Roseanne began her walk home with the brightest smile on her face. Content with the feeling of glee and bliss as she watched the birds fly overhead and out of sight. She was practically skipping down the sidewalk of the busy street she'd usually take home. Wooden boards now creaking below her as she continued on.
Admiring any nature she could spot within the water below the bridge was one of her favorite pastimes. Noticing what seemed like a frog or toad leaping into the water now, making her chuckle as she remembered how much they used to scare her sister when they'd be walking past them.
And at the thought of Alice, she remembered their conversation from earlier. Knowing well Ali would want to be told the great news of an upcoming date this evening.
Roseanne bit her lip in excitement as she brought out her phone and dialed her sis. Happily anticipating an answer that unfortunately... never came.
For the phone just kept ringing, as Alice had left her phone on her desk while she walked across the room to fax some documents over to their partner company. Completely unaware of the buzzing.
So Roseanne was left listening to the sound of Alice's voicemail. The device telling her to speak after the beep, but she didn't let that bring down her happy mood. Instead she smiled brighter and brought the phone closer to her ear. "Hey Ali! It's me! I know you're probably busy with work but you had made me promise to ask a certain Kim out, and I did! I asked her out and we have a date tonight!" She explained excitedly.
"Not only that, but we may have kissed... again." Roseanne chuckled, feeling the warmth in her chest spreading at the mention. "I'm so happy Ali! I can't wait to see you again and hopefully spill about a successful date!" She laughed aloud at the thought. "I'm making my way home now. Have a good rest of your day and drive safe later. I love youuu."
Roseanne ended the call and placed her phone back in her pant's pocket. Smiling along to the beat of her happiness as a small wind blew passed. Causing her a quick chill and making Roseanne secretly wish she had brought a jacket along for the day. But of course, since she had been running so late earlier, she had forgotten one and was left in only her white t-shirt and cream colored cargo pants. With white sneakers to match.
It was a simple look. But she had remembered Jennie mentioning that there was always a perfect balance between being dressed comfortably, and being dressed lazily. So this was her in between. And as Roseanne continued walking, Alice finally returned to her desk. Noticing the bright new notification of a missed call. She smiled at the fact it was Rosie, hoping that meant there was some Jennie related news in store for her.
She quickly slid right on the incoming voicemail notification and brought her phone to her ear. Rising up from her seat, where she was surrounded by others, and heading off towards a more desolate corner of the office to review what was said.
Her heart began to flutter at Rosie's excited tone. The way she could hear her baby sister practically bouncing as she talked about a kiss that transpired between the two college students. It immediately made her want to call her sister back, and hear even more about the evening ahead of them. What she'd wear, where they were planning on going. Or doing after...
Roseanne practically jumped at the buzzing in her pocket. Grabbing her phone out and gushing at the caller iD. "Ali!" She greeted happily. Loud enough where Alice had to scramble to reduce the volume on her device.
"Rosie!"
"Did you get my voicemail?" She questioned, slightly cupping her hand around her phone to shield it from the sound of oncoming traffic.
"Yes I did!" Alice replied. "I can't believe you two kissed again! My little sister has some moves." The both of them chuckled. "Ahhh! It's going to go so well tonight! I already know it Rosie!"
She grinned from ear to ear as her sister continued. Yet for some reason, cars seemed to be having an intense honking battle from the street beside her. Roseanne glanced to her right, yet noticed nothing out of the ordinary. So she cupped the phone closer to her ear and interrupted her sister, whom had already continued with chatting.
"Wait Ali... I can't hear you. Cars keep honking and I don't kn-"
Suddenly, it was as if all the air in her lungs was sucked out at such a rate, it left her muscles aching. Her vision went black while the feeling of being pushed down so forcefully by chilled wind made her feel as if she was trapped in ice.
Then it stopped.
Everything stopped.
Alice's eyes widened as she pulled the phone away from her ear. Whatever honking she had previously been hearing from Rosie's end, and chalking up to the daily commuters, turned into a sound she'd prayed she'd never have to hear.
Loud yelling of unintelligible voices shouting came soon after it. Shuffling of shoes and engine noise drowned everything else out. Everything just, stopped. The air stilled around her, as she waited for her sister to come back to the phone.
And waited...
"Rosie?" She called. The shouting of distressed voices getting louder. Matching perfectly with the extreme, anxiety filled pumping of her blood. It pounding in her ears. "Rosie!" Alice cried into the line, several of her workmates turning from their desks to eye her worriedly. "Roseanne! Are you alright?!"
And after what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only several more seconds, maybe a minute... Alice could pick up the faint sounds of sirens.
While Roseanne was left in nothing.
She couldn't see, couldn't hear, and she couldn't feel the ground beneath herself anymore. All she knew was she existed in a space that now felt foreign. Yet then, slowly, as if the universe knew what she was thinking, her vision began being put back together pixel by pixel. Her fingertips feeling the weight of the pavement underneath them again.
She was lying with her cheek to the ground, squinting as she lifted her eyes from the sidewalk and then herself. Sitting now, she realized how scared she felt, but was more so confused by the events that just transpired.
After a moment, she gained enough confidence to look around. Noticing cars continuously passing her by, without a care in the world to her presence. There wasn't even any of that mindless honking that was driving her mad just a minute before. Only people, making their way to and from whatever destinations.
Did she just... faint?
Roseanne stood up, a bit wobbly, and began studying her surroundings. To be expected, there was no sign of anything being out of the ordinary? Sure there was a little debris in the road, or a couple metal scraps nestled in the grass beside her. But that was normal for this road, normal for any street in Melbourne.
Then, as if dawning on her in this disoriented state, she remember she was conversing with Ali over the phone. Immediately Roseanne squatted low on the sidewalk and looked for her cell, that most likely still had her sister connected on the other end of it. Roseanne feeling slightly embarrassed for possibly fainting and now, looking like a fool who didn't know where her stuff had gone.
Yet, her cellphone really wasn't anywhere in sight.
It was already weird that she would have passed out, seeing as she was sure she wasn't dehydrated? But maybe due to her excessive happiness, she regretted to realize she was?
Or, what if someone had whacked her?! Came up and knocked her upside the head! Stole her phone clean out of her hands, leaving only a vicious Ali to attack them on the other line?
A little far fetched yes, but not impossible. What was impossible though, was Roseanne finding her phone.
She huffed and stood up. Looking forward and agreeing to the fact that it had magically disappeared, maybe down a sewage grate, and she'd just have to ring herself up on her Mum's phone later.
"You lose everything..." She sighed to herself as she continued a quicker pace back to the house. Still put off about the way she had lost her sight, sound, and touch. Beginning to jog as she noticed their home coming into view around the final corner.
"I'll ring my phone and drive back down to look for it. Maybe track it with Mum's." She decided as she jogged up to the front door. "Yeah I can do that, everything's fine."
She reached for the handle, knowing well her parents usually leave it unlocked for her at this time, only for her hand to miss the handle and go... through the door?
"Ahhh!" She screamed. Pulling her hand back out and clinging to it. Her eyes growing immensely while she studied the way it gave of a rather weird, silver tinted hue in the sunlight. Blinking rapidly, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her, she wiggled her fingers.
Was she hallucinating?
Did she hit her head on the pavement?
Roseanne reached forward, opting to knock on the door instead. Only for her hand to phase through the material once more. Like there wasn't anything between her hand and the air at all.
She gasped and flexed her hand that was still within the door. A strange sensation building in her arm that was currently sliced in two, until she stepped forward, and walked through the treated wood as if it wasn't even there.
Walked... through the closed front door.
She walked through a door!
"What the fuck!" She yelled. Quickly rushing to the hallway mirror and standing still in front of it. Already picturing a massive bruise, or a trail of blood. But instead, she was staring at an untouched and well kept image of herself. An image... that looked transparent. The silver hue she could see when looking down at her hand earlier, was now covering her fully.
From head to toe, her frame was encased in what seemed like a see-through tint. Within certain lights, it made her shine and shimmer. As if the rays reflecting off the mirror, were then reflecting amplified through her. Her skin practically bounced within it.
Roseanne fell uneasily backwards, to what she thought would be the other wall of the hall. But instead of leaning on it like she thought she would, she fell down to the ground. Landing on her back without the sound of any thud.
Her head phased through the wall and into her bedroom. All the while the rest of her was still in the hallway. Roseanne blinked, staring up at the ceiling in dismay. Unmoving as she spoke. "You're dreaming."
She closed her eyes and clenched her hands. "You're fucking dreaming. You passed out. You're passed out on the sidewalk right now as we speak." Roseanne opened her eyes and sat up. Coming face to face with her bedroom's drywall, then insulation and studs, before more insulation and drywall again. Only to reappear within the hallway on the other side.
Her arms laid limp beside her legs as she sat slumped on the floor. Studying the way the silver hue even stained her clothes and skin, through her very own eyes. Looking slightly more matted and dull in the poorly lit hallway. With no apparent shimmering from the sunlight or mirror.
She stood up slowly and walked over to a window facing the sun. Reaching out and allowing her hand to go through the thick glass. Holding it within the sunlight on the other side.
The silver hue turned from the matted look, to the previous more transparent one. It's lightness returning and making her look like a vampire from those horrific movies her older sister oddly adored.
The hue of silver wasn't completely see through though, or easily noticeable on her. Except for the outline of her skin and clothes. But it was still there, and she was covered in it.
Or more so, became one with it.
She retracted her hand and felt it with her other. A sudden realization dawning on her as she traced her skin. It wasn't warm from the sun. Or cold from the wind. Not soft from her intense daily moisturizing... In fact, there was no texture to her skin at all. It was just, a mass.
Weight she felt when touching the palm of her hand. Pressure, purely pressure against her.
Roseanne put a hand on her t-shirt and raised her brows at it's feeling. Lifting the tee up to display her toned stomach, only for the skin to feel the exact same as her top. She reached forward to lay her palm against the wall and laughed at herself as her hand phased right through it.
"I'm going crazy... yup, I'm crazy. This isn't a dream. It's a nightmare." She chuckled nervously and went to sit on the couch, falling down on her ass and groaning. Groaning, due to not being able to sit. Not because she fell. Since Roseanne realized she couldn't even feel that. Much like how she didn't feel her earlier fall whilst in the hallway.
"What's next?! I'm going to fall through the ground?! Finally see what's at the center of the Earth?!" She exhaled rather angrily. "Hello dinosaurs!"
Roseanne stood up and grabbed at her hair. Biting her bottom lip while trying her best to calm her mind when her ears slowly picked up on the sound of cars as they passed by her home outside.
Roseanne gave in to her curiosity and walked back out, right through the front door and onto the street itself. Watching as a car whirled by her in the other lane. The driver of it not paying any mind, much like the ones from earlier.
With the fresh memory of herself after her apparent 'fainting' weighing on her mind, when no one seemed to care and look her way, it only fueled her worry. Just then, before she could think anymore on it, a vehicle turned into her lane on the road. The driver of it uncaringly approaching.
She straightened her posture and stared at the car as it grew closer and closer. The sane part of her was telling herself to leap out of the way. But the curious part of her wanted her to stay, and see if she could phase through cars just as much as she could walls and door.
And so, she held her ground, and braced herself for impact.
Impact... that never came.
Because when the car would have hit her, it instead passed through her, like she was nothing. Or not even there.
Not even there...
Roseanne put a hand over her mouth as she slumped down into a crouch on the road. A heavy feeling in her chest as she began to cry. Noticing how she couldn't feel the coolness of tears, yet watched as they fell and faded through the ground beneath her. Even her eyes produced glimmering tears from natural reflex.
The sight made her cry even more, hating the way she failed to be able to feel anything with textures or physical existence. Only emotions. Only the anger, sadness, and pain that her chest ached with. And that failure of not being able to feel anything else, or even be seen, only adding to her fears...
Of being dead.
She screamed bloody murder on the top of her lungs as she came to terms with the fact that being dead would be one, if not, the only explanation to what was going on. But the question of when she would have died still plagued her mind.
Could it have been when she thought she had passed out? But there was nothing on the street?! No signs of a wreck or weapon that could have been used against her?
Either way, she found herself running back to the very spot where she's sworn she would have died. Tears in her eyes and mind racing as she arrived at the pavement where she's positive her head must have split open against it.
Yet, there was nothing there.
Even more notably, her phone still wasn't there.
"What the hell is going on?" She breathed out. At that time, realizing there wasn't any true feeling of air entering and leaving her body as she breathed in the hurried breaths.
Her chest only rising and falling in motion. As if she was breathing out of reflex too. Muscle memory, and not even because she needed to.
"I don't want to be a ghost." She began to fear. "I don't want to be a ghost." She repeated while the world seemed to stand still during a panic attack of worry.
People ahead of her were walking on the same stretch of sidewalk. Paying her, what you could already guess, no attention as they approached.
Roseanne quickly ran over to a couple who were walking. Getting in their faces and waving. Shouting at them, trying to gather their attention. Only for her to stop pacing with them, and allowing the couple to walk through her.
Roseanne learned two things in that moment.
One, was that admitting something to herself as scary as death was a very hard thing for her to do. But the second thing seemed even harder. And that was admitting that she had died, somehow, but had stayed behind...
As a ghost.
~
The nightmare she was having seemed to have no end. Hours had passed, even quicker than she imagined they would. Yet her nightmare was still being lived. Or unlived? Since she's surly dead.
She knew when her family would come home, she'd be hit with an even more heart wrenching blow to the gut. And blow to her newly found reality. As the idea of being a ghost still didn't sit right, or feel real in any way. Most likely due to not knowing how she had died in the first place.
She had ideas, of course, on how she could have. Seeing how she had nothing else to do but sit on the floor in the living room and think.
But no matter what she thought could have killed her, the ideas were backed by little to no evidence. More specifically the no evidence part, seeing as there was literally NO evidence of anything death related happening on that sidewalk.
The only evidence she had to being dead, was the evidence of being a ghost. The facts were that no one could see her, she was able to phase through everything except the ground, and the silverish hue her entirety was enveloped by.
Everything that pointed to being ghost.
The child in her began to give her funny ideas. Try floating! Try blinking the lights! Try something, anything, other than sitting on the floor and being pissed off about the circumstances!
But if she was to truly except the fact she was a ghost, then there had to be something that made her one? Right? Not the dying part, that part she knew. But, what about the... unfinished business part? That thing ghosts always had in any movie or show? It was always some form of unfinished business. Revenge against a someone or something, or finding out how they died...
Maybe she was supposed to find out how she died?
Suddenly, the bells of their household clock deeming the next hour rang. Her thinking being interrupted by the clock's bells ringing eight times.
Eight times...
She looked to the clock on the wall and immediately felt a wave of guilt overtake her. What if her unfinished business... was currently waiting for her to pick her up? "Oh god..." She looked to the ground and closed her eyes.
"I'm so sorry Jennie..." Roseanne cried. Trying her best not to dissolve as Jennie Kim awaited her arrival.
The brunette's foot tapped endlessly on the hardwood of her dorm's floor as she looked down to her phone for the hundredth time. She shouldn't be getting so worked up about it, but the clock just turned to 8:09, and there was still no sign of Roseanne.
Jennie ran a hand through her freshly curled hair and took in a deep breath. Closing her eyes and releasing it slowly. "She's Rosie, you know how she is." She whispered to herself. "She didn't forget, she's just running a little late. Traffic and all..."
Jen opened her eyes and stared out the window ahead of her, at the rather quiet roads of the city. Sighing to herself as she looked back down to her phone.
8:10
"Something must have came up." She reasoned with herself. "She promised you she wouldn't be late. Maybe something happened with her family? Yeah, she's going to call any minute! Saying she's on her way and not to worry..."
She smiled to herself and sat down on her bed. Trying to relax in the new place she's found herself waiting in. And waiting... not wanting to drive herself to the root of madness but man, was she getting herself there.
At 8:16 she couldn't hold herself back from texting the taller girl, whom had soft, almond shaped eyes. Those eyes that made her heart skip a beat whenever she'd found herself looking into them.
Or the woman's long blonde hair that paired perfectly with her long legs and beautiful smile. Or smirk... whenever Rosie would find herself saying something the blonde felt was clever.
Jennie really couldn't help herself from blushing around her. But all this thinking of Roseanne was making her more worried, yet agitated at the same time.
Worried that something bad could have happened, yet agitated and approaching insanity at the thought that nothing might have happened at all. And it was just Roseanne and her forgetfulness, along with her innate ability to lose track of time.
She sent her two more texts at 8:23. A call at 8:31. Another call and text at 8:38. Jennie found herself growing more and more madder than anything else at this point. Grabbing a pillow and screaming into it.
"Why?! Why Rosie!" She asked aloud. "Why ask me out, tell me you like me, then kiss me in the middle of the hall if you're not going to show up for the fucking date?!"
Jennie bit back her tears that were beginning to form against her will. Temporarily loosing her usual sense of calm that she had grown so fond of herself for always maintaining.
She took in a few deep breaths and looked to the time on her phone for the final time. Deciding it would be best to just forget about the date. Much like how it seemed Roseanne had.
Jennie lifted her head and looked back out the window. Towards the night sky that began to clear it's clouds, showcasing dazzling stars that were hidden away behind them.
"You're late." She whispered. Secretly hoping a blonde Roseanne could hear. Before looking down at the bouquet of flowers, sitting in a silver colored vase she had found. Reminding her of the day, and how much sadder that evening now made her.
~
Roseanne had laid wide awake on the floor the entire night. Any usual bodily need, like sleep or food, not being required when you're a ghost, she guessed. But she could still feel all of her emotions, and Roseanne was sure feeling them last night. When she spent the first half of it hating herself for standing a beautiful Jennie up.
For dying... after what had transpired between them that day. Yet, only then was she left feeling worried for the second half of the night, when her parents never came home. She didn't know where they were, or who they were with. But all she could assume was that they were probably accompanied by her now cold, dead body. As gruesome and sad as a thought like that might be.
But it was true wasn't it?
That she truly was dead and them not being here was a ramification of that? She sighed for the umpteenth time and decided a stroll around Melbourne might be nice.
Lifting herself off the floor and walking through the wall to yet another sunny spring day.
She took in a long sniff and frowned at the fact that she couldn't smell the air. Couldn't sense the moisture in it or pollen that would make her nose tickle at times. Maybe she shouldn't have stepped outside?
Because now she was seeing and thinking about all the things she'd miss doing in life. Like drinking juice on her sister's lunch breaks. Eating mangos she'd sneak into class. Or talking to, brushing hands with, and cooing over Jennie Kim.
Jennie.
If she had died, and this wasn't an outlandish and extremely long nightmare, then her sister would most likely not be going to work today. But Jennie? She wouldn't know yet right? Would Alice even think to look her up on social media and break the news so soon? No, if anything they'd call the University.
The University!
She began running towards her school. Already forgetting what time she had left the house, but loving the fact that she wasn't growing tired from running for so long.
When she finally reached the campus buildings, she was happy to notice the time on the courtyard clock. It reading that it was the middle of what would have been her first period.
She decided to head to her own class and see what was being studied. Walking into the hall and towards her classroom door. Reaching for the handle, only to pause before attempting to open it.
Realizing it was dumb of her to even try, though she had reached for it out of muscle memory. Roseanne walked slowly through the door and looked from student to student as they were all focused on what their professor was teaching.
She moved to where her open seat was and tried putting a hand on it. Only for her hand to fall through, like she thought it would. So Roseanne stood beside it and watched as several students heads would take turns peering back at it.
Odd?
Unless... her parents really did contact the school?
Suddenly, she felt as if the world had froze once more. Slipping into what must be, a ghostly panic attack. Instead of feeling like you can't breathe, you feel as if you're stuck in time. Struggling to continue on living. Even if this kind of living was still very much death.
She turned and ran out of her classroom. Into the neighboring classrooms where she ignored the students she was practically running through, and exited Hall C in it's entirely. Looking up to the sky and trying her best to calm herself down by staring up at it.
Roseanne found herself dropping down and sitting crisscross on the ground in the courtyard. Trying her best to pluck at the blades of grass that grew from it. Failing to successfully pull any. But the bell rang not long later, signaling the end of what was her first.
She stood up wearily, and began walking nervously towards her second class. Not sure what she should be expecting to see in Hall B. But there was one person she was hoping to... no matter what state she would be seen in.
As long as Jennie was alive, that's all that mattered to her. So Roseanne found her way inside the classroom and went over to where they'd usually sit. Standing beside her seat and waiting for the girl she hoped to see most.
It took a little while, but Jennie soon appeared and began making her way back towards her. And the sight of the darker haired brunette made her want to hold her. Jennie looked down. God she looked so down. And Roseanne knew why. Because when the bell rang, and the teacher began speaking, Jennie looked to the empty seat beside her and placed a hand over her chest.
Jen sighed softly, heart aching within her chest. It had been hurting ever since Roseanne bailed on her, but now her feeling of being let down was tinged with worry. Shaking her head as she looked away from the empty seat. "You're late." She whispered. "Again..."
The 'again' Roseanne had heard from her unknown stance beside Jennie made her heart, that was most likely no longer beating in her chest, break. Knowing well it referred to the fact that she was a no show on picking her up last night.
Before she could even begin an unheard apology, their Professor spoke up. "Class..." He began timidly, his hand trembling as he looked to his students. Or more specifically, a student, situated in the far back.
Something told Roseanne and Jennie, that they weren't going to like what he was about to say.
"I had some rather, distressing news... brought to my attention this morning. And I... uh..." He gulped. "I had been deciding all morning on if I should be telling you this so soon."
He looked towards the back of the class, where the empty seat beside Jennie Kim laid silent. Not unusual for the first few minutes after the bell, but he knew Roseanne Park wouldn't be arriving late today, tomorrow, or even the day after.
And although Roseanne was a student whom didn't seem too keen on arriving on time, she was one of kindness, youthfulness, and laughter. His face grew even sadder at that thought of the young woman's life being so... taken away from her.
And while he stared off into the empty space, he caught a glimpse of Jennie Kim's eyes, and came to the revelation, that he was about to break the young woman's heart. As he would watch the two girls everyday, and knew there was more beyond the surface for them that they led on. Especially with the way Roseanne used to look at her.
He finally gained a grip on himself, and his desk, as he looked to Jennie specifically. "T-There seems to have been an... unfortunate occurrence..." He glanced around the class, before finding his eyes back on the bewildered brunette. "What happened yesterday afternoon is something I've been asked not to get into the details of just yet... but Roseanne Park won't be joining us anymore..."
Jennie's eyes widened as she glanced down to Roseanne's empty seat, then back to their professor. The heaviest of masses diving deep into the pit of her stomach. Like someone had tied a weight to her foot and threw her overboard, into the Indian Ocean to drown.
She stood up abruptly. Jennie eyeing her professor with fresh tears welling as Roseanne reached out for the woman. Wanting to calm her down, comfort her. Hold onto her and let her know she's there. That her Rosie's right there. But she couldn't grasp her, couldn't pull her into an embrace. Roseanne had already started crying, but now she was crying hard as she began calling out to the brunette who couldn't hear her.
Apologizing for things she couldn't control.
Not even caring that her professor had just confirmed the fact that she did die yesterday afternoon. And that this all wasn't a fever dream, but a crushing reality.
"Why not?" Jennie questioned aloud. All the other students of their class glancing back to her as Jen kept her eyes dead set on the man addressing them. Who wasn't replying, only fueling her emotional breakdown. "Why not?!" Jennie practically yelled. Her voice faltering. "Where is she? Where's Rosie?!"
"I... I can't say." Their professor delayed Jennie's knowing. But he didn't want to break Roseanne's families trust. They had asked him, them, not to speak upon the details. Only to announce their daughter's absence from future classes for possible friend's sakes. Yet they still wanted and needed their privacy during these next few, critical moments.
"Is she dead?" Jennie questioned next, crying. Making his own eyes begin to flood. "Is Roseanne dead?!" She asked once more, impatient. "Answer me!"
"I'm so sorry Jennie." He replied quietly, before turning away and sitting at his desk. Head in his hands and shoulders slumped. Never experiencing loosing a student like this before, and never wanting to experience it again. Or having to put another one of his students through it, like Jennie Kim.
Jennie, on the other hand, began hyperventilating almost immediately after his response. Only leading Roseanne to worry more. Now sobbing as Jennie appeared to be, and quite literally, began going into shock.
A student ahead of them stood and reached out for the smaller girl, much like Roseanne had tried to as well. Yet Jen pushed them away forcefully and began to sob just as much as an invisible Rosie was.
Jennie grabbed her bag amid her tears and rushed out of the classroom before anyone could even try to console her further. Leaving Roseanne alone with the rest of the dazed students.
Her arms still reaching out to where she was trying to hold onto Jennie. Her sobs halting as she felt her entire world collapsing. Turning into a lifeless nothing, as Jennie Kim was just left with a broken heart.
Because Roseanne Park... had died.