Is This the Afterlife? (Old Version)

And I thought I was the only one

To tell you the truth there was nothing exciting about this journey. Everything seemed so... dead. Nothing was moving, and the animals were... different. The birds sang like they always would, but when you gave them a closer look, they looked so... wrong. They seemed more like shadows than everything else. After a few more steps, I notice how a feeling of dread crossed me. I looked to my right and found a... graveyard? I walked over there. It felt so angry, sad, disappointed, and furious.

"What is this," I said to myself. Then something moved. I jumped, but then the thing disappeared. I looked around and found nothing and the graves... had nothing written on them. That's weird. I walked deeper into the grave yard and saw how the stone heads got bigger and bigger.

"Sarah," I heard. I stopped dead in my tracks. "Sarah," the voice said again. I turned around to see a... person! I'm not alone. I felt so relieved, until he was ten feet away. I backed up; He was a shadow!

"Don't be afraid," the shadow stuck out its hand. "Everything is going to be alright." He reached for me. I took two steps back and something touched me. A hand brushed my hair.

"So beautiful," it said. The shadow went in front of me and joined the other. I jumped as another rose to my left. It was smaller than the other two, but I didn't want anything to do with any of them. He joined the other shadows. "Come with us," they said. Then their image shimmered. They turned and looked like my... father, sister, and brother. But they all died in a fire when my mom and I were out of town. But how on earth were they here. They all took hands.

"Stay with us." The words felt so comforting, but something was wrong. Way wrong. I backed up as they got closer.

"Take my hand," my father said. My body was like under control, because I stuck out my hand and reached for his. When I touch his hand, it was cold. Dead cold. "Welcome sister," said my brother. I felt panic set in, but didn't do anything about it. Then my father led me to the tallest headstone in the graveyard. "You'll be safe here," he pointed down into the hole. It was just like a regular grave, except that the grave shimmered with red glow. My brother and sister went in. "You're next," my father pushed me forward. I caught myself before I fell. "No," I said as I backed up. His head turned in an awkward way. "Come with us," he gestured one more time to the hole. I stepped back. "NO," I fiercely said. His head went back and then it happened. Something fast knocked me down and I landed on my butt. Next thing I knew my father was on top of me pushing me down. I fought him, but he kept a hand on me. Then I felt other hands grab my limbs. They then slowly pulled me through the ground. "Stop!" I yelled. But they kept pulling me in. I looked up as my legs went under the ground. Again was this the end for me? I wondered. Dying by sinking into the ground? Once my head went under I reached out for a last bit of hope, but still knowing no one could help me. Not now, not ever.

I closed my eyes, and then something brushed my hair. I panic and sucked in a sharp breath... dirt I guess. Then the hand grabbed mine and hulled me out of the ground. Once all my body was out I gasped. "You alright?" someone asked. I coughed a bit. A hand patted my back then rubbed it. I turned to see a... boy. And dang he was cute. His brown hair waved to one side, his eyes were the prettiest color of blue and his smile was so adorable. Why, I can't believe I said that. He looked around then grabbed my arm.

"We need to go, NOW." He help pulled me up to my feet. "Can you run?"

"Yeah," I huffed out. He took my hand which felt warm and... Alive in his and we both took off out of the grave yard. As we ran more shadows rose from the ground. When you looked at them, they had the image of skeletons and some people I knew. I almost stopped when I saw Jade. "Don't," he said after I stopped, "they aren't real." With that said I took off again with him. After a long sprint we made it back to the path. Its glow was brighter than it was. I turned around, and noticed how the shadows stopped ten feet away. Once tried to get closer, but when it stepped a flash of fire popped up. The shadows hiss and went back to the graveyard.

"What were those things?" I asked him. He looked at the graveyard for a long time checking and making sure those things weren't following us anymore.

"They're called Shadows," he said. I nodded, that was obvious enough. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to walk in a graveyard at night?" Was he seriously joking? "No," I snapped back. He backed off. "How would I even know that?!" He had to think it through. I got up and brushed myself. I glad when I went out I still had my favorite pair of jeans and shirt. "Come on," he said. He grabbed my arm once again, but I pulled back as he pulled me forward. "Tell me first," he waited for my question, "who are you?" He sighed. It wasn't like he was in a big rush. "I'm Dustin," he responded, "let's go." He pulled me forward again. He kept pushing me forward, until I said "Hey!" when I almost tripped. Luckily he had fast reflexes to go with that handsome face, because he grabbed me before I fell.

"We can't slow down now, they'll catch us." I hit the brakes. He turned fast to look at me.

"Wait, who will catch us?" I forcefully said. He still had his hand gripped tightly on my wrist. He gave a harsh huff. "The shadow of course and if you're lucky enough, you won't have to see the soul catcher." Freeze, I knew who the shadows were, but who were the soul catchers. He looked around. "You need to go, NOW," he pulled me once more and I pulled my hand away. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Don't you want to get back to your body?" How does he know that? "You are a walker aren't you?" What the crap was a walker?! My mind raced as I thought this all through. A walker, shadows, soul catchers, and a journey. What the heck. He snapped his fingers to pull me out of my trance.

"Aren't you?" he asked again. His blue eyes stared down at mine.

"A... what."

"A walker. Don't you need to make it back to your body?" I nodded. He grabbed my hand. "Then let's go." I stopped one more time. "How do you know I need to get back?" I had a feeling he was about to explode with words, but didn't. "You're a walker, because you look more ghostly like than me." I looked at him then at my hand. He's right. "That also means you're not dead... yet. Unlike me you have a chance to make it back to your world and don't have to live here forever. Is that enough for you?" I nodded. He then took off running and I followed. We both traveled the trail my angel has guided me to. Now, how do we escape this place?

(Edited by Desseh)