Adore // Oneshots

After Life (Joshler)

CATEGORY: Fluff/angst
FEATURING: child!Tyler and child!Josh
TRIGGER WARNING: DEATH, FEELS
PROMPT: None, I legitimately got the idea for this from a wacky dream
WORD COUNT: Approximately 3,570

I have been dead for a long time.

I don't know how long, exactly. Time is confusing in death. It feels like I've been asleep, really, since I died.

I can't remember how I died. I actually can't remember much of anything. I mean, I can remember things about the world, and life, but I just can't remember my world and my life.

When I wake up, everything is kind of foggy, like I'm just being brought out of a dream. My vision is blurry, and I blink a few times as I get up for the first time since I was put here.

I'm in a forest. It's night, and the light of the pale moon shines through the trees, helping my eyes adjust.

The weird thing is, I can't feel anything.

I can't feel the breeze against me, and I can't feel the ground I'm laying on. I can't feel my hands, or my feet, or any part of me. This sends a rush of alarm through me.

I try to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down, but find I can't breathe.

I panic for a few minutes, but soon reality sets in. Does it matter if I can't breathe, or feel anything? It means I won't be able to feel pain, and besides, what's the worst that could happen to me now? I'm already dead.

I note that though I have no feeling in my body, I can move. I sit up and look around me a bit more.

I'm sitting on a leafy forest floor. I can hear the sound of running water nearby, like a gentle stream. A breeze rustles the leaves in the trees, and somehow, I find this dark forest familiar. 

What I do not find familiar, however, is my own appearance. I'm sure I had flesh and blood once, but I'm a skeleton now. This isn't scary to me, just strange. My bones are white and pale, almost the same color as the moon, although I get the feeling this isn't the real moon.

Now I can see that the moon has sunk down below the trees. It's much larger than the real moon, unnaturally bright and silvery. I find it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Some part of me wants to go closer to the moon. I don't know why, but I decide to do it.

I stand carefully. My legs are a bit wobbly, but I manage, and take my first steps since my death.

I feel more and more calm as I walk towards the moon. It keeps me in its silver gaze.

I follow the fake moon for a long time. It just keeps growing bigger and bigger as I get closer to it.

After a time, I've reached the moon. It hovers just a few feet past the edge of a cliff. I can hear the dark ocean quietly churning below.

The moon is so beautiful. 

I want so badly to touch it.

Maybe I can...

But what if I fall? Can I die twice?

I know it's the worst idea I've ever had (though I can't remember any bad ideas I've had before), but I stand just at the edge of the cliff and reach out to touch the moon's almost soft-looking surface.

The cliff crumbles.

I fall,

fall,

fall

down to the ocean.

I almost expect to feel the impact.

I wait to fall asleep again, like I did before, but I don't.