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homerfreak2011

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“What?” Julia drew back from him in shock. “You’re lying…” He hung his head, tracing his fingertips over his senior picture.

“I wish.”

“Ben, you’re lying! You’re just trying to scare me!”

“Julia!” He grabbed her shoulders, jerking her face within inches of his. “I’m telling the truth!” He stopped, seeing the deep fear in her eyes. He gently put his hand on her cheek. “And, sweetheart… You’re dead too.” She shook her head.

“No…” That would explain it. The news report, the yearbook… it all made sense. All except the fact that both Julia and Ben were in this very room… This very living room of this small New York apartment. They weren’t dead. They weren’t.

He pushed her hair out of her face and sat down next to her. “That day you were on the streets… the day that man shoved you… do you remember?” She nodded silently. “He didn’t shove you. He didn’t even see you. To him, you weren’t there.”

“I’m…?”

“You’re dead, Jewel. The living can’t see you, and the dead thrive all around you.” She stared at him in disbelief. “Have you ever gotten the feeling that something… someone… is watching you? Or behind you? Or even right next to you?” She hesitated, but nodded. “That’s the dead, Jewel. This is the afterlife. There isn’t a Heaven. There isn’t a Hell… at least by biblical definition. This is the afterlife… eternity.”

“But… But… How…?” She shook her head, closing her eyes. “How?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It just… is. When I was 19, my senior year, I saw a few guys from my class pinning a girl in the corner of the hallway. The girl couldn’t’ve been over 14. I don’t know how old for sure but she was one of the… ‘special’ kids... And they were… well, gonna do stuff to her. One of the guys had a pocket knife, but the rest were unarmed. I knew the guy with the knife, and I also knew the girl. I grabbed the guy by the shirt collar and threw him up against one of the doors and threatened him, trying to help her, and when I did, he jabbed the knife at me. The girl got up and ran, and the other two guys were just staring and me and this dick with a knife. Hell, I thought he missed me, but then I saw his friends staring in horror at the floor. I looked down and there I was… well, my body anyway… There was blood all over my letterman’s jacket, and I wasn’t breathing. I remember just standing there… wondering what the hell was going on. Then it hit me. I’m dead.”

Julia was staring at him like a madman. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that…”

“Julie, I heard a news report on the way home… They found your body in a Greyhound.”

“Even if I was to believe you… why wouldn’t I see myself die? Like you did…”

“They said you were asleep at your time of death. That would mean your body was in the cargo hatch before you woke up. When was the last time you went to sleep on one of the busses?”

“Right before I got here.” He nodded.

“I expected as much. The way you reacted when that guy shoved you over… It was obvious you were a newbie.” He took her hand off of her knee and held it gently. “I’m here to help you. Ask questions, tell me things, anything to help you better understand.”

“How long ago did you die?”

“12 years.”

“We don’t age?”

“Not anymore. You’ll be 16 forever.”

She paused and stared at the floor. “Why do you have a job?”

“To keep myself from going crazy. I don’t like being stuffed up in this apartment alone any more than I would’ve if I had been alive. Everything’s still normal. We get hungry, we have to shower, we wear clothes… It’s another life.”

“Why are you so calm about this?”

“Because I’ve passed.”

“Passed?”

“The test.”

“What test…?”

“You know how in our first life, death is what weeds the strong from the weak?”

She shook her head. “I don’t understand…”

“Like… well, babies. A premature baby is more apt to die than a healthy baby, right?” She nodded. “Well, death separates it there, but here, it’s separated by something completely different. Sanity.”

“Sanity?”

“There are two options of where you go when you die. You either stay here, in this life, and live normally, or you’re sent away.”

“Away…?”

“To a… well, think of an insane asylum. They take you away and lock you in a small cell all by yourself in an endless hallway. But in this ‘asylum’, you never come out. And no one that isn’t a resident ever goes in. The rooms don’t have doors. They don’t have windows. They’re just isolated. All alone. Forever.”

Julia violently shook her head. “I don’t want that!”

“Then you have to cooperate.”

“Cooperate… how?”

“Tell your story.”

“My story?”

“Your childhood. Your life. Tell me the story. That will decide your fate. The only catch is, you can’t lie. If you lie, you automatically wind up in one of those cells. We call them the Quarantine. I don’t want you to end up there, Julie. I really don’t.” He squeezed her hand. “So let me help, okay?”

She nodded, finding it ridiculous that she believed him… but with those gorgeous blue eyes, it was hard to say no. “Do I have to do it now?” He shook his head.

“We can wait a little while longer. Not much, mind you. But a little while.” He leaned up and kissed her forehead. “How about you come lay down awhile?” She nodded, letting him pick her up and carry her to the bedroom. He lay her gently in the sheets and scooted down next to her. His arms were tight around her, comforting her. She rested her head against his chest.

“Make me a promise?”

He looked down at her. “What might that be?”

“Don’t leave me alone here.” Here. What was here? “I don’t wanna be alone in this… world.”

He nodded, kissing the top of her head. “I’ll do my best. Do you have any more questions about this?” He felt her nod on his chest.

“Why is there still love?” He ran his fingers gently through her hair.

“Cause love never dies.”