The Beyond.

Chapter 7, Prairie.

Where am I? Is that my car, burst into flames? It that my body, losing all signs of life, being burnt to a crisp? Is that my sister, sad and alone? Am I dead? Then why am I here? How am I here? Who is in my body over there?

I glided over to Alex. I didn't know what to say. 'Hey Alex, I didn't die in an exploded car crash, I'm here but not!' wouldn't cut it.

"Alex," I said softly. She didn't seem to hear me. I tried to wrap her up in a hug, but I stumbled right through her. I came to the conclusion that I wasn't alive. But I wasn't dead either. Then what am I?

I spent a while trying to get people to see me. I can't even grab hold of things either. I tried to take the whiteboard marker and write a message to anyone in Mr. Bucklin's homeroom, but my fingers went right through it.

I'm alone. I have no one like me. What am I anyway? I sadly walked, no, floated, no, glided down a walking trail everyone likes to call Wolf Trail because it runs by Wolf Creek.

I caught sight of a grizzly bear. It was stocking a white-tailed deer. Stealthy, silent. Like death, you never would have seen it coming. It killed the deer with ease. It was a clean kill.

The bear stripped off most of the meat, half of it the bear ate, the other half the bear disappeared into the forest with, most likely bringing it to her cubs. The bones of the deer lay in the middle of the trail, small bits of flesh and fur still clinging to the bones. Blood was oozing onto the walkway. I didn't try to walk around it. I walked, as best as I could, being half alive and all, straight through the puddle of blood.

I went to the only place I could think of. I went to the room in my house where Alex and I spent most of our time in. Where we had loads of laughs, smiles, and jokes. Bt then I saw Alex in her room. Did she look to be, packing? Were they already moving on? Didn't I sorta die but not really, like ten minutes ago?

I couldn't handle this. I ran out of the room, jumped out the window, leaving bloody footprints I wasn't aware of.

********************

It was sunset. The sky was a mixture of red, yellow, orange, and purple. It looked like a painting that should be in a museum. Who stole the sky?

My feet thudded through the thick forest. I had arrived from my house to the forest in less than thirty seconds, which would have taken about twenty minutes in a cab.

I had barely gone anywhere in the forest, I could still see outside of the forest, when a boy, a cute one at that, stopped me. I turned, not sure if he was talking to me.

"Hey, you! What's your name?" he asked.

"Prairie," I answered, with a glimmer of hope.

"Come here Prairie," he said. He was talking to me!

"You can see me?" I asked, creeping closer.

"Yes, I have the power to see those who are Beyonds, like you,"

"Xander?" I asked.

"No, I'm not Xander," he said. I looked him up and down.

"Are you sure?" I asked. He looked exactly like Xander. Same skin tone, same giant mole on the back of his left hand, same deep, dark brown eyes.

"I'm Cody, Xander's twin. No, Xander can't see the Beyond like I can," Cody said.

"Cody," I repeated, "Xander never told me about you,"

"Why would he? He hates my guts." Cody said. I ran over to him, collecting him in a hug. And I didn't go straight through him. Instead of jerking back, he embraced my hug.

"I thought I was alone!" I sobbed.

"Shh, it's okay now," Cody said, "Let's go to the Tin Can, you know, the bar down on 81st street?"

I nodded. I knew what he was talking about. "I know that street," I said. He let me go.

"Let's go there, get a drink, and I'll explain everything," he said. When I looked at him with a surprised look on my face, he elaborated, "No alcohol, I know we are both too young."

I smiled and nodded. He leads me to the bar. No one knew I was there, and so when Cody started explaining things, people looked at him like they thought he was crazy. Of course, it probably looked like that. We ordered our drinks, well, Cody did, two cokes. As long as Cody was touching me and holding the drink for me, I was able to drink it. Cody explained everything. He answered all my questions with kindness and patience.

Little did we know, the bartender had spiked our drinks. Permanently changing our lives. We had an event. And now, I am pregnant.