The Art Of Dying

II. Begin

Do you remember summer nights,
and autumn days?
Do you remember how our hours went to waste?
You were a pretty girl in a pink dress and I was the black umbrella,
a stranger's detest.
I was the guy on the sidewalk
and you were the girl who danced in the rain.
For so many years, I awaited the tree to give me fruit
but then you came along;
and used it for the shade.

~ BEGIN ~

Zoe Grayson, a quirky girl of eighteen years could not possibly understand why there was so much of a frenzy about a delayed graduation day. A kid of their school suicided, for crying out loud. The least people could do was empathize with his family. But weren't they all saying he did it because of his family?

Personally, as much as Zoe was keenly eager at the idea of graduation day coming soon; the abrupt news of delaying the anticipation did not faze her at all. For all she wanted to do right now was enjoy her perfect life. And apparently start a new chapter in it with her boyfriend, Sean Montgomery.

She was driving around the neighbourhood, sipping on mango slush. The beauty of life was passing by her in a flash, as she tried hard to come to a conclusion as to why people suicide. The idea was outrageous and completely foreign to her. If only, she thought, they could see the little things life has to offer, no one would even think of going away so soon. Not willingly at least.

Her eyes darted towards a bend in the street whereby people were wearing black attires, hanging their heads low. She snapped, and cut a neat edge by her gullible driving skills to park her car at the side. Her footsteps were definitely not in her control when she started walking towards the house. Moaning and wailing could be heard disturbingly loud, at approximately ninety degrees to her north.

From the far end at the other side of the road, Everett watched the procession of his own funeral in awe. He could not believe that normal people can act so well on two occasions; and two occasions only. Weddings and funerals.

All a world's a stage. His conscious replied to him.

He was only wondering how nature had landed him here. Not even a few seconds ago, it was like he was in afterlife. But now, he was only surrounded with daybreak and morning birds. His own neighbourhood now seemed so uncanny to him.

Derranged, his gaze dropped to a very familiar blonde. She was standing a few feet away from the mob of -seemingly sobbing- people. He gritted his teeth. So she was the barrier to his immortality? By the looks of it, she could easily afford anything. Even new parents, he thought. Why was it that God wanted Everett to help this Lindsay Lohan? Then again, he had to do it for the completion of his own eternal wish.
It was as simple as that.

Or maybe, that is what Everett had initally thought so.

He walked over to her with an evident scowl on his face. Why does he have to walk? Don't souls float around? Zoe was about to approach a woman who was sniffling and dabbing a tissue on her dried cheeks. To Zoe, it seemed like she was only using the tissue to hide her real emotions, rather than for wiping them. She was going to ask her about the deceased person when she felt her shoulder being jerked backwards. She turned around with a gasp, coming face to face with a pair of black eyes and a pale face. This guy looked like he could be a few years older than her, by the looks of the crinkles around his eyes. Or the frown that marred his forehead. Even though one could easily have him mistaken for a mentally unsetlling person, he was awfully furious looking right now.

"May I help you?" Zoe inquired in an audibly polite manner. She was still deciding on how to recover from such a rude first encounter.

"I think I should be the one asking you that." Everett snapped his hand away from Zoe's stiff shoulder, and stuffed it inside his pockets. "What's up with you, blondie?"