Because of the Accident (Book 1)

Chapter 10

Somehow, I entered that same heaven-like spirit world I'd found myself in before, but this time, Lia was with me. The weightless, ethereal surroundings felt both familiar and foreign with her presence beside me. I turned to her in shock, and she mirrored my reaction, both of us jumping back as her mother's figure appeared before us, shimmering like an apparition.

"Tell me you didn't see that?" I stammered, my voice breaking through the eerie silence. My pulse raced, adrenaline surging through my veins as I tried to make sense of what was happening. Lia's face, pale with shock, told me she saw it too. She opened her mouth, trying to speak, but the words caught in her throat. Finally, she managed a whisper.

"My mom...," she breathed, her eyes wide as they darted between me and the vision of her mother.

"I saw her too," I said softly, trying to wrap my mind around it. My gaze fell to my hands, unsure of whether now was the right moment to explain or if I even had an explanation for what just happened. How had I brought her here? How had we both ended up in this strange, mystical place?

Tentatively, I reached out and placed my hand on Lia's. The second our skin touched, everything went black again, the world around us vanishing like smoke. Then, out of the darkness, her mother reappeared, standing before us, solid and real—or as real as anything could be in this place. Lia's eyes flooded with tears as she turned to me, then back to her mother, disbelief etched on her face. Without a second thought, she ran forward, throwing her arms around her mother's ghostly figure, clutching her tightly.

"Mom!" she cried, her voice raw with emotion. "How is this happening? Are you real?" Her voice cracked under the weight of the impossible reunion, her hands trembling as they gripped her mother's shoulders. I stood back, watching, my heart heavy with the intensity of the moment. This wasn't just a vision. It was something more. Something powerful.

Lia's mother pulled her gently away from the embrace, holding her daughter's hands in hers. For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, the kind of longing and pain only the dead and the living could share. Then she turned her gaze to me, confusion clouding her expression.

"How is she here?" she asked, her voice quiet but full of wonder. "She was just..." Her words trailed off, and she shook her head as if trying to clear away the strangeness of it all. "She's not supposed to be here."

I took a step closer, feeling the weight of her question pressing down on me. "I don't know," I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. "Weird stuff has been happening to me lately. I must've somehow brought her here to see you."

Lia whipped her head around to face me, confusion and disbelief etched in every line of her face. "What?" she demanded, her voice shaky. "What's going on? Where are we?" Her eyes darted between me, her mother, and the vast, endless expanse of the spirit world around us.

"I don't know either," she said softly, her own confusion mirroring her daughter's. "I'm Marice, by the way. But if she's not dead... and you're not dead... then how am I here? I shouldn't be here." Her voice grew more frantic as she turned her attention fully toward me. "What are you? And what are you doing with my daughter?" Her tone rose in volume, a mother's protective instinct taking over. She stepped away from Lia, her eyes narrowing in on me like I was something dangerous, something unknown.

I panicked, grabbing Lia's arm instinctively. In an instant, everything blurred, and we were pulled out of the spirit world, the colors and sounds of that ethereal place dissolving around us like mist. Suddenly, we were back in our bed, lying exactly where we'd been before. My heart pounded in my chest, adrenaline still coursing through my veins. Lia opened her eyes slowly, confusion flickering in them as she shifted away from me, her body tensing with fear.