Afterlife

Chapter 5

Emily couldn’t comprehend what was happening. She stood there, looking at the portrait of the famous poet Emily Dickinson who looked exactly like her, beside her was the girl who looked exactly like the girl of her dreams.

She looked at the girl beside her who was now smiling at her. The face of Sue in her dreams now overlaps with the one in front of her. She closed her eyes and opened it again. “Isn’t it amazing?” the girl asked. “What?” She asked. “That you looked exactly just like her.” The girl said pointing at the portrait. Emily’s eyes traveled back to the portrait. “Yeah.”

“I’m Anna, by the way.” The girl said offering her hand. “Emily.” She said as she accepted Anna’s hand. Anna’s eyes widened. “You even have the same name as well?”

“Uhm… Yeah?” Emily replied hesitantly. Anna let out a wide smile. “That’s so cool!”

“Please don’t smile like that.” Emily thought. “You looked exactly like her too.” She said in her mind as she smiled back at her.

“By the way, I’m sorry if I scared you earlier.” Emily said. Anna remembered what happened then she shook her head. “It’s fine. I think we are even now.” She replied. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know that I also scared you when I told you that you looked exactly like Emily Dickinson.” She explained. Anna then noticed that the staff member who talked to her earlier is now giving them a glare. “Uhm, Emily, I think we should go out of here before we get kicked out.” Emily looked back and saw the staff member glaring at them. “I think you’re right.” She replied then the two of them went out of the community library.

“You’re going to bore a hole on my face.” Anna said as she took a sip of smoothie that she ordered a while ago. “Sorry. You looked exactly like someone I know. That’s all.” Emily replied. “Please don’t think that I’m weird or something.”

“Do I really looked exactly like the person that you were talking about?”

“Yes. Very much.”

“Do you have a picture of that person?”

Emily shook her head and gave a bitter smile. “Unfortunately, no.”

“Oh.” Anna replied. “You’ll be scared if I tell you why.” She said. “Try me.” Emily took a deep breath and said, “That person only exists in my dreams.” Anna’s jaw dropped upon hearing her words. “See? I knew you’re going to have that kind of reaction.”

"I hear your voice too in my dreams." Anna thought.

“Look, okay. Let’s just change the topic. But first, I want you to know that I’m not judging you or anything.” Anna said. “Alright. So, what do you want to talk about?”

"What brought you here in Australia? I can tell you're not from here because of your accent."

"So are you. Well anyway, to answer your question, I'm just here for a vacation. I'll be back in the US next month." Emily replied. "What about you?"

"Same as you. But my stay here would be a lot longer. I want to travel to different states here."

"So you like to travel?"

"You could say that." Anna said with a smile. "What about you?" She asked.

"I travel a lot. Because of the competitions that the Bellas are part of." Anna's eyebrows furrowed, giving her a questioning look. "I'm part of an acapella group." Emily said.

"That's cool!" Before Emily could reply to her, Amy arrived to fetch her.

"Emily!" Amy called and Emily waved at her. "Uhm, I sorry I have to go now. My friend is here." Emily said. "It's nice meeting you Anna."

"It's nice meeting you too, Emily."

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"So you've made a new friend here, Emily?" Amy said as she drive the car. "Yeah. It was all by coincidence that we meet." Emily paused as she remembered something. "Oh man." She said in frustration. "What?" "I forgot to get her number!"