The Silent Dead

[Chapter 2] Ignorance is Contagious

Sometimes I like to believe that everything happens for a reason. The heavy rains, the infuriatingly long traffic, and even the mosquito bite behind my ear was there to serve some greater purpose.

Other times, I'm not so sure. Some days I wake up feeling like things just happen for no particular reason, and we're just meant to live with it. I guess the Daoists have a point. The day I died changed everything for me, and yet ironically it changed nothing. The world kept turning with no consequence. 

Honestly, I always thought that death would be a bit more of an adventure. What would my last thought be? Who would be the last person I see? Will I be scared?

The sad part is, I don't even remember how I died. None of us do. We can't remember our lives before we died. Maybe the sole purpose of this is so that we don't try to go find or families. It's for the best, really. There's no saying what could go wrong if we go back to the people who think we're dead. And we are. Dead, I mean. We're dead.

Pilar thinks it's heartless of me to be so indifferent to the fact. I try not to say it so much around her for that reason. Pilar's so sweet and kind, I hate to see her frown. I wonder if she was the same when she was alive.

There are four of us in the small, friendly little town of Coolidge, Florida. Whoever named this town has a serious tendency towards irony, because it is Hell hot here.

The first one of us who settled here was Daniel Adams. He's about nineteen, and very serious about... well, everything. He likes to call himself our boss, and we let him, because he keeps us all in line instead of letting us wreak havoc on Coolidge. He is rather scary looking, with his tall stature and cold glares, but he's really just a big softy. And when you mention Dan, you just have to mention Haven.

Haven Law. There really isn't enough time in the world to explain her. In a few words, she's kind, yet sarcastic, sweet, yet fiesty, and when she gets mad, you better run for your afterlife. She's about eighteen, and completely in love with Dan. It's kind of gross, actually. It's really funny to see his face when you call him whipped, but it's true. He would do anyting for that girl. They've been engaged for a few months, but have yet to tie the knot.

I was the third to join the group. Right after me came Evan Monday. He takes the title of Dead Guy very loosely; he always jokes about it, which irks Pilar to no end. Personally, I think he's quite hilarious. When Pilar came right after him, they were at each others throats. Well, Pilar was, which was odd enough, but Evan liked to goad her. It was always very obvious to everyone except Pilar that he loved her, but even now, almost a year later, she's still oblivious.

Right after Pilar showed up, something very wierd happened. Two people showed up; Zoey Andrews and Nikole St John. They were nice people, becoming best friends almost immediately after waking up. I trained them myself and thought they were great people. They were only here for about two months, and then one day, they just disapeared right in front of our eyes. They started fading away until they weren't there.

We were in a state of confusion after that. What had happened? Dan theorized that they had moved on and the rest of us just went with it, but I always doubted it. They were onlyhere for two months. How did they move on so quickly? They were the only ones to ever leave, so we didn't know what to think.

We call ourselves theSilenti. It's Latin for something, Dan came up with it, but basically we're just the welcoming committee for dead people. To the day, I've trained the most Silenti for their job. It's not an easy job, let me tell you. Dead people can be the most annoying and demanding people who have ever lived, ironically enough.