This is a deleted scene from an early draft of Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth, Book 2), describing Alona’s return from the light. SPOILERS AHEAD if you haven’t read The Ghost and the Goth.
Alona Dare
I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at a blue-black sky filled with white pinpoints of stars.
What was this?
I lay there without moving, my thoughts fuzzy and fleeting. I could almost feel the world moving under me in a dizzying swirl. A hard rough surface pressed against my back, its warmth seeping into my skin. My hands were gritty, covered in sand or tiny bits of rock. This all felt familiar but also wrong.
I’d been somewhere else just a moment ago, hadn’t I? It was so dark here. It had been brighter there, in the other place, right? No, maybe not.
I struggled to remember and felt my forehead crease in concentration, which rang some distant bell of alarm.
No, this definitely was not right.
Stay calm. Review the facts. It was night. Duh. And…I was on the ground, outside. In middle of the road, to be exact.
With that realization, a sudden rush of memories returned.
There had been an accident. A school bus in the middle of the street...I glimpsed bright yellow-orange metal in a flash of memory and flinched reflexively.
Okay, okay, I remembered that, but there was something else. Something right there on the edge of my memory, dancing tantalizingly just out of reach.
I sat up, and my vision spun. I reached up, out of instinct, to hold my head and caught a glimpse of my hand, long fingers, tanned hands, fingernails shaped into perfect ovals.
For some reason, just the sight of it made my breath catch in my chest and catapulted my heartbeat into high panic mode. It was me, my hand, and everything, but it all felt too close or too heavy or...just too much. I looked down, beyond the hand that both fascinated and terrified me, and saw familiar clothing, red shorts and a thin white shirt. My gym uniform.
All of this was right, but wrong somehow at the same time.
It felt like I was reliving some long ago dream or...life.
An engine roared far too close, and headlights swept over me, turning everything into a blur of electric white. I scrambled to move out of the way, stumbling over my own feet, my whole body feeling disconnected, clumsy with lack of use.
I didn't quite make it. The big vehicle, accelerating toward me without even the slightest hesitation, clipped my left shoulder...except not. I passed through it, probably to be more exact, it passed through me, sending an icy wave over my whole body.
I curled into ball, holding myself against the deep, paralyzing chill.
This was not...I wasn't...I shook my head, the strange, heavy sensation of the motion sending a shudder through me.
What was this?
A whimper escaped before I snapped my mouth closed, cutting it off short. No. I didn’t do that. I knew that much. As for the rest of it...none of it made any sense unless…
You’re dead. A tiny voice whispered inside my head. Remember?
And then I did. More pieces fell into place. That bus accident—it had been fatal. I remembered now and could even picture the marble headstone my father had ordered for me. If I squinted hard enough at it in my memory, I could see my name.
