A Note From The Author.
SHOUTOUT TO THOSE AMAZING PEOPLE WHO HAVE COMMENTED, FANNED, AND VOTED.
You guys are my inspiration.
~Rayna
***
Layla-Age 16--?
***
When I awoke, all I saw was a light.
I quickly closed my eyes.
Was I in heaven?
Was Peter here?
NO! I gotta stop doing that! I HAVE to stop thinking about Peter.
I heard a man's voice. It sounded like a bunch of mashed up syllables, but when I started coming to my senses, I could make out some words.
"e mi t be okay. we wil ave t run a foo tests. "
What?
Did God speak jibberish?
I opened my eyes, facing the light.
The light quickly swerved out of the way and I saw a man in a mask.
I sniffed.
I started to get the scent of old people and child books.
I moved.
My whole body felt like a massive fire, eating itself in pain.
Oh this wasn't heaven.
It was a hospital.
"Are you OK?" asked the mask man.
I was lying in a hospital, half-concious. Of course I'm not "OK."
Yet somehow I murmered the word, "yes."
The Mask Man said, "You were in a dangerous wreck, Ms. Poltone. Do you remember any of that?"
All I remember was Peter on the freeway.
But still I managed to say, "yes."
"Do you feel any current pains?"
"Yes," I said with a slight grunt, "Everywhere."
"That's the stitching, I'm afraid," he said, "You split open your left calf muscle, and completely broke your other leg. Your hand and arm were filled with glass. You're actually very lucky that that was it. The pain from the stitches should wear off in a month."
I laughed hysterically for no reason.
Mask Man drew out a small chuckle,"That's the 'laughing' gas."
I looked to my left and saw Aimee.
"Hi Aimee!" I yelled in a drunken voice.
The Mask Man's face tightened with fear.
Aimee looked stunned, like I was crazy.
"Come on, Aim, it's the gas, I'm not THAT bad," I giggled.
"How do you see me?" asked Aimee.
Right then I snapped out of my hysterical state.
"Wha-?"
Mask Man looked at me very sternly.
"Layla, I didn't want to have to tell you this, especially while you where on the gas, but your friend, Aimee,...
Is dead."
I looked sorrowfully into her big brown eyes.
"You don't see her," he explained, "but you might think so. The gas has strange effects on people.
The gas. Yeah, sure. THAT was why I could see her. What a joke.
At that moment, I thought of a million things I could say.
None would bring her back.
But I just said, "yes."
"I'll leave you alone while the gas wears off," said Mask Man.
But the 'gas phase' was already gone.
Just like Aimee.
The closest thing I would ever have to a friend.
Aimee looked at me when Mask Man left.
"You see ghosts Miss Poltone," she said in a scary, yet delightful voice, little innocent dead girl who was about to kill someone.
"That's something I didn't know about you..," she said, "what else are you hiding?"
I stared blankly.
"Fine. You don't have to talk. But listen. I will find out your every secret. I WILL destroy your life...
...Just like you did to me."
Then she disappeared.
The only thoughts I could manage were something like this:
Aimee was dead.
And it was my fault.
And she knew about my ability.
And now, I was ruined.
The brightside?...I wasn't thinking so much about Peter.
Luck works in twisted ways.
