“Kyn, are you awake?” Ghost asked me. I grumbled an opened my eyes.

“I am now.” I muttered.

“Good, because I want to show you something.” He smiled and pulled me to my feet. Pushing me to the corner of the car, he led me to a ladder. Hand over hand, we climbed it. Ghost pushed open a latched door. Night air blasted my face. Crawling out, he helped me up. Although we were going fast, it wasn’t quick enough to push us off the edge. Besides, there was railings.

The night sky was spectacular. Each star shone out with no city lights or pollution to obscure each prick of luminance. The Milky Way stretched from end to end of my vision.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He asked. Ghost wrapped his arms around my shoulders, placing his chin by my neck. I shivered from the immediate touch.

“Stunning.” I breathed out. We spent the next half hour staring at each star, admiring the beauty of the midnight sky. Constellations littered the black void. It was like a giant had painted a giant connect-the-dots puzzle.

A shooting star danced across our vision, leaving a bright trail in its wake. Ghost’s lips brushed past my cheek. The effect numbed any pain that had crept into my system.

“Make a wish.” He whispered. It took no time for me to think. Over the years, my parents had taken me stargazing numerous times. My wishes ranged from wanting my own dog to hoping for a better tomorrow. Few wishes actually came true, so I learned not to put my faith into flying objects.

Today, it seemed like it was all I had.

“I wish I could get home safely.” I murmured. Ghost chuckled.

“That’s a good wish.” He responded. The darkness covered my blushing.

“What was yours?”

“I’m not telling.” He stated flatly. I turned to face the boy. In the abyss of night, it seemed like he was a real specter.

“Please? I told you mine!” I begged him. He gave me a crooked smile that made my heart throb. It looked just like Austin’s crooked grin.

“Fine. I wished that you would get better.” He whispered. I blushed even deeper.

“You didn’t have to waste a wish on me.”

“It wasn’t a waste. I really hope you feel better.” He murmured to me once again. Our conversation had come to leave us in a meaning filled silence. After another glance at the stars, he took my hand and led me inside. He closed the door behind me as we settled on the ground.

Few people were up at this late hour. Quinn and Iren were both playing a furious game of Gin Rummy, Chris was on his phone, and the other seemed to be passed out in their bunks with the curtains drawn.

Ghost took my hand and led me slowly down the aisle to the couch. We stopped by the two elderly people’s game.

“You cheated!” Old Ire blamed Quinn who shook her head.

“Did not!”

“Did to!” He argued with her for another minute before glaring down at the paper cards. Quinn looked like she had won the argument. Ghost glanced at Ire’s cards before chuckling.

“They always like to play midnight games of Gin Rummy.” He explained. I smiled and nodded. Wrecks used to play Rummy at the park on Friday night with his own group of friends. He claimed that he was the master of that game. I never played it with him.

A sudden firework of pain popped through my system. I doubled over, clutching my hands around my stomach. A headache fiercely pounded at the back of my skull. The bruise on my back seemed to break every bone.

“Kyn, are you okay?” Ghost asked, his hand on my back. My legs trembled violently and then gave out. The boy caught me before I could hit my head on the floor. I let out a small gasp of pain.

My stomach simultaneously cried in hunger and told me if I ate anything, I would throw up. This was the worst pain I had gotten in the last few days.

Oh no. I forgot to take my pills for pain killer. It had been three hours overdue.

“Kynder! Kynder! What’s wrong? Oh no, please tell me you’re not pregnant and going to give birth.” Ghost moaned. Even in the intense agony, I managed to hit in in the side as he knelt next to me.

I stretched out on the floor, not willing to curl into my chest. I turned to my side, my back exploding in torment. It felt like I was dying all over again.

Chris’s face appeared over me. He held my head in his lap as Ghost stared in worry. Through my gritted teeth, I managed to try and gasp for breath.

“Get…my bag…” I groaned and held my stomach together. If I didn’t get those two white pills right this second, I felt like I might die!

Ghost reappeared and handed me the grey pack. I fumbled to open in and grasped the small white container. He opened it as Quinn handed me a glass of water. The two older humans chattered nervously in the corner. Their words faded in and out as I felt my grasp on being awake slipping away.

“Here.” Ghost cupped my hands together and gave me to two pills. Lead weights seemed to drag my arms to the floor. Somehow, I managed to pop the little capsules in my mouth, but nearly spilled the water trying to get it up.

A hand took the water from me and placed the rim against my cracked lips. I drank from the cup greedily. The cool water seemed to extinguish some agony in my throat.

As soon as I had swallowed the pills, a numbing tide washed over my body. Minute by minute, the fire was replaced with a numbed, detached feeling.

My weak arms trembled as I attempted to sit up. Chris caught me as I felt once again. I sighed. Trying once more, I managed to sit up with Ghost’s help.

“Take it easy there, Kynder.” He warned me. I shooed away the comment with the wave of my hand and stood up. Okay, so I could take this one step at a time.

“Can you hand me my bag, please?” I asked. Chris nodded and passed up my grey pack. Ghost had one hand on my shoulder at all times. Quinn and Ire watched nervously.

A thought popped into my head. Getting home would be a few days away, so I could check on the puncture in my stomach and see if the skin has stitched up. If not, then I can just speed up the process! I wonder if there is a needle and thread in the first aid kit…

Putting the blue box on the table, I put down the bag and took off my tattered black shirt. Ghost looked away as a shade of pink flooded his cheeks. Chris raised an eyebrow, pursed his lips, and glanced to the floor.

“Stop being so modest! I’m doing this for my own wellbeing and I honestly don’t care.” I stuck out my tongue and laughed. Ghost looked at the blood stained bandages and raised an eyebrow. My black sports bra had a drop of stray red on the fabric. There were rusty red spots littering the tan fabric. Some fresh blood stained the center. I opened up the box and pulled out some rolls of bandages, plus the needle and thread I was looking for. Quinn came to my side.

“Do you want to take these off?” She asked me. I nodded and her nimble hands helped me untie the ends behind my back. I thanked her and finished unwinding them. The four around me had their eyes wide in shock.

Red lines harshly marked my ribs that stuck out of my malnourished skin. The old grey burn wounds dotted around my back and sides. Although there were plenty of whip marks and old burn wounds for them to gawk at, what brought tears to Ghost and Chris’s eyes was the angry red hole in my chest. I peered down at it.

“Oh look. It’s bleeding again.” I murmured in amusement. Edges of the small hole had stitched back together with grey and pink skin, but the middle was still an ugly eye sore. A small trick of blood from the burned flesh ran down my stomach. I took a small cloth and wiped up the stray blood before taking the needle, threading it, and preparing to sew myself up.

Ghost caught my hand. I looked up into his tear filled eyes.

“Please let me sew myself up.” I asked him. Wow, that was a weird statement.

“No, I’ve done this before. I’ll help.” He took the needle out of my hand and set me down on the couch. Chris squeezed my hand as I gritted my teeth. The pain killer was strong and washed away most pain, but it still stung as the needle moved through my skin.

When he was finished, He threw away the bloody needle and handed me a glass of water. I sat up and drank it. My friend helped me take a little bit of bandage and wrap it a couple times around my chest. I threw the pack back into my bag and fished out a fresh tee shirt, slipping it on.

“I didn’t realize it was that bad.” Ghost said softly, gently brushing back my hair. I nodded and closed my eyes with a yawn. It was enough excitement for tonight.

“It is. I’m going to bed.” I announced. The other three that had watched me had already fallen fast asleep.

“You’re sleeping with me tonight.” Ghost stated firmly. I raised an eyebrow.

“NO! I didn’t mean it like that! I mean, uh, no, I really meant to say…” He stuttered. I laughed and shook my head at the dork.

“I know what you meant.” I calmed him. He hopped into the empty bunk and pulled me in with him. Flipping the blanket over us, I closed my eyes to the rocking motion of the vehicle. Ghost wrapped an arm around me, pulling me closer to him.

“Why did you think I was pregnant?” I asked him softly. He held up his hands in surrender.

“Hey, I didn’t know!” He argued.

“I do not plan on having a child! Especially not your child!” I punched in the side lightly. He chuckled.

“It would be one fine, sexy baby.”

“Uh huh, sure.” I yawned.

“I hope you know we can hear both of you down there and DEVIN IS NOT HAVING A SEXY CHILD!” Chris yelled-whispered from the bunk above ours. I laughed and Ghost, err Devin, ducked his head into my shoulder.

“Nah, don’t worry about Kynder getting pregnant. It takes some Balz to do it.” Ricky Horror spoke up. Some blankets moved around.

“I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you very much Horror.” Balz responded sarcastically.

“Again with the Balz jokes? Man up and grow a pair!” Ryan groaned. I snickered.

“Looks like someone already.” Chris chuckled. Balz groaned again.

“You guys are going to get it tomorrow.” His voice was muffled into his pillow.

“No Balz, no glory.” Ghost muttered. I laughed. With that last comment, I started to fade into sleep. Overhead, more puns were thrown as Balz attempted to counter them.

Notes

Okay, so the first copy of this chapter got erased, so I had to rewrite it all! Otherwise, I would've had this up about an hour earlier! I'm sorry about that guys, please forgive me! Love you all! <3

Thanks for reading and please don't forget to leave a comment if you liked it!

(HEY HEY HEY! You should tell me what bands you want to see in here and I might just add them as characters!