𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐞

Chapter 2

"What are you talking about?" I snapped. There was no way I could be dead. I didn't remember much, but I didn't look old and I certainly wasn't ready to die.

"You died. Somehow, somewhere. Follow me,"he said as he turned around and walked away.

I felt weak, but I urged my feet to move and followed after him. I could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on me as I walked off.

The man led me into a room that resembled an office, and there was a woman with red hair sitting in the seat behind a mahogany desk.

"What is going on?" She asked the man as she glanced at me. After a few moments of silence, she turned to me. "I see..." she said as the man left. She stood up from her chair and came towards me, observing me. "You remember nothing?" she asked.

I shook my head, unable to speak. There was a lump in my throat, and if I opened my mouth, I'm not sure if words or tears would spill.

"You cannot pass on," she said as she turned her back at me and walked back to her desk. I didn't want to be dead but if I was, I would rather be in the afterlife that keeps being mentioned than here.

"Why not?" I asked as I cleared my throat.

"One second," she said as she put her reading glasses on and started typing frantically on her computer.

The uncomfortable silence made the clicking of her keyboard deafening. I couldn't sit there in silence any longer. "What is your name?" I asked.

She glanced up at me over her glasses and returned to her computer screen. "My name is Death."

I nodded my head in response. Everything was already so strange, her revelation didn't even surprise me.

She gasped and sat back in her seat with a serious look appearing on her face. "This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this, and I've been doing this for ages," she whispered as she stared at her computer.

"What is it?" I asked. She was now beginning to scare me.

She pushed her chair away from her desk and turned to face me. "Aaliyah, you were murdered. According to my files, your ex-boyfriend has been arrested for it. But something isn't right..." she trailed off as she proceeded to type quickly again.

I was murdered.

The words bounced around in my mind continuously, making me light-headed and nauseous. Who could have killed me? What person in my life hated me that much?

Death sat back in her seat and scoffed at something on the screen. I sat up in anticipation waiting to hear what news she had now.

She noticed me and began speaking to me again, "The man in jail for your murder is innocent," she said. "No wonder you can't pass on."

A confused look spread across my face as I looked at her.

"When there is a large amount of guilt left behind after a person's death, the dead are unable to pass on if it is unresolved," she said and scoffed. "You have the guilt of the innocent man but also the person that killed you. Plus other people in your life it seems..." she said as she squinted at her screen.

It must be horrible to be blamed for a crime you didn't commit, I pondered to myself as I thought of the man that was arrested for my murder.

"Hold on," she said as she looked onto her screen. "There's an alias listed under the cause of death."

"What is it?"

She took out a sticky note and wrote on it and passed it to me.

I picked up the note and read it carefully. It said:

Bateman

I waved the note in the air and looked back up at her. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I..." she began and let out a soft laugh. "I'm stunned. This is a perfect crime. No evidence left behind and someone else taking the blame. It's amazing truly," she said in awe.

I crossed my arms and shook my head at her. "I'm glad my death fascinates you," I said sarcastically.

She looked at me and her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "I'm sorry." I rolled my eyes at her feeble attempt at an apology and looked back at the note.

Bateman?

The person who killed me was sick enough to give themselves a persona as if my death were a game to them.

Bateman killed me.

Bateman was the reason why I was here, the reason my life had to stop. I hated Bateman more than anything at this moment. Because of them, I could no longer roam the earth or pursue any future happiness.

My life stopped because Bateman wanted it to. But who is Bateman? That was the question.

It was ludicrous enough that I had to die but it was vile that my killer was still on the loose and an innocent man was standing in their place.

"How do I move on?" I asked pleadingly. "And can't we somehow tell them that the guy they have locked up is innocent?"

"That man is your ex-boyfriend," she pointed out as she squinted at her screen and turned back to face me. "His name is Elijah Grey."

"Why did we break up?" I asked.

"Most likely for the same reason people your age break up," she said dryly.

"And what is...my age?" I asked hesitantly.

She scrolled through the files on her computer and winced. "Seventeen."

I froze at what she said and I felt tears prick my eyes and threaten to spill out. I was hoping I was a little bit older. At least I would have known that I had lived a little bit.

I couldn't undo the damage and live again, but maybe I could live on elsewhere. I needed to pass on and go to the afterlife.

"Why can't we just tell them there is still a killer and they have the wrong man? Everything would be fixed if they knew and caught the actual person," I ranted.

"That's not how it works. The dead cannot simply speak to people unless they're dead as well," she replied. "There is only one way to fix this."

"What way is that?" I asked. I would do almost anything.

"You need to find your killer."