Life After Death

Chapter 7

Roman was humming a tuneless song. His velvet voice lapped over me in smooth edges, and curled around me like smoke. When he noticed me staring, he flashed me a smile and I gaped. He hadn't smiled at me before. Maybe we were slowly becoming somewhat friends.

Oh god, listen to me! I sounded as though I was desperate for friends or attention. Then again, considering that I was lacking in both at the moment, maybe some friendly companionship was what I needed.

Roman walked in long strides. His hands buried deep in his pockets, and eyes trained on the long road before him; determination etched on his seemingly-perfect facial features.

He wore a black trenchcoat. It was understandable why – the wind was blowing in occasional gusts. It flitted through his hair, causing it to whip around and become a disarray of gold.

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking around.

We were in the city – it looked like San Francisco, I could see the giant red bridge – but then I saw the Statue of Liberty and I wasn't so sure. It was like all places in one. One massive city, Megalopolis. The tall skyscrapers were deserted, and from the corner of my eye I could see a dark blur – the woods.

Roman and I walked in the middle of the road. I doubted there was any danger to that since there weren't any cars. It was eerily quiet; the only sound came from the whooshing of wind.

"To your door that will lead to the material realm." Roman answered, without glancing over at me. "Since I'm your... let's say guide and I'm not a celestial being. I can hitch a ride with you."

I twisted my face into confusion. "Where is my door?"

This time, Roman did look at me, and by the look he gave me. I knew something was wrong. "The place you died." I stopped walking but Roman continued. Taking long, even strides, while I stood dead still (pun intended.) Paralysed.

"What?" I managed to croak out.

"I told you that you weren't ready for this. You're not ready to go back there."

"There has to be another way," I mumbled.

"There is no other way. There's only that way," Roman said, his expression unreadable.

"But –"

"We can go back if you want."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is that what you've been waiting for the whole time? For me to back out of this?"

Roman shrugged.

I flushed with anger. "Well I'm not. I don't give up that easily," I said. "Now, let's go." I walked ahead of him.

"So we're going? You're really going to do it? You're going to drown all over again?"

I paused to turn and looked over at him. "Do you want me to back out, Roman?"

"I want you to know what you will have to do," he answered. "Now that you know –"

"I'm going there," I said. "I need to go back."

"For closure?"

I nodded in response. In actual fact, I didn't know why I felt so strongly about going. I think that I wanted to be right – that there was something wrong in the universe, a glitch maybe, and I wasn't dead. It sounded like a long shot; but then again, so did dying. When you're young and sixteen you're invincible. Nothing can kill you, not even drowning in an icy creek. I didn't think I would die. I didn't think this would be dying. Going there. Meeting whom I met. I didn't expect any of this. I wanted to give it all back. I wanted my life back. I wanted to be Meredith Louisa Gray, daughter of Marcus and Nanette Gray and sister of Nathaniel Gray. I didn't want to be this dead, nothingness. I didn't want to feel this empty.

And going back to the material realm... I don't know how I expected that to make everything better. But I was going. Despite Roman's offensive lack of belief in me.

We walked in silence for a long time until Roman said, "Turn here." It was a long winding road and... I knew this road. It was the one I took when I died. It... I blinked. I felt sick, which was impossible right? Since I was dead or whatever. But I was sick. Whatever was in place of my stomach churned in uncomfortable knots.

I walked slow in comparison to Roman. When I almost toppled over Roman held me, one arm around my waist the other holding me up at the elbow, preventing me from eating a mouth full of tar.

"Are you okay?" Roman asked.

I blinked at the road, it became more and more focused. I straightened up and held onto Roman for four long seconds before letting go. "I'm sorry. I'm okay." But Roman looked unconvinced.

"Are you ready for this? I don't want you passing out on me. I'm not carrying you all the way back to Pizza Palace," joked Roman.

"I –  Didn't you disappear right in front of my eyes when you dropped me off there? You just disappeared like smoke dissipating in air. Literally." I rambled, entering the dark stand of trees.

"That was because Reginald called me. That happens when I'm called," he explained.

"I always wondered: since you're a grim reaper or whatevs you must have some type of superpower, right?"

We stepped over high-lying clumps of snow. It all looked identical to the day I died, the way the fox tracks were placed. The tall trees clawing at the opaque sky. The dirty snow splayed on the ground.

"I wouldn't call it a superpower," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"So you do have a supernatural ability?"

"I can read minds and use compulsion – like all grim reapers – to help souls and whatnot."

"So you can read my mind?" I flushed with embarrassment.

Roman shrugged. "It's an involuntary action, it's like breathing."

"Invading people's privacy is like breathing to you?" I huffed.

Roman rolled his eyes. "People don't usually guard their thoughts. So it's open on display. Especially yours. Your thoughts are loud." Roman let out a throaty chuckle.

"Wait, you said something earlier on ghosts – that they're the only ones capable of supernatural abilities. Does that mean –"

"We are here," Roman said, cutting me short. I glared it him, but when I noticed the icy abyss below I shrinked back.

How did we get there so quick? It felt like hours when I found the creek that day.

And then I remembered the wailing. What had that been?

Roman held out his hand for me to take. "Go in together?"

Hesitantly, I reached out and took his hand in my own, our fingers instantly entwined. "We can jump on three, okay?"

I nodded, holding onto his warm yet calloused hand.

"One."

I can't do this.

"Two."

I'm going to die again.

"Three!"

We were in the air. A wide smile stretched on Roman's face. Red hair flying in the air.

And the last thing I remember, the most familiar thing I remember, was hitting the water with an icy shock.