I remember the day that I was killed like it was yesterday, but it wasn't yesterday, it was two years ago on April 14th by a murderer that had escaped from prison the day before.
Now to me I wasn't supposed to die that day because it was supposed to be the best day ever. I was supposed to meet my boyfriend Dylan (for three years) for dinner. He had said that he had a big surprise for me. But unfortunately, that time never came for me because I had died that morning. Perhaps I said too much already, but let me start in the beginning before I was killed.
The morning I died was like any normal day. I was getting ready for school and I had gone down stairs to eat breakfast with my parents. I was already late meeting up with Dylan so we could walk to school together. Whenever I finished my breakfast I headed for the door, but my mother had stopped me.
I told her, "I am sorry mom but I can't talk right now. I am already late meeting with Dylan. We were supposed to walk to school together and we are both..."
I had stopped because she had an expression on her face that said she was scared and/or worried. I looked at my father and he had the same expression my mom had.
"What? What happened?" I asked terrified.
My mother got up and sat me back down and then she sat down as well. She tells me, "Honey, we just wanted you and Dylan to be careful today while you are at school."
I looked at her confused and asked, "Yeah of course. But... Why are you telling me? What happened?"
My father tells me, "Your mother and I heard on the news that a murderer had escaped from prison yesterday. They also say that he is one state away."
I looked at them with a blank expression.
"So, honey," my mother started to say, "We just wanted you and Dylan to both be safe today. You know just in case that they are wrong alright."
I looked at them and then gave them both a huge hug. I took a quick glance at the clock on the wall and said, "Yeah mom. Dylan and I will be safe and careful today ok."
I headed toward the door and said, "We're going to be late for school. Bye."
I had kissed my mother on the cheek hoping and thinking that would calm her nerves a little bit but it didn't. She was more worried than ever.
I didn't know that was going to be the last time I would ever talk to my parents.
As we were walking to the school, I couldn't help but laugh when I noticed that Dylan wrinkled his nose at the neighborhood dog that doesn't like him. I thought that was so cute.
Then without knowing I had stopped laughing and I got lost in my thoughts. When I snapped out of it, I heard Dylan saying, "Amber... alright?"
I looked at him confused and said, "Oh, I am sorry. What did you say?"
He looked at me worried and asked, "Why did you get lost in your thoughts like that?"
"Oh, I was just thinking about what my parents told me this morning before I left." I told him in a scared voice.
"Why? What did they say?" I could hear him getting worried about me like something bad had happened.
I looked down and stayed quiet for a moment. I looked back up at him and told him, "Well they told me to be careful and safe today. They had both heard on the news that a murderer had escaped from prison yesterday."
He looked straight ahead and said, "Oh yeah my parents told me the same thing but," he stopped, put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me and I looked at him and he continued to say, "They also told me that he is one state away from here. Besides, what are the odds that he would ever come to our high school?"
I smiled and chuckled and said, "You're right. He is one state away and the odds of him coming to our high school are more than likely never."
We had no idea how right he really was.
So, we kept walking to our high school hand in hand.
Whenever we got to school, we parted ways so we could talk to our friends. Dylan said, "See you at lunch ok. I Love You."
I looked at him and said, "Ok see you around and until then. I Love You too."
We kissed and went our separate ways to our friends.
When I reached my friends, they looked like they were scared. "Why do you guys look so scared?"
They all looked at me like I was crazy.
"Are you serious right now Amber?" One of my friends, named Kimberly, asked me like I was crazy.
I nodded my head.
She told me, "We are scared because of that murderer that escaped from prison yesterday. He is loose and walking all around our town right now."
I shook my head, "Yeah I know that but the news people said that he was one state away from us."
All my friends just looked at me with blank expressions.
"Right?" I asked terrified.
One of my friends, named Alice, looked at me shaking her head and told me, "Yeah, but that was yesterday though. I just watched the news on my iPod and they said he's here... in our town."
Now I had a feeling that we all looked terrified for our lives.
Dylan at the time was on the other side of the school talking to some of his friends before the bell like he does every day.
When he heard a scream, he knew right away that it was one of my friends. Right away he told his friends later and ran off to go find me and my friends.
"What is the matter? Why did you scream?" He asked Kimberly, my friend, who screamed.
She couldn't speak. All she could do was point a very shaking finger toward the entryway of the school. Standing there was a man dressed in black pants and black jacket with the hoodie over his head. All of my friends had run out the way right when they had seen him.
I just stood there like I couldn't move or breathe. I was staring into his eyes. I remember what I saw in them. They were killing and hatred, but they also looked scared, lost and confused at the same time. I took a step toward him. He picked up his arm and the next thing I heard a big crack!!
Dylan was running like crazy to get to me and my friends. When he heard the big crack, he turned his head to the direction where he heard it come from and ran toward it.
He had found my friends, but he didn't find me. "Where's Amber?!" I heard him yelling at my friend worrying about me. When she didn't answer he asked her again, this time squeezing her arms almost numb.
She looked at him scared and crying; then she pointed a shivering finger behind him.
When he turned around, he was shocked when he saw the prisoner here at our school. He had pointed down at me. Dylan followed his finger slowly. When he looked down, he was stunned and shocked at the sight of me looking lifeless on the ground with a puddle of my blood surrounding me.
He ran up to me as fast as he could and yelled behind him, "Somebody call 911!!"
But I could feel that he was too late.
He slowly walked up to me. When he finally reached me, he sat down next to me with tears running down his face. He picked up my head and held it up with his hands.
He asked crying his heart out, "Amber, can you hear me?"
Whenever I didn't answer he just sat there crying for a little bit. He asks me one more time, "Amber baby, can you hear me? If you can please say something."
He waited for what felt like forever for me to respond; then I asked, "Dylan?" in a whisper gasping for air.
He chuckled and said happily, "Yeah Amber. It's me."
I picked up my hand for him to grab it. He grabbed it and held it to his face. I told him just above a whisper, "I am sorry and I am going to miss you."
He looked at me with his emerald green eyes crying, his black bangs gently falling on his nose over his right eye. He told me, "No, don't talk like that."
I took one last breath and said one last thing, "I love you forever and always Dylan."
He started to cry when I closed my eyes and didn't open them again. He put one of his hands on my back and the other one the back of my head and asked me crying, "Amber? Amber, are you there?"
When I didn't answer he put his ear to my chest. I heard two slow beats of my heart. When he finally didn't hear my heartbeat anymore, he put my chest away from his head, gave me one final gentle kiss goodbye on my forehead and said, "I love you too Amber, forever and always and I promise that I will never forget you."
Then everything went black and quiet. I couldn't hear or see anything anymore.
When I woke up, I guess I was a ghost. I got up and looked around. I saw the prisoner standing tall and almost proud. If I could cry, I would have but ghosts can't. I had fallen to my knees and sat there and looked away. When I looked back at the prisoner, I saw him fall backwards to the ground hard. His head bounced up like a ball and busted open. His blood started pouring out surrounding all of his body.
Dylan was standing tall and holding his right arm like it was broken. He had scratches all over him.
Looking at him, I had a feeling that someone was standing behind me. When I looked behind me to see who it was... it was no surprise to see that it was the prisoner.
He held up a knife and tried to stab me with it. When he figured out that he couldn't, he asked, "Why can't I hurt you?"
I just turned my head and gazed my head to my body that was surrounded by all of the school kids that were crying. Dylan was crying his heart out while holding me. He followed my gaze. He turned his head and looked at me scared. With huge scared eyes he asked me terrified, "Are you dead?"
I turned my head in his direction. Looked him dead in the eye. He understood that meant yes.
"Then how can I see you?" He asked me, terrified.
I had to tell him the truth. "You can see me because you're dead too.... and you are also the one that killed me."
He looked at me like I was crazy and told me, "There is no way that I am dead."
I turned my head the other direction, over to where he was lying on the floor... dead and alone.
He looked and walked up to himself slowly. He told me, scared, "Oh my... You're right. I am dead." He turned around fast to look at me and asked sadly, "Are you sure I killed you?"
I just nodded sadly at him. I felt like I wanted to cry.
His eyes went huge as he fell to the floor in a gaze.
The next thing we saw were the shadows from the buildings and the kids leaving them. They headed straight for the prisoner.
"What is this? Why are they coming for me?" He asked terrified.
I didn't know how I knew the answer but I did and told him, "Those are called shadow demons. They come to take the evil and nasty souls away."
He just looked at me scared and asked me, "So... why are they coming after me?"
I looked at him with sad and confused eyes and told him, "Because... you did evil and nasty things when you were alive."
He looked at me like I was crazy again and asked, "What did I do that was so evil and nasty?"
I looked at him feeling sorry for him and mad at the same time. Then told him angrily and very close to yelling, "You killed many people destroying families all around the country..." I got quiet. I wanted to cry. A tear escaped my eye when I said, "...including me."
He looked at me with questionable eyes. He didn't have to ask what I already knew.
So, I told him, "They are taking you to where you belong..."
Again, he looked at me with suspicion.
I paused for a moment looking down. Then I looked up at him and pointed down slowly and told him, "The underworld."
Before they took him away, he yelled something I am sure he never told anyone before, "I am sorry I killed you!"
I am almost sure that he said that so they wouldn't take him but they did anyway as they should have. I saw them drag him down and vanished out of sight never to be seen again. The shadow demons returned from where they came back to the kids and buildings.
I stayed there sitting on the ground trying to take all of that in. I wanted to cry too much but all I could do was feel sad. Then I remembered about my body. I turned around and ran to be next to Dylan, who had been crying since he found me half-dead.
Like they weren't late already, the ambulance finally came. First, they put me into the van. Then one of the men came out and said, "One of you kids is allowed to ride with us to the hospital."
Everyone looked at Dylan. His friend walked up to him and patted him on the back. He told him softly, "You should go man."
He looked around at all the kids. All of them nodded at him to go. So, he walked forward to the man. The man just looked at him and asked, "First I need to know what your relationship was with this girl before she got like this?"
I could see tears coming in his emerald green eyes when he saw me there lifeless. With tears coming down his face he told the man, "She's... my best friend... and girlfriend."
The man patted his shoulder and told him respectfully, "I am sorry for your loss."
All he could do was nod and cry as he got in the van. I went in right after him. They closed the door and we were racing off to the hospital.
On the way there it was very sad and very hard to breathe. The men were examining my body like crazy. Dylan just sat there looking at me crying silently to himself. He decided to grab my hand and held it until we reached the hospital.
When we all reached the hospital, they rushed me to another room to examine me more. Dylan had to go to another room to also be examined. They told him that his right arm is broken and he would have to wear a cast for several months. He just nodded.
After they examined him, a man told him to call my parents and tell them to come to the hospital to keep him company.
He did as he was told.
It didn't take long for my parents to get there. When they entered the hospital, they found Dylan covered in blood and scratches all over him with a cast on his right arm.
They both looked at him sad and kind of scared. Both of my parents ran up to him and they all started to cry together.
It must have felt like forever to them for the doctor to come out to tell them about my condition. The doctor came out and called aloud, "The people here waiting for... " He looked down and flipped the paper on his clipboard then continued, "...Amber's test results."
My parents and Dylan jumped up and almost ran up to him. Dylan said, "Yes that's us."
He told them with a tear in his eye, "I am very sorry. The bullet hit a main blood artery and she lost a lot of blood before coming here. We tried to stop the bleeding but it was too late. I'm sorry to say..." He took a pause. Then he said what they didn't want to hear at all. He looked at my parents and said, "Your daughter..." then looked at Dylan and said, "Your girlfriend is... dead."
The doctor looked down and the single tear escaped his eye and exploded on his results on his clipboard and told them, "I am sorry for your loss." The doctor slowly walked away crying.
At first my family was shocked and didn't know how to react to the news.
Dylan was already crying silently to himself.
The next thing you heard was my mother crying. As soon as she started to fall to the ground my father held her up and hugged her like there was no tomorrow.
Dylan was still crying by himself. He stood leaning against the wall with both his hands in front of his face and crying his heart out for me. He looked up with tears rolling down his face and yelled, "AMBER!!" on the top of his lungs and slid down the wall slowly and hit the floor crying.
My mother ran up to him as soon as he hit the floor. She sat there on the floor with him and hugged him tightly. He just kept his hand in front of his face crying. My father came behind Dylan on the other side of him and put his big arms around them and hugged them tightly like he didn't want to let go. They all cried together.
Two days later was the funeral. Everyone that I knew was there and crying. At the church people came up to me and said their final good-byes. I just laid there lifeless. The last one to say good-bye was Dylan.
I could see his pitch-black long emo style hair pop up as he kneeled next to my casket crying. He looked back up at me and told me, "I will love you forever and always Amber. I promise that you will never be forgotten. You will live in my heart for as long as I live."
He looked at me one last time. He grabbed my left hand, put a ring on the third finger, and then he put one on his hand with the same finger.
I looked down and saw the ring forming on my finger as a ghost. When it did, I smiled.
With tears escaping from his eyes, he told me, "I was going to propose to you that night at dinner. As long as we wear these rings and never take them off, we are married." He kissed me on the forehead and told me, "I love you forever and always, Amber."
At the cemetery they buried me in the middle of my grandpa (who died a year before me from natural causes) and my best friend Jordan (who had died a month before me in a car crash).
Before they put me in the dark hole, everyone came up to my casket and put red roses on the top of it.
Dylan came up to me and placed a single white rose on top of all the other red ones. He whispered, "I love you forever and always, my dear sweet wife Amber." When I saw them put me in the cold, dark ground everyone couldn't stop crying.
Slowly everyone was starting to leave when they finished burying me in the cold dark ground. Everyone, but my parents and Dylan.
As my parents were walking away Dylan sniffled and said, "You know I love your daughter very much. I am going to miss her like crazy." He started to cry lightly.
My mother walked up to him and hugged him and said, "I know you do honey..." She looked him in the eyes and said, "We are going to miss her too."
My father walked up to them and said, "Yes we are. She's my little girl. Always has been... and always will be."
All of them cried lightly.
Dylan cleared his throat and said, "You know the dinner that we were supposed to meet each other at..."
Both of my parents looked at each other and nodded.
He continued to say, "Well, I had planned on asking her if she would marry me."
My mother looked at him happily with tears in her eyes and told him, "I know that she would have said yes at least a thousand times."
My father couldn't speak, so he just nodded his head crying to what my mother had said.
Dylan sniffled and said, "Yeah I know. So, I hope that you are not mad at me when I tell you..."
He paused, chuckled and started to turn the ring side to side on his finger.
Then continued to tell them, "...That I had put her wedding ring on her finger and my ring on mine and told her 'No, matter what anyone says. As long as you and I wear these rings we will always be married.' So, for as long as I live," he looked down at his ring and held up his hand for them to see and told them, "I will never take this ring off."
My father looked at him happily and asked, "Why on earth would we be mad at that?"
He looked at them confused.
Right when he was going to ask a question, my mother beat him and said, "We are happy you did that."
My parents smiled at Dylan and walked toward the car and left him alone to talk with me for a few minutes. He told me, "I am going to miss you forever Amber for as long as I live. I'm going to visit your grave every chance that I get. Your memory will live in my heart. I Love You Forever and Always." Then I cried again. When he finished, he wiped away his tears and slowly walked back to the car.
Right when I was about to go with him, I stopped because I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and I saw my grandpa smiling at me.
I gave him the biggest hug. He told me softly, "It is time to go, Amber."
I turned back in the direction of Dylan and my parents leaving and asked, "But what about them. I can't just leave them... sad like that."
My grandpa gave me a sympathetic look and said, "But you already left them."
If ghosts could cry I would have right then and there. Since they can't, I just looked down at my ring and said, "Don't worry Dylan. I will never take this ring off. I promise."
I turned toward my grandpa and smiled. I saw a hand stretched out to me. I looked up and followed the arm and saw that it was my best friend, Jordan.
Jordan told me with a smile, "Now let's go. Where you can always watch them."
I just smiled sadly.
I turned around to look at Dylan walking to the car. I smiled happily and said, "Don't worry we will reunite in the sky. But until then I leave you with A Sad Good-bye."
Before Dylan walked into the car, he looked behind him and started at my gravestone for a moment. (He was looking at me too because I was standing next to it.) He stood by the car door quietly for a moment. Then he kissed his hand and blew it to my gravestone. It landed on my cheek. I smiled happily.
I turned around grabbed my best friend Josh's and my grandpa's hand and looked at them both and said, "Ok guys, I am ready. Let's go."
When I started to fade away, I blew a kiss and I said, "I Love You Forever and Always my dear husband Dylan."
I think he heard me and felt my kiss land on his cheek because smiled back with tears running down his face and touched his cheek where my kiss landed and said, "I Love You Forever and Always too my dear sweet wife Amber."
(4174 words)