Chapter 9: Dead...Sort Of

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CHAPTER 9:

Zelena's POV

"I don't want visitors." I abruptly mumble, seeing Miss Diaz amble in with a plate of food. She sets the red plastic onto the metal table in front of me and shuffles back just enough to get a full view of my face. There's a curiosity rising in her eyes that precedents her oncoming inquisitive nature. "I mean I want to see everyone again but I don't want the arguing or the tension and creating rules for visitations sounds exhausting." Her head nods slowly, absorbing my boundaries I've considered a lot over the past 48 hours.

They advised me against speaking as my body would easily become fatigued if I pushed too hard on it. Essentially, my soul and its energy were still taking their sweet time to full reasorb into our physical body even though my mentality is 100% back here. So I had a lot of time to think it through.

I'd been in "a coma" for 5 and a half weeks, yet it only felt like days to me. On the plus side, I had just finished my menstrual cycle so I don't need to worry about it for another three and a half weeks. Aisha moved to Paris to be with her Aunt as told by her parents to Miguel. Miguel is banned from the dojo per Miss Diaz though she allows him to practice what he already knows by himself. That's all I know.

"Miss Diaz?" Her hum allows me to continue as she writes my values on her clipboard that she untucks from beneath her arm. "W-What happened to Robby and Tory?" Her pen clatters to the floor, slipping from her slacked hand that had frozen in shock. "Miss Diaz," She bends over, collecting the pen from the floor with an apology on her tongue.

"Robby Keene is being held at the detention center. They were awaiting news of your health to indefinitely charge him. And the LaRusso's never pressed charges on Tory so she is back at school." There's a hesitation in the air and a guilt rising in her eyes.

Footsteps sound before I can respond to my observations, accompanied by the whistling of an 80's rock song. A head of black hair pops through the door, his focus solely on the potted plant between his palms as he crosses the threshold and passes his mother to get to the small night stand like table beside my 'bed'. Carefully he sets down the carnations and when he glances upward to his mother, his brown eyes find mine gazing right at him. A scream of surprise leaves his mouth and I can't help but laugh at his reaction. A smile grows on his lips before his eyes widen and he fully processes this moment and what is happening.

"You're alive!" I nod in response to his outburst. "No, like you're awake!" I nod again. "You are alive and awake!" I nod a third time to which he shakes his head. "I-I have to-"

Miss Diaz grabs Miggy's hand as it slips into his jeans pocket. He furrows his eyebrows, glancing at his mother before sneaking a look at me. "I-I don't want any visitors, Miggy. I-I've been thinking a lot about it the last 48 hours. Sympathy and residual anger and pettiness isn't going to help me. In fact, I'll just feel worse. Besides, the only friends I had before the fall were Tory, you, Ish, and Robby. But she's probably seeking revenge, you're here, Ish moved out of state, and he is in a detention center."

My thumbs battle one another in my lap, my eyes refusing to stray from it. "So I lie to them?"

I snap my head up at his inquiry, "No. I am tired of secrets and lies. You can- we'll make a video and post it to my pages. Everyone has a fair chance to see it all at once and no one can be bitter they weren't told first. It'll be better coming from me than you." He nods slowly, gesturing to the door in his silent way of asking if he should leave. "Stay. I have some questions I want answers to."

He grins, walking to the left side of my bed and pulling the chair away from the wall. "I'll be back in a while. Miggy make sure she eats." Miss Diaz instructs, pointing her middle and index fingers from her eyes to each of us. "I expect that plate spotless." She playfully glares at me, sending us a look over her shoulder before fully exiting and pulling the door closed behind her.

"Ask away my ghostly friend!" A small chuckle leaves my lips, but it quickly turns into a raspy cough. His hand reaches toward me, grasping the blue cup and placing it to my lips. They maneuver around the circular edge and I cautiously take a sip. My eyes never leave his, almost fearful it'll end if I do. "It's nice to hear your chuckle again." His words sound choked up, but he recovers with a snort. "No matter how ashy it sounds."

My head jerks back, "Ashy? You clearly haven't been paying attention in your English class." He laughs, following it with a scrunched up face and his tongue poking between his lips. "How is everyone? Like Tory, Hawk, Dem, and Sam? How are you?"

"I honestly don't know how Tory or Sam are doing. Tory is stonier than ever and Sam apologized to me once for Robby and hasn't spoken to me since then. Demetri is the best out of us, holding together fine though he distanced himself from Miyagi Do. And Hawk puts on his 'okay' facade but I can see he's struggling. I only see him at school since my mom banned me from Cobra Kai. He's furious. I think he might be planning something. I was really bad- just in a sucky place." He releases a breath, leaning forward on his elbows as he gives the run down.

"Sensei Lawrence?"

"Not Sensei anymore." I furrow my eyebrows, blinking hard at him once like it would click the answer in place. "Kreese took over the dojo. And my mom refuses to let me see him. The few glimpses I have caught- it looks rough."

My heart cracks in my chest at the new information before I also take my anger out, "The greasy handed, bitter old man runs Cobra Kai?"

Miguel puts his hands out in front of him, bouncing them to calm my attitude. "Yes- why-"

"Remember how I told you I had a bad feeling about him?" He nods, seeming to follow along. "I-look. I kind of died and I met someone named Sherry. She was Sensei Lawrence's classmate- dated one of his Cobra buddies. She said Kreese is bad news. Like he tried to kill sensei when he was a teen, kind of bad."

Miguel's eyebrows furrow, his hand holding up a single finger before pressing both hands together against his lips. I give him all the silence possible so he can process the complicated information I gave him. "So-so-" His hands return to pushing against his lips, his words lost in his thoughts again. "Did you-were you-"

"Dead? Yes." I tilt my head side to side and shrug my shoulders as I consider it. "Sort of." I didn't think this conversation through very well.

"Ah. Yes. This makes sense." Miguel quietly mutters to himself, running his left hand over his face. "I-Back to the Kreese thing because that hurts my head way less."

"That I can do." I inhale deeply, preparing for the retelling of a story I wasn't even part of. "After the 1983 All Valley Tournament, Kreese put Sensei Lawrence in a chokehold. Almost killed him. But Mr.Miyagi fought Kreese and saved Sensei Lawrence." Miguel leans back in his seat, clearly baffled by the story. "Remember how we couldn't figure out why Hawk stole the medal specifically when it was framed and everything?" Miguel nods, allowing his eyes to draw upward from his lap to my face. "That's why. Miyagi stole Kreese's honor- at least in the aforementioned's eyes."

In My Blood (Eli Moskowitz/Hawk FF) (Cobra Kai)Where stories live. Discover now