The Chasing Hour

Chapter 1

Her hands, bruised and scratched, reach up slowly to touch her bandaged forehead. She whispers his name innocently under her breath. That's when they know she's awake. They're more than afraid to tell her what happened. Her best friend was gone and they knew a part of her went with him. She'd woken up in a nightmare she'll never be able to escape. Her green eyes opened lazily, slowly at first and then they burst open taking everything in with them. She squinted shortly after in the newfound labyrinth of bright lights shining in her face.

His name still sat heavy on her tongue and in her mind. Her voice didn't speak it anymore though. She looked around the room to discover that everything was all to true. The nightmare that so turned her stomach was not a nightmare but real life. "He's gone..." She whispers and her voice shakes involuntarily. Nobody around her though makes a sound. Her lip quivers with the knowledge of the truth and the thought of life without him. There is no life without him. She doesn't understand how he could've died and she could've lived. She walked away with barely a concussion and he died with windshield glass to his chest.

There was something new about her now that he was gone, something highly unexplainable. That night in the hospital the moon had rose high up in the sky. The moonlight streaked across the curtains in the window. The clock in the hallway hit midnight and belt out twelve monotonous notes. Her face seemed to start to shimmer in the faint light of the moon. Little golden flecks of light sparkled over her. She smiled then too. Her broken heart refused a smile when she was awake. The doctor's rushed about her screaming her name. She never woke up to their voices, and for a moment it was like she were dead. Once the clock hit one the shimmering stopped and she'd wake up at the simple tap of a finger on her shoulder.

While she was asleep she woke up to the clock singing it's midnight song and she sat up in bed. All her energy was back as her eyes darted around the room. The consistent beeping of the hospital machinery had vanished. The sanitary smell that hung in the air seemed to have disappeared. Her heart no longer pounded in her ears as a side effect of her concussion. She was aware of everything and a smile tickled her face.

She saw a fuzzy shadow in the distance. The hospital room faded around her and she walked forward into the foggy distance. Her eyes followed every small movement as she went into such unfamiliar territory. The worldly things fell away; the hospital walls no longer confined her. She felt as if she was walking on a sheet of thin clouds. Around her buildings sparkled as if she were in a dream, like they weren't completely there. She couldn't seem to get a firm focus on anything.

She saw human outlines around her; fuzzy black blobs that moved in a uniform all way. She watched them calmly sweep past her as if they were merely lost souls. One outline stopped right in front of her and circled around her. The outline of him, of Sam. The gentle outline of his jawline, his curious eyes that always stared at her intently while she talked. She opened her voice to speak but no words came out. "You love me?" He asked with tears in his eyes and she nodded her head. His arms opened up and she walked straight into him.

His arms fell straight through her. His papery white complexion shone against the bright lights of the atmosphere. She looked into his eyes and salty tears formed in her own. "I didn't want to leave you..." He whispered gently against the soft flesh of her ear love. She nodded her head and bit down on her tongue briskly to keep the sobs from escaping.

"I know." She whispered back to him. His hand snaked around her back and she felt it's ghostly presence just barely there. A smile never left her face as he began to walk. In this world there was no wind, nothing unbearable. Everything was simply perfect. The streets they walked were golden. The quiet between her and Sam was a comfortable silence. She hummed silently to herself as they walked, the heels of their shoes clicked silently on the brick.

"They told me you'd come..." He whispered and she looked up at him with a questionable look on her face. His eyebrows drew together in deep thought. Her green eyes looked up at him as if she could see through him.

"They did?" She questioned and he nodded his head.

"They said you'd come for me, to take me back to Earth." His face grew to a puzzled expression and he looked straight ahead for a moment.

Iris wrinkled her eyebrows slowly going over the words in her mind. She rubbed her tongue over her lips cautiously as if she were tasting them. "Take you back to Earth?" Her voice sounded so foreign; so hopeful. She hadn't talked in over a week since the accident. She stared down at her feet innocently.

"Yep," He whispered gently. She opened her mouth to reply back but he held up his hand. He knew she was going to ask how, he knew her so well. "They called you a chaser..." His voice trailed off and again he turned his face to look straight ahead. "A person who loses someone close to them and a part of them dies. Iris," His face looked straight ahead a mix of worry and confusion on his face. "Iris, you only have half a soul..." His voice was empty of all emotion when he broke the news and she hardly knew how to reply but he wasn't quite finished yet. "They said you have sixty days to prove that you love me but with each passing hour you'll get sicker; slowly get sicker. At sixty days if they don't believe it then your soul will wither away, but you won't be able to come here; to the afterlife. Iris, you'll be gone." His voice is grave and her shoulders tense up at the talk of her death.

"What if I convince them?" She asked in a small intimidated whisper. She forced a smile onto her lips as she saw Sam's eyes wet with tears. She didn't want him to worry over her.

"If you convince them then I get to go back to Earth with you..." He whispered in a voice so low you could barely hear it. His eyes locked on the ground and he whistled quietly. His shoes dragged on the golden brick as he kicked at invisible stones.

"What if I can't?" She asked and immediately he paused in the middle of their walk. He reached for her hands but stopped realizing they couldn't touch. She looked up at him and her whole body shook with nerves. She looked around as if something were to come right then and drag her away.

"I'm not going to let them take you..." He whispered and slowly he leaned in closer to her. As they got closer she knew they would collide and he'd fall right through. The most peculiar thing happened though and their lips locked.

When they pulled away she took a deep breath. "Remember, when we were in first grade and we used to pick those dandelions?" He asked and she nodded. His cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson. "You were always my dandelion wish..." His voice trailed off into the distance slowly and then all at once.

She woke up back in her hospital room, alone again. The clock on the wall motioned it's arms pointed at one o'clock. Her eyes darted around the room quickly and silently she whistled just like he had. The exact same tune. 'It was just a dream'. She thought to herself innocently and she hit her pillow a few times with her fists. No matter how much she wanted for it to be reality it couldn't be. Slowly she lowered herself back on the white sheet of the pillowcase. In her head she silently whispered over and over again. "And you Sam Brown, were my dandelion wish..." But she didn't know if he could hear her or not. She felt like he could though and somewhere, she felt like he was looking down on her and smiling that toothy grin that she had always loved so much.