A Fact About My Death

* A Fact About My Death *

I made myself pancakes for breakfast that morning.

I never told my parents I used the last of the eggs.

 

Inconsequential, really, but I felt kind of bad afterwards. I know how Lauren likes to have eggs before school. She says it wakes her up in the morning so she's ready for Maths. But I ate them, after drizzling blueberry syrup on them. It was my favorite, and one of the few tastes I can still remember.

The last things stay with you the longest.

Except for the pain. I'm glad for that.

Anyway, after my quick breakfast, which I neglected to clean up, I began walking to the midway point between my house and my friend, Jared's. It was too far to walk all the way to his house, so we came up with a place where he could meet me, since I couldn't drive by myself yet. Two more weeks until that!

I sat under the tree watching the dark clouds congregate together. It was going to rain soon, and if Jared didn't pick me up, I was going to kick his a*s.

I was still waiting for him to show up thirty minutes later. It was getting colder, and I was getting impatient.

* A Fact About My Death *

Jared never picked me up.

 

I decided after another fifteen minutes of worriedly watching the skies that it would be better if I just walked the rest of the way. Maybe he had forgotten, and I couldn't call him. My cell was dead.

There was a sort-of shortcut not too far away, and it was dangerous. I think it might have been an abandoned quarry or something. I never really paid any attention, after all, it wasn't like I'd ever have to go there. Well, I might have been wrong on that part.

The first few drops of rain splashed on my head, and I made up my mind. If I didn't go past the quarry, I'd have to cross a lot of busy roads, and if it was going to rain…

I was probably safer taking the route by the quarry. You know, wet roads and all.

 

* A Fact About My Death *

The quarry was abandoned for a reason.

I didn't find out that reason until later.

 

The quarry didn't look too scary, like I had imagined. There were even little patches of sun where the clouds weren't blocking it.

Despite my worries, it all looked pretty solid, too. I didn't think I'd have to worry about falling off the mini-cliffs.

I was wrong, in a way.

*A Fact About My Death *

You really, really should pay attention when they say appearances can be deceiving.

They aren't fooling you.

 

So there I was, minding my own business, kicking the occasional rock and waiting to hear the little crashing noise it made when it hit its brothers below. The rock had a good forty feet to fall, and it was kind of fun watching the rock tumble down.

I will never take enjoyment from anybody falling ever again. I swear on this.

By now it had begun to rain. It wasn't pouring, but it definitely wasn't light, either. I hurried up, forgetting that I had to be careful where I stepped.

It was then that it happened.

One second I was on my way to Jared's house, and the next second I was in the air, wondering where the hell the ground had gone. Apparently I had walked over a thin piece of ground, where almost everything below it had been hollowed out.

I don't think it was a really long fall�"I mean, it didn't seem to take too long for me to hit the ground.

But when I did�"oh, man�"when I did, I didn't feel anything initially… Shock, I guess. But when my brain finally got around to realizing I should be in pain, let me tell you, I felt it. I couldn't move and I'm pretty sure something major was broken, but I hurt everywhere, so it was hard to tell. And I think one of my ribs had punctured my lung. I've heard of that happening on those medical shows that all seem to be the same. I always wondered how they never ran out of sicknesses and ways to kill people.

All I could do was lay there.

I was in serious pain, and all I could think of was how am I going to run the mile in gym tomorrow?

Really stupid, I know; but there you go. And that was when I think my nose started bleeding. I can't be too sure, because of the rain and all, but I knew it was because my head felt so funny. Naturally, something had to be wrong, and I tasted a definite metallic taste on my lips.

And then I sort of started laughing. My chest hurt so bad to breathe, but I couldn't do much else. I was pretty sure, by now, something pierced my lung.

But I was laughing at myself and how I must look. Bleeding nose, leg crooked at an odd angle, dirt and scratches marking up every other part of me.

I wondered how long it would take somebody to find me because, you see, I hadn't really thought that I wouldn't live.

Much to my dismay, the world started flickering and it turned black at the edges.

 

* A Fact About My Death *

I think blue might have been my favorite color.

I missed seeing it in the sky when I died.

 

Beside me, something warm and fuzzy moved, and then licked my hand. Something might have barked, too, but I was a little hazy on the details. I thought I was delirious.

 

* A Fact About My Death *

The grim reaper is not a cloaked man with a scythe.

For me, it was my old dog Jump. I think it changes for everybody.

 

Jump licked my face and it was then that I found I could move without the searing pain. Jump barked and wiggled his whole body the way he used to when he was excited. I smiled and reached for him, but he danced out of my grasp.

"C'mere, Jump!" I called out, but he still danced away, leading me to something.

It hadn't hit me yet that Jump had been dead for about five years.

 

* A Fact About My Death *

Nothing looks very peculiar when you're dead.

 

I chased Jump around a few more piles of rock, and that was when I saw the Nothing. It really was strange, and if I had to give it a color, I would say something light. I couldn't really give it a color, because I was starting to loose the ability to see them.

At first I was wary of the thing, or portal or�" you know what? I didn't know what it was, and I still don't, not really.

But Jump leapt through, so I know it had to be safe. He was a smart dog.

 

* A Fact About My Death*

Heaven doesn't have clouds and golden gates and all that jazz.

It looks an awful lot like home.

 

Everything was in its place. The front hall, with the pictures of my family, the kitchen (now missing my pancake mess), the stairway, and, when I got to it, my room. Everything was as I had left it.

Barring one thing, of course.

My family.

It hit me like a brick. I was happily exploring, wondering how I had gotten home and why I didn't hurt so much when I remembered that this wasn't possible. Not in the world where I had been, anyway.

Jump whined, and that was when I realized. I was dead. Really and truly dead.

"No," I whispered to myself. "No, I… my family… Lauren's birthday… And… Halloween…" Things that maybe, in retrospect, didn't matter so much when you're dead. But, for a second, I was really, really angry, for the most absurd reason. I had already bought my Halloween costume. It consisted of an almost knee-length white dress and wings. An angel.

I hate irony. A lot.

Since I was in my room, I knew where things were. I looked up and�"lo and behold�"I found myself looking at… myself in a mirror. Or my body, anyway.

It was worse than I thought, and I felt almost sickened. Thoughts of my family permeated my mind and when I next looked in the mirror, I saw my mother on the phone with somebody, looking anxious. My father was pacing behind her.

Was it me they were calling about? Had I really been gone that long?

 

* A Fact About My Death *

They didn't find my body for three more days, and I regret to admit that it wasn't the prettiest of sights.

 

They held my funeral later. Closed-casket. People from my school showed up, along with family. They sniffled and cried, wiping tissues and handkerchiefs across eyes.

But eventually they left, and I stared at my tombstone. It was on the smaller side, and the normal grey color, but it had all sorts of flowers around it, including a single black rose. I smiled at that. Only Cassie would do something like leave a black rose for me.

There were a few days at school where everybody was subdued, but eventually it got back to normal. I was content to watch the little dramas that loomed so large in my ex-classmates' eyes.

Checking in on my family was harder. Once, I found my mother crying and holding one of my shirts that must have been in the hamper. My father held her and I think he was trying not to cry too.

The worst was when I found Lauren talking to somebody�"or nobody, probably just ranting like I used to do.

"What'm I supposed to do? If I lose a sister, is she still my sister? Do I say I have a sibling, or am I supposed to forget her, only bring her out when I'm alone?"

It had gone on like that for a while and eventually Lauren fell asleep. I've never seen her frown like that in her sleep.

I stopped checking up after that. I don't think I could have handled it much longer.

As morbid and horrible as it sounds, I'm content to wait for them. I don't know if our heavens will be the same, but maybe they'll cross over at some point, and we'll meet again.

Until then, Jump will keep me company. I think he's been waiting.

Reviews

[Emmmaaa! ;D]

I really, really like this. I ended up feeling truly sorry for this girl.
It was, of course, sad, but also humurous. I liked your little "A Fact About My Death" statements.
Great job!

[Ruth]

Now, reading this has blown me away!

Surreal, I love that quality! Dark and clever, haunting and intense, GREAT write! xx

[Zombeh]

This was a mixture of sadness and humor -- I loved the bolded statements. This is one of the most creative stories I've seen on here, great piece :]

[Yellow]

I love this.