Nothing to Lose | Luke Patterson

Chapter Two

I wake up with my head on someone's lap; when I open my eyes, I see I'm in a dark room. I rack my brain trying to remember how we got here; the last thing I remember was not feeling well after our street dogs and falling asleep. I lift my head slowly, wincing at how sore it is.

"You're awake," I look up, and my eyes connect with Luke's; he looks down at me, concerned. "You feeling okay?"

"Uh, yeah," I mumble, I glance around the room and spot Alex and Reggie sitting nearby; Reggie is playing with his fingers, and Alex has his knees curled up to his chest, tears streaming down his face. "Where are we? Don't we have to go on soon?"

"You don't remember what happened?" Reggie asks, moving closer to where Luke and I were sitting.

"I fell asleep," I tell him, thinking back to how tired I felt after eating. Luke and Reggie's faces fall, and they share a sad glance. My eyes travel back over to my brother, who hasn't stopped crying. "Alex, what's going on?"

"Char," He mumbled shakily, "You didn't fall asleep, we-we," Alex continues crying, unable to finish his sentence.

"Charlie, we died," Luke finishes for Alex; my heart drops, we can't be dead, we never got to play the Orpheum.

"W-what?" I stutter; I glance at Reggie for confirmation, and he nods sadly. "How?" I struggle to catch my breath; I can't be dead; I'm only 16.

"Charlie," Luke grabs both of my hands in his comfortingly, "It's gonna be okay."

"No," I pull my hands out of his harshly and shuffle over to where Alex is sitting, "It is not going to be okay, Luke, we're dead. I'm only 16, I can't be dead; we haven't made it big yet, we never won a Grammy or performed a sold-out tour. I never got to apologize to my parents for running off on them." I mumbled the last part sadly, leaning my head against the wall behind me. I think back to my final moments, I can't believe I died eating a hot dog.

"This is all your fault," I mumble, looking over at Luke, "You were the one who wanted the street dogs; you're the one who made me come."

"You don't mean that," Luke told me; usually, I found it hard to be mad at Luke; he is so adorable I always ended up forgiving him quickly; but right now, I was angry, if it weren't for him we'd all be alive right now. I closed my eyes, and we all sat in silence; the only sound came from my brother quietly sniffling to himself. My heart broke for my brother; he was always much more sensitive than I was. I haven't cried since I was a little girl, it made me feel weak, and I hated when people pitied me.

"Do you guys hear that?" Reggie broke the silence; I could hear music playing faintly in the distance. As I listened more, I could make out the familiar tune of Now or Never. "It's our song," I shuffle onto my feet, and the boys follow.

"Hello?" I yell, hoping maybe that someone would hear us. Before any of us could say anything else, I felt a weird sensation; it felt like I was falling.

"Ahhhhh," We all scream, I see the ground coming closer, and then we are thrown harshly onto the floor. The boys groan loudly, gasping for air; I wince slightly as I stand, instantly recognizing the room we are in, our studio.

"Whoa," Luke gasps, looking around the room, "How did we get back here?"

"Ahhh," someone starts screaming before any of us can reply; We turn quickly and are met with a young girl; why is she in our studio? And why is she screaming?"

"Ahhh," the boys scream when they realize we're not alone, all of them jumping and grabbing onto one another. Alex puts his arm around me tightly, and I try to break free.

"Can we stop screaming?" I yell loudly; this only causes the girl to scream louder and run out of the studio.

"Is she gone," Alex asks nervously; I chuckle at the three of them; how are they so scared of some girl?

"I say we hide in the attic," Reggie announces, pointing to the stairs, "Just in case she comes back." I go to tell him how ridiculous that is, but Luke and Alex nod their heads rapidly in agreement before I get the chance. I trail behind them, thinking of how ridiculous they're acting when I feel a weird sensation, and stumble lightly into the attic.

"Whoa," Luke exclaims; I peer over from the attic at the three of them, "How did you do that."

"I-I don't know," I stutter, looking around me, "I just thought of the attic, and then I was here."

"Ou, I wanna try," Reggie exclaims excitedly; he closes his eyes, and seconds later, he teleports next to me.

"Sick," Luke exclaims, doing the same as Reggie. "Alex, you coming?"

"I don't know," Alex hesitates; I lean over the railing and look down at him.

"C'mon, it's easy, just think of the attic," I encourage him, Alex closes his eyes reluctantly and seconds later poofs into the attic.

"So, does this mean that we're ghosts?" Reggie asks; I'm taken aback by his idea at first; I always thought ghosts were fictional, but maybe I was wrong... I mean we're dead, so it makes sense.

"I guess so," I shrug, plopping onto the ground. I lean my head against the wall; who knew being dead would be this exhausting.