• How can parents be so unfair? They send me up to my room for no reason at all. I just asked them if I could go to a concert with my friends. But I can’t be happy, so I get to spend my Saturday night in my room, while all the kids at my school got to party. This was so unfair.

    They say it’s for my safety. They don’t want me dead like my neighbor, Steve. Even though I wasn’t like him in any way. He was my best friend, but I didn’t do the things he and his friends did. I wasn’t depressed. Plus, my parents didn’t drink. So I think I should be able to go to this concert. Then I thought of the most perfect plan that ever went into my mind. It was so obvious that I should have come to this conclusion minutes ago. I would simply sneak out.

    Climbing out my window wasn’t the easiest thing to do. To make it worse, my room was on the second floor. When I did finally get down, it was 15 minutes till the concert started. I started running, the crisp fall air blowing my hair in my face. I made it to the park where the concert was held with five minutes to spare. I bought my ticket and sat down in my seat. I was actually close to the stage. Three minutes later, I heard people screaming. A man, no boy, about 16 years old, came out onto the stage. He was holding something in his hand. It only took me a moment to realize what it was. A gun. I jumped out of my seat, but that was all I could do. I felt like I couldn’t move. I silently watched as the boy shot into the crowd. Then the boy turned to aim the gun at me. I started to move, but the bullet was to fast. I tried to fight the darkness as it washed over me.

    When I woke up, I was floating. I could tell because I couldn’t feel the ground under me. I looked down, I saw myself on the ground, and blood was coming out of my head. I knew at once that I was dead. I looked back up again. Most of the people were out of the park. Cops were closing it off. I saw my parents duck under the caution tape, and run to where my body was lying. I felt guilty watching them, because I knew this was what they were warning me about. If only I had listened. I saw that many of my friends were also dead, and that the boy who had caused this madness was dead too. I looked around and saw other ghosts fading away with people who were probably their grandparents or family. I had a feeling no one would come for me. I had no family. My mom and dad’s parents were still alive, and I had no cousins or aunts and uncles. The only person dead that I knew was Steve. I started floating away when I heard a voice. “Hey!” I turned around and saw Steve .He was yelling at me and throwing dirty looks at a kid that was turned away from us. I asked why he was looking at that kid like that and he started looking at me like I was the dumbest person, or ghost in the world. “Stop staring at me like that!” I demanded. “You really don’t know.” He started laughing. “Don’t know what?” I was getting kind of mad now. “You don’t realize that he is the guy that killed you.” My mouth fell open. “How do you even know I was here?” I asked. “I have been watching you Nellie.” “You may not see me, but I can see and hear all your thoughts in your head.” He laughed at that. “You can not! You’re just saying that!” I yelled at him. “Oh really?” He started to smile, “Then how do I know that you just happen to like a guy called Max in your grade?” I stared at him. “You speak of this to anyone and you will wish you never died."

    Steve started telling me about the ghost world. Ghosts couldn’t be seen or heard, unless they were earthbound. We weren’t earthbound, well I was until Steve brought me towards the light. Or in our case, the ghost world. After entering, I would be assigned to my own personal heaven, and then would be able to visit the mortal world whenever I pleased. Steve said that once I was assigned to my personal heaven, it could not be changed. He said that the assigners knew exactly what you would want even if you didn’t. He said an important thing about the ghost world was that you were human there. You had to eat, sleep, and do things like a regular human. If you killed yourself in the ghost world, you would be reincarnated. His face became gloomy. “I wish we were still alive.” He said sadly. “Well, if you wouldn’t have jumped off that bridge, you still would be. I know I wouldn’t though.” I said. “I didn’t jump! And you would still be alive!” he cried angrily. “That boy who killed you, his name is Dan, he pushed me. We were drinking, I will admit, and he got angry with me for taking the last one, so he hit me over the head with a brick and threw me into the river.” I gasped but didn’t say anymore. We had to find some way to get him back. Then out of nowhere Steve started shouting, “I was only sixteen for goodness sake! How could he kill me? I was his best friend! And then he killed you, and all your friends! You’re only fourteen! And I swear, if I see him again, I will make his death a living hell.” I let him calm down a little bit, and then I asked him when we were going to the ghost world. The park was empty of ghosts now; all that were left was mortals. They were crying over their kid’s limp bodies. My parents had already left with mine.

    The ghost world was similar to the mortal world in ways. There were movie theaters, and places to buy things. I did notice that there were no food or cloth stores. I guess when you were dead you didn’t need that stuff. I also noticed a lot of old ghosts. I guess when you died you were frozen in time, but you were healed of all sicknesses, because all the ghosts seemed happy. Steve led me to the building where you were assigned a heaven. I was surprised when the man gave me a slip of paper right away. The paper had a number on it. The number was 8955. “Say take me away! And you will be brought to your heaven,” Steve said. “No way! I would look like a total and complete idiot! You would get a big kick out of me embarrassing myself in front of all the other ghosts.” I said. “Why would I do that?” he started laughing. I hit him on his ghostly head. “No really that’s what you do. See?” He pointed at the slip of paper. “See it says so.” “Fine. Take me away!” I shouted.
    A gust of wind overtook me, and suddenly I was in the woods. I looked around and saw only trees. Then I spotted a path. I followed it for about two minutes until it led me into a clearing. In that clearing I saw the most beautiful things in my whole life, or afterlife. The grass was greener then ever imagined; there was a clear blue waterfall and exotic birds and animals drinking from the small clear pond below. There was a canopy of flowers and when the buds opened pink and blue fairies flew out. Under the waterfall, there was a small cave. It had a tiny hut in the back. When I went inside, it had a bed and a shelf full of books, and a smaller waterfall next to the bed. I walked over to the bed. I wondered why it was there. I thought ghosts never slept. Hmm. Maybe stories aren’t true. I went outside to do some exploring. The forest around the waterfall had so much wildlife around it. Humming birds were dipping their beaks into flowers, little colts were playing in a meadow not far from the edge of the trees. It was beautiful.
    A couple hours later a big wind blew,a dn Steve appeared among the trees. “ Hey! What are you doing here?” I shouted. “Can’t a guy come and visit his girlfriend?” He asked. “I am not your girlfriend.” I said, “And if you told anyone that then prepared to be killed. Again.” “Relax.” He laughed, “I only told everyone.” “Augh. Your impossible. Let’s get out of here.” I said. “Take me away!” we said together. We ended up next to the place where I got my world. “What do you want to do?” I asked. “Why don’t we go see how your parents are coping with their recent loss?” Steve suggested. “Okay.”

    Getting to my parent’s house was easy. I found out that I can go anywhere by saying “take me away”, and thinking of the place I want to go to. In this case I wanted to be with my parents, so it happened. My only problem was that they couldn’t see or hear me. All they could do was walk through me, thinking there was a draft in the house. When we got there, they were fighting. “How could we let this happen to our daughter?” my mom was saying. “We didn’t do anything! She went out and killed herself! I knew we shouldn’t have let her hang out with Steve! He was a bad influence on her!” my father was shouting. I felt Steve tense up next to me. I knew he wanted to tell my dad a thing or two. “That kid was the worst thing that happened to this neighborhood!” my father was shouting at full volume now. My mom burst into tears, then ran into their bedroom. “Take me away!” I heard Steve shout. “Wait!” I cried, “For me….”

    It took forever to find Steve. Since I didn’t know where his world was I just thought of him, hoping it would take me to him.
    I couldn’t believe it, but it worked. I found myself in a meadow, surrounded by flowers. In the middle of the meadow I saw a lone tree. Under it I spotted Steve. Running up to him, I saw that he was crying. “Are you okay?” I asked. “No,” he sobbed, “Your parents think it was my fault that you died. I am not okay.” I sat down next to him, and gave him a big hug. “You know I don’t blame you, don’t you?” I asked him. He just nodded, and I saw him relax into sleep. I laid my head against his shoulder, and let myself fall asleep with the birds singing in my ear.