Shoelaces

Leaves

"Be back soon or maybe not. Do it yourself if you're that impatient."

Well, sign, I would do it myself if the door wasn't locked. But I guess Alex and Haley are still in that coffee shop, doing god-knows-what after I ran out from the library. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to see either of them for a few weeks, maybe, so the embarrassment of me crying would die down. Alas, I'll have to see both of them just an hour after I made a fool of myself.

Even in the afterlife, you never cease to amaze me at your skills of humiliation, Darrion.

I slump against the EarthVisit door, the back of my head a foot or so below the taunting sign. Okay, Darrion, think. What did Alex say last time about EarthVisit? I could do like unnatural or natural things. With Jazmine, I did something unnatural. Which was good, great even, but it didn't really let me see her. I was just in her phone. Judging through EarthVision, Santi sees me enough in his phone. So, I guess I have to go with the natural route. I have no clue what that really means, but I guess I'll find out sooner or later. I guess it was sooner because I soon hear footsteps approaching from the magical staircase.

"I told you it was too soon to try to get him to experience all of the afterlife," a familiar voice chirps. It's Haley. And she must be talking about me. Great. "And before you give me that 'completely up to you' bull, you always have an effect on them. On him. You know what I mean. They always don't want to let you down from the start."

"I know you're right; just-" Alex starts. "You should have seen him watching EarthVision. It was like Orpheus watching Eurydice drift away after turning around. I just wanted to help." Haley goes onto her tippy-toes and kisses Alex on the cheek, a sign that says, "I know."

"You always do," she continues vocally. "Also why do you read that Greek shit? So boring," she drags out the "o."

"I like love stories. I guess I'm a romantic." This time, he kisses her. "And at least it's not all Greek to me!" Alex continues with a subtle grin.

"Ha ha, very funny," Haley says while trying to suppress a smile. That's when they both look up and see me slumped against the EarthVision door.

"Uh, hey," I mumble weakly, standing up from the floor. "I, uh, wanted to use EarthVisit if that's okay."

They both don't say anything, almost in a state of shock, before Haley speaks. "Yeah, I gotcha Darrion," she tries to get out as naturally as possible. Haley walks over with Alex following close behind.

"How long have you been waiting here?" Alex asks as Haley opens the door.

"Just, uh, a few minutes. I ran into another limb who I knew back when I was alive. We talked for a bit, then she-" I pause. "You never told me about the letters. Why didn't you tell me about the letters?"

"Sorry, Darrion, but it's protocol to not tell limbs about the letters if they didn't receive one until they choose to leave the Afterlife. We basically tell them right before they go."

"You've broken protocol before," I blurt out, instantly regretting it. "No, uh, sorry, that makes sense. Sorry, I'm just," I stop mid-sentence. I am sorry that I've been so ungrateful to Alex and Haley, especially Alex. There's just a lot of other thoughts pulsing through my mind, and none of them hit the grateful part of my brain.

"No worries, Darrion," Alex says, smiling kindly.

"Besides, the more time you don't spend with us, the more time I have to look at myself in the mirror," Haley adds, holding the door open for the both of us. We walk in, the building looking exactly the same as it did before. "You said you talked to another limb? Go you. Some limbs are so boring."