Skye is dead.
How she perished is a mystery. All she knows is that she is trapped in After, a makeshift city of souls surrounded by infinite darkness and terrifying monsters that tear ghosts apart.
But while all other ghosts accept the eternity of...
I straightened up with a gasp, but the memory ebbed.
"Come on then," Vale said. "Let's go home, yeah?"
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I pressed my head against the window frame. No pane of glass separated me from the pavement countless stories below, but I had no fear as I nestled into the window seat. From up here, I could fully appreciate just how massive After was. Its ruined expanse stretched on and on beyond either horizon. Above me climbed skyscrapers that were taller than any that existed on Earth and below, people carried on their way, looking like ants to me.
"So many people," I murmured. "Are they all dead? ...Ghosts?"
I turned to Webb and Vale, who had brought me to their little corner of the world like I was a stray dog. To them, 'home' was an old slum of an apartment that was as decrepit on the inside as it had appeared outside.
"Yup," Vale answered, doing her best to tidy up the place that was cluttered with furniture and random bric-à-brac and...debris. Her brown eyes caught mine. "We all call ourselves hollows, by the way. I'm sure you're figuring out why."
"Hollows?" I repeated. I touched a hand to my chest. Sure enough, beneath my ribs slumbered a nebulous, black hole where my heart had once beat. Even my emotions were diluted.
I was hollow.
Lifeless.
"Huh," was all I could say.
Webb tossed some old rebar out a blown-out window without a care, his way of cleaning up. "Don't worry," he told me. "You'll...mostly get used to the feeling."
"I'm dead," I said.
"Correct," Webb confirmed.
I pointed at the male hollow. "You're dead."
"Yup."
I looked at Vale. "And you're—"
"Dead as dead can be," she said.
I leaned back against the window frame. "And what does it mean that I can't remember how I supposedly died?"
Webb's mouth floundered like a fish's. "I-it means—"
The other hollow stepped in between Webb and me. "Those are cool trousers, by the way," Vale said, pointing at me. "Real cute."
I looked down at myself. I'm sure my cheeks flushed as cherry red as the lights outside. Evidently, my life had expired while I'd been wearing an old t-shirt and pajama pants spangled with smiling cartoon frogs.
The two other hollows lost their minds, laughing at my expense. I couldn't help but laugh in return as I pointed at the duo's hole-infested layers. "I'm sorry I didn't die in full-on apocalyptic gear like you guys did!" Honestly, they and most After's populace looked like they had just sprung from some zombie flick.
