REAP

CHAPTER NINE: OVERFLOW

The last chapter was super sad, I am so sorry guys! Dont worry! There is still hope I promise! Anyways, I appreciate you reading so far, and don't forget to vote and comment!
"I regret to inform you that your friend, Amara Finley has passed away. I am truly sorry for your loss."

Every time a new word exited the doctor's mouth it felt like a fatal blow directly to my heart. The echoes of those words dropped one by one in the endless pool of my mind. Every word spoken would leave more and more ripples in that pool. The words filled that pool to the highest capacity my brain could take.

Amara Finley...passed...away...Amara...dead.

My mind was racing faster than I could handle, I began to find it difficult to breathe. My legs became wobbly, I needed to get out of here. I quickly ran out of the hallway, trying to find a place where I could catch my breath. My legs felt like they were going to give out, with all the racing thoughts in my mind, I forgot how to breathe.

Gagging sounds began to escape my mouth. I tried gasping for breath, but I couldn't figure out how to. The words that had flooded my brain were now consuming every aspect of it. I looked around, for any form of escape, or any relief at all.

I heard a faint, "Oliver!" Coming from behind me, I turned around to see an empty hallway. I dragged my body forward, my vision began to blur, every step became harder. I turned the corner, hitting the wall in the process. That's when I saw it; hope.

There at the end of the hallway, a red, iridescent glow from a square box hanging above a doorframe. The glow spelled out the word exit, for some reason, this word, exit, to escape away from everything, gave me peace. I began to calm down, to breathe again. I ran down that hall, to those doors and pushed them open, I was hit with the cool night air, and a beautiful, glowing, full moon.

I took a deep breath in, a wave of relief engulfed the pool in my mind, washing away all those words; those terrible, terrible words. As I regained my consciousness in my actions, I realized that tears were flooding down my face. I hadn't even slightly realized I was crying until this moment. I could taste the salty, bitter tears that had streamed into my mouth. It was as if the flood in my mind was draining through my eyes.

I looked around, realizing I was behind the entire building, trash bags were precariously stacked up in a large tower. With no garbage services, there wasn't exactly a good system to take care of garbage. So, every time there was more garbage it would just be thrown out here. No wonder the plants hate us.

Suddenly I heard voices approaching in the door behind me, I quickly ran behind the leaning tower of garbage. The doors opened, revealing a team of doctors and nurses, wheeling out a hospital bed with a body on it.

Is that Amara?

My curiosity was peaked, I crouched behind the trash but leaned out a bit to get a better view. Why were they wheeling her out here?

Suddenly, a silver truck with a scraped off lettering spelling U-HAUL pulled in and backed up. The doctors quickly turned the bed around, prepping the bed for boarding onto the truck.

I overheard the nurses talking, "Why are we even transporting her?"

"I don't know, headquarters ordered us to ship her there." One of the doctors answered.

Why would they be shipping a dead body to headquarters? She was dead...wasn't she? Even if that might be her, how could I know for sure?

I peered over the trash, I didn't have a very good view. But as they were hauling the body into the truck, an arm flopped off the side of the bed from underneath the cover. A golden, jeweled bracelet hung off the wrist of that hand. I could recognize that bracelet from anywhere. It was Amara's bracelet, the one I gave her for her last birthday. I remember how she had laughed, saying she didn't know how it would be useful in the middle of an apocalypse, but she would still wear it.

The bracelet slid off her hand onto the ground as they loaded her into the truck. It glimmered in the sunlight as it fell, much like Amara had when she had fallen. I remember a distinct glow to her that I had never seen before, her ability to stare down death was incredible.

Before I knew it, the back doors were closed, the doctors walked away, and the truck drove off; all like it never happened. I came out from behind the trash carefully. Looking every which way to avoid anyone seeing me. I slowly walked over to where the bracelet was lying on the ground, and I gently picked it up. Cradling it in my hand, I shifted it back and forth so it would sparkle in the sunlight. Teardrops landed on my hand and the bracelet. There was an inscription on the outside that I had always loved, "Friends are like stars, you don't always see them but..." then on the inside, it read, "...they're always there."

This entire situation had just unfolded before my eyes, I wasn't sure what to think, or what to do. In fact, the situation only fueled a lingering theory I had. The theory that my best friend Amara Finley, although pronounced dead, was actually alive. I don't understand why I believe this. I had just seen a body, I had not actually seen a living, breathing Amara. But a feeling in my gut told me she wasn't as dead as the brigade had said she was. No matter what, alive or dead, my focus would be consumed by two things. Trying to discover the mysteries of her death, and the true intentions of the brigade. I felt a responsibility for this as her best friend. And even if she was dead, she at least needed closure...and so did I.

Hmmmmm. What do you think, dead or not? I hope you are enjoying the book, I think it just shifted from dystopian to mystery, but that's all good. Anyways, keep reading to find out! I will try to publish the next chapter within the next day or two.