Life After Death

Chapter 5

"Are you okay?"

A cold hand touched mine, and I pulled away involuntarily. When I looked up, my eyes locked with Meg – the goth-looking girl – she was scowling.

I sat up. I was in the foetal position, curled up with my knees to my chest, with eyes shut. The pizzeria was spinning and I had to remind myself that one, I wasn't in Hope, Pennsylvania anymore; two, I was in the Elysium for Lost Souls; and three, I was dead.

Thinking that was like drinking acid, it caused my throat to burn and when that same acidic feeling settled in my stomach, it felt like it was shredding my nonexistent insides into ribbons.

I couldn't be dead that was ridiculous.

I cleared my throat, almost forgetting that Meg was standing there, waiting for a reply.

"I'm okay." But I wasn't okay.

She knew that too. But she didn't say anything, instead she glanced at Moira and said, "She said she's fine."

"Does the moon ever come up here?" It was a random question. It slipped from my lips before I could stop them.

"No." Meg slid in next to, helping her to a slice from my long-forgotten pizza. "The sun stays like that all the time. It gets boring." Meg spoke in a monotone-voice. Like she had no emotion whatsoever. "I'm Meg, by the way."

"Do you have a last name?"

Meg's brown eyes darkened as she uttered, "No."

Okay, so that was a touchy subject. I brushed it off by slurping up some now-chunky Oreo milkshake to quench the acid in my stomach.

"Well, I'm Meredith." I pushed back the empty glass and smiled at Meg. But the smile was weak, even I could feel it. I wanted to go home, that's why. I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be D&G (dead and gone). I doubt anyone wanted to be – not even Meg.

"I know who you are," Meg said. "You came here with Roman, didn't you?"

My brows furrowed in confusion. "Roman...?"

"Roman – the guy that brought you here?" Excitement sprung in Meg's lifeless eyes and it made me feel something. It made me feel alive.

I smiled at this, really smiled. "You mean Death?"

"He told you to call him Death?" Meg barked out a short laughter. "He's so formal nowadays... Ever since he became a grim reaper."

"So he hasn't been one for long?"

"No. It's only been a year now." Meg pursed her lips in though. "Yeah, a year – Or gosh, I don't know. I haven't been in the mortal realm in so long."

"A year? So he's like a newbie?" Meg nodded, rolling up a slice of pizza and shoveling it into her mouth. A long silence followed suit. "And, if you don't mind me asking, when'd you die?"

Meg didn't flinch or wince at my question or anything. Instead, she replied in that same monotonous voice, "I died on the eighth of July '99." Meg sighed in contentment.

"Wait, so you've been here ever since the nineties?" I asked incredulously. I mean, why had she been here so long? Why hadn't she moved on?

"Well, yes and no. I died in the nineties and I came here in the nineties but I have been to the mortal realm a couple of times since my death. Trying to, you know, get closure and move on. But I doubt that's ever gonna happen."

I don't think I heard everything she said because I kind of spaced out after she said I have been to the mortal realm a couple of times since my death. That means it was possible to go back. This was great news.