"Kurt? Kurt!"
I looked back for a second and immediately regretted it. "You killed my best friend!" I screamed as I scrambled to get to the other side of the railing.
"Get off the fence! Get off the dang fence," JD yelled.
"I don't understand," I said, fighting back tears.
"We can start and finish wars. We're what killed the dinosaurs. We're the asteroid that's overdue," he said pointing his gun at me. "The dinosaurs will turn to dust. They'll die because we say they must."
Bang!
• • •
I know I said I wanted to live in a world where Ram and I could be ourselves, but this is not what I meant.
"What the heck have you done?" Veronica stared at Ram's face, frozen in horror.
"I worship you. I'd trade my life for yours. They all will disappear. We'll plant our garden here," JD said, putting his arms around her. Veronica echoed him, her eyes still locked on Ram's.
Our love is God, they said. What could that mean?
Ram came to stand next to me. "I told you it was a bad idea to come here. They're crazy!"
"But what happened? Why can't they see us?" I asked as I waved a hand in front of JD's face.
"Kurt," he said in a small voice, "I don't think we survived."
"What, you mean we're ghosts?" I asked, before realizing how stupid the question was. He nodded. "I'm sure there's a more technical term for it, but I guess that works too."
"Well, what are we supposed to do? It's not like there's some sort of pamphlet explaining how we get to Heaven, or whatever it is that happens when you die," I scoffed.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," he promised, trying to hide the fact that he was terrified as well. "We'll figure it out soon enough," he continued before kissing my cheek. We watched JD place the guns next to our bodies, along with a small piece of paper. He turned to Veronica, took her hand in his, and ran off. She looked back, almost directly at us, and took a deep breath before following him.
Ram walked up to the bodies and studied them closely before saying, "He must have switched the guns around by accident. I'm right next to the one that he shot me with."
I couldn't look to see if he was right, though. The thought of seeing what caused my death made me feel sick, so I instead turned my attention to the paper on the ground.
"What does it say?" I asked, approaching it slowly. Ram unfolded it and stared blankly at the page. "Crap," he muttered softly.