Existence 01 - Existence

“Hello,” I said brightly and they all seemed surprised. I turned and followed the directions the front desk volunteer had given me. It didn’t take me but a few moments to realize the pediatric floor was full of wandering souls. I walked past kids in wheelchairs watching me with curiosity. I smiled and said hello as I passed by them. My heart began to ache for reasons other than my loss. Seeing the little smiles on their pale faces wasn’t easy. A little girl with long, red, curly hair caught my attention. She stood at the door to her hospital room staring, not at me but on either side of me and behind me with curiosity before looking directly at me. I slowed my walk and glanced back, realizing that most of the souls I had smiled at and spoken to were following me. She could see them. I stopped and studied her little, sweet face. She was standing up with the use of what appeared to be a walker. She glanced back at them again and smiled warmly and then her little eyes found me. “Do you see them?” I asked in a whisper, afraid others would hear me and think I was insane. She nodded sending her head of red curls bouncing around her.
    “Do you?” she asked me in a loud whisper. I nodded. “Cool,” she replied, grinning. I winked and then continued on my way to the activity room. I couldn’t stand and talk to a child in the halls about the souls we could both see without drawing attention. I’d never met anyone else who could see souls. It was hard to just walk away from her knowing little face. But I knew I would see her again. I intended to find her later.
    I found the sky blue door with the quote, “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” -Dr. Seuss , painted on it in bright colors. This was where I was supposed to be. I opened it up and immediately found the shelves of books to the right.
    I turned back and smiled at the souls who’d followed me inside, “Do any of you have a suggestion?” They all studied me and some drew closer to watch me or touch me. I couldn’t feel them. “No one?” The room remained silent. I sighed and turned back to the books. “Very well, I’ll pick one out myself.”
    “My favorite is Where the Wild Things Are.” I spun back around thinking a soul had finally spoken. The souls were all watching the little red headed girl from the hallway. She was standing at the open door smiling at me. “They won’t talk to you, you know. They can’t,” she said as she walked inside.
    “They can’t?” I asked staring down into her eyes that appeared so much older than her little body.
    She shook her head sadly and sighed. “No, I’ve tried to get them to. They like for you to talk to them.” She paused. “Well, some of them like for you to talk to them but they can’t talk back. They are souls fighting their return so they stay here and wander aimlessly.” She glanced back over her shoulder at them with a sigh. “But they start to forget who they are or why they are here. It’s sad, really. If they would have gone on in the first place then their souls would have been given another body and another life instead of this pointless existence.”
    I walked over and sat down on the chair in front of her. “How do you know this?” I asked, amazed someone so small could know so much more than me about the souls I’d seen my whole life.
    She shrugged. “I guess he didn’t want me to be scared.
    They are scared of him, you see, and he didn’t want me to be scared of him. He didn’t want me to be scared of them either. And I think maybe he didn’t want me to become like them.”
    I shook my head trying to figure out who she was talking about. “What do you mean? Who is he?”
    She frowned and the souls who had gathered in the room vanished. “They’re scared of him, like I said. He’s the only thing they do remember because he was the last thing they saw while alive. Silly, really, it isn’t his fault. It was just their appointed time.” I froze at her words and grabbed the arm of the chair I was sitting in for support.
    My heart started pounding in my chest as I asked, “What do you mean by ‘appointed time’?”
    She studied me a minute and then whispered, “It was their appointed time to die. Just like mine will come soon. He told me. He wasn’t supposed to but he can break the rules if he wants. No one can stop him. It’s ultimately his decision.” I swallowed the bile in my throat at the mention of