'Til Death Do Us Part

Forty One

As Ariana hiked up the trail, she tripped and fell a few times. I didn't know if it was because of the shoes she had chosen or that she wasn't accustomed to my body. Every motion she made was awkward for me since she moved differently than I normally did. I knew Vivian and Maggie could see on my face that I wasn't really myself. Ariana hadn't even tried to act like me; she thought that by taking over my body, that'd be all she needed. Fortunately, she had been wrong.

She made it half way up the hiking trail before stumbling and falling over a branch. Crying out in pain, she grabbed my knee, which was bloody and probably extremely painful. I couldn't feel it. She let out a frustrated scream and balled up my fists. When she didn't move, I tried to talk to her.

Are you okay? Or should I say, am I okay?

She didn't respond. Instead, she covered my face with my hands.

Ariana, can't we talk about this? Please? We're best friends. Talk to me.

"What do you want, Everly?"

I just want to talk to you, that's all. I know this is hard for you. It's been really hard for me, too.

"You're not the one who died! You're still alive and I'm in the ground in the cemetery! You get to live the rest of your life and I don't."

She was starting to tear up. I could actually feel her emotions running through me.

I know. And I'm so sorry. I really am. I'm sorry I didn't go out with you that night. I hated knowing that the last time we spoke, we had argued. I felt so guilty! But I don't know if I had been there with you if I could've prevented the accident.

"That's what you don't get, Everly," she cried softly. "It's not that you could've prevented the accident. It's that when I died, you would have died, too."

Do you really wish that I had died, too?

I felt her anger rising inside. "Yes, I do! Why should I have been the only one to die? Why not you, too? That's not fair! You said you would go out with me that night. But you didn't! We did almost everything together, Everly. So why on that particular night were you not there? WHY?"

I'm sorry.

"Stop apologizing! It's too late for you to say you're sorry. The damage is done!" She got up slowly, wincing in pain from my bleeding knee.

I had to get her back to being calm, not angry. It was the only way I could talk any sense into her.

Ari, slow down. You're not used to...being alive. And my knee is injured. I'm bleeding. We need to go back to my house, okay? Maggie and Vivian probably went home to their houses anyway. It'll be just you and me, like old times.

She was limping slightly, but kept going up the trail. I tried to plead with her, but she wouldn't listen. The more I said, the angrier she became.

"Everly, stop!" she screamed. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work! I've made up my mind!"

As she said that, I knew she was right. I could feel it. She was determined to kill me. The more determined she got, the more I felt myself slipping away from my physical self. It was like floating in darkness. I didn't feel attached to my body anymore. And yet, Ariana was still uneasy in her movements. It wasn't her body either.

I could sense myself drifting further away, but Ariana wasn't getting any closer. She, too, would soon be pulled away from my body. That was why she was rushing so much. She must have known that having her soul use by body was only temporary. I wanted to hang on but didn't know how to grasp onto anything living.