- inspired by this art from somebody-1 on tumblr -
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
- entered into @moscow.in.1776 ‘s 10k contest - - ships: (implied) Connor × Evan and Veronica × JD -
It felt like I was falling.
I'd done it. Taken too many pills, and I was gone.
Nobody cared anyway.
It felt like falling, dying did.
And then, all of a sudden, I landed on a cloud.
“A cloud. A fucking cloud. There is - what is this bullshit? I'm really dead, huh? This is what it's like to be dead.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes at myself. “Yes, Connor, you're really fucking dead. As of five minutes ago, you went and killed yourself in the park like an idiot. Now, this is a strange way to - this is really what being dead is like?”
“What were you expecting? Hell?” a voice said, causing me to nearly give myself whiplash turning to look at whoever was speaking.
“Who are you?” I asked. I'd never met this kid before. At least, I didn't think I had. Black trench coat, black t-shirt. No, I definitely would have remembered meeting someone like this.
“Jason Dean. You can call me JD. Teen death, huh? What did you do?”
“Um….”
“Right. Welcome to the place that teenagers go when they die, apparently. So how did you die? Car crash?”
I looked at him strangely. “Suicide.”
“Huh. Funnily enough, we don't have any suicide victims here.”
A girl clad only in a red silk robe walked up next to him. “Just murder victims.”
“Wha…?”
“Heather Chandler. Murdered by this dickhead and his ex-girlfriend at the untimely age of seventeen.”
Trench coat kid - JD - rolled his eyes. “When are you gonna be over that? It's been 28 years, Heather.”
“When am I going to be over the fact that you murdered me? How about never!?”
The two of them bickered for a bit more until a third teenager showed up, this one dressed like he was from the 1700’s. “Heather, Jason, you are both dead, and arguing about it is not going to change anything. I bet you didn’t even ask the kid his name.” He glanced at me. “Did they?”
I shook my head, still insanely confused as to what I was doing here.
1700’s sighed. “I figured. My name is Philip Hamilton. And your name is…?”
I stared at him. “Connor Murphy. Did you say your last name was Hamilton?”
“That I did. Son of Alexander Hamilton, killed in a duel at the age of 19.”
“Oh, we learned about Hamilton in school. Didn't hear about you.”
“Hey, look, it's a stoner!”
“What's another emo kid doin’ here? That's not JD.” Two boys in letterman jackets ran over, the one on the left shouted first and the one on the right second.
Philip sighed. “Brilliant observation. No, that is not JD, he is over there.”
“Kurt Kelly,” the jock on the right said.
“Ram Sweeney,” the other one said.
“And you did what? Got too drunk?” I stifled a laugh. “Or did you hurt yourself too bad playing football?”
“We were both murdered,” Kurt said, “by emo #1 over there.”
I looked at Philip. “Was that kid some sort of psycho?”
“Yes.” He nodded.
Heather walked over. “He tried to blow up our old school.”
“And roast marshmallows over the students’ burned bodies,” Ram added.
“Guys, it's in the past. I'm dead now. Can't blow up anybody while I'm dead.” JD called. “Hey, Connor, check this out!” He waved me over to a place where I could see down onto my house.
“Is that…. Evan?” I stared at the kid talking to my family at my house. “What's he saying?”
JD shrugged. “Go down there and find out.”
I stared at him. “Go down there.”
“Yeah. It's pretty easy to. Just… wait, Heather, how did you do it?”
She rolled her eyes at him and said to me, “Focus on whoever you want to be able to see you. You should end up wherever they are.”
I watched Evan finish up his talk with my family. “Alright.” I did as Heather said, focusing on Evan. All of a sudden, I was standing in front of the other teen, who now had a shocked expression on his face.
“C-connor? But you're dead! You just died!”
“I'm definitely dead. I just have one thing to say to you, Evan.” I smiled. “Make sure nobody forgets about me. And don't fade into the background yourself. No one deserves to disappear.”
Focusing on JD, I tried to go back up onto that cloud.
It didn't work.
“Connor?” Evan looked concerned.
“I can do this. Hold on.” I heard Philip’s voice.
“Connor, just focus on the fact that you are dead now, and you should be able to come back. Right, Heather?” I assumed she nodded or said yes because Philip didn't correct himself. I shut my eyes and did as Philip said. When I opened them, I was indeed back on the cloud.
“What did you tell him?” JD asked.
“Something I meant to say when I was alive.”
“Boring. No love confessions or anything?” Heather said, studying her nails.
I stared at my feet. “No.”
“Ugh. You know, when I followed Veronica…” She kept chattering away to Kurt, Ram, and Philip. JD was still watching someone from the edge.
