dead girl

1 - Waking Up

"Emily!"

My eyes snapped open, surprised as something wet splashed onto my face. I reached up to wipe it off, lifting my head a bit. My vision swooped, and the person above me was just a pale blurr.

"Emily, please, please, please, come back, no, no, this can't be happening!"

I groaned, blinking away the blurr in my eyes. Slowly, a fair-skinned girl came into view, pretty brown eyes overflowing with tears. She appeared to be shaking me, but for some reason I was numb - I couldn't feel her hands on my shoulders.

"Hey, chillax," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and attempting to sit up again. "What's happening?"

The girl ignored me and instead dramatically flung herself over me, arms splayed across my chest, sobbing. I struggled, trying to push her off me, but I couldn't reach her. I leaned forward a bit, so I could see my hands trying to push her off, and I froze.

My hands, pale and a bit blue, weren't touching her at all.

When they came in contact with her skin, my hands dissolved into tiny wisps of steam, slowly eating my fingers away. It didn't hurt - just a unpleasant buzzing, like the feeling when a limb falls asleep. I yanked my hands away and stared at them. Slowly, my hands began coming back together, and the steam went away.

I looked around me. I hadn't noticed at first, but I felt different. Lighter. Looking down and behind me, I realized why. The body that I was in wasn't real. Underneath me was what looked like the real me, flesh and all. My hair was mussed a bit, my face pale underneath my tan, and my hands were closed over my chest. In between my fingers there were tiny puddles of blood, running down the sides of my hands and staining my green shirt. 

I was dead. 

I didn't feel dead. I stood up slowly, shaking a little bit, but other than a slight dizziness, I felt fine. I was faster, could move easier than I was used to. I stepped backward, and I surprised myself at how fast I was. It was as if a weight had been lifted off my entire body.

It was oddly relieving. 

"Emily.... poor Emily... why.... no..." The girl was still sobbing, her arms wrapped around my waist below my wound, which was high up my chest by my heart. Right underneath my collarbone. Right underneath that little flower, the one with the five petals. 

"Rachel, come on!" 

"Ouch!" I fell to the ground, clutching my side, as half of it was wrenched away with a numbing burst of pain. A boy rushed past, unaware, not seeing me, and grabbed Rachel's elbow.

"Get off!" She screeched, and I watched in fascination as they struggled over my body, him trying to drag Rachel along with him. "I won't, I won't, I won't!"

"You have to, he's coming!" The boy  put his arms under her armpits and hauled her to her feet, but she just drooped onto his shoulder. He attempted to scurry away, dragging her at the same time - it looked uncomfortable. "Come on, Rachel, we can't help her now. She's gone!"

"NO SHE'S NOT, GET OFF ME, YOU ASSHO-" He slapped a hand over her mouth with a shh, and started dragging her away even more fiercely.

I watched their retreating backs with a feeling of dread. (I would say my heart dropped to my toes, but...) Looking around, I recognized the room. A classroom, to be precise. I clapped a hand over my mouth as the realization hit me, as memories came crashing back in greater clarity. I stared at my knees, bare against the ground, and thought about how I couldn't feel them, and how I never would again. 

A flash of images, of memories, of sensations.

Bright lights, voices.

Darkness.