Life After Death

Chapter One

I shot at text at my mom asking where she was, and also texted my friend Ross asking if he wanted to hang out tomorrow. I knew he would say yes because the only other thing he would be doing would be well, nothing. Neither of us really had other friends. The kids at James Parker High School were very stuck up. Most of them came from privileged families, with each of their parents making double my parents combined salaries. This did cause for some tormenting, because they could afford to do it literally. 

As I walked around my kitchen I grabbed some snacks, because who doesn't like pretzels and Cheez-Its? I looked outside from the side of my front door and didn't see my dad's car. Which meant that they were out somewhere. I went over to the tv and tried to turn it on. It wouldn't turn on no matter how hard I smacked it (why do people do that). I went to turn on the light of the kitchen to get some batteries, but that didn't work out either. Apparently the lights were out, but I couldn't think of a reason why. It wasn't raining, or strong winds, and I would have seen or heard if something had hit the power lines. This night was getting more and more confusing.

Tired of being alone I decided to walk the two blocks to my grandparents house. I knew they would be awake, because they never ever went to sleep, despite the fact they were in the seventies. As I walked down my street I didn't hear anyone, or see any lights in any houses on. Everyone's cars were there, and after living here my whole life I knew what people's cars looked like. I couldn't understand why no one was answering me, and why the power is out, and where everyone is?!?!

Eventually I got to the front door of my grandparents house, an older split house painted a very dreary looking shade of blue. My Grandma said it was "classic" looking, a better word for it would be ridiculous. I walked up the stone steps and rung the doorbell. Usually before I even go to the door my Grandpa would run out saying "Aidan! Where have you been? Why aren't you eating?" My grandparents took it upon themselves to make sure I was well fed, even I was eating much more than I should they would still say I was too skinny. Also my grandparents annoying rat-I mean terrier, Jack would bark whenever somebody would approach the house. Grandma thought he was being protective, I knew he was just a crazy dog.

After waiting there for a while I got nervous. No one in my family was home, and now even my grandparents weren't there! I tried to think of places they would be, but the fact that it was almost 9 p.m. narrowed down the options. I started to get really anxious that maybe something had happened to them. I used the key they kept behind the mailbox and unlocked the door. When I stepped inside they wasn't anything out of place, no bodies, no nothing. It seemed cleaner than I had ever seen it. But again, my grandparents were no where to be found, just like the rest of my family.

The TV wasn't on, something that I had never seen. It was always on. From morning until night my grandfather would sit there watching whatever old people watch (Wheel of Fortune? Family Feud? The Bachelor?) I went into the kitchen, knowing that they wouldn't mind if I took some food, in fact they would beg me to take some. I grabbed some candy from a bowl my grandmother left out in case any of her grandkids stopped by. Assuming that they were out some where too, i decided to leave. I left them a note, explaining why they didn't have any more licorice left, and why it looked like they got robbed, except the "robbing" part.

I made my way back to my house, getting very confused at this point. It wasn't like my parents, my grandparents, the whole town to be this empty and quiet. Even in the middle of the night you could hear my little sister giggling at something she said earlier in the day, or our neighbors dog inspecting the fence that separated our houses, like it was a criminal with a bomb. I didn't really know my neighbor, much less their pit bull. All I knew was that we was boy on my school, the captain of the track team that led out school to win states three times. Most people would be honored to live next to a local hero, but to me it was annoying to live next to the perfect "All-American Kid". My parents compared me to him, like he was the big brother I had the misfortune of having.

Come to think of it, I didn't know really any of the kids in my school. They weren't mostly polar opposites, star-athletes, or hardcore emo kids. For me I had the honor of being somewhere in the middle not fitting it between the sadness of the emos, and the cockiness of the athletes. Ross and I had two other friends that we somewhat talked to. They may not have considered us friends but we certainly considered them to be our friend. Shawn Losson, the soccer goalie, and Lynn Brooks, the leader singer in the all-girls choir, were what you might call an unlikely match. One was into running, and jumping, and the other was into standing still and basically jumping. Ross and I were the only ones to know about this relationship, after finding them making out in the janitors closet. Wanting to keep their love fest (don't know what else to call that "act" we saw in the closet) they decided to be our friends. And they kept our promise with them. They were the only two kids who didn't make fun of Ross and I, or try to push our books down, or do whatever they could to try and make us hurt. That didn't make high school fun, especially with  the pressure from grades to sports and everything else.

It was January of my freshman year that I first cut. I was back from winter break, and this kids in my school took it upon themselves to make me feel horrible. Even thought I had never done any wrongdoing they just thought they were better than me, and that they could do whatever they wanted. It was October of my sophomore year that I first tried to kill myself. I tried to overdose, and I ended up taking not enough pills to kill me, but enough to damage my organs. This left me in the hospital for weeks, and now going to the doctors for regular checkups on my physical and mental health. My parents were so confused about what I was going through. They didn't understand, and I guess I didn't really understand what was going on either.

I got to my driveway, and used my key to get in. "Hello!" I screamed into my dark family room, expecting someone to answer. Maybe this is a dream, I said to myself as I walked upstairs to my bedroom. But something deep down was telling me that this was not a dream. This was a nightmare, that was very true, and I was living it.

(A/N) The chapters will get longer. I'm just starting with some short ones to get the story rolling.