A loud noise woke me up, turning around in bed half awake, I set my eyes on the clock.
"3 in the morning?"I heard the noise again, and realized that someone was knocking at the door.
"Who the hell is knocking at this time?" While I was rushing down the stairs, the sound wouldn't stop.
"I'm almost there, it cannot be that imp-" I swallowed my own words, when I noticed that the knocking wasn't coming from the front door but from "grandma's library?" I asked myself.
I walked slowly towards it as I thought, If this was a horror movie I'd be screaming: run you stupid woman or you'll be the first to die. I've seen quite a few of those.
For when I finished processing and agreeing with my thoughts, my body had already acted by itself and I was grabbing a book.
"But, what?" The sound came from the book, as if somebody was banging from the inside.
I opened it with shaky hands, "it's blank" I said quietly, as if I could be heard by someone. I ran through the pages with my fingers and yes, they were completely empty.
"I'm going crazy, yes, that's it." Books don't make noises, unless it's a child's book with buttons, you know, the ones that make animal sounds like muuu or beee. I would've loved to have one of -
"Focus" I said to myself.
I decided to put the book back on the shelf, maybe I was still in bed and this was just a dream. As I turned around to go back to the room, the only thing I could do was scream. With all my will.
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]]