I See Dead People. . . [ BNHA × OC ]

☙ Chapter One

     It was dark inside the coffin. . .

    Walls of stone and brick etched out to be far more extravagant than necessary made up the small tomb I had found myself trapped in. Of course, I couldn't exactly see the detailed carvings inside the dark mausoleum, but I could easily feel every bump when trying to pry open the cement door. 

   It was no use. The entrance was designed to stay locked inside and out. It sealed in the ancient valuables as well as myself anytime I came in to clean out the cobwebs. Anyone else would probably be freaked out after getting trapped in a tomb, but for me, this sort of thing happened from time to time. It was just one of the few perks of growing up in a cemetery. 

   I was lucky enough to be born the only child in a family of morticians. Our family-run business, located in Shiniboru, Japan, used to be pretty popular back in the day. "Rockefeller Cemetery," my parents called it, "We put the fun in funerals!"

    For a couple who made their living off of such a depressing industry, they were actually happy people. I remembered how proud they were of owning their home, even if others were a little creeped out about it being on a graveyard. Their pride was one more thing I had admired from them. Even when I grew up thinking I would never develop some supernatural ability, a Quirk, my mom and dad still encouraged me to be happy with who I was, even if who I was was no more than average. 

    Tragically though, when I was merely ten years old, my parents both fell ill after years of working around. . . well, corpses. They only had a few days after that to say their goodbyes before ending up much like their late clients. As a young kid, I took it pretty hard. I already had a rough time as a child, watching all of my classmates around me show off their crazy superpowers while I was left out. So losing my two biggest fans was a heartbreak. However, I later learned that I wasn't as alone as I thought. 

    Five years ago, right after my parents' passing, I came home to the funeral house, where we all used to live, to see a crowd of people dressed from all different eras hovering around. Their complexions were all translucent and foggy, and their feet never touched the ground as they floated across the room. I had instantly realized what I was seeing, especially when one of them said, "Ha! He looks like he just saw a ghost," and the room erupted into laughter. 

    It was revealed then that I was not Quirkless. I had my own uncanny ability, and that ability gave me the power to communicate with the dead. How fitting. 

    I called it Muted Medium, and it worked by letting me see a world others were blind to. There was just one major drawback: I was deaf and mute to the living world. That meant my only connection to people was limited to deceased people who still remained on Earth. My social life sure did thrive. I quickly became the orphan who lived in a cemetery and talked to ghosts in his free time. 

    Back to where I left off, however, I was the orphaned medium stuck inside a mausoleum. Yelling for help seemed pointless, as I would have no idea if anyone would hear me. It was still pitch dark inside, but that was a plus. I couldn't stand bright lights at all. It was another thing I found out about myself when I was around ten. On top of developing a Quirk, I also developed a diagnosis of Tourette syndrome. My nervous system impulses, my tics, were triggered mostly by harsh lighting, which usually ended in involuntary twitches now and then. But when I was inside the closed tomb, which was free of bright lights and distractions, I had a chance to keep my tics calm. 

    After a while though, it got boring. I began to wonder if anyone would be back to help me out, and while thinking about the chances of that not happening, I felt my shoulders shrug and my head jerk to the side, my Tourettes telling me I was worrying. The unsettling feeling crept up inside me while I laid with my back against the stone door. My existing paranoia on top of a sudden voice calling caused me to jump.