Dead & Gone (DARAGON)

Only the good die young~

It had been a week. One week since I
ceased to be. One week since I'd
slipped through the universe and landed
in some strange, other dimension of my
hometown, stuck in the same outfit and
cursed to eat pizza for all eternity.

Not such a bad curse, actually. At Slice
you could eat pizza all day every day
and never gain a pound. Sadie would be
so jealous.

"Are you gonna eat that?"

Whoa, he speaks.

I watched in surprise as Bomber Jacket
Dude made his way over to my booth
and took a seat. He yawned and
scratched his head. Then he reached
over and grabbed a slice of my halfeaten
veggie pizza. "Can't let a good
thing go to waste."

"Be my guest," I said, channeling my
inner Disney Princess Belle.

"Ugh, veggie?" He examined a big piece
of eggplant. "How boring can you get?"

"Tell it to my parents." I shrugged.
"They raised me vegetarian."

"For real?" He gave me a pitying look.
"Wow. My deepest condolences."

"Um, thanks," I said.

"So," he said between disappointed
crunches, "allow me to be the first to
welcome you to the good old Great
Beyond, little lady."

Great Beyond?

He stuck out his hand. "I'm Patrick.
Resident Lost Soul."

I shook it.

"And you are?"

"Brie."

He stared at me like I had a giant
pepperoni stuck on my face. "Your name
is Brie? Like . . . the cheese?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah. Like I've
never heard that one before."

"Thanks," he said with a hint of a smile.
"I do pride myself on originality."

We sat for a moment in silence and I
found myself staring at some of the other
kids around the room. Then something
occurred to me. Quarterback Dude. Lady
Gothga. Bojangles. Nintendo Kid.
Patrick.

Even me.

Every single person in the place, with
the exception of Crossword Lady, was
young.

"You look confused," he said.

How observant.

I leaned in and lowered my voice. "Who
are all these people?"

He shrugged. "You know. Just your
average deadbeats."

"But, like, where are all the old people?
Where are all the adults?"

"Um . . ." He scratched his head.
"Probably hanging out at a more
expensive restaurant?" There was that
smirk again.

I gave him a look. "Are you always this
charming?"

"Are you always this beautiful?"

"Very funny. But seriously, what's
everybody doing here? What are you
doing here?"

He shrugged again. "I'm not, like, the
official expert or anything. Some of
them"—he pointed to Nintendo Kid
—"are seriously out of touch with
reality. Then others"—he nodded to
Bojangles—"have been hanging around
for ages. I just happen to really like
pizza. Everybody tends to move at their
own pace, do their own thing," he said.
"But believe me." His eyes darted
toward the big windows overlooking the
ocean. "There's plenty of fun to be had
out there." He winked at me and grinned.
"On that note, want to have some?"