The Afterlife

Chapter 1

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4:56am.

4:56am...4:56am...4:56am....

I was equally surprised by this, but there was something weird about the time.

It rang in my ears mockingly, yet there were no sounds.

I had a strange case of de-ja-vu just then, but different.... somehow.            

In a unique way. Maybe even scary.  Nothing like I have ever felt before. 

I shivered.

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                                                             Chapter 1

                  I took my beeping phone from the counter and looked at the screen. The text was from Eric Punsulan, my best friend. Sunday February 6th 2082 8:46 PM, it read, 'where are you?' I looked

around stupidly. 'Home,' I texted back. It took only two seconds for him to reply. 'I'll be there in ten.' Of

course, by “ten” he meant ten seconds. Eric was also my next door neighbor. 4..3..2..1 knock knock

knock. I trotted over to the door, threw it open and hugged him. He stepped over the threshold, and

the dim living room light shown on his face. His blonde hair was messy and his gray eyes looked

tired. His nose and cheeks were freckled and his expression was uncertain.

“Keira, I've been meaning to talk to you.”he said. I glanced around. I saw a glimpse of red from the couch. My ten year old sister, Christina, was sitting in front of the flat screen watching the news. She, my mother and I had flaming red hair due to her Scottish background.

“Let's go upstairs.” I told Eric. I knew something was wrong though, by the way he had talked before.

Eric followed me upstairs, both of us taking the steps by two. We walked down the hall, the sound of our footsteps echoing on the walls, seeming somehow hollow.

We got to my room and I pushed the door open and flopped down in my purple spinny chair, and Eric sat on my bed. I'd known him basically since I was born; he was only 1 month older than I was, and both of us have never moved.

Eric was kind of like a big brother to me, and I could trust him with my life and he could trust me with his. We barely fought and when, or if we did, it was probably about something stupid.

The only sounds were the faint buzzing of the light and the distant sound of the T.V downstairs, murmuring.

“What's up?” I asked.

He hesitated. “Well....... You know my cousins Jared, Robbie and Alicia right?”

“Yeah,” I said, wondering what this was about.

“Well, a few days ago, somewhere really close to their house in Burnaby got bombed.”

“That's terrible!” I replied. I frowned. I dare not ask if they were okay...

“Their house had a massive fire, and only Robbie survived.” he finished sadly. My eyes immediately filled with tears blurring my vision.

“Eric....” I walked over and threw my arms around him.

He had lost his mother when he was only six. I remember the little Eric showing up at our front door 9 years ago, with a tear-streaked face, and his dad by his side. His dad explained to my family how Mrs. Punsulan's office had a huge fire....

I couldn't remember the world ever being the slightest bit peaceful.

I vaguely remember my grandma telling me it was, back when she was a kid. Bright blue skies, fresh air, lush green trees, birds singing, etc. What was it now? Thick gray clouds, the constant burning smell when you went outside, skimpy looking dying trees, and not one sign of a bird.

That's always how I remember it in my fifteen years of living. Of course when there was the war going on everywhere, there was nowhere to flee. Vancouver was no different than any other city.

You just couldn't trust anybody off the streets.

People sometimes go insane. Some jump off bridges, some drown themselves and whatnot. I don't blame them though. The world was such a miserable place, a lot of people truly believe that war is far worse than death.

Finally, Eric let go of me. “Pretty surreal isn't it?” he asked, “Bombs going off everywhere, you just don't know who'll be next.”

We went downstairs and I made us our favorite hot chocolate that we invented in grade 1; An ordinary hot chocolate but with 6 big marshmallows, tons of whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, cinnamon, chocolate sauce, chunks of Hershey's white chocolate, Oreo crumbs, and strawberries. You'd think it would taste disgusting with the strawberries mixed in with everything else, but it was actually delicious. We've been drinking (eating?) these hot chocolates ever since we were about 5 whenever we felt sad, confused, tired, angry,etc., (or I guess hungry too.) They seemed to calm us down and make us feel better. This seemed to be a acceptable time to have some.

Christina had gone off to bed so Eric and I flopped down on the couch, both our faces already covered in whipped cream and chocolate.

“So tomorrow we have a big science test. I forgot to study, but I guess I'll just wing it.” he laughed.

“Not again,” I said rolling my eyes. “Member what happened last time last time you 'winged-it'?”

“Yeah, my dad wasn't too happy.” he laughed again.

Yes, in a world like this, we still went to school. The government tried so desperately to try and make it “normal”. Every now and then, we might hear about a student's family friend or somthing getting killed in the war. Just like that. Our high school was pretty small. One hundred or so kids... I guess we didn't quite fully realize how much this war has messed up our brains.

But again, living with it for fifteen years, you'd never know.