Sons of Night

Andy’s POV
I was at the school standing in the very spot I killed Cody in, but something was different. Everything was washed out. Bright white and almost glowing, it should have hurt my eyes but it didn’t. I had no memory of getting there, and as I searched my brain I had no reason why I would be there. I could see the steps that I killed Cody on. Some sick part of me wanted to see if his body was down there at the bottom of the stairs, that sick part of me won. I walked to the edge of the steps, my shoes barely making a sound and I looked down. Cody was there. That much was true, but not how he should have been. He was alive. Standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me. He hadn’t aged a day since the last time I saw him, he was wearing a white t-shirt and white pants, glowing like the world around him. I didn’t know whether to feel happy, sad or downright terrified. When he started coming up the steps towards me I settled on terrified.
I backed away from the stairs quickly, stumbling over myself as I did so, but it didn’t really hurt when I fell. It was like getting punched in the face in a dream, you feel the impact, but there is no pain. I tried to struggle to my feet as Cody reached the top of the steps. To my surprise he reached out a hand to me, there was a friendly look on his face. I reached out and took it. He pulled me to my feet. I was taller than him.
“It’s a strange place to be, you know?” He said.
“You’re dead,” I whispered. He nodded and looked around, almost sadly, then he stole a glance at me. Expecting something.
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” He asked.
“Figured what out?” I said.
“You’re dead too,” He said matter-of-factly. I was stunned.
“Dead? I can’t be dead,” I said.
“No offense dude, but a cinder block to the head with no immediate medical attention afterwards, it just might kill you,” He said. I reached up and touched my head, there was no wound. I was silent for a long moment. I had so many questions, but none that I knew how to ask. Cody watched me, silently and patiently, like he expected this.
“Is this heaven?” I croaked. Cody took a deep breath and looked around.
“No sir, this is your own personal purgatory. The place between heaven, earth and hell. It reflects your worst earthly memory, but bathed in heavenly light. So this is basically what the demons would torture you with in Hell, but it shows you how nice heaven can make things,” He explained. I swallowed hard. My eyes drifted down to look at my body. I was in the same white t-shirt and pants that Cody was in. My tattoos looked like someone had colored them in with marker, they were bright and bold. My throat started to tighten as I thought of everyone that I had left behind.
“Why are you here?” I asked. Turning to Cody.
“I’m here to guide you to where you’re supposed to go. If you hang out here too long without a guide you become a ghost and get trapped in the human world,” He said softly eyeing me, I think he could see that I was getting emotional, and even though it didn’t matter I still didn’t want him to see me cry.
“Where am I going?” I asked, it was the question that I almost didn’t want to know the answer to.
“I’ve been told to send you back,” He said with a ghost of a smile.
“Back?” I gasped, “How is that possible, I’m dead,”
“Well the doctors in the hospital are doing a great job keeping your body alive, they’ve been doing CPR on you in the hospital for about twenty minutes now. They’ll give up in ten minutes or so. Your brain has no more than a concussion; it was the blood loss that sent you here. You right now are nothing but a soul. Your body will come back when your soul gets back in it,” He said. I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t. My voice would have cracked.
“Your mother’s very worried about you, your father too. They can hardly bear to watch them trying to get you back. Are you ready to go?” He said. I nodded.
“How do I get back?” I asked.
“I’m going to apologize in advance for this, it’s not going to feel good; but it’s what your body’s feeling,” He took to lunging steps towards me and slammed the palms of his hands into my chest. The fall may not have hurt, but the feeling of his hands on my chest was like getting slammed with a molten baseball bat. I stumbled backwards, clutching my chest. Cody came at me and did it again. I saw a flash of ceiling lights and masked faces while the pain faded, I heard shouting. The world behind Cody was turning to blackness, falling away like it was being sucked into some oblivion. Cody came at me one last time, I slipped back and started to fall down the stairs, but I never hit. I felt like I was being sucked into a vacuum cleaner from both my feet and my head, then there was nothing.
I was floating. Everything was black. It was like I was underwater in the deepest darkest recesses of the ocean. I drifted along painlessly in a cool, silky darkness that wrapped me up. I wasn’t scared. Then the pain started. A sharp burning pain that reached from behind my ear to my temple. Then a throbbing headache branched from the burn and engulfed my entire head. My lungs burned like I’d run a mile with my nose plugged and my mouth taped over. I heard voices.
“We’ve got a pulse, he’s back,” A female voice said she said, and then she faded. Another voice echoed in and took her place it was a man.
“Andy… Andy… Come back to us, there’s a lot of people here that want to know you’re okay,” He echoed. I reached out towards the sound of his voice and tried to drift closer to it. Suddenly I felt a hand in mine, I let it pull me in the direction of the things I was hearing.
“Andy, If you can hear what I’m saying to you I need you to squeeze my hand as hard as you can,” The man said, he didn’t sound so echoey anymore, he sounded more real. I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. Something must have translated over because he quickly responded by telling a nurse to tell my parents that I was alive, but not to come in yet.
“Come on back, Andy. Keep fighting. Come on back,” He said. I heard the beeping of a heart monitor and then suddenly I felt like I had weight again, I could feel myself laying in a bed. It felt like I was tied down though, or solidified in rock. I couldn’t move.
“Go ahead and squeeze my hand again, let me know your still with me,” He said I squeezed it again.
“Good, good. You have a nice strong grip. Why don’t you try to talk to me, if you can?” He said pleasantly. I tried to say something along the lines of is Mayden okay but all that came out was a high pitched whimper.
“Very good, you’re improving quickly. Quite a fighter,” The man said. Suddenly I saw a bright light, it was like a slap in the face with consciousness. My body jerked into motion. I turned my head away and tried to cover up my eyes with my hands.
“There we go! Welcome back to the land of the living, Andy!” A thin man with a well trimmed black beard sat over me with a flashlight in his hand. He was wearing scrubs, a doctor.
“Well you did give us a mighty scare there, didn’t you?” He said. I nodded, it was the best I could do I felt very weak, my throat was dry, and my head was throbbing.
“Can you tell me how you’re feeling?” He asked, he had a slight accent, perhaps Irish. There were lots of ways I could answer the question, thirsty, in pain, worried, just saw life after death, I settled for something a bit simpler though.
“I’m okay,” I croaked. The doctor chuckled.
“Water?” He asked I nodded. He stood up from the side of the bed and a second later held a paper cup of water to my lips. I drank it gratefully. As he pulled away I could feel a little strength returning.
“Are my friends okay?” I asked.
“Yes, boy. All of them. Even the girl you rescued. My, is she a fighter. She’s so worried about you I swear she tried to walk over here with two legs broken. You got to her just in time, boy. Saved her life. From what I’ve been hearing from the police it’ll be something to be discussed, but you may have just won yourself freedom,”

Notes

Well so this chapter kinda came out of the blue for me, didn't really expect it. I was kinda just going to have Andy wake up in the hospital, but I guess the story is writing itself now and I don't get to make decisions. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Love you guys.