The clock reads 2:13 am as I slink out of bed, weary, to make a call.
The phone is hollow and cold against my ear.
"Speak," says the voice into me.
"I'm sick," I say with a weak, cracked voice.
"East, 10th and Pine."
"Thank you, Doctor."
I pull on old and dirty clothing to cover my slim, pale body. My makeup is smudged from sleep but I need not care, with blurry eyes I make for the window and crack the silence with the outside world. I sneak out lithe like a cat, gliding, skimming down to the ground, missing the limbs of a nearby tree, clearing the yard to soar into the sky. I'm on my way toward sanity.

Five blocks short of my destination, I meet a ghost. He's telling me to turn back now, everyone is worried for me. "What do I care?" I snap as I fail to heed to his plea, walking through him, a jolt of ice suppresses the flow in my veins and slows me for an instant. A sharp pain begins to bloom in the center of my chest, where I've felt youth, beauty, and love before. I walk on looking back to see two figures watching me go.

I see a dark figure looming in the distance as I reach my destination. Blood flows down from the the collar of his shirt onto the chest. He's been busy tonight, I note.

"How long do you plan to stay?"
"Forever," I say as I extend my arms, tilting my head back with closed eyes as if kissing the stars were that easy.
"We've missed you, sweetling, they don't worry like we do," he speaks softly as he slides a silky hand down my neck, making me break into sweat with pleasure pulsing through my veins, igniting my skin. He produces a black pill held deftly between two fingers and places it like a gem onto my tongue. He leans in and kisses me wetly on the lips, as the pill dissolves, I shudder and begin to fall. I watch through death's eyes as he fades and I sink into the ground, falling, feeling, falling, sailing, I'm going home..