"Have you ever tried to just slow down and watch the world for what it really is?"

It was a simple question, but it really startled Lovino's younger brother. 'For what it really is'? What could his brother possibly mean? Slowly, and cautiously, Feliciano glanced over to see what his brother's expression was. And what he saw shocked him to the very bone.

Tired. Worn out. Unfeeling and defeated.

The silence started to weigh done on the younger Italian, so he finally broke the barrier. With a clear of his throat, Feliciano looked at his brother and said, "What do you mean?"

Lovino didn't say a peep for the next minute but when he did speak, he uttered only two words, "Never mind."

Lovino jumped off the small brick wall on which they sat and began to travel down the sandy beach, not waiting for his brother at all. Feliciano watched him with utter confusion, puzzled as to why his brother suddenly brought this up. It wasn't odd for Lovino to say these things, but for his expression to even slightly match the seriousness for the things he was saying? That was the odd part.

Dazed, Feliciano jumped off the wall was well and jogged to catch up to his brother. The two walked in silence until Feliciano finally said, "Where are we going?"

Lovino didn't look at him, only ahead. "Where indeed."

"You mean, you don't know?" Feliciano questioned, eyebrow raised in alarm.

Lovino looked at him, his peculiar olive green eyes boring into Feliciano's very soul. The next words spoken were not for the younger Italian. No. It was for himself. It was for Lovino.

"Because we're in a dream. There is an end but there isn't a destination. You're in a coma. You've been in one for a few years and I'm a sophomore in high school now. We're not kids anymore."

Feliciano's brown eyes widened, his hands shook as the projection that impersonated Lovin's beloved brother slowly disappeared. His younger brother's cry for help were not unheard of in these dreams and Lovino had gotten used to them.

The scenery slowly changed and darkness soon followed but after the darkness was light. The dawn of the day. Lovino was awake.

With a yawn, he stepped out of bed and pulled a pair of paints on, leaving his chest bare until he reached his closet.

He grabbed a jacket from his hanger and shuffled out of his room, his hair a rat's nest and his eyes dull from the long night before.

While sitting in the kitchen to his large house, he began to wonder what would be waiting for him today. An eight hour school day, a visit to his brother's hospital, his part-time job, then home to an empty house. But what else was there? Without his brother and his grandfather, his life was now a simple book with pages as bleak and empty as the walls that bore over Feliciano.

Of course, just thinking wouldn't get him anywhere, so after his breakfast Lovino stood up. He washed the dishes, took a quick shower, changed into his uniform and slowly dragged himself to school.

He wasn't alone. No. He was never alone. The smell of death was still strong on him since his grandfather's funeral had only been a few days ago. And this smell, that putrid, disgusting smell, is what attracted them.

Who's are they? Well, they're ghosts.

Now, normally after a funeral it's naturally to have your loved one or a lone ghost following you. Just one, or two but if a medium saw Lovino, they'd be shocked dead (figuratively, of course). Because around him, were hoards. Ghosts that he'd walk by from traffic accidents would slowly trudge beside him. Some would make pleasant conversation, saying things like "Hello dear. Who was the one that died recently?". Others would just stand, a pitiful expression plastered onto their face as they watched Lovino silently. They felt bad for him. Ghosts that couldn't go to Heaven nor Hell because of an earthly attachment, felt bad for him.

Needless to say, Lovino hated these trips which is why he rarely left the house now. Of course, if he couldn't see them he'd just be colder than normal, but since he could? Well, you could only imagine how annoying it is. You can't walk through them and you can rarely talk to them. They would get offended and you would be chilled to the bone, but if you talked to them it'd seem odd and the last thing Lovino wanted right now, was to seem like he'd lost his marbles!

So, the beginning of his day dragged on as such.

The hours in school came and went. The "are you okay" questions were dismissed with a hateful glare or a heartless response. Yes, a dull day full of fake friendships. And when this part of the day finally came to a close, Lovino began to make his way to the hospital, thankfully only a few blocks away from his part-time job.

As always, when Lovino stepped onto the properties of the hospital, the dead turned their heads. Old people seated in ghostly wheel chairs, nurses or doctors that were killed by a slightly deranged patient, and the children that died because surgery was unsuccessful. They all turned. They all stared. And their eyes switched to a dull stare, feeling sorrow for one of the only people in the world who would ever take notice of them. Who would ever smile at them, even if just a little bit.

Lovino sighed his twentieth sigh for the day, and walked past the front desk. The lady glanced over and Lovino gave a curt nod. She returned the greeting with a small smile, writing his name in the visitor's list.

Clop. Clop. Clop.

Each step dragged on down the long, long hallway until he finally reached his brother's room. Oh yes, a room paid for by their uncle and other distant relatives. A room funded by strangers to keep his brother alive. A room where he often found his grandfather sitting in.

Lovino dragged open the door, slowly at first, until he finally had the courage to slip in. And for sure, there was his grandfather, sitting beside Feliciano's bedside and watching him with those warm brown eyes.

"Hey."

"Hello."

Lovino stared blankly at the ghostly figure of Julius Vargas. A moment passed when the dead man spoke again, and it was something that didn't shock him. In fact, it relieved him.

"I have to go soon," his grandfather muttered. "I have to leave you alone."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"It was all my fault."

Lovino, having handled ghosts since the age of three, could communicate better with the dead than the living. Their patterns were often similar and it was easy to guess what they'd say next. With a small sigh and the shake of his head, Lovino said, "It wasn't."

This attracted Julius's attention.

"It wasn't anyone's fault except the drunk driver. You didn't want this to happen."

Tears welled up in Julius's ghostly eyes, his complexion getting more and more transparent by the minute.

With a smile as wilted as a flower, Lovino uttered his last two words to the man who raised them. And with a breeze that couldn't have come from anywhere, Lovino's grandfather was gone.

Silence. Unbearable silence fill the room. It suffocated him until finally, tears rolled down his cheeks.

After recovering his well developed poker-face, Lovino stood and said goodbye to his brother. A moment later, he turned to leave only to see someone at the doorway.

This man, was probably a person that changed his life but at the moment, Lovino would know. This man was tall, a few inches taller than Lovino. He had bright green eyes, a nicer shade of olive than Lovino's, and he had dark brown hair. He dressed in a manner that suggested he was a college student, nicely yet casual at the same time. He was, what a girl would say, god-like. The features were that of demigods from the mythologies of Ancient Greece. To simply put? He was beautiful.

But at that moment he had a look of utter horror and awkwardness.

A moment passed before the man spoke, "I am sorry. I-I went into the wrong room. I was actually visiting my grandpa and-"

"Whatever," was Lovino's usual response.

The young man moved aside for Lovino but he followed, "Seriously, I am sorry."

"Yeah, I get it. Look, I'm not in a good mood so if you could just-"

"Antonio!"

The two men turned to find a woman running towards them. She had golden hair and bright green eyes, reminding Lovino of cats. She had the most frantic look in her eyes when she walked up to them.

"What is is, Bella?"

"Your grandfather. H-he's-"

Without another word, the two ran. They ran to the end of the hallway and turned. Vaguely, this reminded Lovino of a TV show he saw earlier that week. If those two were the main characters, someone they love must have died. Presumably that man's grandfather. And Lovino was just a chance encounter for this Antonio fellow. In fact, he was probably just an introduction to this scene.

The camera would follow Antonio and his companion until the corner, then go back to Lovino to see his expression of distaste and possible annoyance. The viewers would wonder about Lovino's back story. Why he was at the hospital and why his eyes mirrored the hatred of the world.

But, the viewers won't find out until the very end of the series. Or at least the season, because Lovino wasn't anyone important. He was an extra. He wouldn't get paid much in life and he would never make it to the top.

With this last thought lingering in his head, he sighed his twenty-first sigh and left the hospital, the thought of Antonio and his bright eyes, burning in his mind.