They Both Die at the End: Fanfic

The Afterlife Part One

A/N: Holy buckets! I owe all of you readers a HUGE thank you. This book has 405 reads. I honestly never imagined it getting more than ten reads. Also, it ranked #3 in distress and #123 in government and #148 in ShortStoryCollection! That's so cool, and I wouldn't have been able to get here without you guys. Keep voting and commenting, it means a lot!

Given the prompt 'a continuation of the afterlife'.
(By many people)

M a t e o  T o r r e z
2:00 a.m.

Rufus and I walked in a comfortable silence. I felt like I should say something, but I didn't know what. It was the first time we'd been together without the stress of an impending death, and it felt pretty great. More than great. It felt like our first kiss and the cliff jump (the real one, not the crappy Make-A-Moment sky dive) all at once. I didn't want to ruin it by opening my mouth and spewing out some word vomit.

It felt like we were invincible.

But were we? For all I knew, we could have been walking right into a trap. But that wouldn't make sense...

"Rufus?" I asked suddenly, pulling him to a stop. The crowd of people rushed around us as if we were stones blocking the path of the stream.

"Yeah?" He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a nearby building. It appeared to be an abandoned bar, with dusty racks of alcohol at the front and tables covered by cloths pulled to the walls.

"Are you afraid?" I fiddled with my hands and looked down at the ground.

"Surprisingly, no. I feel really at peace. Happy, you know?" He grabbed my hands in one of his and with his other one tilted my chin up. I looked at his forehead. "Are you?"

I hesitated. "I guess not..." looking into his eyes, I smiled and continued, "No, I'm not. I feel like I should be, though."

"I get that. We don't know anything about this place."

I nodded. "I wish there was an informational guide or something."

Rufus kissed my cheek. He opened his mouth to speak when—

"Hello!"

"Ack!" I exclaimed, whirling around to face the newcomer.

"What the..." Rufus murmured. My jaw dropped.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Jen, and I'm your personal assistant, Mateo!" Her voice was cheery. Her blonde curls bounced when she spoke.

"Uhhhh... hi. What are you doing here? Who are you?"

"Hello, my name is Jen! I'm Mateo's personal assistant," she repeated, reaching out a hand. I stepped towards her and reached out with my own hand, going in for a handshake. Her hand passed right through mine and flickered, appearing solid again a second later. "I'm a hologram."

"Oh. Um... nice." I glanced at Rufus. His eyebrows were scrunched together.

"So you know everything about this place?"

"Yep! What would you like to know?" Her curls bounced.

"Are we in any danger?" I asked.

"Absolutely not."

"Can we do anything we want?"

"Your wish is my command!"

"Can you call my family?" Rufus cut in, taking a step forwards.

Jen held out her hand. A blue light shot from it and in between Rufus and I, hitting the racks of alcohol and spreading out across the wall. The pixels fluctuated before forming the image of a living room. Three people stepped into the picture. One look at Rufus and I knew that these people were his family. His eyes were sparkling and his chin was trembling, much like his family.