of the answers? They’re not even attempting to make any progress! She needs to be able to breathe!! What happens if, or WHEN, her respirator fails one night?? All it would take is ten minutes, TEN, and she’d be gone! We need solutions, Kei, and they’re not giving—“

 

“—There ARE solutions!! You just don’t wanna take them because it could lead to her not being able to talk!! Look, she’s doing very well at learning basic signs already. Mom and Dad have both been doing really well at teaching her!! You’re right Toshi, she does need to be able to breathe, and play, and EAT, like any other child her age. But right now, her larynx is the only thing in the way of them being able to remove the problem. You and I both know, whether she can speak or not, she will still always be our daughter and our only child. She’s all we have!! And I REFUSE to let either of us screw that up, so I need you to get your head out of your ass, and think about HER. Not what YOU think she needs, but what she actually needs. I need you to do that for me, and for her…”

 

At this moment, Ko put her headphones on and laid down onto her bed, the CD player turning to Track 1.

 

| Well, I built me a raft and she's ready for floatin'

Ol' Mississippi, she's callin' my name

Catfish are jumpin', that paddle wheel thumpin'

Black water keeps rollin' on past just the same |

 

Smiling at the familiar tune, Ko then reached over and grabbed the tube to her respirator laying on her nightstand, connecting it into the port on her neck like she remembered Daddy and Mommy doing countless times. Feeling the cool air push into her lungs, Ko relaxed more and closed her eyes, slowly relaxing into the music.

 

| Old black water, keep on rollin’, Mississippi moon won’t you keep on shining on me…|

 

player Stat Block

Spoiler

Ghost

[Level: 5 | Paragon 0]
[Total SP: 25 | Allocated: 0 | Remaining: 25]
[HP: 100/100 | EN: 28/28 | DMG: 1 | ACC: 1 |EVA: 1 | MIT]

Word Count: 1,610

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ghostie