Soul Splitters

Revelations

Autumn found herself on the same street as last time. Instead of heading down towards her old house she turned and walked towards a place she remembered as the shopping centre. Autumn was wrapped inside her own thoughts still, as they buzzed around her mind. It was strange, she thought, how she couldn't recall much of the 'before-life' she had always thought that in the afterlife she would know her friends, family and everyone else. As she shuffled aimlessly past a row of shops she paused outside a chocolate brown shoe shop. Gazing in through the shop front window over mountain of assorted footwear. She heard a laugh, a girls laugh. Sure she recognised it she leaned closer to the glass, her face touching the cold surface. Then she heard a boy,

"Don't you think it's such a good idea?" He emerged from the back room of the shop and leant casually against the counter. The girl entered a moment after him nibbling on a chocolate coated biscuit and carrying the box with the words 'Go Continental!' printed around it. She let out another joyous laugh and cheered,

"It's the best story we've ever come up with!" Autumn was sure she recognised them. She frowned into the glass, ordering her brain to coax some threads of her memories from the cold mass inside her head. She had always believed that she would be the same person. But now she had to face the fact that she didn't know anything at all, she was fresh. Reborn. It dawned on her that in death she had never felt so alive as now. Suddenly a news board grabbed her attention outside a newsagents further down the road, 'Autumn Murder Reaches New Low' she raced down the road.

"Did you feel that?" That boy asked, shocked.

"What?" The girl responded through a mouth full of biscuit crumbs.

"Just got a cold shiver."

Autumn fumbled with the papers on the newsstand, trying hard not be noticed. Wondering if for a bystander it would look like the papers were arranging themselves. She skimmed over the national papers, searching for a local that would have covered her death. There it was, her face, in a black box in the corner of the front page with the words 'See Page Nine'. The main headline about some graffiti artwork ruining the grey, miserable look of the town. She hid the paper under her clothes, hoping it was visible. Considering this was how Josh, the name tasted sour, got his ingredients.

Sitting comfortably against a tree Autumn watched the traffic pass up the bridge. A railway washed underneath it with a steady clockwork flow of carriages. Autumn folded the paper open neatly and read each word of the article on page nine.

'Autumn Iverson, aged 17 was found dead last month.' Autumn stopped, so it had been a month since she had arrived at the station. 'Police have been treating the death as suspicious and a full fledged investigation has been taking place. All though the investigation has presented few leads, police were confident that justice would prevail. However one month later the case is being closed due to lack of progress. Even though many public requests have been made by the Iverson family for the perpetrator to come forward, no suspects have been arrested. The Iverson family have said that they are very distressed that the case is being dropped' Autumn closed the paper, her hands were shaking, her voice quivered as she whispered softly. "I was murdered."

She closed her eyes as the world began to spin, the words jumbled in her mind. Found dead. Suspicious. Very distressed. Suddenly there was a loud scream.

Autumn flashed her eyes open. She scanned around for the source of the shouting. Her eyes met a figure, a boy, standing on the edge of the bridge hanging over supported only by his hands, he looked about her age. He was very scruffy with dark uncut hair, sleepless brown eyes. his tanned face lined with stress. He looked miserable. More shouts emanated from below the bridge. He was silent, calculated. His eyes focused on a point in the distance, a finish line. Autumn looked on as his fingers began to loosen their grip to the sounds of an oncoming train. Then Autumn was up, instinctively on her feet running towards the scene. Scrambling for the boy she felt herself unzip into particles and spun into the boy's core.