A knock comes from my door. My eyes pop open and I'm filled with confusion. I'm always awake before Stacy knocks at my door, I'm never really able to sleep here. I never sleep in places that aren't my bed at home. I miss it.
"I'm awake." I say groggily.
"How are you feeling today, Julia?" She asks, her clipboard in hand as usual.
Usually I give her my standard response, which is "good" but I knew that wasn't appropriate "Actually better than normal."
She raises her eyebrows. "Really? I'm glad to hear it." She writes some things down on her clipboard. "Are your arms still sensitive to touch?"
I shake my head. "No, that's pretty much gone now, thank goodness."
She chuckles softly while her eyes are still focused on her clipboard. "Yes, it took a while for you, didn't it?"
For you.
I ignore that part.
I suddenly remember my conversation with Tanner yesterday and what he told me about stage two eyes.
Stacy looks back up at me, her eyes sparkling. I notice her eyes are brown with a hint of blue, a glacier kind of blue. It's like ice looking at me; there are a few brown flakes inside. I have always thought her eyes were brown, but looking closer made me realize that they're mostly blue. There's also a golden stripe going across her eye, going through her pupil.
Wow, he was right. I thought it was just the sparkle that was special. How is that even possible? It doesn't even look natural up close, how do you even get your eyes to look like that?
"Only a couple more days of training. You're almost there, just bear with it. See you tomorrow morning." She smiles, then leaves. Her teeth are perfectly straight too, like her hair. She must've been really pretty when she was alive.
It confuses me when she tells me to just "bear with it" as if she knew I'm struggling. I'm getting tired of the same old thing every day. It's like she can tell exactly what I am thinking.
My friends are the only ones getting me through this.
Brooke bursts through the door as I'm zipping up my dress. Her expression brightens suddenly.
"I love your dress." She smiles and touches the silky fabric with her finger. I knew she would comment on it, but I think I can finally be confident enough to wear a dress with hardly any sleeves to cover me.
"Thank you." I laugh, "Why are you later than usual?"
She shrugs. "I thought I would get ready in my room this time instead of yours. I also had a long talk with Chris. He's great, I'm going to miss him when I leave."
"I'm probably going to miss Stacy too. Did you look into his eyes like Tanner said?" I inquire.
"Ugh!" She groans, "I forgot, I wanted to do that. Did you?"
I nod. "It was so weird. I had to look really close but her eyes were a really vivid blue and there were brown specks in them. And a really thin gold stripe."
She raises her eyebrows. "Really? Now I have to look at Chris's. That sounds really cool. Why are they like that?"
"No idea." I spray a bit of perfume on my neck, just for fun. "I was wondering the same thing."
"We'll ask Tanner at training. Let's go." She instructs and we leave.
***
"There's no way!" Brooke giggles as the four of us walk outside and towards the clouds. I sigh as we do so because she hasn't said anything to me for a while. She actually hasn't talked to me since she was in my room this morning.
"Yes, I'm telling you! He passed out right in front of the cop!" Jack laughs. The two of them are walking awfully close. I don't know how many times I had to tell Brooke that it wasn't a good idea to search for a love interest but here she and Jack are.
I don't want to be uptight and disruptive by interrupting their conversation, but they shouldn't start something that could eventually get them kicked out.
Whatever. Brooke can do what she wants. I can't control her. It's her hole that she's digging.
"Why don't we let these lovebirds talk by themselves? I want to show you something." Tanner whispers.
I shift my glance up towards him to make sure he's serious. His eyes sparkle as he looks back into mine. "What do you want to show me?"
"You'll see. C'mon, they won't even notice we left, watch." He wraps his hand around my wrist and stops walking. Brooke and Jack continue to walk without noticing that we had stopped.
"Fine. Let's go." I say since we have nothing better to do during our break. He walks in the opposite direction, not letting go of my arm. "I looked at my mentor's eyes this morning like you said."
He peers down at me. "Really? What did you see?"
"Her eyes were really bright. Like ice. They had brown specks in them and a gold line. I had to look really close to see it." I explain, imagining her eyes as I describe them.
"Wow, that sounds cool. My mentor has brown eyes and white blotches. It looks like something I might get."
I raise an eyebrow. "Get? You can get your eyes like that?"
He smacks his hand against his forehead. "Shoot. I'm not supposed to tell things like this to you, I swore my brother to secrecy."
"Well it's too late, you have to tell me now." I smile.
He sighs. "I'll tell you when we get there."
I roll my eyes, but smile. What difference does it make?
As we walk, the buildings behind us start to disappear and we step onto a field of clouds. Eventually, all I can see are clouds and a small building in the distance behind me.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"Shh! We're almost there." He answers, then stops. "Alright, now we have to climb."
"Climb what?"
Tanner's lips spread across his face. "The sky." He steps onto a cloud that's a few feet above the one we're on. Once he is stable on it, he reaches out for my hand. I grab it and he pulls me onto it. We repeat this pattern until we are fairly high above the cloud field we were originally on.
"Alright, one last cloud." He sighs. I'm practically out of breath after climbing these cloud stairs.
This next one is way up high and he could barely pull himself up onto it.
"I don't think I can do this." I look at the next step above me nervously.
"You're stronger than you think. That's what the Afterworld does to you." He assures me and lies down on his stomach, reaching his hand out for me.
I trust him.
I wrap one hand around his and place the other on the edge of the cloud and pull myself up with all the strength I had. Tanner lifts me up most of the way and I place my leg over the ledge onto its soft surface. I shift the rest of my body onto the cloud and sigh with relief.
"See? You did it."
"Yeah, with your help." I remark and get onto my feet.
"Don't you feel stronger than usual?" He questions.
"I guess, but not strong enough, clearly." I reply and follow him.
I really do feel in shape, more so than when I was alive. I've started to notice a difference in my body shape too, I'm more fit.
My eyes widen when I see the tall golden gate in the distance. "No way" is all I manage to get out of my mouth.
"I know right? The famous gate that we knew about when we were alive. It's real. Only people above stage one can visit on the other side, but my brother told me about a way to get here from the stage one training center." He describes, then sits down at one of the clouds.
"Wow, your brother must be a know-it-all." I chuckle.
"He brought girls here all the time. He really was a player, on Earth and in the Afterworld." he informs me, then watches my expression change. "Don't worry, that's not why I brought you here."
"Then why did you?" I ask.
"Because you are one of the few people here that are like me. I am not interested in a relationship whatsoever and all of the other girls would want to do stuff, you know. You're pretty chill." He nudges my arm slightly.
"Why, thank you." I smile, turning towards the gate. I would love to tell Brooke that I told her so, that I was right about Tanner's intentions. "Now, tell me about the eye thing."
He laughs. "You really don't let things go do you?"
I raise an eyebrow and shake my head. Curiosity gets the best of me and I expect Tanner to keep his word.
"Alright, fine. But don't get mad at me for spoiling it." He crosses his arms over his lap, "stage twos are modified. Some things like their eyes aren't controllable, though. You're given a different pair of eyes on your first day. Everything about you is changed to make you look more... beautiful I guess. It's like plastic surgery but way more natural. And it's not like a medical procedure, more like metamorphosis. Only rarely can you request to get your eye color changed." He explains, "but I'm going to try to."
I raise my eyebrows and Tanner laughs at my shocked expression.
"My eyes are going to change?" I ask quietly. I kind of like them the way they are. The brown is exactly like my dad's eyes.
"Yep. So is everyone else's. It's unique to your personality and past life. Sometimes you can change things or request the thing you want right before you go through your changes. Like on the train ride to the real Afterworld."
"The real Afterworld?" I feel like I'm asking too many questions.
"Well my brother told me about how the stage one dorms and the training center are like a prison compared to the rest of the Afterworld. If you think you understand how things work around here, you're going to be extremely surprised in a few days. That's all I'm telling you, I've already gone too far." He holds his hands up in defeat.
"That's fine. I respect that." I drop my eyes to my legs that are dangling over the edge of the cloud. I watch the surrounding clouds carefully in case they begin to transform; I don't want to have to jump off of a cloud again. "Are you excited to be around your brother soon?"
"Yeah, but I feel like he doesn't want anything to do with me sometimes. You know, that's how older brothers normally treat their younger brothers."
I nod in agreement. "That's sometimes how it is with me and my younger brother."
"You have a younger brother? I always thought of you as an only child." Tanner states.
"Nope. He meant everything to me." I grin at the thought of him, but I don't like talking about it. I miss him.
I hate reminding myself that I never gave him his hug. I'll never be able to give it to him until he dies. I should have taken ten seconds to give him a hug before I drove off to my death. Ten seconds and I wouldn't have to deal with an anchor constantly tugging at my heart.
I shake my head as an attempt to rid the thoughts from my mind.
"Was he with you when you... died?" He narrows his eyebrows.
"No, he was at home. It sounds horrible to say but I wish he was there because then he would be here with me. I would be able to see him grown up." I stop talking. I don't want him to pity me. "But it's fine. I can watch over him."
"Yeah, that's the best part. My brother told me that he purposely put clowns in my dreams as a kid knowing I hated them. I went to therapy because of it. He said he stopped because it was costing us money. He still acted like an ass after he died." Tanner chuckles at himself.
"Wait, your brother died way before you, then. I don't know why I didn't think about that. How did it happen?" I question, hoping it wouldn't bring back too much trauma in his mind like it does to me.
"Yeah, he died of an overdose. It was horrible. I had to deal with his death for three years before my time came. I bet my parents are struggling right now. I asked my brother to appear in their dreams for me, but he told me he couldn't. I guess I'll do it when I have the chance."
I don't know how to respond. "I bet that was hard."
He nods. "We better get back. Lunch is almost over."
Vote and comment what you think! Double update coming this Friday!