I have lived a slow and painful life. One thing I know is that I am running a successful business, the next, I’m dying in a hospital bed after my family left me for a trip. I had plans for one day I couldn’t get out of, and had to take a flight the next day, and when I was on that airplane, it crashed. Everything just went downhill once I turned 18. As I start slipping away, I stare in to the light of the hospital, seeing everyone run around like bees. The paint on the wall was fading away, just like me.

Death was loud, yet peaceful. Everything went black, and I could hear nurses yelling for doctors, and the loud sobbing of my sister. Beeping could be heard from monitors at my side; one loud beeping and a loud buzz. I could hear who seemed to be my sister, Danielle,”Anna, you can’t leave me! Anna, no! You have to stay here Anna! ANNA! Anna you have been here my whole life! You can’t leave me hanging off a cliff without me seeing your long, dark hair and beautiful smile to pick me up! Anna!”

Death became horrible from that moment, to the moment I woke up outside the room, watching my little sister sit there crying by my limp body. Here green eyes filled with tears, and her long dark hair a big mess all over, and her black dress perfectly spread out on the floor. All I could do was watch. I could move, but nobody could see me. I was a ghost, floating along observing everyone around me.

At that moment, someone said, “You’re so young Anna. Come, let’s go on a walk.” I didn’t recognize her voice, but it words flowed out of her mouth like velvet. She was wearing a white night gown with blue stripes, which complemented her blue eyes, pale skin, and blond hair. I never met her before.

“How did you know my name?” I asked meekly.

“I have been with you for the last 5 years. I left on August 3, 2009,” she replied.

“August 3, 2009? My grandma died on… Grandma?” I thought out loud. I was going funny. So now, I really am a ghost.

“Grandma, you look so different; so young a beautiful; not that you weren’t before!”

“Anna,” she started, “you are now a spirit. You can observe anyone and everyone, or follow you family through life. Please, remember your past, and help the future to not make the same mistakes. When you have a very important message for someone, find the courage to say a few words for support. Guide someone through life with one more prospective. Humans will need it!”

“Thank you,” I managed to ramble, in awe of what she just told me.

“I must go, but make smart decision Anna; I know you can” she said.

“Okay grandma. I love you!”

“I love you too Anna.”

Grandma blew away in a breeze, and I was standing alone in the spirit world.

I pinched myself, just to make sure this wasn’t a dream, but even though I was a ghost, I still managed to feel my body. Now, I had to find my sister. She was in my hospital room, saddened by how I died. At one point, though, she had to leave, and prep for a funeral. Three days later a funeral was held under my name. It was weird to attend m own funeral, watching my sister cry, again. I watched as her life evolved for the next 20 years.

20 years later

Danielle grew out of 15 in a snap. I watched her get married to James Whitlock, and have a son named Joey. Once Joey turned 6, his James became a writer, and began writing a book on Psychology. The three of them were planning a trip to a house this summer that Danielle and I used to rent during the summer. I went to the house two days earlier then they did to remember all the wonderful memories. I walked inside the foyer, and saw myself making a kite for Danielle. I remembered walking through the foyer and seeing the big house in front of me for the first time and thinking that the house was my own personal palace. These memories hurt my heart, as I felt the pain of life regrets stabbing me in the back. If only I could be with my sister and her new family.

I remembered the beach outside being from a movie. The sand as soft and a smooth as silk, and the water rushed in to greet me as I went on the shore. Castles were built on the shore, and my sister and I swam forever in the vast, blue depths. My room in this house reminded me of the ocean that was a quick stroll away from our house. The quick fan with the blue waves swirled above my head, and coaxed me back asleep as I was hallucinated by the thought of my sister pounding through the waves like a motorboat.

As I walked to the kitchen, I remembered where bread was freshly prepared with salami and sodas to make everything better. Once my sister and I came back from our stories at the beach, we would be welcomed by slightly melted chocolate ice-cream and sweet warm fudge. Danielle and I would never climb through the icy cavern that was our fridge, because we were never hungry after the world course meals our parents prepared.

I remembered all those sweet memories.

Danielle and I had so many memories I won’t be able to share with her at dinner when they came. Those stories of adventures she might never tell her son, and I would never have the chance to. Traditions created by Danielle and I that might never be passed down. Joey would never see me, and that hurt me as much as a whip.

I was walking through an empty house. In the real world, I had no purpose. I could see everyone from a screening room, and I was blocked from everyone. You would think that in 20 years, I would understand the feeling but I still felt the weird with the thought. I was sitting back as life around me speed by around me, watching people make dumb decisions and wasting perfectly good lives that I always wished for, and now it’s gone.

The two days went very slow. Anticipation killed my excitement for the young family to come. Time ticked by, slowly, and was without a purpose again.

When I heard the quite creek from the door, no words could explain my delight. As I saw Joey walked through the front door the heavens opened up for him (and me); I could see it in his eyes. He had the same expression I had when I first walked in.
“Wow,” Joey sighed in amazement, “How did you find a place this cool?”

“I used to stay here when I was young. I used to stay her with my…” Danielle stopped, but continued after a long pause, “My…uh… best friend,” she spit out. She looked down as the words rambled out of her moth painfully.

My day was complete. She shared me with her son. I was part of the family again. Everything I dreamed of her saying came out of her mouth today. I was on cloud 9 today.

I didn’t know if she would hear me or not, but I went close to her ear and whispered, “Thank you.”

She stood frozen in her own shoes. Stuck in a trance, she smiled, and gaze off in to the distance, and mouthed the words, “I love you.”

I couldn’t possibly be happier today. Today I felt like my lively self again. I was able to be with my sister again. I loved her so much. My best friend was with me again, recognizing me again. She was seeing me in the light again because I was in her heart when I simply said two words and she and I were filling that empty house I had been in.

“Mommy?” Joey tugged at his mother

“Yes,” Danielle answered.

“Can we go on the beach today?”

“Sure.”

“Right now?”

“Maybe.”

“Ya! I am so excited! Did you go on the beach with your friend too?”

“Yes; I did, and I had some of the best times with her.”

“Thanks ma.”

I kept rising into the atmosphere. My happiness consumed me, and I had no words to explain. Life in the screening room became peaceful, and all was just fine in this world alone. In my position on life now, watching people making silly mistakes makes me cringe. One of day, those people will be in the same state as me, but with the stabbing pains of regret, and they won’t be able to say, “I’m sorry!” They will be stuck in this screening room, lost in this empty house called death.