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After I died, I found myself laying on my back. Comfortable and cozy, with something warm pressed against my left side.
Okay, great. I suppose the afterlife is not that bad, then.
I could hear soft snoring and started to wonder if the mutated teeth up my cheek had developed the ability to do so, before I realised that the sound was coming from a little lower than that. More towards my shoulder.
A small part of my brain was afraid this comfortable feeling of the afterlife would disappear if I disturbed it too much. But before I allowed that fear to take over, I slowly started blinking.
"Eye movement detected", a slightly robotic voice sounded. The warmth against my side startled and moved away before I could stop it.
Another voice came, stumbling over his words: "Oh fudge I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, you just- Armando put the IV in you before I could put a clean shirt on you and I didn't want you to get cold and..."
I didn't hear the rest of his ramble, still swimming up out of a deep haze, not really processing his words. I did start processing what I was seeing. A lanky man, tall, with simultaneously wild and mussed blond hair and kind, blue eyes.
Some of his words started to come through the haze. He mentioned the word 'cold'. Where he had been, my side was now rapidly cooling.
If this was the afterlife, there were new rules. I didn't know what I was or wasn't allowed to do yet, so I decided to test that out by telling him to "come back". It came out as more of a mumble than I meant it to, but I could see in the man's face that he understood.
The man abandoned his previous ramble and restarted talking in a softer tone, while slowly stepping closer, putting his skewed glasses away and laying down again: "well I suppose the oxytocin couldn't hurt. I suppose I could use some more of that too".
He carefully put his head at my shoulder-height and put an arm around my chest, while laying down next to me. Not entirely against me. He opened his mouth to say more but stopped when I put my right arm against his back to tuck him in a little closer to me. He huffed softly and settled into me more comfortably. I left my hand on his waist and closed my eyes again, enjoying the proximity with another person.
Was this a person? Another not-quite-ghost, in the afterlife with me? An angel? A figment of my imagination, keeping me company?
He felt too solid to just be my imagination. I wanted to test more of that. I opened my eyes, lifted my arm and traced the shell of his ear with one of my fingers, earning a shiver through his long body. Then I gently stroked the hair above his ear. He made a sound as if he tried to sigh with his throat closed off too tightly. I carded my fingers deeper, softly scratching his scalp. He started petting my torso in return, but the way his hand was placed touched my waist in a way that sent a little spasm through my muscles.
"Oh! Are you ticklish?", the man asked as his face shot up with half a grin.
This close I could see every little detail on his face. Beautiful.
I did not know how to answer his question yet and wanted to tuck him back against my side, when I realized that my left arm was missing. Right. That happened not too long ago. I guess past injuries follow you in the afterlife. That's okay. I settled for pulling his head on my chest with the arm that was already in his hair. To make up for the missing arm, I tangled my leg between his.
Only after resuming the scratching of his scalp, did I try to answer. "I don't... know how ticklishj I am. Hassn't happened in years". I slightly slurred through my words, slowly carding through the words as I was carding through his hair.
The lanky man was quiet for a moment, before he answered "yeah.. hasn't happened to me in years either".
He'd put his hand flat on my torso. Probably to avoid tickling me again. The skin of his hand felt nice on the skin of my torso. I wanted more of that. Still testing the rules of my new afterlife, I mumbled "skin is nice. A little more... please", while letting my hand glide down his back, then up his shirt. I settled my hand on the bare skin of his lower back and closed my eyes again.
The man started another ramble, slowly starting before gaining traction and stumbling over his words: "Oh... the painkillers.. might be having quite an effect on you.. I hope we don't overwhelm our oxytocin systems. I mean, I know I'm already- but to be fair, I haven't- it's been a while..."
It was pretty nice to feel his voice come through my lungs. I couldn't really follow what he was talking about, but I did understand 'painkillers'. Was that the haze I had to climb out of? Was that the weight I'd been feeling softly tugging on a specific part of my arm? Was I still gonna be allowed to feel this comfortable once the painkillers were out of my system? I might have to make the most of the situation right now.
I started pulling my hand upwards slowly, pulling up the shirt and cardigan that the man was wearing. He made a strangled sound in his throat. I opened my eyes, looking to see in his face whether I'd done something that I wasn't allowed to. He quickly glanced at me before looking away, face dusted pink. Cute.
I started petting circles into his back.
He seemed to not be able to withstand silence for longer periods of time, because he started talking again. "Your voice is very nice by the way. It reminds me of the way cats purr to heal kittens and make their bones stronger, and feeling your voice this close is.. very grounding".
I wanted to see if I could tease him a little. "Hmmnh rumbling through your bones?"
It worked. I could feel him chuckle and come even closer with his legs. He rubbed his cheek into my chest like a cat.
I couldn't help but smile. I bent my neck to give him a kiss on his hair. His hair smelled nice, very clean but still human. He stilled and carefully said "let's hold off on more affection until the pain meds have worn off". I hummed. If those were the rules right now, I'd follow them.
I straightened his shirt and put my arm on top, so he wouldn't go anywhere. He relaxed against me again for a few seconds, then shot his head up to make eye contact.
"I'm Ryland Grace, by the way".
I didn't understand why he had two names, but I didn't care at that moment. "I'm Simon".
An easy smile came to his face. "Hi Simon, nice to meet you".
I thought I could keep looking at this face for a very long time.