Remember This✔

Chapter Twenty

After almost twenty minutes of silence, Charlie turns to Aubrey. "I thought you said it wasn't far?"

"Relax, we're still in Sacramento. It's literally just around this corner."

The cab turns the corner and then stops outside a lit-up house with dozens of cars parked on the front lawn.

"Fifteen dollars," the driver says.

Charlie sighs and reaches into his back pocket for his wallet.

"I got it," Aubrey says. "Thanks."

"Have a nice night."

"Unlikely," Charlie mutters as he swings his door open.

Aubrey walks around the car and joins Charlie on the sidewalk as the car speeds off. She takes his hand and their fingers entwine as they walk towards the house. It's a big house, grand and white, with flower baskets hanging above the door. Charlie wonders why people need houses this size, it seems like a waste of land.

Aubrey presses the doorbell and Charlie tries to disguise his scowl as the noise vibrates against the walls. The door opens and a chirpy girl with bright red hair jumps up and down while squealing. Aubrey squeals along and they embrace each other.

"I'm so glad you made it!" the girl shrieks. Her eyes move to Charlie and she looks him up and down. "You must be Charlie. I've heard a lot about you."

"I've heard nothing about you," Charlie says.

Aubrey pushes into his side gently and glares at him. "Charlie, this is Ella, my roommate from college. I told you about her, remember?"

"Oh, right," Charlie says. "You're that friend."

"Anyway," Ella says. "Come in! We've got so much to catch up on."

Charlie becomes left behind as Aubrey and Ella take off towards a crowded room. He shuts the door and he looks around slowly. To his right he catches a glimpse of Camilla and her circle of high school vultures standing at the bottom of a staircase, so he walks in the opposite direction. There are people everywhere; standing, sitting, kissing, dancing, rolling around on the floor. He walks through into a quieter room and he spots the table with beers hidden at the back. He picks one up and cracks the lid off with his teeth. As he drinks he drifts into another room, a smaller room that stinks of cannabis. He sits on a chair and listens to a group telling stories.

"I swear to god it was like the entire crash was in slow motion," a boy is telling the group as they listen intently. "I remember time just slowing down and having all these thoughts, these sort of flashes. I thought I was going to die and when the rescue team pulled me from under my car, I actually did. My heart stopped for two whole minutes."

"Do you remember what that was like?" a girl asks him. "What did you feel?"

"I felt dead," the boy chuckles. "It wasn't like sleep because you know you're sleeping, you know? In a way. This was different. It was like being hit unconscious, it was sudden and quick. I saw this huge, bright light and I started to get pulled into another place."

Charlie rolls his eyes. It amazes him that people actually buy this bullshit.

"Really?" the girl says.

"Yeah, I swear. I couldn't see the place but I could sense it. I could sense that it was important, that it was where I needed to go. These sort of. . . angel hands reached out to take me there but they brought me back just before I could touch them."

"That's such a load of crap," another boy says, an older boy with thick muscles and deeply tanned skin. "You didn't die, you're only dead when you're dead. When there's no coming back."