Heaven. Hell. Jail.

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     My mother was sobbing as they lowered the coffin into the ground. I was not. Instead, I was thinking about the pale, glassy blue eyes I had stared into just a few moments before. I had never seen such a beautiful corpse. She had skin that was paler than normal, but I supposed that just came with death. Like, a package deal, or something. A buy-one-get-one-free.

   "What happens when we die, daddy?" my young sister grasped my father's hand. He ran his hand through her hair.

  "I don't know, Lillian. I just don't know." Lillian turned to me next, her big brother, stone faced, just a bit of a smirk forming on his lips.

  "Matthew?" she tugged on my shirt. I glanced down at her.

  "Well, when bad people die, they go to Hell. When good people die, they go to Heaven. It's eternal paradise there." I stared at the horizon, knowing what would come next.  

  "Was she a good person?" I laughed.

  "She was an angel." Lill looked pleased with my answer. My mother hit my arm.

  "You don't know what other things the girl had done to deserve this." she and I locked eyes for a moment before I looked away.

  "Or maybe there's nothing after we die. Just darkness. Our emotions, our memories, they just become non-existent." The still air felt like a prison, and I was it's prisoner. I turned from my family. The grass squelched under my shoes as I stormed towards our family car.

  "Matthew!" my father was coming after me, leaving Lill crying in my mom's arms. "Get over here!" I fought the urge to flip him off, but I lost and I heard the large group of crying, mourning people gasp as my finger became acquainted with the morning sky. I turned to look at him, but a police officer crossing the opposite side caught my eye.

  "Matthew Robert Donovan?" I stopped in my tracks. I turned to the officer, a tallish woman with curly auburn hair. Three more officers came on the other side. I spun around, shifting from watching the woman, to my family, to the three behind me, back to my family. My mother and I locked eyes again as the officer spoke, "You're under arrest for the murder-kidnapping of Laura Andrews."  

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