The Third Afterlife

The Third Afterlife - Chapter One

Chapter One: An Obsession

Demi Scarlett VanderWaal

There he was, leaning against that tree again.

I couldn't see him, nor could anyone else, but we all knew he was there, because if we looked that direction, we got nauseous and our heads ached like we'd slammed them against a brick wall. How I wanted his ability, but he was the only person on the island that had it; the ability to repulse.

He was a vampire, by the name of Akeley Radcliffe, and that's all anyone knew. We didn't know what he looked like, what he sounded like, if he was nice or mean. All we could do was think his name and even that gave me a slight headache, saying his name out loud was asking to die.  

Each and every perpetual on the island had an ability unlike no other. Some were similar, except his. No one else could repulse the way he could. It was incredible. Maybe it was because he was a vampire; we didn't have hardly any vampires on the island; people made fun of them. The popular thing for guys was the wolverine, for girls it was the gargoyle.

I was a wolverine, chosen so I could run whenever I'd like.

I came to the hangout spot on the island every day and sat on the bleachers drawing, and every day he was there, against that willow tree. No one liked him, just for the plain reason that he was repulsive. So people made fun of him a lot, but left out his name, in an attempt to stay healthy.

But for me, I wasn't mad that he blocked me out, or interested even, I was jealous. Oh, how I wished I could disappear from the world the way he could.

My name was Demi, I was nineteen, and I'd been on the Island of Perpetual Territory for twenty-seven years. No one really knew how old Akeley was, or how long he'd been on the island but I wondered oddly about him sometimes. On my lonely nights in bed, when it rains and I can't sleep, the restless nights when I awake with jolts from nightmares, I thought about him then and wondered if he had nightmares or if the rain made him restless too.

I had dark chocolate-colored skin and milk chocolate-colored hair. It was thick and sort of wavy, but not much, it went just below my shoulders and touched my breast. I had yellow eyes, like all wolverines. Also, my thin nose and large puckered lips, always wet, round, doll-like eyes had shadows under them from my restless, haunting nights. I was lucky enough to have my own house on the island, for the ones in multi perpetual houses that had to share a room with something, well I felt bad for them.

I woke up sometimes screaming, I would feel bad for whoever would end up with me if I ever got put in a multi-perpetual house. I wished we could pick our own houses but we couldn't. As I watched kids playing soccer I bit my lip, I didn't remember my human life before I died, but I pondered around the idea of if I was any good at sports.

With my body type though, I'd say I wasn't. I took another bite of my sandwich and then traded it out for the pencil sitting next to my skinny jeans. 

I continued to draw what I imagined Akeley looked like, a dark-headed nerd. But still slightly handsome. I tried looking at him again but almost threw up in the process so I gave up on it. I wondered if he could feel people trying to look, I wondered if maybe he was looking at me. He was such a mystery to me, a mystery I so dearly wanted to solve.

After drawing for a few minutes I started packing up my stuff, scoffing the rest of my turkey, pepperoni, honey mustard sandwich. My brother thought it was disgusting but I thought it was good; it filled me up at least. But only in so many ways, I would have to hunt soon.