Chapter 6: An Old Friend

April starts to notice that there is no one else on the beach besides them and starts to feel a little lonely. She asks Ryan about other people being there.

Ryan and I were simply sitting on the beach by the water. We sat there for a long time, the warm sand under our legs and the feeling of the sun on our backs. "One of the best parts of heaven," Ryan said at one point, "Is you can't get sunburned." It seemed to make sense. We sat with our toes in the water, little waves coming up and kissing our feet. Every now and then I would see dolphins jumping out of the water and I'd point them out to Ryan.

At one point I looked around me. There was no one else there besides us. Usually, when I went to the beach with my friends or my parents it was full of people. I'd never gone when there was no one else there.

I asked Ryan about where everyone could be.

"I wasn't sure if you were ready to be in front of a lot of people." He told me, "Close your eyes."

I did and when I opened them there were people. Not so many that it was crowded, but just enough. I looked around me. My eyes stopped at one person witch curly blonde hair in a classy one piece bathing suit, pale skin and red lipstick. She was very pretty. I kept looking at her and... "Oh my gosh! Ryan is that Marilyn Monroe?"

He nodded.

She was so beautiful. Now she was running toward the water, another man chasing after her. She had a big smile on her face and she let out a happy squeal, her pealy white teeth were all showing. I kept watching her, splashing around in the water. Hey, it's not every day that you see Marilyn Monroe running on the beach.

I was interrupted by a familiar voice calling my name, "April! April!"

I turned around and smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever. It was Isabella! I thought of her everyday, but it was hard to think about anything else, while in my situation. My lost friend, I remember losing her. I remember the news stories about the missing girl, the flyers hanging around the town. Isabella went missing about three years ago when I was thirteen. Her disappearence was so mysterious that no one even knew whether she was kidnapped or ran away. I knew Isabella though. I knew she would never run away, she loved her life at home. She was too happy.

I ran toward her and we hugged. I was a little taller than her now, but not much. She was usually taller than me. She still looked like she was thirteen, but she was still beautiful. Her dark brown hair was still curly and her eyes were brown. She was wearing a purple bikini to match her eyes and her skin glowed from her tan.

There were so many things that I wanted to ask her. What happened to her? Was she okay? Did she know that I was coming? But all I could say to her was, "I missed you so much!"

"I did too!" She told me, "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean what happened to me? What happened to you? Where did you go? Come on, let's go sit down."

We walked over to where Ryan was sitting and smiling at us.

"Hey Ryan," Isabella greeted him with a smile. She looked over at me, "Is Ryan your mentor too?"

I nodded. "But who cares, no offense Ryan, what happened to you?"

Isabella took a deep breath, looking at me. "That day I went missing, I was kidnapped, I didn't run away. I would've never ran away. What I can remember is it was summer, my parents were at work and I was home alone. I woke up early, I was going to call you to go out, but I knew you liked to sleep in, so I went out in the back yard to tan and read a book. I was lying on the lawn chair, reading and I fell asleep there. While I was sleeping someone came in and took me. Even if I had woken up when they had taken me, I wouldn't have been able to do much about it. I woke up in a cheap motel. I was so confused. I didn't know where I was. Then I saw a man, my kidnapper. He kept me for about a year. It was so scary. Until one day he just decided that he was bored with me." She closed her eyes and sighed, "So he killed me. Now I'm here. I definitely like it here more than being with him though. I don't know if anyone on earth will ever know what happened to me, besides him of course, he wasn't one who wanted to see me go peacefully, he was a sick man. He tied me up and put tape over my mouth and took me on a boat. He took the boat, far out in the ocean and threw me in."

I blinked. I couldn't believe it. How could someone do this to my best friend, "I'm so sorry Isabella."

"It's okay. I'm fine now and when I was sinking, I saw so many beautiful things in the ocean. It was all so pretty." She said, "What about you? How'd you get here?"

I looked out at the ocean, "I'm not dead yet, Isabella. I'm in a coma. I got hit by a bus."

"Oh, so you're not here for good. You might go back."

I nodded, "I'm kind of hoping I can. I kind of miss it. I keep hearing voices, they all want me to go back."

"I understand. I never heard the voices though."

The voices in my head were gone for now. I figured everyone probably went home to sleep. Every now and then I heard the sound of a nurses footsteps walking in or out of the room.

Suddenly, Isabella looked past me, "Hey Marilyn,"

I turned around, Marilyn Monroe was standing over us. "Hi Isabella, Ryan, um, I don't know you, but it's nice to meet you," She sat down next to us and flicked her wrist to get a towel. She rubbed her wet face off with the towel, "I'm Marilyn." She reached out to shake my hand.

Oh my gosh, I'm shaking Marilyn Monroe's hand. Was all I could think of, "I'm... um... April. It's an honor to meet you."

Isabella giggled, "I knew you'd want to meet her April. April's a big fan."

I nodded. This was great, I had the beach, I had my best friend back and I was talking to Marilyn Monroe!

Author's Note

Hope you enjoy it! Haven't posted in a while. This is a long one!