Romancing the Afterlife

She Lives!

Cain sat in a beanbag chair staring at the former blonde beauty sprawled out across his futon in The Box. He had managed to smuggle her around the side of the house, and through the backyard, and into The Box without his mom or dad noticing. He had worried about what she might do given her frenzied behaviour and sense of pursuit for her old life, when they should be keeping it on the down low for now. Luckily the moment she entered The Box she passed out on the futon. Now he was left contemplating what they actually should do. This situation was very different than how he’d always unrealistically imagined it, but the sight of her slumber was well worth the broken sleep on the floor. His father was at work for the day and he’d already taken the initiative to assure his mom he had picked up breakfast on the way home and was working on something in The Box and wasn’t to be disturbed. A better explanation might be required later, but for the moment his secret undead princess was safe.

It was a difficult situation he couldn’t let her go in public the way she was. He thought of taking a quick picture with his camera so he could shove it in Jonas’ face, but reconsidered due to the fact a sleeping picture in her state wouldn’t necessarily prove she was alive, and then Jonas might end up calling the police or worse his psychiatrist. He decided just a text would do for now.

Cain: Need your help. Emergency. Tell no one.

There was no response. Cain waited patiently for Jonas to respond and Lucy to wake up, hopefully the former before the latter. He sat silently watching the girl of his dreams snoring with her crunchy hair in her mouth, while she currently dreamed of Bruce stripping for her, endlessly throwing off clothes at her that buried her.

Upon her awakening, she did not initially recognize her surroundings and had a minor freak out. She had been sleeping for 13 hours and woke up abruptly hearing Jonas and Cain debating the degree of dead she looked. She shot up and surprised them both, causing them to jump a little. She too jumped, right off the futon. She stood in the corner wrapped in a ninja turtles blanket ready to strike either of them with a gaming guitar should one of them come too close. Cain’s frantic explanation of everything brought back flashes of memories, naked swimming, heaven mixer, standing in the cemetery with a geek who claimed he saved her with a stone, dead skin! She looked down at her hand clutching the plastic guitar and noticed that her hands were deathly pale instead of dead gray. She calmed down a little and lowered the guitar, but kept her distance as the whole matter left her uneasy.

“It’s okay,” Cain tried to reassure her, “You were sleeping and we were just discussing how we could help you fit in.”

“Fit in to what?” she asked aggressively.

“To the world outside,” Jonas chimed in, “I mean according to Cain your looking a lot more ….lively, but if you like,” he reached under a small table at the end of the futon and pulled out a big material shopping bag, “I stole some clothes and make up from my sister’s room.” Lucy reached out and took the bag from Jonas apprehensively, the boys kept their distance as she was already a bit spooked. They had also been discussing the possibility of her becoming a flesh eating monster earlier, and though they had settled on that idea being unlikely, it was best to be safe until they knew more.

Lucy looked through the bag for a minute or two and then sighed. “This will have to do I guess. Do you have a mirror?”

The two guys looked at eachother like they didn’t understand the question. “A mirror?” Cain repeated back.

“Yeah, a mirror! You think I trust either of you two to put make up on me? I need a mirror to fix whatever my face looks like.” Cain looked over at Jonas to silently ask him if he had one, and Jonas nodded and ran out the door to his house.

“He’ll be back shortly I’m sure. So how do you feel?”

Lucy put the bag down on the rubber mesh floor of the shed. She did a quick pace back and forth a few times, as there wasn’t much room between both sides. After, she dropped down to sit on the futon she had previously spent the whole day sleeping on. “I feel crappy. Like I’m pissed off and my body is sore, and I’m definitely hangry. This is all too much.”

Cain took a chance and sat down beside her, when she didn’t move away he put his hand on the back of her shoulders and gently rubbed them. “It’s a lot, for sure. It’s a lot for me too. I think we have time though, we can figure this out. I called my work and told them I needed a week off for bereavement, so you’re not going to be alone in this.”

“I don’t know what to say Cain, I-” At that moment Jonas opened the door and stepped in, trying to catch his breath. He held out a handheld mirror he had again found in his sister’s room, and borrowed without issue since she was away at college. Lucy took the mirror and pointed it at her face. The two boys watched as she initially went wide eyed at the pale imitation of the once beautiful face that looked back at her, but a moment later she became composed and studied the reflection of herself for a few minutes. Eventually putting the mirror down on top of the old trunk, she stood up ready to improve her look. “Thank you ….Jonas?” Jonas nodded pleased that she remembered his name. “I’m going to change now.” They both nodded acknowledging that she would start working on her appearance but clueless to what that meant for them. “That means get the f**k out!” she scolded them. They both made a fast exit realizing their mistake.

They stood around in Cain’s backyard waiting for her to be done. Jonas eventually went home for dinner and asked Cain to keep him posted on what happened. Cain continued to wait outside, he had to tell his concerned mother that he was just enjoying the fresh air and currently wasn’t hungry but would grab the leftovers from the fridge later. It took a little more than an hour before she stepped out of The Box. On first appearance she looked a lot more normal, but with a closer look you could see that something wasn’t quite right. Her skin tone all over her body was patchy. Some parts cream colour, some tan, and a few spots where the make up faded or missed were close to albino. Her hair was in a ponytail but looked brittle and only had some sand colour at the roots. Her face looked a bit over the top, like a dolled up floozy. She wore a shirt and pair of jeans, but no bra because Jonas’ sister wore a smaller but wider size than her, and she felt it a bit gross to wear a stranger’s possibly dirty underwear. She still had no shoes and her feet looked like she’d suffered frostbite.

Before Cain could comment on her self-makeover she headed towards the side gate, but he darted after her taking her hand. She immediately pulled away from his grasp, and opened the gate. “I have to go Cain.”

“Where? I mean it’s not like you have anyone is expecting you.”

“I have to go home. I can’t stay here, with you. I’ll claim I was brought back by some holy miracle, and once people start to believe it, I’ll probably end up on TV telling my story. They might even make a movie about it. I promise I won’t mention you at all.” She paused at the gate to marvel at the brilliance of that prospect. She had originally only focused on going back home to her mom and sister, and making them understand that it was really her. After that cathartic experience was done though, there was no way that people could ignore the fact that she had come back from the afterlife. She stood a chance at being on the today show, Charlie Rose, or even MTV. If she was really lucky someone might make an inspirational Christian movie about her. It was a possibility that could make her rich, and then she would finally get to go to Europe.

“It’ll fast track you to a science lab. You’ve been dead for a year, that’s a little much even for Jesus. People won’t see you as an icon they’ll see you as a freak of nature,” he popped her bubble harshly. He realized he might have spoken to loudly and lowered his voice, “Look, you’ve been through something traumatic, twice technically. I admit I don’t really know how this magic works, but it definitely involves the premise of a connection,” he waved his hands back and forth between the two of them, “Until we know more we need to be keeping it on the down low.” He was frustrated with having to even explain it to her, like she hadn’t considered that only he could keep her safe.

“Oh so I’m supposed to live in secret in your bedroom? Tough luck pal, my life is more important than that.”

“N-N-No. I mean, you are important to me …like your life is. You don’t have to live in secret we just have to be careful.”

She turned and slammed the gate in his face on her way out. He reopened the gate intending to stop her from revealing herself to the world, but before he could pursue her she tried to scare him off, “Back off, or I’ll scream rape.” Cain put up his hands in defeat and to show he meant no harm.

“Just going to follow and make sure everything goes okay.” She ignored him and continued on her way walking as quickly as she could, hoping he would give up and leave her alone. She seemed to have increased in energy since she first appeared in the cemetery, from sluggish hangover speed to trained speed walker with endurance. Cain followed several paces behind her she didn’t look back at him once. Something about this seemed oddly familiar to him. It was five long blocks to her house making it hard for Cain to continue keeping up with her. Cain had never seen her house before, it was not as big or impressive looking as he had imagined. It was a small white one floor house on a dead end street it looked old and in need of some maintenance. The houses on this end of the street were well spaced apart, but didn’t have a real fence between them, behind the house was a wooded area that some residents likely cut through to get to the next street. Cain stopped two houses before her family’s house and sat by a square electric box, watch her approach her old house slowly and somewhat cautiously. The weight of the situation seemed to have hit her and gave her hesitation. He felt nervous for her and a little for himself.

The sky was starting to get orange as it began its transition into a summer evening. Lucy opened the screen door and knocked on the wooden one. No one came to the door, and she stood holding the screen door for a minute or so getting impatient, until she gave up on waiting she banged on the door with her fist. ‘That wasn’t a good start’ Cain thought to himself standing out on the sidewalk two doors down, he hoped the Little’s hadn’t moved in the past year. The door flew open though, revealing a slightly haggard and angry looking version of Lucy’s mother who had just been woken from her nap. “For god sake I don’t care about what you’re selling or handing out,” she noticed Lucy standing in front of her and it gave her pause. There was a definite sense of familiarity between them, but it didn’t seem to register. Mrs. Little didn’t recognize her daughter standing only a foot in front of her. “Do I know you? What are you doing here?” she said with suspicion.

“You don’t recognize me?” Her flat expression said she didn’t, “Mom it’s me, it’s Lucy.” Mrs. Little’s non-expression became one of slight annoyance, “your daughter.” Lucy added trying to nail in the message. She had anticipated a hug when she had thought about this moment on the walk over but instead received a very hard shove away from the door. Mrs. Little’s expression had turned to one of pain and anger.

“What the hell is the matter with you?! You think this is funny?! A joke? You little b***h!”

Lucy was taken aback, she was panicking “No it’s really me, I’m back. Look at my eyes.”

“Yeah, those monster lenses suit you. You are a cruel and terrible person, you’re parents should be ashamed of you. You’re lucky my daughter didn’t answer this door or I might’ve been tempted to get my gun.” Lucy stood on the walking path, staring at her mother from just a few feet away, feeling emotionally crushed. Black tears streamed down her face, leaving dark burning streaks in her make-up.

“I swear it’s me. I died, but I’m back. It doesn’t make sense but it’s the truth,” she practically squealed to her mother. Mrs. Little stepped out the door, looking around to see how much attention this nasty teenager was attracting. She saw Cain sitting on the electric box watching the drama occur and became outraged.

“Oh now I see, your pathetic little piece of s**t, you know that?! I don’t know what Lucy did to you that made you feel like this was the only way to get back at her, but terrorizing a woman who lost-“ She collapsed on her front step, sobbing into her hands, “I’m calling the cops on you Cain.” Cain did not wait for her to make good on her words, he walked away as fast as he could.

“I’m really sorry,” he shouted as fled the scene.

Lucy was surprised at her mom’s reaction to Cain, realizing she must have missed something between them. She wanted to console her weeping mother, but was afraid to get too close now. She didn’t understand why her mom couldn’t see the truth, see that she was Lucy Little. She didn’t realize that she was looking less like herself every minute. Her hair was losing colour, and the streaks down her face now revealed pale cracking skin. She had also become skinnier and weaker, having lost eighteen pounds in the last six minutes. Her lips were rough and chapped. Her mom stood up and looked at her still standing there, looking decrepit, sad and desperate.

“What are you still doing here evil girl?”

“I just wanted things to be the way they were, before it happened.”

“Well you got a funny way of trying to make things better. Pretty incredible make up though, if you did it yourself you should concentrate on that.”

With that comment Lucy started to notice the changes in her, she suddenly became worried for her body’s integrity. Now feeling like maybe she really was a monster. She feared this state of her body was permanent. Maybe this was the way she would be for the rest of her second life. She had nowhere to go now except back to Cain, who hopefully would still be willing to help her. “I looked better than this before I came here, I looked more like me.” She wasn’t even trying to convince her mom anymore, just venting her confused frustration.

“I’ll call the cops if you aren’t gone in the next minute.” Her mom said to her stepping back inside the house. The door slammed closed, as her mother shut her out.