Hello there (please say you understood that reference). Anyway, this chapter turned out longer than expected, and I had to change up some things in my chapter plan so this would make sense, but it turned out okay I guess. Enjoy!
I slowly opened the door and looked out. No one was here. I began walking down the hallway, silently. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. This place looked more abandoned than it should be.
I then noticed a green snake out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Sakari, trying to clean a wound on her body. "Sakari," I whisper-yelled, crouching next to her. There wasn't much Ire (that's the blood of the spirit animals, by the way. Seriously, with all the explaining I do I should write a guide about the Afterlife). Her wound wasn't deep so she would be fine. I wrapped a piece of cloth from my hood around her wound. She took a deep breath. "Thanks, Alex."
"Sakari, what the hell are you here," I asked. She sighed. "Because you need my help, my protection. That's the point of a spirit animal. You should know this, I wrote it in my notes." I remembered when I first met Sakari and she had given me a pile of notes about 5 feet tall. "Yeah, those notes that I totally read." Sakari was about to say something but then shook her head. "Not the point. The point is I'm here to help. Now, what is the first thing you need to know?"
Questions. I had millions of them. Who was trying to kill Jordan? Was she meant to die? How could I save her if she was? I also had questions about myself and the other dead. What would happen if we went back to the Afterlife? Would we be sent to the Place of the Broken? Would we be treated as common criminals and scum? It was making my head hurt.
I decided to ask a question that would help me at the moment. "Where are the others," I asked. Sakari nodded. "They are together, don't worry. They found Will and are hiding and cleaning up their wounds as we speak. Walk down the hall and take a right—second door. That's where they are." I nodded. "Thank you." She smiled. "Again, that's my job." Then she disappeared in a white glow and I was alone again.
I ran through the halls and opened the door. The room was empty. I was wondering if Sakari was wrong when someone jumped on my back and began trying to punch me. "Get away from us you annoying greaseball," I heard the person (who I now could tell was Henry) say. "Henry, it's me, it's me," I exclaimed, trying to protect my head. He stopped punching and got off me. "Alex?" I nodded, rubbing my head. I saw the others behind some boxes. Lena and Jordan peeked their heads out. "Alex," Jordan exclaimed. Lena gave me a bone-crushing hug. "Where's Will," I asked. Henry motioned over to Zack, who was sitting Will against a box. Will was unconscious, but he looked fine. He didn't look tortured or injured. He did seem different though. Like he had seen things, things that meant everything would be different.
None of us looked like we were in the best shape. Jordan looked terrible (no offense). I guess that wasn't too surprising since she had been in a car crash and a battle in a matter of hours. Lena had a scar on the side of her face. I motioned to it. "Does it hurt?" She shook her head and smiled. "I think it makes me look tough, don't you?" She pretended to flex a muscle and I chuckled. I then moved over to Zack and Will, sitting down next to them. "He's going to be fine," Zack said turning to me. That's when I noticed his left eye. It had a big bruise and looked swelled up. "Your eye-" I said. He shrugged. "I'll be fine. It doesn't hurt too much." I gave him a look. "You sure?" Zack sighed. "Fine. It hurts. A lot." Tears began forming in his eyes. I hugged him gently. "I know it hurts. But you have to keep fighting. Just because you're older doesn't mean things don't hurt. Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can stop fighting."
Zack let go of me and wiped his good eye with his sleeve. He nodded. "Keep fighting." I smiled. "That's right."
Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door. Everyone jumped. "Jordan, please open the door," Jordan's mom said. Jordan looked over at the door, terrified and relieved at the same time. Henry smiled. "Mom," He said. "Lena, come on, let's go play," I heard a little girl say. Lena's eyes filled with tears. "Alie," she asked, her voice cracking. I wanted to ask her who Alie was, but this wasn't the time. "Alex, can I see your drawings, you are so good at them," my dad's voice said.
This wasn't real, I thought. My dad was long dead by now. And he never even looked at my art since he was too busy with "work things." What was this? I dug deep into my brain, but it didn't help that my dad was calling out my name. "Come on Alex." "Open the door." "It'll be okay." It made me want to scream, to break down.
Then I realized what was going on. This was a device called the Mimicker. I remembered a story Nick had told me, where he saw a Reaper lure an old man in front of a car by using the device to mimic his child's voice. I hadn't realized how terribly sick that was, but now I understood. Henry reached for the handle. "Don't open the door. It's a trick," I said. Henry shook his head. "No it's not," he said as if in a trance. Then he opened the door.
Nick shook his head. "You know, you shouldn't open a door for strangers," Nick said, smirking. I threw a rock at him but he dodged easily. "How rude." I glared at him. "Close the shades," I said (which means shut up for all you not 70's babies out there). Nick rolled his eyes and motioned for some of his Reapers to come in and grab us. The next thing I knew one of them had knocked me out cold.
When I woke up I was in a cell, lying on the cold metal floor. I looked up slightly to see Nick sitting on a chair outside the cell. He didn't realize I was awake yet. I heard some groaning and turned my head slowly to see Lena waking up. "Hey sunshine," Nick said, smirking again. Lena wiped her nose, which had a nosebleed. "I don't like those Reapers," she said. Nick chuckled slightly. "I'll admit, they can be violent. But that's part of the job."
"So you're just going to let a girl die," Lena asked. "That's the point of my job." Lena shook her head. "Would anything be different if the girl was Emily?" "Don't mention Emily," Nick snapped, standing up. "Nick you don't have to be the bad guy." He shook his head. "I'm not the criminal."
Lena sighed. "Nick, what happened to you? You used to be so nice and polite." Nick glared at Lena. "I grew up," he said, starting to walk away. "When will you?"
Nick left the room. I tried to wake up, but my body wasn't having it. About a minute later, there was an explosion, and Jordan, Zack, Henry, and Will (who was still unconscious) ran into the room. "Let's go," Zack said, unlocking the cell with a skeleton key. That's when I fell unconscious again.
When I woke up I was on Jordan's couch. I sat up, alert. "It's okay, we're safe," Jordan said, handing me a piece of pizza on a paper plate (that's a tongue twister). "What happened," I asked.
Jordan explained the whole story, how she and the others had escaped, how they had ambushed a Reaper and made some explosions as a distraction, and how they had fought their way out of the prison. "So I missed all the action," I said. Jordan nodded. I took a bite of the pizza. "So, anything else I missed," I asked after swallowing.
Jordan rubbed the back of her neck. "Actually, yeah. You know how you told me about spirit animals?" I nodded suspiciously. Jordan moved to the side and there stood a woodpecker. "Well, Alex, this is Peck. My spirit animal. And he has news."
I wonder what his news is?😏
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I appreciate you reading and hope you continue!
