Prologue: How I Died
My life was about as unremarkable as it could get. Is there even a point in reflecting on who I used to be? No one would be interested in the small, mundane world or a 16 year old high school girl living in a mid sized city in North America. Nothing about me makes me stand out from any other girl my age. Nothing until the day I died.
I sighed deeply as I walked home from school. The air was warm and somewhat heavy with the smells of car exhaust and too many people. I pulled on the straps on my backpack higher to relieve the pressure of the heavy books on my shoulders. Just another Tuesday with nothing more interesting than math homework to fill the rest of my afternoon. My mood was restless. Why does nothing interesting ever happen? I pushed my short, dark hair back from my eyes and kicked a rock. The skirt from my school uniform swished around my legs.
"Evelyn! Hey, Ev! Wait!"
I turned as a familiar voice called out my name. I smiled slightly and stopped walking as I saw my best friend Jessica jogging down the sidewalk towards me.
"Hey, Jess! What's up?" I asked as she reached my side.
"You left without me, jerk! I almost didn't get a chance to complain to you about Alex!" She complained to me as we began to walk down the sidewalk together.
"Sorry." I rolled my eyes at her. She complained every day to me about her boyfriend, Alex. I could almost predict exactly what she was going to say because it didn't change much day to day. "What happened this time?" Jess was a great friend even if she complained too much so I didn't mind humoring her by asking about her day even if I already knew what she was going to say.
"Well," she began "This time he..."
Jess launched into a heated description of what happened and I listened halfheartedly. As she continued, I nodded and agreed with her whenever she paused for a breath but otherwise, I didn't really add much to the conversation.
"Hey, Jess" I suddenly interrupted her.
"Huh, what is it, Ev?" She paused in her story and looked at me with curiosity.
I drew in a breath and asked "Don't you ever get bored of all of this?"
"All of what?"
"Just this," I said while vaguely waving my hand through the air. I glanced around at all the cars and people while sighing again. "I just feel like there's nothing really happening. Every day is pretty much the same and nothing really exciting ever happens. Don't you find it all so boring?"
Jess frowned and tapped her finger on her chin while appearing to think about my words before snapping her fingers and saying, "Last week there was that fire in the science lab! That was pretty exciting. I was in the class next door and we actually thought we were all going to die for a minute."
"I don't mean like that" I said, "I mean something really interesting that affects us! Something interesting to do and see! Not just an event that happens and then it's just over with no real affect on us."
Jess looked confused. "I don't really know what you mean. We have it pretty good!"
"Yeah, you're right, I guess."
"Anyways, like I was saying, then Alex..." Jess continued where she left off in her story. I tried to pay as much attention as I could but I was still distracted by my thoughts.
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I stopped and spun around to look behind me as a voice suddenly echoed in my head.
"Ev, what's wrong?" Asked Jess.
"Didn't you hear that?" I asked while looking around wildly.
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"Yes, I am!" I called out, "I am looking for something new!"
"Ev, you're bring weird..." Jess was giving me a really strange look. "Come on, let's go home. We have so much homework to do."
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"I don't care! I want something exciting! Something more than this!" I called again, ignoring Jess. She clearly couldn't heat the voice and I was not going to let this chance slip by!
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"What?" I was confused. "Follow you how? I can't see you!" I spun around again and tried to find the source of the voice but I couldn't see any sign of anyone talking to me!
"Evelyn, you're scaring me a bit. Please, let's go home. You can come to my house and my mom will drive you home later!" Jess sounded concerned now.
"Where are you!?" I called out in frustration. I looked across the street and noticed a person who looked oddly out of place but I couldn't make out their features. "Is that you?" I called while stepping off the curb. The strange person waved at me and then turned to walk away.
"Wait!" I yelled as I took a step into the street.
"Ev, look out!" Screamed Jess but I ignored her and took another step into the street.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of a car horn and something heavy hit my body but oddly, nothing hurt. I felt as though everything started to move slowly as my body hit the ground and my backpack was pulled free from my shoulders.
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