Jason Aster and the lost child

Chapter 1

I felt myself wake up but refused to open my eyes for fear of what I might see. I was dead, I knew I was. I had to be. There was no way I could have survived the crash. So, I lay there unmoving in what felt like..... snow? How could there be snow?

It was hot and raining where I had been, but it was definitely snow. I know snow about as well as I know my family. Slowly, and I might add, hesitantly I tried to sit up still scared to open my eyes. But as I tried to sit up I felt a weight on my chest, and then, I felt that weight get up and move off me. I jumped to my feet eyes shut tighter than a bank vault and backed away from where I'd felt the weight move. I continued until I hit what I believed to be a tree with my back (which hurt) and breathed heavily as I felt my hoodie's hood pressed against the back of my neck. I felt something brushing against my hand and yanked it to my chest as I took short ragged breaths, and slowly began, to open my eyes and take in my new surroundings.

I could see that I was in a snowy forest somewhere high up, presumably in a mountain. I felt myself be brushed by again and took a deep breath, looking down, and seeing some kind of creature about the size of a dog. It's "fur" felt almost like snow yet for some reason not cold, I also noticed the odd fact that it's fur was a very icy blue color. It was almost as if it's fur were made of ice crystals. It was quadrupedal, with a tail shaped almost like a crystal, large pointed ears presumably to help it avoid predators in a dense snowy forest, and it's paws, tail tip, and ears were a deeper shade of blue. The creature was unnaturally friendly. It had sat with me while unconscious, was seeking my affection, followed me to the tree, and was actively trying to play a game with me piling snowballs at me feet, while all the while being unphased in any manner by my actions.

It was at this point I realized I was not at all cold for some reason, even with my current attire i should be feeling cold in a place like this. Shrugging it off as the shock i put up my hood and stuffed my hands in the pocket of my hoodie putting on the gloves within. I turned my focus to figuring out where I was and finding someway home.

"Where the heck am I?!" I wondered audibly In a voice that didn't seem to be mine but almost like it came from the very air around my head speaking on my behalf. The creature heard me speak for the first time and it's ears perked in my direction as it ran to me excited to hear me speak. It got up on it's hind legs and pawed at my sleeve to try and get my attention before dropping another snowball at my feet.

"What are you?!" It stared knowingly at me belying a hidden intelligence. I sighed and picked up the snowball hoping to get rid of it. I threw it as hard as I could away from me and ran the opposite direction while it ran to retrieve it. I ran for what felt like hours before I was forced to stop dead at the edge of a cliff skidding forward teetering on the edge with nigh a breath. "I'm going to die, again, I think." I screamed as i felt myself start to fall forward only to have something grab the back of my hoodie pulling me backwards onto my butt as I panted exhaustedly.

The creature from before came into my sight smiling and rubbed against me. "you saved me?" It nodded with the same goofy smile on it's face. I smiled and pet it's head standing up. I noticed a city at the bottom of the cliff and started searching for a way down.

I arrived in the city with the creature in tow after many an hour of struggles to get down, weary and tired. I walked weakly around town until I found a building with the sign "Information" in huge bright neon letters. I wandered in tiredly and fell into my seat at the desk and waited for someone to meet with me, dozing off in the process.

I awoke with a start to the sound of a heavy door swinging shut behind the attendant. She was a tall, gangly women with a creature, it was very similar to the one that had followed me. However, its tail was shaped like a lightning bolt, it's fur was yellow with white paws and ears, and a set of long fangs with one protruding from either side of it's mouth. She had a newspaper in hand she was reading silently as she sat down across from me.

"you're the new arrival huh?" I looked at her confused. "How did you know I would come here?!" She groaned and folded her newspaper looking me dead in the eyes. "You're dead, this is one of five places you pop up when you die, how you die determines which you end up at, I'm sure you have a lot of questions so ask." I stared silently for a few minutes letting what she'd said sink in. "I'm dead?" was the first thing I managed to bumble into words. She tossed the newspaper onto the table with the obituary section face up in front of me. Jason Aster, age 23, found buried in snow drift, was thrown from car in motor vehicle accident, unsure if died in crash or froze in snow, was on route to his family's' residential home when the accident took place.

I was dumbstruck as I read it. "You didn't realize you were dead?" She sighed at this point. "Why does nobody ever realize." I stammered to respond "I thought so at first but when I got up and started walking around I was kind of convinced otherwise!" She looked at me with mild interest "that's what everyone says." I thought for a moment "If this is where you go when you die why aren't there WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more people around, and what is this thing that keeps following me." She gave a half smile before speaking "AHHH the big questions, the reason there aren't more people is because not everyone comes here, only the people she chooses, before you ask this isn't heaven, or hell, or purgatory, it's somewhere else entirely.

As for your second question they're called Andtiers, one follows everyone, they bond with you as soon as you appear in this place, usually before you even wake up. Once a bond is made it can never be undone. It's kind of a symbiotic relationship, they absorb your.......................... soul. This keeps it from slipping away and gives you a companion, In this place your body exists separately from your soul, without your soul, your body begins to decompose. They keep your soul in a container of sorts you could say, which keeps it from getting damaged and absorbed by something else. They benefit because your soul lets them take and maintain a physical form, it also sustains them as an energy source and gives them someone to be with, they're social creatures you see. Their physical form is based on your personality and the way you died.

You froze to death, and judging from it's appearance, you, maintain a friendly exterior and act like you lack secrets, but in reality you are a very secretive person that doesn't like to show emotion and likes to keep a very keen awareness of your surroundings." I sat there mouth agape looking from her to the creature and back. "So, I froze to death and that's why this thing looks like that?!?!" "Don't refer to them as a "thing" it is your soul in a physical form that likes you, treat it properly, and have you not seen yourself?" I shook my head as she produced a small mirror from her pocket and handed to me. I looked at myself, I was pale, lips turned, and puffed out eyes. I slowly and shakily took my hands out of my pocket and took off the gloves, my hands were reddened and covered in frost bite. I put the gloves back on and handed back the mirror with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

It was then I noticed her hair was spiked out. "S-So, you, got" "Yes, I was electrocuted." She said exasperatedly. "So, what should I call them, and who is she?" I asked in a confused tone. "Most people call them a variation on their name since they are you. To answer your second question, she is that being, that force, that voice that brought us all out of all the static" she said the last part with something between a frown and a smile.

"Now, what?" I asked in a confused manner. "What now?" "Live. You're getting a chance not many do, we have our own shops and businesses, start over here." She said in a monotone voice. "Is there anything else i should know?" I asked in a sheepish tone. "Our world runs parallel to the world of the human world. Before you ask, no your family won't know you." She added the second part just as I began to open my mouth. "Will anyone be able to see me?" I asked confused by her wording. "Perhaps, mostly animals and children, children are incredibly perceptive, we're where imaginary friends come from, the occasional extremely perceptive adult may notice you as well, but they won't see you the way you are, they'll project a memory of someone else they know onto you so they're mind can cope. Most likely someone they've forgotten all but the appearance of." I sat flabbergasted for a few minutes more before getting up and leaving.