Hello there! I have to finish everything off, so I guess it's expected for this to be kind of long. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
When we got back to the Afterlife, the first person we saw was Lee Parker. For a second I thought he had already escaped custody, but then I saw the handcuffs. I smiled to myself. He deserved it.
One of the Reapers pushed him down to his knees in front of us. He scowled at us. I could tell he was dead because of the fact that he seemed faded, like he had been in the Sun way too long. It was a sight I had to admit, I enjoyed.
"The council has said his trial will be tomorrow," one of the Reaper's holding Parker said. We all nodded.
"Why not now," Nick asked. "We already know he's guilty."
The Reaper shrugged. "Something about wanting the girl he hurt to be awake during the trial, explain her experience in his clutches and all that."
"Alright," I said. "Cory, grab Jordan's legs, I got her arms." We all helped carry Jordan to the medical bay, where we laid her down on a bed. Henry sat down next to her, holding her hand tightly. I didn't even ask if he wanted to stay or not. I knew what the answer was. He may have fought with her at times, but he loved his sister. I had never had a sibling, but I guess that's just how those kind of relationships work.
Cory refused to leave Jordan too and Will refused to leave Henry. Lena was still hurting from her 2nd death experience (which is the reason she is known as "Double Death" by everyone now, even though me and Nick have both shown our disdain for the name), so Lena went to rest and get healed up herself. And Nick, well he had somehow disappeared without any of us realizing.
Me, I couldn't keep looking at Jordan like this. It was giving me serious Déjà vu from when we were in the car crash. I ran out of the room to an empty one. We may have saved her from dying, but I still felt helpless. I should've gotten there sooner.
"Why are you so hard on yourself," a voice asked, as if reading my mind. I turned to see Zack.
I shook my head and faked a smile. "I'm not. I mean, we beat Lee Parker, why would I be hard on myself," I asked rhetorically.
Zack shrugged. "I don't know, why don't you ask yourself," he said, sitting down next to me. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Zack gave me a small smile and hugged me.
"We did it," he said into my ear. "There is no need to fear anymore."
I hugged back, tighter than I expected. When we let go, we both had tear stained faces, yet smiles. We laughed.
"You know, we could really pass as siblings," I said.
Zack shrugged. "I guess that's why Mr. and Mrs. Pensie believed us." I nodded, remembering Jordan's parents. To be honest, they were kind of naive. These were the same people who bought my story that I worked for the government.
"True," I said. "But what I was getting at was that, well, I know you already live with me and Lena, but I was thinking maybe we could pretend for a while. That you're my brother, I mean. You happen to be the best kid I've met, no offense to Henry and Will."
Zack sat there in silence for a few minutes. He showed no emotions. Then he grinned bigger than I thought possible. "Of course," he exclaimed, face lighting up. "It's going to be so much fun! I don't know how it works, but yeah!"
I laughed at his smiling face. "Well then, sorry but I have to go look for someone, little brother," I said, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips as I said those last two words. "Talk later?" Zack nodded, and I got up to find Nick.
It wasn't too hard to find him. He may have been trying to hide, but he was never good at hiding, especially from me. I found him in the meeting room, looking at his hands. When he saw me he quickly hid his hands behind his back and faked a smile. "Alex," he said with false cheerfulness.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Nick, don't hide things from me. Show me your hands," I said.
He shook his head. "I'm not hiding anything," he lied. I glared at him and stepped forward. "I wasn't asking," I said.
Nick sighed and showed me his hands. They were covered in blood, but not his. "I'm a killer Alex. Cory was right. Hell, I'm no better than him, am I," he said. He looked at his hands with more fear than I thought he was possible of showing. I had never seen him this scared.
I put my hands on his shoulders. He avoided eye contact with me. "I'm a monster," he whispered, voice cracking.
I shook my head. "Hey, don't ever say that. You are not the monster. Lee Parker, you and him are nothing alike. He liked to kill. I can tell that you don't considering this reaction to it."
He still refused to look at me. Tears rolled down his cheek and soon he was breaking down.
"Please don't cry," I said. "I hate it when you cry." I didn't know why I had said that. I had never seen him cry. But I am glad I hadn't, because seeing him like this was a mixture between terrifying and depressing.
Nick finally looked at me. "You don't consider me a monster," he asked, his voice hoarse from crying. I nodded and gave him a small hug.
"You are not a monster," I repeated. "Never in a million years."
Finally we let go. His tears had been wiped on my shoulder, but I didn't care. Then Nick's eyes widened. "Oh my God, I just cried in front of you," he said, turning red from embarrassment. I couldn't help but chuckle.
"It's fine," I said.
He shook his head. "No, it's not! I don't like crying, or anyone seeing me cry! It's embarrassing," he exclaimed, hiding his face behind his hands.
I shrugged. "You've seen me cry," I admitted. He thought about it and then nodded. "That's true. But it's not embarrassing to be the one comforting the other!"
I laughed. "You're such a baby," I teased. That got him even more riled up.
"Baby? Excuse me? I saved your life earlier!"
I rolled my eyes with a smile. "After faking you're death, real nice of you." He glared at me and I did the same. After about a minute of glaring at each other, we both just laughed, laughing until we couldn't breathe and were gasping for air.
"Come on," I said. "We should get back to the others." He cocked his head to the side. "You mean you want me to come," he asked. I nodded with a smile.
"We're friends, Are we not," I asked.
Nick just smiled. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah we are."
We walked down the halls. My leg still hurt, but I could tell it wasn't broken. Still I couldn't help but wince. Nick noticed, but since we were walking back to the medical bay he didn't say anything about it.
When we got there, Jordan was being healed by a medic. The others were all sitting around, trying not to be in the way but also refusing to leave. I sat down next to Lena, who had returned with a bandage over her stomach. Nick stood awkwardly until Lena rolled her eyes and pulled him down to sit next to her. Henry had tears on his cheeks, but he seemed to be calming down slowly. Will and Zack were next to him, their arms around his shoulders. They looked worried, and sad, but they were hiding it to help Henry. I felt bad for the kid. How much has it hurt him, the fact that someone was trying to kill his sister? I couldn't even imagine, but I could tell Henry was strong.
I had to admit I admired these kids. You could still count their ages on your fingers, but they were still willing to help fight. They had helped fight. I would most likely be dead if it weren't for them. I would've said they were just children, but that term didn't seem to work for any of us now. That childlike innocence we had had for the longest time, it was gone. You'd assume me, Lena, and Nick had lost it long ago, I mean, we had died. However, until the day I saw Lee Parker's dream, I still considered myself a child. Not anymore. That saying just felt wrong now.
"She's going to be okay," Cory asked the medic. He nodded.
"She may have some scars, and I can't promise she'll be back to normal mentally and emotionally speaking, but she's going to survive." This seemed to satisfy Cory, at least a little bit.
A guardian ran in (remember those guys? The ones who guard the entrance to the Afterlife? I know, they're not too important in this story, but I thought I might as well remind you what they are). He turned to me. "You need to come with me. The King wants to speak with you."
I didn't know what to say. I just stood there. I expected maybe the council would decide my fate, or maybe Death himself, but not King Zek. I wondered how much trouble I was in. I mean, I had broken a lot of laws.
"Can he have a minute," Lena asked, tapping her foot and crossing her arms. "He just almost died, multiple times in fact."
The guardian put his hands up. "I'm just the messenger. King Zek wants to talk to you as soon as possible, Mr. Quek," he said, turning to me again. I looked at the others and then back at the guardian. I nodded. Might as well get this over with, I thought.
Before I left Lena grabbed my arm. "Alex, what if you don't come back," she asked. I could see some fear in her eyes. Nick stood up and put his hand on Lena's shoulder. His eyes looked the same.
"I will come back," I promised. Then I looked at Nick. "Protect them, okay?" He looked unsure, but he nodded.
"You two are some of the bravest people I know. You'll be fine without me for a little bit." Lena and Nick looked at each other and then nodded. Lena let go of my arm and I followed the guardian.
He didn't talk to me the whole walk to the castle (which luckily wasn't that far, because my legs were still killing me). It was huge, with dark terraces that looked like shadows across the sky. It wasn't a place many would find comforting, which I guess makes sense. It was like going to the principal's office, except this principal was the king of the Afterlife. I once heard a rumor that he could snap people out of existence. I hoped that wasn't true, because I had already faced that threat before, and I did not want to face it ever again.
We walked through the gates and through the castle. It was only lit up by a few candles that glowed orange and flickered. The place was beautiful, but it was a terrifying beauty. I'm sorry, I'm not explaining it right, it was more terrifying than I can even describe. Even if I knew how, I wouldn't write it. The experience is not something I want to remember, or something anyone should want to see.
The throne room was massive, decorated with gold, different shades of black, and what looked to be real skulls, but I convinced myself they weren't real. On a giant throne made of bones (of course) sat King Zek. He was wearing a crown that was like the castle, scary beautiful. He showed no emotion on his face. He just watched me with his eyes. Oh, and before I forget to mention this, his eyes are like normal humans, except he has no pupils and his irises are literal blue fire. I wondered if he got angry his hair would light on fire too, but I got that idea out of my head quickly.
On a throne next to him sat a child who I guessed was Xander, King Zek's child. He was playing with a stuffed animal that was a skeleton. His eyes weren't fire yet, but a soft brown color. He watched me as I walked towards King Zek's throne.
"Well, if isn't the young rule breaker," King Zek said, still not showing any emotion.
"King Zek, if I may, I would like to apologize for my actions. I know that doesn't mean much, but I have to say it. Also, I think even you know that I had to. Jordan wasn't meant to die. I had to help her," I said. Maybe I was stupid to say such things, but I couldn't hold my tongue. Jordan had almost died, and I couldn't just let that happen.
He looked at me. "Young rule breaker, I will admit I agree with the fact that you saved Jordan Pensie. How did you find out about this corruption," he asked.
I sighed. "I was just doing my job. I saw a dream that that murderer, Lee Parker, was going to try and kill her. I couldn't just stand by," I said, looking down, wanting to avoid his fire eyes.
"Dad, he good," a small voice said. I looked up and saw the child, Xander, walking up to me. I knelt down to his level, watching him in curiosity. The kid nodded. "Good," he said. Then he put his tiny hand on my forehead. Suddenly, I felt a burst of energy. My body no longer felt sore, and my legs felt like normal, better than normal. I stood up, and the kid stood next to me. I nodded at him in thanks. He just smiled and then turned to his dad.
King Zek watched with an odd sense of amusement. "My son is right," he said, a smile on his lips. Even his eyes seemed brighter, but in a more comforting way, like a fireplace burning on Christmas Eve.
"You saved Ms. Pensie's life. I firmly believe that sometimes rules need to be broken. Maybe that isn't a good mindset for a King, but alas. Alex Quek, I relieve you of your crimes. But I swear on the Afterlife, if you ever break another rule, I will not be so generous," King Zek said.
I nodded and bowed so far my nose almost hit the floor. "Thank you," I said. King Zek laughed heartily. "Stand up. I may be the King, but bowing is not my style," he said. "Just promise not to cause any more problems."
I looked down at my hands. "I swear on my death," I said, looking back up at him. "I honestly don't want to go through this again. But I would like it if you were all more careful, no offense. I may not do this again, but I can't promise future generations won't."
King Zek nodded grimly. "I swear that I will. For everyone's sake. I may even have an idea working on how we can fix this problem before it starts. Now go, you're friends are probably scared to death," he said, a small smile on his face. I nodded and left the room.
I had to admit, King Zek was a lot more calm than I thought he'd be. Not that I was complaining. I didn't want to be in the Place of the Broken, or worse, destroyed.
As I walked through the streets I looked around at the Afterlife. It was like nothing had changed. I had, of course. Me and the others could never fully get back to normal. It was kind of funny though, that the Afterlife and the living world would go back to normal soon enough. Like all of this never happened. And the craziest part, in a few decades, no one will remember this happened except the ones involved.
It truly is strange how pain and terror can just be forgotten over time.
This end of chapter doesn't sound exactly right in my opinion, but I didn't know how to end it. Also, next chapter is the last! How this story is almost finished I have no idea. When I first started this story, I didn't even know if if I was gonna write a second chapter, but here we are, chapter 23! For now, goodbye, but thank you for reading!
