I See Dead People

"Alright, Harry, let me ask you this. Do you often feel anxious?"

Harry frowned at the doctor. He had been asking questions for the longest time now, and it was stressing him out. What made it worse was that Harry couldn't refuse to answer; he'd already tried.

It didn't work; he has been in and out of this room for three days. They wouldn't take his silence for an answer.

"Come on, Harry, could you please answer him? If you answer his questions, you can go straight to your room afterwards. You won't have to participate in today's group activity." Ms. Elizabeth said.

Harry jumped a bit; he forgot that she was here. The adults decided that Harry would benefit from Ms. Elizabeth being in the room. Harry didn't see how it was a benefit, but he decided that he wouldn't ask.

"What does anxious mean?" Harry asked, mostly in hopes of diverting the conversation but also wanting to know a new word.

The doctor stared at Harry for a moment; he obviously knew what Harry was trying to do, but the doctor answered the question anyway.

"Anxious means feeling something with worry or nervousness; now please answer the question."

Harry sighed but nodded. "I guess I do feel a little worried sometimes."

The doctor smiled at Harry. "Okay, okay. Thank you for answering. Do you know why you feel the way you do? What typically happens before you feel this way?"

"I dunno, why does it matter?"

The doctor's smile fell a bit as he looked back at his journals. "Okay, well, let me ask you this. You clean a lot; you seem very dissatisfied when it's dirty or something is out of place. What is that about?"

Harry scowled a little. What was the problem with that? Adults liked clean spaces, so he didn't get why he was being asked this question.

"A clean space is a happy place." Harry intoned.

His aunt used to say that phrase when he was three. She stopped using that saying and instead would swat him on his head or arm the next year.

The doctor made a small sound and quickly looked at Ms. Elizabeth before turning back towards Harry. "Do you really think that? You can be happy even if it isn't clean. Harry, you're a child; you are supposed to make messes."

Harry hit the armrests of his chair in anger. "Well, you are wrong. I like it clean; I like it orderly; that is how it is supposed to be!"

The doctor was silent before writing something on his clipboard. "Okay, okay. How about your soldiers? You like them, but I heard that some employees offered some new ones, and you refused. Why?"

Harry remembered that; it was a couple of days ago, and they didn't really offer new ones. What they did do, was give him a new pack and then tried to grab his soldiers. Harry wasn't too happy about that.

"Because they weren't mine, so I didn't want them. My soldiers are perfectly fine."

"But Harry, your toys are broken. You liked the spaceship Legos that were given to you. Wouldn't you like new toys?" The doctor asked.

"It is a X1 Patrol Craft Lego set; I never had that before. I like my soldiers."

At this point, Harry really wanted to quit talking; he didn't see the point in answering the strange doctor.

The doctor sighed and nodded. It took a bit longer for him to ask the next question. But when he did, Harry wished they were talking about his toys again.

"Harry, I understand wanting to keep your toys. That is fine, and you may very well do so. Now, I have been told that you tend to stare at something that isn't there and talk to yourself. Is that true?"

Harry stared at the doctor wide-eyed. Harry pursed his lips before opening them, only to close his mouth again.

"Don't answer him, Harry."

Harry blinked a bit and quickly looked over the doctor's shoulder. It was Castor; Harry hadn't seen him in a while.

"Don't look at me, kid; just don't answer the shrink."

'I can't just ignore him; they'll bring me back!' Harry thought loudly, 'What do I do? Why can't I answer him?'

Castor grunted. "I'm glad you learned how to talk in your head; now if we can get you to stop yelling, that would be great. Fine, talk to the guy; just deny his claims."

"Harry! Are you alright?" The doctor asked while snapping in Harry's face.

Harry blinked and gave his attention to the man across from him. "I'm fine; I'm just tired. I don't want to answer any more questions; can I go?"

The doctor furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Ms. Elizabeth. Harry turned toward her pleadingly. She looked at him and then sighed before glancing at her colleague.

"Do you have enough, Clancy? Or does he need to come back? I don't think he will be as focused if he comes back another day."

The doctor sat back in his seat and thought for a moment. "I need him to at least answer my last question. I don't need to talk to him anymore, although I would like to. I'll send some questionnaires so he can answer them. Sit down with him, if you can, just to make sure he finishes it."

Ms. Elizabeth nodded and motioned for Harry to answer the question. Harry sucked in a breath and released it shakily.

"Harry, please be honest. Do you talk to yourself? Do you see something or someone?"

Harry shook his head in denial. The doctor steepled his hands. Harry could hear the ticking of the clock on the wait; how quiet it was. The man sighed and rubbed his jaw before making a swiping motion with his hands. Harry was officially dismissed.

As quick as he could, Harry jumped out of his seat and into the hall. Before he could get any further, Ms. Elizabeth called out to him.

"Wait, Harry, I have to walk you back."

Harry slowed down begrudgingly as he waited for the woman, but as soon as she got to him, he started walking again.

"Oh, Harry, what's gotten into you? You're usually pretty calm. Do you feel alright?"

Harry huffed but ultimately didn't answer. He didn't feel like answering anyone; all he wanted to do was go to his room.

Elizabeth slightly quickened her stride in order to catch up with her charge. She looked at Harry's face and was slightly surprised to see his eyebrows heavily furrowed and his eyes cold.

It was almost like he was a different person; yes, he had pouted before and exhibited some frustration or worry, which is fitting for a child. But cold anger was unusual for him. From her experience, it was probably better to leave the child alone.

"Nevermind, Harry; I can tell that you're a little frustrated. You don't have to answer me unless you feel like it."

Harry side-eyed the woman before nodding, and just like that, the duo was silent, walking the halls.

________

"You may go to your room if you like Harry. But just to let you know, group activities start in a few minutes if you want to join." Ms. Elizabeth said.

Harry nodded, still not willing to talk, and briskly walked towards his room. He could hear the sound of the heavy entrance door closing, signaling Ms. Elizabeth's temporary departure.

Harry got to the door of his room and twisted the handle; immediately, he could tell that something was off. Harry slowly opened the door and was baffled.

"Hiya Harry, fancy seeing you here."

It was Aurora; she was in his room. Why was she in his room? Harry quickly thought of every reason why she would be in his room, but he couldn't think of one. He had never said a word to her—or anyone besides Kitsugaya, for that matter. He hadn't taken anything of hers that he knew of, and from what Harry knew, the older girl had nothing in common with him.

There was no reason for her to be here, and yet here she was. Standing almost a full foot taller than him—not that big of an achievement—and holding one of his toy soldiers in her hand.

Wait, what?

Harry's eyes quickly snapped to her hand. Her sparkly pink fingernails were wrapped around his toy soldier.

Aurora simpered at his stare. "Oh, what's wrong? Do you want this stupid little thing? It's all broken."

Harry glared at her. It didn't matter if it was broken; it was his. Aurora glared back and stomped her foot.

"Are you dumb? Answer me when I'm talking to you. You stupid baby!"

Harry didn't say anything; even now he couldn't find it in himself to talk. Maybe, he thought, it was like Dudley. His cousin used to bother him all the time and keep doing it when Harry said something about it. But Dudley stopped after Harry shut up. Maybe if he didn't say anything, Aurora would get tired and leave him and his soldiers alone.

Harry hoped that the girl would follow his cousin's ways. But she quickly proved him wrong when she stomped her foot again, grabbed the toy with both hands, and snapped it in half.

Aurora threw the two halves of the soldier on the floor and crossed her arms with a smug look. "I bet you'll talk to me now, huh?"

Harry stared at his toy; he could feel his blood rushing and tears running. That was his toy; not even Dudley touched his soldiers—partly because they were in his cupboard.

Harry was hardly breathing; it wasn't fair; he hadn't done anything to Aurora. He hadn't even looked at her; if he saw her going for something, he would always patiently wait.

Aurora's face turned red, and she stomped again before yelling. "Oh, so you won't say anything, but you will cry? Do you think you're better than me? You're nothing but a stupid little idiot! What are you going to do? Cry to your mummy?"

Harry's eyes went wide as he bit his trembling lip at her last comment. He wasn't afraid to admit that, yes, he would have if he could.

Harry frowned a bit. Aurora was being a bully, and Harry hated it. Harry's sadness quickly turned into anger; he had to deal with a lot. This, combined with the weird doctor earlier, made him beyond angry. How dare Aurora destroy one of his favorite toys? He wasn't a baby, and he wasn't stupid.

Harry clenched his fist. He could feel something in his stomach bubbling; it reminded him of the time his teacher's hair turned blue. He could feel the bubbling rising from his stomach, and he could feel a hot feeling running through him.

Normally, he would fight with all of his might to keep the bubbles down; if he could, that is. But today he didn't feel inclined to do such a thing.

The bubbles arose in his mouth, but just as he was about to let them escape, he was stopped by a woman's voice.

"Harry, love. Calm down for me, please."

At first, Harry thought it was Ms. Elizabeth but quickly realized that it wasn't her voice. Harry looked over towards his chest of drawers, and there stood a woman younger than Ms. Elizabeth.

Harry had never seen this woman before; at least he thought so. The woman had long red hair and pretty green eyes; she looked pale, even paler than Castor.

Harry frowned at the woman. Calm down? How was he supposed to calm down? His toy soldier was in half on the ground! Harry pointed to his soldier and stomped his foot. There was no way he would calm down about this.

"I know, honey, I know. That was your toy, and she had no right to destroy your property. But you cannot hurt her like that. You can really harm her if you do."

Harry huffed and stared at Aurora with the coldest look he could muster.

"What's going on here?" It was Kitsugaya.

Harry grunted and pointed at Aurora and then at his fallen soldier. Kitsugaya walked up to Harry and looked at his toy, then at Aurora.

"What the heck, Aurora? You broke his toy; what are you five?! No offense, Hare."

Harry side-eyed Kitsugaya but ultimately shrugged; he was six, not five. Aurora's face turned red as she glared at Kitsugaya.

"He wouldn't talk to me; he deserved it! It's a stupid toy anyway, it doesn't even do anything."

Kitsugaya gritted his teeth. "It's his toy; it doesn't matter if you think it's stupid; he likes those things. He doesn't need to talk to you; no one even likes you! Besides, he doesn't talk to anyone else. You're not special."

Aurora sucked in a breath at Kitsugaya's comment and puffed out her cheeks. "Everyone likes me and is just jealous! He talks to you; I've seen it!"

Harry could almost see the glossiness in Aurora's eyes, but he couldn't care less. Kitsugaya smirked and pointed at Harry.

"He talks to me because he likes me; unlike you, he probably even hates you. I know I would if you destroyed my toy. You're mean and an ugly bully that no one likes!" Kitsugaya said, blowing a raspberry.

Aurora sniffed and clinched her hands into fists. "I-I'm telling! You can't call me ugly because I'm not; everyone wishes to be me!"

And with that, she ran out, but not before Kitsugaya could yell out after her. "And I'm telling that you broke Harry's soldier and went into his room! No one wants to be someone as stupid and smelly as you!"

Harry stared after Aurora for a second before quickly running to his soldier. He could feel the tears running down his face. Kitsugaya slowly approached Harry and knelt down next to him.

"Hey, it's alright." He said hesitantly, "She will get in trouble for this. She broke like three rules, the first one being that she broke your stuff. She also called you mean words; I heard her. The biggest thing is that she went into your room. Girls can't go in boys' rooms, and boys can't go in girls rooms. That calls for a big punishment, like no dessert or no movie time."

Harry sobbed and clenched his toy harder. "I don't care! My soldier is broken; this one was the best one."

Kitsugaya frowned but nodded. "We can fix it; we just got to put some glue between his upper half and his lower half, and then good as new!"

Harry shook his head and threw the soldier. "No! It's not; it's going to still be broken. Glue can't fix it; my soldier is dead!"

Kitsugaya looked around, not knowing what to do; he had never had to calm someone down before. And it didn't seem like he was doing a good job in the first place.

Kitsugaya's eyes zoned in on the X1 Patrol Craft that the nurses gave Harry; obviously, Harry wasn't going to calm down about his soldier. But maybe he could be distracted. It worked for Adken—even if he wasn't the greatest example—so it could work for Harry.

"Hey Hare, is that a Lego spaceship? You haven't put it together yet!"

Harry sniffled and looked at the Legos before frowning. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Kitsugaya grimaced a little; it didn't seem to be working out as he had planned, but Kitsugaya was willing to do whatever it took to stop Harry from crying.

"Well, uh, I know that we can't do anything with the soldier yet, but um, we can fix your spaceship?" Kitsugaya said awkwardly.

Harry wiped his eyes with one of his arms. "Fix my spaceship? It isn't broken, though."

"Well, sure, it is! You, um... you can't expect it to go to space in many pieces. You gotta build it up so it can travel to different planets!"

Harry tilted his head and looked at Kitsugaya with glistening eyes. "Oh, I like it how it is, though. It's fine on the box, and it's all built on the box."

Kitsugaya frowned and shook his head. "Harry, no. You are supposed to take it out of the box and build it. The picture on the box is to show you how it looks; that exact picture isn't what is inside the box. Have you ever played with Legos before?"

Harry's crying had stopped completely and was replaced with confusion. He shook his head and pointed at the box.

"It says ages six to twelve; I have never played with them before. How was I supposed to know?"

Kitsugaya's mouth dropped. How in the world was Harry this clueless? "What about Duplo? Those are for little kids; you never played with them?"

"I haven't played with many toys, but I have definitely not played with Legos. I was just happy to get a space-themed gift—well, a gift in general."

Kitsugaya hit his forehead and sighed before getting up to grab the box.

Harry stood up hesitantly, watching the older boy intently. "Kitsugaya, what are you doing with my box?"

Kitsugaya turned around, box in hand, and walked towards the desk. "We are opening the box, and we are building a spaceship, right now, you and me."

Harry floundered a little but sighed. "But I like how it is; do we have to?"

Kitsugaya pulled Harry towards the desk and sat him in the chair. Kitsugaya then grabbed the box and opened it gently. Harry's eyes widened as many colorful pieces fell from the box.

"Look, Harry, I didn't destroy the box; it's fine and closes again. Yes, we have too. I'm not just going to let you waste a perfectly good gift because you don't want to open a box. I promise Hare, it is so much fun building Lego sets; I got a fire truck set a couple of years ago."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded. If Kitsugaya believed the Legos were better outside the box, then Harry had no reason to disbelieve the other boy.

Kitsugaya had been nothing but nice. At first, Harry thought the older boy was playing a trick on him. Like that one kid named Gordon at St. Grogory's, who was nice for the first week but quickly became mean to him after Gordon met Dudley.

But Kitsugaya had lasted a whole six weeks more than Gordon did, and that meant something. Harry slowly picked up a Lego booklet and turned to Kitsugaya. The older boy smiled and grabbed a bag of Legos.

"Okay, Harry, let's get started. We will get you a Lego spaceship in no time!"

The two boys smiled at each other and got to work. Neither of them paid attention to the red-haired lady sitting on the edge of the bed with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.