Dead!

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Across the room, I saw a little stand with a huge line of people. I was curious, so I went over there and saw that they were serving food. I wasn't particularly hungry (did I even need to eat now that I was dead?), but I wanted to know what they were serving, so I got in line.

While I was in line, I took Jack's advice and read the FAQ page. I learned that it isn't necessary to eat in the afterlife, but a lot of people did anyways, especially since you wouldn't gain weight from eating. I also learned a few other things, such as the fact that whether God existed or not was "classified information."

"Now serving Number 434!" I heard. "Number 434, please come to the front of the room! Number 434! To all others: remember that numbers may be called out of order. Number 434!"

One of the people who was ahead of me jumped out of line and ran up to the front of the room. The rest of us trudged ahead towards the food stand.

After what seemed like forever, I finally reached the front of the line. I looked over the menu, and marveled at the selections. I eventually decided on getting a bag of chocolate candies and a mocha frappuccino. I stepped aside to wait for the woman at the counter to make my drink.

The girl who was just behind me in line was somehow even taller than I was. Her ginger hair fell just past her shoulders, and her blueish gray eyes narrowed as she flipped through the menu. She wasn't that much older than I was - maybe a year or two at most. "Ugh, why isn't there anything vegan on this menu?" she complained. She ended up ordering an iced tea, and she stood next to me as she waited for her drink.

"You know, I think I saw a cheese pizza on the menu," I said. "That's vegetarian, right?"

"I'm vegan, not vegetarian," the girl said. "That means that I don't eat animal products. Cheese is an animal product."

I popped one of the chocolates into my mouth, and it was even sweeter than a normal chocolate. Enjoy it now, Ivy, I thought to myself. There's not going to be free chocolate in Hell. "Why did you decide to become a vegan?" I asked the girl.

"Should I give you the long version or the short version?" the girl said.

"I'll take the short version," I said.

"Animal rights," she said. "Hey, what's your name anyways?"

"Ivy Livingston," I said. "What's yours?"

"Samantha Murphy, and you better not wear it out." Samantha chuckled and said, "It's good to see someone else around my age. It gets lonely around here sometimes."

"Yeah, the only other people that I've seen around here that aren't ancient are the people that died with me," I explained.

"Let me guess - you died in a car crash?" Samantha said.

"Nope," I said. "School shooting."

Samantha gasped. "What school did you go to?" she asked.

"Millard Fillmore High School," I said.

"Fillmore? That's crazy. I went to Langdale," Samantha said.

"Cool," I said. Langdale was the closest high school to Fillmore and our rival. "How did you die?"

"None of your business," Samantha said.

"I told you how I died," I said. "Why can't you tell me how you died?"

"Let's just change the subject," Samantha said. "How old are you anyways?"

"I'll be seventeen in March," I said. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen," Samantha said.

"Really? I thought you were another high schooler," I said.

"Nope," Samantha said. "I was a freshman at the University of Iowa."

Talking to Samantha was such a dumb idea, I thought. All I'm doing is making a fool of myself in front of the cool college kid. I glanced over at the food stand, but the barista was still busy making my frappuccino. "What were you studying?" I asked her.

"Law," she answered.

"That's cool," I said. "I wasn't sure what I was going to study in college when I was alive, but I guess I don't have to decide now."

"One mocha frappuccino!" the barista called out, and I went over to get my drink. Samantha got her drink a few minutes later. I started heading back to my spot, but Samantha followed me.

"It's not like I have anywhere else to go," Samantha explained. "It just gets really lonely around here. I tried talking to that crazy religious lady once, but she thinks that I'm Satan."

"What crazy religious lady?" I asked.

"She's over there," Samantha said, gesturing towards a middle-aged woman who was busy writing in a notebook. "I think she's making a list of questions to ask God." Samantha laughed. "As if God was real." I was about to argue with her, but she quickly said, "No offense if you believe in that sort of thing. I just don't have a good reason to think that some higher power is watching over me."

"I understand," I said.

"Some religious people are okay, but that lady is a complete psycho," Samantha explained. "I swear that she's made it her mission to hunt down anyone who disagrees with her even a little bit. Again, she literally thinks that I'm Satan."

I laughed. "How did she come up with that idea?" I asked.

"No clue," Samantha said. "She didn't give me a good reason. I think she just hates me."

"That's just insane," I said. "You're probably the least annoying person I've talked to since I came here."

"Who else did you talk to?" Samantha asked.

"This emo girl named Maya and some annoying dork named Jack," I said. "They both died with me."

"They actually sound kind of cool," Samantha said.

I laughed. "Those two are far from cool," I said. "You wouldn't want to hang out with them."

Samantha shrugged. "They're probably cooler than I was in high school," she said. "Hey, what time is it?"

I took out my phone and looked at the time. "It's 3:02," I said.

"Oh crap!" Samantha shouted. "I'm late for my therapy appointment! See you later Ivy!" She ran off, leaving me alone once again.

Therapy? I didn't even know that was a thing in the afterlife. Oh well. I started playing a game on my phone, hoping that it would make the seconds tick by just a little bit faster as I waited for #667 to be called.