Dead Wings: Part 1

Dead Wings: Part 1

Intro
Have you ever dreamed you were dead or wondered how you would die? When I was little I didn’t want to think I would have to grow up. So I decided I was going to get shot. Its not that I wanted to die, I just didn’t want to grow up. Just a silly child's idea right? I never would have guessed I'd be right!

Although in my last year of high school I had things all set up for my future. I had my beautiful girl friend, Rachel, whom I am madly in love with, a couple of scholarships, a decent car and a job. Things were looking great for me, I was even going to propose to Rachel after we graduated! But on April ninth I died.

It started on April fifth when my best friend, Kris had lost control and paid for it dearly.
Kris was walking through the halls and Josh stepped his foot out and made Kris nearly trip.
"Watch the hell where your going Kris!" Josh said as the others laughed. Kris got back up and for a moment stared hard into Josh's eyes. He was deciding--he began to walk off but Josh tapped on his shoulder to make another joke. Suddenly Kris swung at Josh and landed a punch right on his cheek and everyone around heard it. Josh closed his eyes for a moment and tried to shake it off. Once he opened his eyes he was swinging wildly!

Kris carefully evaded each swing. After probably ten swings and none connecting Kris took his chance. He gave Josh another blow to the stomach. At that point it looked like Kris might win.
I started to turn away from the fight but suddenly Kris was ambushed by Josh's friends. The tables had turned and I saw Kris take blow after blow after blow. He bawled in pain but they wouldn't stop.
I came running towards them shouting, "Stop!"

They looked at me and slowly stopped. Josh kicked Kris in the gut and they finally left him there. Kris lay on the ground crying; blood dripping from his face and shaking violently...

*****************

On April sixth, the very next day, things seemed rather normal except Kris wasn’t there; but that wasn't so suprising after the beating he had taken. I was eating lunch with Rachel outside when I saw Kris finally show up for school. No one seemed to notice that he had just arrived, except me. He looked horrible; his arms and face were well bruised and Kris's hair was drenched in sweat and he looked--suicidal!

I began to get up to see if he was okay but he didn’t notice me. He just kept walking; slowly approaching the event that marked us forever. Walking towards Josh. I slowed my approach as everyone grew silent. Josh turned to see Kris, as he heard someone approaching. As he saw Kris he stared into his cold eyes and Kris stared back at him harshly and Josh said, “How stupid are…” he stopped.

I came closer to see why everyone grew silent and stood still; all of them staring at Kris and Josh. Kris had a gun!

“You wouldn’t…” Josh muttered trying to be brave. Suddenly a security guard came out of no where and tried to wrestle the gun out of Kris’s hand. An explosion sounded off! Daemon fell to the ground as a bullet pierced through his right leg.

“Back the hell away… I came for Josh.” Kris shouted his warning to us all.

“Kris…” I said and he looked over to me with his cold green eyes, “Put the gun down, please, you don’t want to do this.”
Kris turned away from me and stared back into the eyes of the boy he hated so much.
I couldn’t see my best friend destroy his future like this… So I came towards him slowly as I said; “Kris, stop! Don't do this; your life will be over!”

Kris glanced at me then back at Josh. “But so will his… it might be worth it…” You could see the fear in Josh's eyes-- he was scared for once! All that shit he had said to everyone was nothing now. Kris stared him down and slowly started to lower his gun.

"Rah!" Carlos shouted as he and David, the other two security guards, tackled Kris from behind. Kris struggled to hold their weight for about half a second and then he fell to the ground and his hand started firing the gun mercilessly.

I heard probably 5 shots and I gasped as one of them hit me! I felt my chest rip in one small place and breathing began to be hard, as I had to cough out the blood. My hand felt the wound and tried to stop the blood flow. The pain was surging through my body and I fell to the ground. Not yet dead- just laying there in my own blood.

I opened my eyes again as the bullet fire seemed to cease. I saw Rachel there above me and she was holding me, trying to get help. She was saying something, but I didn’t understand. She kept mouthing the same words, but nothing connected.

I turned away to see what was going on and I saw two security guards struggling to cuff Kris with the gun lying a yard away. I looked away from Kris now and I saw three bodies lay still on the ground like my own; one was Josh. The two others were Mr. Thomas and Jessica Mayes. I looked away from them and back to Rachel as I began to close my eyes and go to sleep… or die. I wasn’t quite sure at the time. My eyes were slowly closing when I became wide-eyed as I saw Kathryn - Josh's girl friend run at the gun and she took hold of it for a moment. The security guards became still. I began to close my eyes again and I heard a bang.


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Chapter 1
“He’s lost so much blood...” “He’s a mess.” “I don’t think he’s going to make it…” I heard these words of 'hope' in the last hours of the night of April 9th.

I’m sure they were helping me but they didn't believe I could make it, how could you save someone you didn't believe could make it? As soon as the doctors left I finally heard Rachel. I didn’t hear too many words she said but to know she was there was great… then I heard my parents but they weren’t there very long because the doctors had to talk to them… “He’s not going to make it…… if we pull the plug now it will be less painful…”


My parents came back crying. “I…don’t… die” I tried to scream out but it came out fainter than a whisper. I tried to look at them but my vision was gone. "No!" Rachel screamed, "Give him a chance!"

"Get her out of here!"

"No!" She screamed, "Peter! Tell them your going to be alright! Tell them..."


Dying; I close my eyes
the rushes from my head fill my limbs,
fill my soul
the rushes of pain,
I squeeze to life, I wont let go!
I hold on, my pulse quickens, my head throbs.

A high pitched noise screams its alarm.

A light shines, no, I don't want to die!
I hold on, I'm not going, I shout aloud
I open my eyes again and I see the Earth,
I see my family I see my life I see my birth
I tried to tell them I'm not going to die, but they weren't listening!
They keep saying goodbye, and tears fill their eyes...
They think I'm going to die... but listen I'm...
They pulled the plug
but I want to live...
Dying... dead
they close my eyes...
and we say
goodbye.

My heart stopped and I lay in the hospital bed. For a moment I was surrounded by those I love, including Rachel. They all looked so sad but I don't know why. I'm alright! Aren't I? I began to see a light. A portal of light I was to enter… Heaven? A portal I am to enter through heaven...

No, it was only a hole through which my spirit left my body. My body was dead and I began to feel things but I no longer physically felt things.Suddenly the hole expanded and my spirit was vacuumed out and I felt squeezed as I was pulled through. "I’m a ghost!" I shouted out. I looked at myself for a moment as a ghost, I was like a gas in the form of myself. Glowing there very faintly. I felt no pull to the ground but I didn’t hover over it either. I began to walk the floors of the hospital and I decided that I must be dreaming.

I looked back into my room and they were all looking at my body. My pale body that was still warm with what used to be the life of me. But now... its dead. "I'm dead." I said to myself. I walked towards them again to see Rachel weeping over me. She was broken… the love of her life, me, dead.

I came even closer to her for a moment trying to tell her its okay. “Rachel, it's okay! I'm right here!” I said. She kept crying staring at my body she didn’t hear a word I said. “Rachel!” I shouted. “I'm here...”

“They can’t hear you Peter.” I looked to the door and there stood an old face. I recognized him but I almost couldn’t remember from where. I looked at him for a long moment staring at him... “Ben?” He nodded.

“So they finally let you go? I was waiting for you but after the second day I wasn’t quite sure if it was your time yet.”

I nodded and asked “How did you die? Where are the others?” I paused for a moment, “What went on that day… what happened to Kathryn?”

“Slow down Peter; they went to their funerals. Perhaps you should do the same.”

I looked away, “Well I have a day or two, don’t I? I want to know what happened; I need to talk to Kris.” Ben left the room and I looked to Rachel once more. I walked right to her and whispered into her ear, “I love you.” And it appeared as if she heard me so I left her there and began to follow Ben.

As I followed Ben I tried to jump out of the way of a doctor but he ran through me and kept running on his way to where ever. I saw him run into a room and I saw a small child walk out of the room... but I could see through her. Suddenly she was sucked back into the room...

We finally left that floor and as we were leaving I was a bit scared as the halls were crowded with people like us. Some following nurses, some moving things to scare the doctors! Dead people yelling at doctors and they didn’t hear a word! Tears of the dead everywhere! Not just the old but young adults, middle aged people, children, babies! From that moment I decided my hospital wasn’t a very good one…

“Did you die here?” I asked Ben; he looked at me for a moment, glaring at me astonished somehow that I didn't already know.

“No, I didn’t get that far. I poisoned myself after my dad beat me after I took his…” Ben stopped.

“What? What’s a matter?” I asked, he looked away from me and I could tell he was hiding something.

“Well I poisoned myself and he thought he had done it, so he couldn’t take me to the hospital or he would get in trouble. So I died at home and he buried me there. My father hid that knowledge from everyone; no one knows I’m dead!”

I looked at him but he was staring away from me and I asked “But why did he beat you up in the first place?” Ben couldn’t look at me he was determined to not tell.

“Peter… You know the gun that Kris-”

“Why did he do it?” I shouted.

“I’m going to tell you!” He snapped at me, he finally looked towards me and continued saying, “You know the gun that Kris had? I… stole it from my dad and gave it to Kris; so that he could kill Josh. When I went missing; he never used it suspecting something might have happened to me. For a year I watched him, and it seemed as if maybe he had forgotten it… but-”

“You gave him the gun?” I asked; Ben nodded sadly.

I turned away in shock, it was hard to bear. As if it wasn’t hard enough to know I was shot! Shot by my own friend, Kris. Who got the gun from our friend, Ben! I am dead because of them! I died because my friends are crazy! I died because my own friend shot me! No old age and sickness! No future, no wife, no more life. Dead. It’s all over! The End!

(not really)


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Dead Wings: Chapter 2
“Like as the sun moves towards the western shores,
so do our minutes hasten to their end.

These people here today are our friends and shall never be forgotten.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the lowering of the evening sun
and in the rising of the morning sun
we shall remember them!

This day of April 11th shall be recorded in our head. For ever we shall remember them; they are our friends, our teacher, our family, our peers.

You may hate Kris, or you may forgive Kris but don’t forget him. Don’t forget Mr. Thomas; everyone’s hardest English teacher ever. Don’t forget Peter, that quiet boy or Josh one of the best football players in the school. Don’t forget that day Kris came with that gun and Daemon actually tackled him and got shot in the leg to protect us! Or when Carlos and David cuffed him…

and don’t forget what happened to Kris… don’t forget!…don’t forget... that bullet in his… in his head.”

Michelle’s powerful words made me feel that day again.

Not the day that I got shot… but the night before, the night I called him:

******************************

“Kris?!? Pick up the phone!” I shouted into the phone as my message was being recorded. I heard something. “Kris?” I asked.
“Peter, uh...” Kris answered with a broken voice.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I looked at the clock which was blinking…
“I’m going to…Uh…oh…yeah… I’m okay…I don’t look okay… but I’m all drugged up with pain meds for tomorrow…”

“Tomorrow?” I asked. The phone grew silent. “Well I need to go back to sleep, Peter...”

“No! What’s tomorrow?” He didn't answer... "Night.” He said and I heard a click.
I lowered the phone and as I was tired too, I hung up the phone and thought nothing else of it…

**********************

“Hey, Peter! You okay?” I looked over to Mr. Thomas as he startled me from my thoughts. “Yeah… I’m all right.” He sighed and looked away from me. “So what do we do from here?” I asked him.

“Well… We exist, theres nothing here for us but the world we once lived upon.” He said to me as he also said it to all five of us.

We were all gathered there somewhere near our coffins, attending our own funeral... I was in the center standing right next to where my body lay. Mr. Thomas was right beside me to my right and he was next his body. Away from the group stood Kris but he was well... crying. To my left sat Jessica Mayes and beside her sat Josh... the reason we were all here. Kris and Josh both had their backs to us.

“That’s it!?! No God?” Jessica cried.

”Well I sure haven't seen him yet, so unless all bloody five of us missed that stairway…” Mr. Thomas said as he actually laughed...

“So you!” Josh shouted, “Shot us and were stuck here for ever!?!”

Josh finally turned towards the rest of us and began to walk towards Kris; balling up his fist ready to test how much power a ghost truly has. Kris didn’t say a word, he just sat there whimpering, crying at what he had done.

“Sit down!” I shouted at Josh. “He may have pulled the trigger but you pushed him to it! You made his life miserable. So… maybe you deserved it…” The words slipped out of my mouth and I didn’t really mean to say it… but Josh stood there still finally…
We all were still, but the funeral went on…

***********************************************

Michelle couldn’t stop looking at Rachel as she spoke. She knew of the pain her best friend was going through. She knew how much Rachel loved me. Before she left the podium she looked towards me... no she looked towards my body.

Again she looked at Rachel and she left the podium to join Rachel and her parents… who were sitting by my parents.

I watched Rachel, it scared me how much everyones life changed when I died. I studied her, searching for hope and I stopped as I was a bit startled as the whole group stood up; a wave of black reaching slightly upwards to the sky and they began to sing…

*************************************************

After the funeral I followed Rachel home. She went through her front door entrance and I walked through the door as it was closed on me. She softly climbed up the steps toward her room. Rachel went into her room and fell into her bed and curled up on it, crying.

Whenever I was near my parents they cried and whenever I was near Rachel she cried. There was no end to the tears it seemed. Perhaps my death hit them as hard as it hit me but they will go on… wont they?

***************************

My mom was worse everyday after the funeral and I was constantly checking on her. On May 6th things took the turn I was afraid of.

At first she tried to speak to me, “Peter! Why?... Why did you have to be there? Why were you his friend?... Why couldn’t you leave him alone?!?”

“Because Kris is my friend! He needed my help!” I knew she didn’t hear a word I had said but it was always worth trying.
“Peter… if you can hear me; I’m sorry but I can’t live anymore. Life has no meaning anymore…”

“No! Mom! Don’t!” I jumped at her trying to stop her but I went right through her. She took the whole bottle and swallowed the pills in one gulp. She turned away from me still completely unaware of my presence. “Peter… In a few hours I will join…” She stopped and I ran to her aid but couldn’t do a thing. I felt like a child trying to help my grandma stand...

“Mom!” I cried. She began to stumble but she held the corner of the wall to catch herself. She tried to walk over to the couch… she made it and started crying in either pain or sorrow. I held her hand the best a ghost could… and she actually looked directly at me. Then back down to her hands and smiled.

I stayed there with her for what seemed hours but must have only been thirty minutes. Dad got home and he looked cheerful, then he saw mom lying on the couch with a vomit like substance leaking out of her mouth. His face looked like he seen… well me. He quickly and clumsily dialed 911 and within a moment we were riding in the ambulance.

When we got to the hospital they kept assuring my dad that she was going to be fine. Going to be fine? What about next time? “I want to be with my son!” She yelled at the doctors. She yanked all of the stuff off of her and started to leave her room.

“We both want him back, but we still have each other!” My dad replied; trying to calm her. Using the words ‘each other’ as it always seemed to calm her when I was alive.

She looked at him with the worst face I had seen her bare. “Each other? No! We don’t have each other! He was all I ever had! He was what kept us together!” She screamed at him. My dad looked shocked, as did I. “But not anymore! I want to be with my son. My son is dead, and no parent should have to see the world without her son." She broke down in tears again.

"I don't want to live anymore. I can't do it. I just... cant.”
With those words the doctor signaled security and she was being restrained; as if she was crazy. I followed my mom as she was restrained to a bed, she was screaming and yelling. I ran after her as they dragged her down the hall; away from my father… I never knew how my mom felt. Without me… it seemed… my parents would be dragged apart.