I peel myself off of the wood-paneled floor and sit up slowly.
What did I just see? I ask myself.
Once again, someone knocks at the door. I look out through the peep hole and all I see is nothingness. I unlock the door, inch it opens slowly, only to find that no one had knocked after all. I glance out into the hallway, but as soon as I look to the left a tall, redhead girl wearing a blue plaid shirt, ripped black jeans, and a pair of hipster glasses.
"Hi there!" she says to me, jumping out in front of me.
"Um, hi," I mumble back.
"I'm Laci Christine Allen. What's your name?"
"Skylar," I respond, still uncomfortable.
"No, silly! Your full name. That's how we all introduce ourselves, to find out if we knew each other from our past life," Laci says, clearly unbothered by the awkwardness.
"Okay, my full name is Skylar Charlotte Butler. Do you know me?"
"Nope, but now I do! Can I call you Skye?"
The nickname punches me in the gut. I was not prepared for the pain that came with it. After seeing Beck, the way he was receiving that phone call about me, I just don't know if I can handle memories of him right now.
"No, I'm sorry, please don't call me Skye. That's what my boyfriend called me," I tell Laci.
I see the light in her eyes fade slowly. "Is this a bad time?"
"I just got here, actually. I think I could use a friend right now," I smile at her.
Laci bounces inside of my apartment and sits down.
"Since you're new here, I can answer all of your questions."
"Okay, I just had some kind of flashback, but it was after I had died. What is up with that?"
Her expression becomes serious. "They are called 'The Remembrances'. They never go away."
"Oh," I say quietly.
Laci and I continue to talk about random things. I ask questions about life in The Emerald Plaza and in Aequalis, which means "equal" and is the afterlife's society name. Once Laci leaves, it is already late and so I decide to go to bed. Instead of falling asleep, I'm afraid of the Remembrances coming back, so I walk to my balcony and lean over the railing. I stand there in solitude for almost fifteen minutes, sorting through the day's events. Then, suddenly, I hear a sharp crack from down below me. I look down and barely make out a shadowy figure approaching the building, walking from an apple tree orchard. Once in the light, I see a girl, dark haired and thin, eyes downcast. She is walking around only in shorts and a tank top, even though it is thirty-three degrees outside. I'm surprised she isn't shivering. I move my position, to try to get a glimpse of her face, but then I trip over a patio chair and stumble, but I catch myself on the railing. I apparently make a lot of noise because the girl looks my way and I see her face for a moment, but just long enough to recognize a part of her; she is Beck's twin sister who died when they were twelve. She looks older now, but I guess that happens to everyone. She has been dead for five years now, so she's eighteen years old. Just like Beck.
"Skye?" I hear her call my name.
"Skylar!" She calls it again, but I'm already inside the apartment, running from her, running from the memories; the Remembrances; the pain.
