"Once there was a girl who lived in a world, as all people hopefully do. If they don't, may angels bless them. This world was, and possibly is like ours, I don't know.
This girl was named Star, after the angel that protected the skies of her world. Star was quite happy, up until she was about nine. As a nine year old she wanted to know, to learn, to absorb the ink from pages that she wished would tell her things.
Star realized she wished she didn't live in a paper world. In a world that could so easily tear, and change. She wished she lived in a more solid world, like the bricks of her house; like the stones in the Blue River.
Anyways, if you decide to sit around the fire with me, you might learn secrets of the heart, and slight of the hand. Remember, you are in a new place, you don't know who my guardian angel is, you might not have awakened yours. One more thing, as we get on in our journey of words, it might take me a while to tell you parts of the story. I am getting on in my years, three months until my death."
Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld.
*****
When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying!
[[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]]
[[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]