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August 18th, ⬛⬛⬛⬛
They felt a cold breeze in their skin and the sharp pain in their body disappeared. Their eyes slowly adjusted to their dark and light surroundings. They looked around, they seemed to be in some kind of... void? It was gray with particles of various colors (mostly gray) floating around aimlessly. They had a humming sound that was oddly calming and relaxing.
They looked at the ground. It was crystal clear. It could be confused with an invisible floor if it wasn't for their reflection. Now that they notice it, their reflection was... different. It showed the image of a creature as tall as a child complete white with black eyes and tears slowly falling down the eye sockets.
They didn't remember looking like that. How did that happen? They can't remember anything other than their parents and an oddly familiar hotel. They didn't know how but they somehow recognized that hotel. They haven't seen it in any other place but they recognized it. They wanted to go back. They wanted to go home. They wanted to see their mother and father again. They sat down, tears flowing down their face. They stayed there for a good amount of time.
They heard what seemed to be footsteps, but they didn't get up to check. They preferred to just lay there.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" A voice sounded from above them. It was soft and soothing.
They felt a hand on their arm.
"You can get up, it's safe here."
Despite the fact that they didn't know who or what this was, they felt like they could trust it. They lifted their head up, tears still rolling down.
The creature didn't look human at all. It had light yellow wings on its back and smaller ones on its head. It had a golden halo with stars attached to strings, in which some of them seem to float. Its torso, arms and right leg were covered in bandages. As well as having gray skin. God, it was tall as fuck! But maybe that was because they were the size of a kid.
It crouched and lifted them up onto their feet, making sure they didn't fall. They looked down at the floor, staring at their reflection, not wanting to face the entity in front of them. They wiped the tears in their face.
"Tell me, dear... How did you get here?" They looked up at it, sad. It seemed to notice this, looking generally worried. "Is something wrong?"
They nodded slowly.
"Can you tell me?"
They hesitated to do so, but they eventually did.
"I...I miss my parents." They sniffed. "I want to go home."
The angelic entity sighed and sat down, realizing what might have happened to them, both hands held theirs. "I know, dear. I know you miss them and want to be with them... But... I'm afraid that isn't possible..."
"What.. do you mean?"
"You... can't go back... It's kind of difficult to understand.." It said.
"But... why can't I go back?"
"You... don't have a life anymore... You're no longer alive..."
Their eyes widened, new tears threatening to spill.
It pulled them into a hug. They placed their head onto its chest, staring to sob again. It wrapped its large wings around them, knowing how cold its lair was.
"What is your name, kid?" It spoke, the majority of the particles of the void floating closer to them.
"It's Irwin..."
"Well, it's nice to meet you Irwin. I'm Gray Glow, but you can call me Gray or just Glow."
They stayed there for a good few minutes, their sobs slowly descending to only hiccups. It hugged them all the while. Soon snoring came from them.
It looked down and saw that Irwin had fallen asleep.
____________
The particles of the colors red, blue, purple and pink started to gather around, sensing the presence of a certain entity. They all merged together, allowing the entity to appear in the gray void.
Virus looked around and located Gray Glow far away from her.
She floated closer to it.
"Hey Gray, how are you?"
"Shh." Gray said while turning around to face her. "Be quiet, please."
She noticed something hugging it, and got closer to look.
"Who is the kid?"
"This is Irwin. They appear in here a few hours ago." It answered. Virus sat down glancing at the child.
"Are you going to let them move on to the afterlife?"
"Maybe... I'm not sure yet... They are so young.. They had a lot in their life to experience! It makes me sad knowing a lot of kids die in such young ages..."
"Yeah, but reality is like that. Unfair. Cruel. It's all part of life." She explained, though it was more on her perspective, their three floating eyes landing on Gray's wings before the eyelids closed.
"..." Gray didn't know what to say. It had witness a lot of things throughout its life, inside and outside the hotel. Lives being taken, accidents occurring more frequently, familiar faces appearing in its lonely void.
It turned its head to Irwin. They were still fast asleep and it looked like they weren't going to wake up anytime soon. For a small soul, they looked adorable.
"Maybe..." Virus looked at it. "Maybe, I can look after them..."
"You really want to?"
It nodded.
"Gee, how do you get attached to someone in only a few minutes?" Virus wrapped their arm around Glow's shoulders. "Listen. If you want, you can look after them for all I care. You are the one who has the power to send souls to the afterlife. I'm just some sort of balancing mechanism of the hotel."
"But.. I'm not able to do that if they stay as a dead soul..."
"Are you suggesting that I-"
"Yes. I am."
"Are you sure? It's permanent. There is no way of reversing it."
"Yes! I'm sure!"
Virus gave a 'are you REALLY sure?' glance in which Glow nodded again. Sighing, she closed her eyes and the humming of the particles around them started to increase slightly in volume. A dark light covered Irwin before vanishing after 30 seconds.
Gray Glow held the kid closer to it, its wings going back to their original posion which forced Virus' eyes to float away. Irwin looked so different now. Their skin was pitch black, had bandages on their torso and white eyes and a smile. They possessed no legs, but their arms were longer with no palms or fingers.
"Well, my job's done." Virus stretched her arms and got up. "I should be going. If that kid wakes up, you can call me and I will introduce them to Sam and Kendall."
"Of course... Also, thank you for passing by. It's... lonely here sometimes."
"Eh, I had to visit my friend at some point."
They waved goodbye to each other and Virus teleported themself out of Gray's lair.