City of the Fallen - unedited

Chapter Eight

The event that I have been dreading ever since I woke up in the bright white room has come.

Nobody else would be mourning her absence except for me.

I couldn't leave her side for the last few hours we were together.

It's two days that I have to spend by myself, but alone time in the Afterworld is absolutely horrible.

There are times where we're not supposed to leave our rooms and that got really tough. During the first week here, I hardly left my room because they didn't allow it. Nobody had any friends except for me.

I had never been more excited to see Brooke on the first day of training. I couldn't believe that she had died with me, it was both horrible and great at the same time because she already knows every part of my life so I didn't have to find new friends. We both helped each other cope with the pain of losing our families.

I begin stacking the books that I had borrowed from her because she has to return them. I don't know where Brooke is, but I'm almost positive she's in her room three doors down. She was told to pack up everything she wants to bring over to the stage two dorm, but I can't imagine that she's going to bring much because you appear in the Afterworld with absolutely nothing but the scarring image of your death engraved in your mind.

The door bursts open and I'm surprised to see Jack on the other side. His face is blank, there's no expression to read.

"I think Brooke needs you right now. She's really upset to be leaving." He tells me.

"How are you out here at this hour? Why were you in her room? Go back to your dorm." I narrow my eyebrows, looking in both directions to make sure there aren't any stage twos in the hallway. I immediately regret talking to him in that tone but he doesn't seem to mind.

"Later." He waves while smiling, then shuts the door without letting me respond.

I'm basically finished getting her books together, so I might as well head over even though it's after hours. I also want to find out why Jack was in her room so late...

I'm ready to pound Brooke with questions until I hear her sniffling from outside her room. I knock once before entering and she looks at me with tears streaming down her face.

"Brooke, what's wrong?" I set the books down on the floor by a stack of boxes. I rush into the room and kneel down next to her.

"It's nothing, Julia. I'm just a little nervous, you know? I wish you died first, I hate being the first to go out of all of us." Her voice is cracking with every word. Her face is puffy and red splotches surround her eyes.