Clockwork

Chapter 3

Anna is such a nice girl. Too bad she's dead.

For the past few hours, Anna and I spent our time talking about our past life, and death.

Anna is eight years old. She liked to dance and ride horses. When she was six she broke her arm playing on her swing set. She has two older brother, Jonathon- twelve- and Lucas- seventeen. Her mom, Tina, is a single mother. Her father died in a car accident when she was two. Her two biggest dreams are to own a unicorn and live on Mars. Oh, and she doesn't like spiders.

It's beyond ideal how much things can change, how big little kids dreams are, and just how fast they can be crushed.

Thanks, death.

Anna died four months before I did, but she always has the same dream that it's happening all over again. It's death stuck on repeat.

"What's your biggest dream, Quinny?"

Would you look at that? She's already made a nickname for me. Bless her soul.

I had to think before I could answer.

"To be an artist," I finally replied.

Anna smiled. Her baby blues eyes shined in the darkness. She almost made me forget she was dead.

"You mean you want to make pictures?" said Anna with a laugh.

I laughed too. "Yes, that's exactly right."

"I like to finger paint all the time. My mom helped me though," she paused. "I always asked him if I could paint, but he never let me."

I took a breath. "Tell me more about," I hesitated. "him."

She gave me a confused look. "Why? You know all about him, Quinny. I see your scars. I know what he's done to you."

She was only a little girl, but she spoke so wise and knowingly, which made me wonder about her. Cold chills made their way down my spine again.

"How do you know, Annie?"

She smiled. "I watched him after I died. From a distance, of course. I'm too scared to go back in the house. I've seen what he's done to you."

She lifts up her purple butterfly decorated shirt until I could see a tremendous slice across her stomach.

She puts her finger to her mouth. "Shush, he listens."

I jumped up. I was shaking. This little girl was an angel, literally. How could someone do something like that to her?

I pictured dying to be peaceful after awhile. To all who were destroyed by death would return to looking like their old, beautiful self. Of course I don't look how my body is now- mangled and decaying- but the scars still remain.

Emotion and physical.

I jumped when I heard a type of bell. The ringing lingered in my ears. I was curious now.

Anna smiled.

"Annie, what was that?"

Anna's smile grew wider.

"Come on! It's the Clockwork Hour." She ran across the street.

I followed, confused.

"Where are we going?" I shouted, but she kept running.

We ran past familiar stores and houses. Street names I had remembered and even my old bus stop. Memories floated through my deceased mind.

Oh how I missed being alive.

Anna stopped in front of a gate. There was a sign that read, "Aberdeen Cemetery".

"Anna, what are we doing here?" I whispered as she smiled.

"It's the Clockwork Hour, Quinny. It's when everyone like us come alive again. Midnight is the most popular hour to walk the earth, but it's only a choice. Some choose to stay," she explained. It's funny; she seemed much older than she was.

Why would anyone want to lay six feet in a hole of nothing?

Maybe I'll understand later.

Anna waited and waited with the biggest smile as she seen all the spirits slip out of the ground, one by one, roaming the earth again.

I felt cold chills again. I'm only thinking of this happening when I was alive. I snuck out plenty of times at midnight, but I never thought I might've been accompanied by hundreds of spirits.

Anna still waited and waited. After awhile her smile started to fade.

"What's wrong?"

"My dad was buried in this cemetery. I've been dead for four months and he hasn't came to see me once." Her sad, little face made me feel terrible.

"Maybe he's one of the," I paused, trying to think of an appropriate name to refer to them. "The Resters. Maybe he just needs to sleep." I smiled.

She smiled too. "Maybe you're right, Quinn."

She grabbed my hand and we started to walked back to his house.

"Hey, I have the perfect place for us to play," Anna said, pulling me in the opposite direction.

She pulled me all the way to the edge of the woods where there was a path. Back a little ways, there was a picnic table, a pond and a swing.

Anna jumped on the swing. I decided to push her.

"Now we don't have to play by his house anymore." said Anna and she laughed as I pushed her higher.

I smiled, too. It's funny how alive she seemed. I wish I was more like her.