All Hope Lost by Samantha Dorrell Read Free Book Online Page A

home?”
    Mary shook her head, her
ghostly hair, wafting side to side. “I cannot. I am stuck here, to this ward. I
cannot leave the room, or go through the door, no matter how much I tried. In
the end I waited to be discharged. I guess I forgot I was dead after so long.”
    I smiled at her, a softness to
my face to calm her. “You can go now, Mary.” She looked at me, eyes wide. She
looked as though she wanted to cry, but that was impossible. Instead, she
hugged me, wrapping her arms around me, head sunk into my shoulder. The effect
was strange; my body shimmered and felt her disappear. A tinkle of laughter
sounded far off, the echo of her “thank you” rang in my head.
    Smiling I turned back to the
ward. She couldn’t leave, yet I can go anywhere? Why? I moved over to
another person and tried to talk to them. They didn’t answer, just stood
staring at the floor, leaning against the wall. I tilted my head to one side,
and took note of the shadow he was casting. A live one, great. Glancing
about the room, I could see the closest ward for emergencies nearby. There was
much movement going on, and from what I could tell, most movement was actually
from other ghosts, pacing the hall. Some saw me; others didn’t, moving in and
out of the living, through me, causing me to shimmer in response.
    One spirit stared at me, and then drew closer. “You
cannot be here.” He spoke deeply, a slight echo catching behind his voice. It
was strange. My eyebrows raised in surprise.
    “Why not?” I asked.
    The spirit motioned to the
ward. “You are a danger to the still living here. Your kind cannot be here,
without consequence.”
    “My kind? I don’t understand; I’m dead, like you?”
    He blinked at me; his dead eyes were blank, which made
him very eerie to look at directly. “You are dead, yes. But not like me, or the
others.” He got closer and reached out to my right arm. His finger almost
touched me, but there was a tiny gap, yet the sparks that appeared within the
gap caused me to jump. “You are not a ghost like us. We have died from natural
causes, old age, or illness and disease. You died by other means, before your
time. You are a Daemon; you are here for a higher reason, for justice. But you
must not be here, you must leave.”
     
    This new information crawled
down my spine and made me shiver. It was true I was trying to get justice,
was that my purpose? Considering a moment, I liked it. “But, I need to find
out how a young lady is doing. She is pregnant, and came in with glass
shattered in her hand. I am concerned for her unborn.”
    The spirit before me nodded.
“Wait here, we can find out for you.” He spun and moved lithely across the
floor to the ward door. Another ghost listened from the other side as he passed
the message on and returned to me.
    “We will find out shortly, the message is being carried
through the hospital to find her. It shouldn’t take long; there are many of us
here, in limbo.”
    “Limbo?” I asked surprised. “Is that why you are still
here?”
    The man shrugged, but
answered. “As for myself, I stayed here out of choice. I wasn’t ready to leave
when I died. I like to help others, so I try to help the new dead, to help them
move on.” He motioned to the ghosts that still walked the wards. “These though,
are too far gone to help, at least I cannot. They are completely gone in their
own minds. Who knows what life they are living now, but I will not deny them
that, I cannot.” He turned his head quickly back to the door and went to
receive the information from the other ghosts.
    Returning to me, he spoke again, “It appears your girl is
up in a ward, she is getting a strong talking to by one of the maternity nurses
up there about her drinking and drugs taking, and what that is doing to her
unborn. It sounds as though the girl is up for having her child adopted once
born.” I nodded relief clear on my face.
    “Adoption is the best solution for her and her child. She
is not