Post by ebonyviper on Oct 14, 2007 15:47:54 GMT -5
Between Dreams and Reality
DISCLAIMER: Cars and anything related to it belong to Disney Pixar. Ebony, Ricardo, and Delfina belong to me. Phoenix and Gryffin belong to Insane Pirate Dragon. There is no copyright infringement intended in the fanfiction. This is only for fun.
NOTE: This is a ghost story with an interesting twist. You'll see near the end.
* * * * *
She lay injured and dying. Oil and anti-freeze leaked from her wounds and from her mouth and vents. The crushing pain within her body was unbearable and she just wanted it all to go away.
A violet series of coughs arrested her already ragged and shallow breathing and wracked her body painfully. Once the attack subsided, however, Ebony felt so extremely exhausted that she just wanted to sleep forever.
The badly-wrecked Viper was almost completely unaware of ambulance sirens in the distance as her eyeshades grew heavy. She was barely listening to those that were telling her to hold on and that help was coming.
Her eyes closed and her breathing gradually slowed to a stop and her body ceased trembling. The ambulance had arrived too late to save her, although he tried in vain to resuscitate her, but to no avail.
It was a sad procession to the hospital where doctors who checked her over declared Ebony Dead on Arrival and placed her body in the morgue for identification by her friends and family, who would have the sad task of making funeral arrangements. Later, Ebony was buried with full honors befitting a distinguished individual in a marked grave near Ash Mountain which read:
EBONY SANDERS
Beloved Daughter, Sister, Friend, Aunt, Wife, and Mother
We will miss you dearly.
* * * * *
But that was not the end of her. Guests staying at the mountain inn began reporting to Delfina sightings of a ghostly Viper wandering the hallways. They could hear the rumble of her powerful V10 engine, but when they went to look, there was nothing there.
Small items soon began to turn up missing and when confronted about it, Delfina quickly figured out who was responsible. The human would look at an empty space and say, “Ebony, please give that back. We need them.” The ghostly Viper complied and the items would once more turn up in the place where they had last been seen.
But things soon began to get disturbing. Guests started reporting that they would hear ghostly crying in the Emerald Room, which had once belonged to the Viper when she was still alive. They would also feel an icy-cold spot where the sheepskin rug was and a small car-shaped depression on it, as if something was laying there, but again, there'd be nothing there.
Nobody really wanted to stay in that room because of the icy-cold feeling in there as well as that thick mist of sadness and despair that literally took over the occupant upon entering. Delfina started to wonder just what was going on with the Inn's resident ghost and went to investigate the room herself.
Being a magic-user, Delfina was able to pick up on the paranormal activity very quickly. Sitting in the middle of the Emerald Room, she focused her senses and was soon able to see the Viper's ghostly image begin to shimmer into her peripheral view.
'Ebony,' she sent mentally, 'Please tell me. Why are you crying?'
For seven months, Ebony had believed that she was being ignored by everybody, even thought she would be right in front of them. What had not only shocked, but scared her even worse, was that anyone that she met would walk or drive right through her as if she were a ghost. So, she was surprised that Delfina was speaking to her, as well as seeing her.
'H-how are you speaking to me?' she asked hesitantly and fearfully, 'No one's ever bothered to before. They just ignore me completely, even when I'm right in front of them.'
Delfina remained calm, but could pick up on the ghost Viper's emotions. She realized that she had to tell Ebony the truth.
'Ebony,' she asked, 'Do you know where you are?'
'What do you mean? I'm in Ash Mountain,' replied Ebony, 'but the last thing that I can remember was that I was injured badly and laying in a ditch...'
Delfina worded her next question carefully, 'Have you noticed anything different or unusual about yourself lately?'
Ebony blinked, 'Well... there was this feeling of detachment and that all of my pain was gone... And then I suddenly find myself here, but nobody notices that I'm here and just walk right through me... And how did I acquire the power of intangibility all of sudden...?'
'Do you know why?' asked Delfina with the patience and calmness that she has mastered since becoming a full-fledged user, 'It's because you're dead and became a ghost. You're body is buried outside the mountain.'
'What? I'm... dead...?' asked Ebony, who was just now beginning to realize it.
Delfina nodded, 'Yes, but you're haunting the Inn and frightening my guests. You need to go back to your grave to be able to rest in peace..'
At this, Ebony hesitated, a feeling of fear and tiredness washed over her ghostly frame. 'I-I don't know where it is... or how to get back... I'm scared, Delfina...'
'It's alright, Ebony,' Delfina reassured the young ghost, 'I'll lead you back. Everything will be okay.'
Ebony finally gave a genuine smile at this, although no one could see it, except Delfina. She followed the woman out of the room, wrapping a misty, smoky tendril around Delfina's wrist as if not wanting to lose her.
When Delfina stopped at Ebony's grave site, the ghostly Viper herself looked at it with a feeling of resignation. She looked back at Delfina with a sort of sad smile and sank slowly into her grave, her misty form dissipating entirely until there was nothing left.
“Sleep well, Ebony,” Delfina whispered in farewell before going back inside the Inn to take care of some new guests.
* * * * *
“Mom,” a young boy's voice pierced her consciousness, “Aunt Ebs is waking up.”
Wha--? As her emerald green eyes slowly opened, Ebony's mind was a veritable fog. She didn't know where she was and she felt so numb that she still believed that she was detached from her body.
“Ebs,” another voice penetrated her thoughts, “You're in a hospital and you've been in a coma for seven weeks, as well as being on life support.”
Way too weak to speak aloud, Ebony resorted to thought-speech, 'Coma? Nix, I don't understand. I thought that crash killed me...'
'You didn't die, Ebs, believe me,' the Trans Am replied in the same manner, 'but you were in a very bad way. We were all worried about you and Gryffin just insisted on visiting you every day until you woke up.'
Ebony blinked tiredly, 'Then... my experience as a ghost and me haunting the Ash Mountain Inn until Delfina led me back to my grave was only a dream...?'
'What are you talking about, Ebs?' asked Phoenix.
The nurse, a scarlet red Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z with twin, black stripes down her hood and roof, came in at that moment to check Ebony's vitals. Phoenix, Gryffin, and Ricardo backed up to give the young woman room to do her job.
'Not right now, Nix...' even Ebony's mindvoice sounded tired, 'I'm so sleepy...'
'That's okay,' Phoenix replied, 'We'll let you rest now. The important thing now is for you to get better.'
'I know,' Ebony sighed mentally, before she drifted back into a much more pleasant sleep than before.
* * * * *
It took Ebony about six more weeks to fully recover from her injuries and finally be allowed down off of that darn lift. She drove back to the Firebird with Phoenix, yet paused when she passed her old wreck site.
Strange, the Viper thought to herself, Did all that really happen? Or was it just a dream?
“Aunt Ebs!” Gryffin called to her, “C'mon!”
“I'm coming!” Ebony called back.
Well, either way, she thought before driving off after her nephew, It makes for a very interesting ghost story.
DISCLAIMER: Cars and anything related to it belong to Disney Pixar. Ebony, Ricardo, and Delfina belong to me. Phoenix and Gryffin belong to Insane Pirate Dragon. There is no copyright infringement intended in the fanfiction. This is only for fun.
NOTE: This is a ghost story with an interesting twist. You'll see near the end.
* * * * *
She lay injured and dying. Oil and anti-freeze leaked from her wounds and from her mouth and vents. The crushing pain within her body was unbearable and she just wanted it all to go away.
A violet series of coughs arrested her already ragged and shallow breathing and wracked her body painfully. Once the attack subsided, however, Ebony felt so extremely exhausted that she just wanted to sleep forever.
The badly-wrecked Viper was almost completely unaware of ambulance sirens in the distance as her eyeshades grew heavy. She was barely listening to those that were telling her to hold on and that help was coming.
Her eyes closed and her breathing gradually slowed to a stop and her body ceased trembling. The ambulance had arrived too late to save her, although he tried in vain to resuscitate her, but to no avail.
It was a sad procession to the hospital where doctors who checked her over declared Ebony Dead on Arrival and placed her body in the morgue for identification by her friends and family, who would have the sad task of making funeral arrangements. Later, Ebony was buried with full honors befitting a distinguished individual in a marked grave near Ash Mountain which read:
EBONY SANDERS
Beloved Daughter, Sister, Friend, Aunt, Wife, and Mother
We will miss you dearly.
* * * * *
But that was not the end of her. Guests staying at the mountain inn began reporting to Delfina sightings of a ghostly Viper wandering the hallways. They could hear the rumble of her powerful V10 engine, but when they went to look, there was nothing there.
Small items soon began to turn up missing and when confronted about it, Delfina quickly figured out who was responsible. The human would look at an empty space and say, “Ebony, please give that back. We need them.” The ghostly Viper complied and the items would once more turn up in the place where they had last been seen.
But things soon began to get disturbing. Guests started reporting that they would hear ghostly crying in the Emerald Room, which had once belonged to the Viper when she was still alive. They would also feel an icy-cold spot where the sheepskin rug was and a small car-shaped depression on it, as if something was laying there, but again, there'd be nothing there.
Nobody really wanted to stay in that room because of the icy-cold feeling in there as well as that thick mist of sadness and despair that literally took over the occupant upon entering. Delfina started to wonder just what was going on with the Inn's resident ghost and went to investigate the room herself.
Being a magic-user, Delfina was able to pick up on the paranormal activity very quickly. Sitting in the middle of the Emerald Room, she focused her senses and was soon able to see the Viper's ghostly image begin to shimmer into her peripheral view.
'Ebony,' she sent mentally, 'Please tell me. Why are you crying?'
For seven months, Ebony had believed that she was being ignored by everybody, even thought she would be right in front of them. What had not only shocked, but scared her even worse, was that anyone that she met would walk or drive right through her as if she were a ghost. So, she was surprised that Delfina was speaking to her, as well as seeing her.
'H-how are you speaking to me?' she asked hesitantly and fearfully, 'No one's ever bothered to before. They just ignore me completely, even when I'm right in front of them.'
Delfina remained calm, but could pick up on the ghost Viper's emotions. She realized that she had to tell Ebony the truth.
'Ebony,' she asked, 'Do you know where you are?'
'What do you mean? I'm in Ash Mountain,' replied Ebony, 'but the last thing that I can remember was that I was injured badly and laying in a ditch...'
Delfina worded her next question carefully, 'Have you noticed anything different or unusual about yourself lately?'
Ebony blinked, 'Well... there was this feeling of detachment and that all of my pain was gone... And then I suddenly find myself here, but nobody notices that I'm here and just walk right through me... And how did I acquire the power of intangibility all of sudden...?'
'Do you know why?' asked Delfina with the patience and calmness that she has mastered since becoming a full-fledged user, 'It's because you're dead and became a ghost. You're body is buried outside the mountain.'
'What? I'm... dead...?' asked Ebony, who was just now beginning to realize it.
Delfina nodded, 'Yes, but you're haunting the Inn and frightening my guests. You need to go back to your grave to be able to rest in peace..'
At this, Ebony hesitated, a feeling of fear and tiredness washed over her ghostly frame. 'I-I don't know where it is... or how to get back... I'm scared, Delfina...'
'It's alright, Ebony,' Delfina reassured the young ghost, 'I'll lead you back. Everything will be okay.'
Ebony finally gave a genuine smile at this, although no one could see it, except Delfina. She followed the woman out of the room, wrapping a misty, smoky tendril around Delfina's wrist as if not wanting to lose her.
When Delfina stopped at Ebony's grave site, the ghostly Viper herself looked at it with a feeling of resignation. She looked back at Delfina with a sort of sad smile and sank slowly into her grave, her misty form dissipating entirely until there was nothing left.
“Sleep well, Ebony,” Delfina whispered in farewell before going back inside the Inn to take care of some new guests.
* * * * *
“Mom,” a young boy's voice pierced her consciousness, “Aunt Ebs is waking up.”
Wha--? As her emerald green eyes slowly opened, Ebony's mind was a veritable fog. She didn't know where she was and she felt so numb that she still believed that she was detached from her body.
“Ebs,” another voice penetrated her thoughts, “You're in a hospital and you've been in a coma for seven weeks, as well as being on life support.”
Way too weak to speak aloud, Ebony resorted to thought-speech, 'Coma? Nix, I don't understand. I thought that crash killed me...'
'You didn't die, Ebs, believe me,' the Trans Am replied in the same manner, 'but you were in a very bad way. We were all worried about you and Gryffin just insisted on visiting you every day until you woke up.'
Ebony blinked tiredly, 'Then... my experience as a ghost and me haunting the Ash Mountain Inn until Delfina led me back to my grave was only a dream...?'
'What are you talking about, Ebs?' asked Phoenix.
The nurse, a scarlet red Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z with twin, black stripes down her hood and roof, came in at that moment to check Ebony's vitals. Phoenix, Gryffin, and Ricardo backed up to give the young woman room to do her job.
'Not right now, Nix...' even Ebony's mindvoice sounded tired, 'I'm so sleepy...'
'That's okay,' Phoenix replied, 'We'll let you rest now. The important thing now is for you to get better.'
'I know,' Ebony sighed mentally, before she drifted back into a much more pleasant sleep than before.
* * * * *
It took Ebony about six more weeks to fully recover from her injuries and finally be allowed down off of that darn lift. She drove back to the Firebird with Phoenix, yet paused when she passed her old wreck site.
Strange, the Viper thought to herself, Did all that really happen? Or was it just a dream?
“Aunt Ebs!” Gryffin called to her, “C'mon!”
“I'm coming!” Ebony called back.
Well, either way, she thought before driving off after her nephew, It makes for a very interesting ghost story.