pieces | ethma

the other side

Emma

I wake up on a beach. Alone. Nobody around for miles. It's quiet besides the sound of the tide rolling into the shore.

Why am I not scared anymore?

I can't feel any emotions.

I just feel . . . calm?

I look down and see that my clothes are perfectly white. Not stained by the sand, not wrinkled.

Where's Ethan?

I stand up, looking around the beach. Nothing. No one in sight.

"Ethan?" I call.

"Emma!" I hear behind me. It's not his usual frightened yell, he seems . . . almost happy?

"Ethan!" I turn around.

He runs across the sand to meet me, giving me the biggest, warmest hug I've ever felt.

"I'm so glad you're here."

"Where are we?"

"Emma," he says. "Don't freak out."

"Okay?"

"We're in Heaven."

"Heh-Heaven?"

"Heaven, yes. We're in Heaven. We're okay. We can finally be ourselves. We don't have to hide anymore. We're finally free. We can finally be together," he says, cupping my cheek. "We can finally be together."

"What about our families? And what about the others?"

"The others will be okay. We can watch over them from here. Same with your family. We can still be around them, they just can't see, feel or hear us. They'll feel us in their hearts though."

"I can't believe—,"

"I know. It's all okay now. We're okay. Nothing can hurt us anymore. The government can't get to us."

"How did we die?"

"That's the only thing I don't know."