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“Thanks for doing this, Johann,” said Kate lightly as they moved through the crowded medical wing of the BPRD headquarters.
“It is not a problem,” Johann replied. “Tell me again, what is her situation? What even is her name? You never mentioned it.”
“Ah, right,” began Kate, pulling out a file from under her arm. It was rather slim compared to many of the other case files Johann had seen stowed away in the deep archives of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. “Mara Nicole O’Donnell,” she stated, pulling a small Polaroid from a paperclip at the front of the file. It appeared to be a regulation BPRD file mug shot, but the subject of it was far more beautiful than he had anticipated. She was a young lady, just barely in her first steps of womanhood. She had long, thick auburn hair done in a braid down her side. Her eyes, although dark in the picture, showed a determination and self-assurance that is uncommon in a girl of her age. The freckles of youth still dotted her nose and cheeks. She wore a heavy jacket with a BPRD logo sewn on the front. He hadn’t seen any other members of staff donning these, so he presumed it was either before his time, or she had sewn a patch onto a non-regulation BPRD jacket.
“She was seventeen when she joined the Bureau. I know, young; the youngest we’ve ever let anyone join in the field. You know her father, Professor James O’Donnell, right? Well, he lives on-site, and her mother was a field agent who passed when she was young, so she grew up around here. Heck, Hellboy was her babysitter at one point; when times were slow. On top of all this, she seemed to demonstrate a very powerful mediumship, much like yourself. The Bureau didn’t have many mediums on the team then, so when the Watts-Meyer case came around we really needed someone with her ability on the job. We didn’t know it was going to be as… dangerous as it turned out to be. Something happened in there, we’re not quite sure what, but Abe carried her out, and she’s been like this ever since. That was nine years ago. When you joined the Bureau, O’Donnell begged me time and time again to use your abilities. It was the sanest I’ve ever seen him. But things were so busy when you first got here, but now, ah, here we are.” The couple stopped in front of room 146. “She went under due to psychic means, Johann,” Kate said quietly, “I think you could pull her out using yours.”
“I will do what I can,” Johann replied doubtfully. Souls in the bodies of coma patients are commonly trapped, unable to escape the dying body. But, as Kate said, this is different. The girl might actually stand a chance.
Maybe.
Kate knocked on the door. Upon a prompting of, “Yes, come in.” from within, they entered the pristine hospital room. It was a large, with beds lining the walls; all of them empty save for one at the far end beside the window. Professor O’Donnell stood and approached the agents, hand outstretched. The small man was grinning from ear to ear. “Agents, agents!” he murmured, “Thank you, thank you, you must be Agent Kraus, yes, come with me.” He ushered Johann toward the sleeping Mara. “This is my daughter, have you been told?” the Professor asked solemnly.
“Yes, I have been briefed.” Johann said, observing the specimen before him. She was definitely the same girl as from the Polaroid, but she had certainly aged. Her freckles had all but disappeared from her lily-white cheeks. A monitor beeped quietly beside her in time with her heart.
“Professor, might I have some time alone with her? It is easier to focus—“
“Yes, yes, of course,” O’Donnell said quickly. “Of course, of course…” he continued to mutter as he shuffled from the room. Kate gave Johann a final reassuring smile and closed the door behind them. The room was quiet, save for the gentle beeping from the monitor. Johann looked around him and sat on the chair with a huff. A bird sang outside the window. He looked at the girl.
“Sleeping Beauty, they call you, you know,” Johann said quietly to her, loosening the containment plugs on the ends of his fingers, “I shall see you soon, then, I hope.”
The suit wilted onto the chair as his ectoplasmic spirit exited it. He ventured into the darkness beyond, flying high above the sleeping girl, above the hospital, above the earth…
“Mara?” he called, “Hello, Mara O’Donnell? Are you here?”
He heard a muffled choking coming from the distance. As he approached the sound, he saw the figure of a girl wrapped in her own arms, sobbing into her hands. Her hair cascaded down her back, covering what the meager hospital garments would not. An immediate sympathy enveloped Johann’s heart as he approached her. He put his arm around her and sat beside her. “Shh, Maus, tell me what is wrong.”
“I-I-I couldn’t—I couldn’t—“ She began, attempting to spit words out between heavy, wet sobs. “I couldn’t do it.”
Johann gently rubbed her back. “Shh, shh. Tell me, Mara.”
“It was my first time,” she continued, regulating her breathing, “my only shot. To do what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid, what I saw Hellboy doing all the time, what he told me stories about. But I blew it, and I’m dead. I’m embarrassed and I’m dead, and Agent Saur is probably dead, and it’s all my fault—“
“Maus,” interjected Johann, “you’re not dead.”
Mara froze. Her hands dropped from her eyes. She stared at the blackness. Her head slowly turned and her gaze met Johann’s. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her cheeks wet with tears. Her expression was grim. Horrifyingly grim. “What do you mean I’m not dead.” She said levelly, ice in every syllable, “Have you seen me? Have you seen you?”
Johann smiled softly as it registered that bringing her soul back into her body would be simpler than initially planned. She noticed his smile and began to anger, but before she could speak he said, “You’re in a coma, Mara. If you follow me, I can take you back.”
The air was heavy between them as the offer hung. The girl swallowed then croaked, “Who even are you?”
“I am Johann Kraus,” he said softly, “a medium, like you. I work for the Bureau now. They sent me to come retrieve you, and here I am.”
“And how can I trust you?” Mara snapped.
Johann let out a small chuckle, and spread his arm before him, gesturing at the black, expansive void before them. “Who else is there to trust?” He moved his hand towards her, and said lower, “Take my hand, Maus.”
“Okay, fine—“ Mara began, lowering her fingers into his palm. The feeling tingled up Johann’s arm and down his spine; he hadn’t felt human touch for many, many years. How he wished he could linger, but the imminent danger of his dissipation loomed overhead. Johann pulled her back down to earth with him. He entered his containment suit, still seated by the girl’s bed.
Any second now…
Mara bolted upright with a mighty gasp. The monitor beside her bed beeped with warning of an increasing heart rate. She panted heavily.
If Johann had a face, he would be grinning. “Welcome back, Mara.” He said.
She squinted at Johann’s bulbous, featureless, Plexiglas head. “J-Johann?”
He nodded.
After a moment’s speechlessness Mara asked, “Where’s your moustache?”
Johann laughed and said, placing his rubber hand on Mara’s, “I’m glad you’re here, Maus.”