A Safe Place

Chapter 13- A Realization

Miranda's pov

I looked around in abject horror. "G-Guys.... Where are we?" Briar shakily says, looking around, staying close to Nicole. I can't believe what happened. My brother never almost died from the rollercoaster accident. I did. And I did die. I remember everything. How could I have forgotten?! There were large dark black iron gates. A boy maybe 19 stood there, staring at all of us shocked. I found Jason staring in total shock at one of the headstones. "What is it?" I ask worriedly walking over. "M-My.... I.... We... We're all dead." He shakily whispers, pointing. I read the grave to myself. "Jason Aldine Williams 1965-1981." He fell to his knees, staring at it, mouth agape. "The year... The year I.... Came to that weird house." He looks up at me shocked. "I've been dead this whole time!" "We all have!" Briar cries, hugging him. "Does everyone remember like I do?" They all nod. Jason slowly stands up. I scan the stones and find mine. "Miranda Brown, 1994-2010." I can't believe it. I'm actually dead. "B-But the articles we read on your phone!" Jason says, grabbing my shoulders. "They... There's no way they were real. It was probably like everything else. Just something we made up..... Without even realizing it." I say. He looks so terrified. I hug him tightly. He was shaking slightly. I glance back at the guy. He also looked visibly afraid. "G-Ghosts are real?" He exclaims, backing up. Something is telling me not to let him leave. He turns to leave but I envision myself behind him, lo and behold causing me to be behind him. He screams in terror and falls backward. "We aren't going to hurt you." I say. I saw Jack bent over crying next to a freshly dug grave. Poor guy. He must've just been buried no more than a week ago. "Just wait here. Please I promise we aren't going to hurt you." I walked over to the group of terrified teenagers. "Thomas... I don't know why but something is telling me.... That we have to tell our stories to that boy. I don't know why-" "I get that feeling too." He says, hugging Nicole. "Me too." She says, wiping the tears from her eyes. I turn around to the still petrified boy. "What's your name?" I ask. He slowly stands up. "M-Mike." He mumbles, wrapping his arms around himself. Jason stands beside me. "Everything we thought happened to our twins... Actually happened... T-To us." "It's okay. We're okay." "No we're not! We're dead!" He gasps. "What year is it?" I ask the boy. "2010. Why?" How long have I been dead? Weeks? Months? I'll probably never know. I walk back over to Mike. He crawls away, shaking and terrified. "We don't want to hurt you. We just want to talk to you." "Talk to me? What could you possibly need to tell me?!" He gapes. I glance back at the ragtag group of teens who have become my family. "We need to tell you our death stories. It's the only way we can move on." The group looks shocked when I say this but I know they feel the same because I feel that way. "You won't try to take my body or something?" He asks. I catch myself before I laugh. "Of course not. This isn't the movies." Pete says, walking over. "OK who wants to go first?"