Dead!

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I rolled out of bed the next morning, wishing that this whole experience was just an awful nightmare. I didn't really have to live with Maya, right? Maybe I was still back in the waiting room, or even back on Earth. Either of those options seemed better than this.

Grandma made us French Toast, which I had to admit, was quite nice. Grandma was always an amazing chef. Sometime during breakfast, I remembered that I was going to the bookstore with Jack. I figured that I needed to tell Maya and Grandma this, so I did.

"That sounds awesome!" Maya said. "Can I come?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "Jack didn't invite you!"

"You need to finish up your application anyways, Maya," Grandma said.

"What application?" I asked.

"I'm going to work at Hot Topic!" Maya shouted.

"That's nice," I mumbled as I took another bite of my French toast. "But you're a total psycho sometimes. I don't know why anyone would ever hire you."

"Why thank you!" Maya exclaimed. I gave her a confused look, but she started singing, "SHE'S AN AMERICAN BEAUTY! I'M AN AMERICAN PSYCHO! SHE'S AN AMERICAN BEAU-TYYY! I'M AN AMERICAN! I'M AN AMERICAN!"

"Please stop," I said, but she kept singing. I shoved the rest of my French Toast into my mouth and ran out of the house. "See you later Grandma!" I said before I slammed the door behind me.

It took me a little bit over half an hour to walk to the bookstore. The weather was wonderful, once again, but it still felt unnatural. I passed by plenty of houses like ours, as well as a few stores of various kinds. I spotted a boy who was a little older than me planting flowers near the sidewalk. Although he was cute, with his jet black hair and hazel eyes, I didn't stop to talk to him, even though I wanted to. I was already late.

I entered the bookstore, unsure of where Jack wanted me to meet him. I wandered around, and saw that this was no ordinary bookstore. It was one of the largest bookstores that I had ever been in. There were five floors, all filled with books of every kind. I found that Teen Fiction was on the third floor, so I went there first. Sure enough, Jack was lounging in a comfy chair, reading a book.

"Hey Jack," I said.

"Hello Ivy," he said, not looking up from his book. "Did you know that people spend six and a half hours reading on average each week?"

"No, and I don't really care," I said. "What are you reading?"

"The Sword of Summer," Jack said.

"Oh, is that the new Percy Jackson book?" I asked.

"Magnus Chase," Jack said. "It's a completely different series."

"Isn't it by the same author though?" I said.

"Yes, it's also by Rick Riordan," Jack answered. "That doesn't mean that it's the same series."

"Fine, I get it," I said.

Jack finally put down his book and stood up. "Ivy, I think we need to get you some books," he said. He began perusing in the Young Adult Science Fiction section, and I followed him.

"I don't really like sci-fi," I told him.

"Don't be silly," Jack said. "Science fiction is an excellent genre." He continued to search through the books, and started a stack of the ones that he thought that I would like.

"Uhh...Jack?" I said. "I'm never going to read all of those."

"Sure you can. It's only twenty six books. If you read at an average speed of three hundred words per minute, this will take you..." Jack paused to calculate, and then said, "Three and a half days, assuming that you don't stop."

"Are you kidding?" I said. "Of course I'm going to stop! I have a life, you know! Besides, I'm a slow reader."

"It's still not too bad," Jack said.

"I told you earlier. I don't even like reading!" I complained. Jack, however, had just gotten distracted.

"Ivy, look!" he shouted. "It's a statue of David Tennant! He's my favorite Doctor!"

I gave him a confused look. "I thought that David Tennant was an actor, not a doctor."

"He's not a doctor, he's The Doctor," Jack explained.

"I still don't get it," I said.

"It's from Doctor Who," Jack said.

"Oh okay," I said. I pulled out my phone and said, "Stand next to the statue. I want to take a picture of you."

Jack stood next to the statue and smiled, and I took a picture. "Can I see it?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

I handed my phone to Jack. "That turned out nicely," he commented. "Can you send it to me?"

"Yeah, I can do that," I said. I sent the photo to Jack, but he had already wandered back into the bookshelves.

"I don't need any more books!" I protested, but Jack started going through the bestsellers.

"Did you know that the first book described as a bestseller was Fools of Nature by Alice Brown?" Jack said as he continued to find more books.

"No, and I don't care," I said. "How do you memorize all of this?"

"I have an eidetic memory," he explained.

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

"It's just a technical term for photographic memory," he explained.

"Oh okay," I said. "Can we please check out now? I'm never going to finish these books if you get any more."

"Fine," Jack said as he adjusted his glasses. I picked up my stack, and Jack picked up a stack that he had gotten for himself, and we both went over to the checkout line.

As I flipped through the first book that I had bought on the way home, I decided that maybe this wouldn't be so bad. I just had to find a few more friends here in Heaven, and then maybe things would be alright.