𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗

Walking around the busy hospital is such a weird feeling. Nurses are passing me left and right, trying to get on with their day. People are sitting in the waiting room, patiently anticipating to hear some news on their loved ones.

Me? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm dead. Well, half-dead. I needed to step out of my room to try and pull myself together. My mother and Ethan kept going at it, playing the blame game. It's nobody's fault, except the rain and the universe.

My eyes wander around the hallway, watching everyone that walks by me. They have no idea what lies beyond this earth, that other things are actually out there. I turned into a real life Halloween costume.

Looking down at my hands, I can still feel the numbness in them. The worst part about my temporary condition is not being able to have contact with anything.

The sound of a door opening catches my attention, causing my head to snap to the right. Hunter and Grayson are walking out of the room. Grayson looks so upset, it's written all over his face. I can tell how devastated he is about this bizarre situation.

"Things are still intense in there." Hunter gulps while standing in front of me.

"I can only imagine." I mutter.

"Mom is still going at it. If only she fought this hard for me." My brother whispers, probably hoping I won't hear his comment.

"So, now what?" Grayson's deep voice speaks up.

My eyes latch onto his, and I inhale a deep breath. His beautiful features are masked with hurt and depression. All of the emotions are drained from his face.

"Yeah, where are we going to live?" I cross my numb arms over my chest.

"And eat. Wait, do ghosts even eat? Oh my god, I'm actually a ghost. This is so cool yet so weird." Grayson's eyes widen as he looks down at his body.

"This is where the fun comes in." Hunter smirks while looking back at me. "Time to show you the best part about your situation."

I blink, and we're gone. No more hospital, no more nurses. We're outside, standing in the middle of a peaceful field. The green grass underneath me is so fresh. Everything surrounding us is bright, Grayson and I even have a new glow to our appearance.

"This is your heaven." Hunter motions to all of the trees around us. The sun is shining brightly in the sky, and I can't help but gasp. I can actually feel the heat radiating off me.

"I can feel it." My voice perks up as I look at my brother.

"Since this is where you're staying, you will have contact with the objects around you." Hunter says with a wide smile.

Grayson sits down in the grass, picking at the long blades with his fingers. "Holy shit, I have contact to it."

"No way." I mutter and sit next to him. I allow my hands to run through the soft texture of the top of it.

"But you still don't have human contact." Hunter kills my spirits by saying.

"What do you mean? Why not?" I stand back up and walk toward him. Placing my hand on his shoulder is like touching thin air. Nothing. I feel absolutely nothing.

"That requires human emotions, which is rare in the afterlife. You aren't in a humanly state anymore so you can't have physical contact with others."

"That makes no sense." Grayson mutters while standing back up.

"So, are we supposed to sleep on the grass?" I make a face and look down at it.

"No, I would never allow my sister to lay on dirt all day." Hunter laughs. When I look back up, my eyes widen even more.

A small white cottage appears in the distance. My mouth falls open as I stare at the beautiful artictecturhe that it displays

"This is a happy place, fears don't exist here." Hunter whispers while stepping closer to me.

"Where did that come from?" Grayson says in awe. His eyes never leave the cute little house.

"It's magic, dude." Hunter laughs while glancing back to him. "You want a house? Boom, it appears."

"We can do that, too?" I ask with excitement fighting to escape my core.

"No, only I can."

"That's boring." Grayson rolls his eyes.

"I'm actually dead. My body and mind is fully here." He points to the ground to make his statement.

"Okay, wait. What about clothes?" I look down at my ratty appearance.

"What do you want to wear?" He raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know." I shrug, thinking over my options.

I used to be such a girly-girl. I loved playing around with makeup and wearing every accessory you could think of. Since Hunter's accident, I stopped caring about everything. That included my love for fashion.

"How about this?" Hunter nods toward me.

My clothes suddenly fade away, and are quickly replaced with a gorgeous white flowing dress. Matching white sandals are covering my feet. My hands move over the texture of the material, which stops right above my knees.

"Hunt, this is beautiful." I whisper with a wide smile.

"I figured you would want to go back to your roots." He replies, almost like he read my mind.

My eyes move back up to Grayson, who is staring right at me. His eyes are dilated, and if I could blush, I definitely would.

"What do you think?" I clear my throat to ask him.

"It's nice. Really nice." He nods with a small grin.

"What about you? What do you want to wear?" Hunter looks at Grayson, who still has his eyes glued to me.

"Huh?" He snaps out of his thoughts to look at my brother. "Oh, I don't care."

Hunter nods and continues to stare at Grayson. "That's perfect."

I have no idea how he changes our clothes and makes all of these beautiful objects appear, but it's crazy. I'm convinced this is all one big dream.

Grayson looks down at his brand new attire. A plain white t-shirt, light denim jeans, and regular black and white converse.

"That looks great." The words fly out of my mouth. Both Grayson and Hunter look at me, and I freeze.

"You have some decent taste. I approve." Grayson nods while looking at my brother.

"All right, time for the house tour." Hunter turns around and walks through the field.

"He's crazy." Grayson looks back at me.

"That's why I love him." I smile and rush after him.

The wind lightly blows through my hair and it's exhilarating. I'm finally feeling the warm sun, there's not a single cloud in the bright blue sky.

Hunter steps onto the porch, and I can feel myself become oddly excited. When he turns the doorknob, my eyes light up in wonder.

There's a gorgeous mahogany theme to the small amounts of furniture. A little fireplace sits in the living room along with a leather couch. The kitchen has its usual appliances, which includes a long wooden table. I walk through the house and look at the beautiful details of it. I feel like I'm on vacation, except I'm not.

"How did you do all of this?" Grayson's mouth hangs open as he follows me through the small area.

"I think it, and it appears. Cool, huh?" Hunter grins while looking at the interior design.

"I can't believe this is our lives." Grayson continues on.

"Just think of it as a getaway. You can still live like normal, it's just in a part of heaven."

I walk toward the back of the house, looking out into the distance. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. I take notice that the grass is no longer plain, there's dozens of flowers surrounding it. Sunflowers.

"Oh my god." I turn back to my brother. "Did you just add that? The sunflowers?"

"Of course I did. They're your favorite." His smile hasn't faded since we got to this magical world, and mine hasn't either.

"I can't believe this place is real." I watch the wind lightly blow through the trees. The nature around our cottage is stunning.

"You look happy." Hunter points out. I guess my beaming face is noticeable.

"I'm trying to make sense of it all." I shrug, looking back up at him.

"Well, enjoy." He suddenly moves away from the door. I watch him walk toward the living room, where Grayson is standing.

"Where are you going?" I furrow my eyebrows and follow his lead.

"I can't stay here. My place is in real heaven. The sun will be setting soon, so that's my cue to leave."

"I don't want you to leave." I go to touch his hand, but stop myself once I realize I wouldn't be able to feel his skin on mine.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Trust me, you won't be able to get rid of me." He grins while keeps his eyes on mine.

"Okay." I gulp while looking down.

"I know this is all confusing." He directs his attention to the both of us. I look back and see Grayson standing by the fireplace. "But everything happens for a reason. Remember that."

My eyes lift back up, but it's no use. Hunter is nowhere in sight.