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Chapter Three


When Nick awoke, nothing seemed to make sense. He found himself on the ground, outside along the road. A storm continued to rage on. The power was out, and clouds covered the sky. Despite the darkness, he found himself being able to see everything quite normally. He stood, trying to reorient himself and figure out what was going on.

There were two things that didn’t sit right with him. First of all, he found himself a little see-though. Visible? Yes. But when he looked down at his feet he could see the ground right through them. Second of all, it was raining and flooding horribly. Water was rushing around the streets as thunder boomed around him. This was a fact. Yet, he wasn’t getting wet at all; in fact, the rain was going right through him.

And there was no pain. For a moment, he couldn’t remember why he knew there should be pain. But he knew it. Yet, he felt nothing. Not the rain, not the storm, he wasn’t cold, he wasn’t warm. Nick felt nothing physically, and the realization disturbed him beyond anything. His mind flashed back to before. How he’d seen something – or thought he had anyway. He’d been talking to Brian. Everything had been funny, the drugs he’d done at the nightclub before taking off.

The pain…the accident.

He screamed, thinking the worst.

No, I can’t be dead.

He spotted his body. He ran forward, his feet making no noise as he did. He paused, realizing he didn’t need to catch his breath, that he didn’t need to breathe. It once again seemed to confirm the worst. Nick grew closer, till finally he was right next the ambulance. That was when he looked down at himself. He saw his face, battered, bruised and coated with blood. His leg was at an odd angle, clearly broken. But the blood, there was so much blood. On his arms, his torso, it had soaked through his clothes quickly despite the rain continuously falling. His eyes were shut as the paramedics were loading it on a gurney. They seemed to be as disturbed as he was.

“Pulse is weak…”

“Jesus, it’s amazing he came out in one piece…”

“Alcohol levels are probably out of this world…”

Nick watched, horrified. It was a bit surreal to be looking down at his own body. To touch it and see his hands go right through. There were plenty of times he’d have what he liked to call “out of body experiences”. Some of the best highs of his life were like that. But this, this was something else. He tried to get the attention of the paramedics, someone, anyone. He danced in front of them, waved his arms like a madman. They moved on like he wasn’t even there. Like he didn’t exist beyond the damaged body they were trying to save. He leaned forward, listening to himself.

Much to his relief, he could hear breathing. He was alive.

For a moment, a random through ran through his mind. He rushed forward through the gurney, standing inside of his body. Maybe now he’d force himself to wake up? He stood there, waiting. Nothing changed, and they finished getting it on the ambulance. The worst was when the paramedic walked through him to get on the ambulance. Instantly he could see that young man’s thoughts, his hopes and his dreams.

Then, he was just himself again.

I’m about to die. Or I’m brain dead. How else is this possible? Fuck there’s so many things I haven’t done. Shit I haven’t said. Dammit I’m not ready to die! This can’t be possible. No, it’s a mistake or-

“Scary, isn’t it Nick?” A voice called out, shaking him from his frantic thoughts.

Someone can see me?

He turned, looking to the sound of the voice. It was one he knew he’d heard before. It sounded so familiar. Nick jumped back when suddenly there was the young woman from before. The one he thought he saw. She was a bit shorter than him, maybe about 5’6”. Like him, she was transparent; he could see the complete wreckage that was once his prized Cadillac behind her. The car was completely ruined. He could see the blood along the glass of the windshield.

His blood.

The so called shatter proof glass had shattered, shards scattered everywhere and sparkling like diamonds. The car wasn’t as long anymore, the impact into tree had caused the front end to crush. He shivered at the sight.

How did I survive that mess?

“Good question.”

His glance shifted back to the girl. She smirked, and immediately reminded him of Leslie. There was just something about her in the facial features, the way she smiled. At once, it hit him.

“You’re the voice in my head.”

“Talk like that to people and they’ll have you committed.”

“But I’m right.”

“Are you?”

“I’m not crazy, or hell, maybe I am. If I was then maybe this is all some crazy ass dream or delusional thing I’m having. That’s it. That’s what this is. I’m in some mental institution or dreaming, or something. Cause this ain’t real, it can’t be real.”

“Oh come on, you know that’s not true. Of course this can be real. Just ask your friend Brian. If this was him, he’d believe in a heartbeat. But then again, because he does believe, this never would have happened. Yikes, I’m rambling. Sorry, I have a bad habit of that.”

Nick thought for a moment, staring hard at the image before him. His eyes widened in realization. “You caused me to crash!”

She walked back to the wrecked vehicle, and suddenly she was sitting on top of the roof. Calm as could be. Nick tried to rub his eyes, but was frustrated to find he couldn’t. Nothing about him was solid. How had she done that? He approached the car, looking up at her. She smiled at him sheepishly, as thunder boomed behind them. She winced at the noise.

“That was a mistake, I was trying to freak you out, not kill you. Oops!” More thunder. “I’m in a bit of trouble for that one. But you’re still alive, though you probably don’t deserve to be.”

Nick frowned as he tried to lean against the car. His arm immediately went into it, and he attempted to kick the wreckage irritably but to no avail. “What do you mean?”

“Well first of all, you’re…well you’re not a ghost but you’re not in your body either so stop trying to touch things.”

He glared at her.

“And, I mean you should be dead right now. That accident should’ve killed you. It’s a miracle you’re alive, and as unharmed as you are.”

“Unharmed?!” He waved his hands back towards the ambulance that was now driving off in the distance. The sirens wailed shrilly in the night. “You call that unharmed? I’d rather be dead!”

“You want to die?” She asked pointedly, shooting him a look. It unnerved him how much she looked like him, like Leslie. He had so many questions about all of this. Like how did she know all this? How was any of this happening? Who was she? Yet, when his mouth moved to voice any of those thoughts, nothing came out.

He didn’t answer.

“Didn’t think so. You talk about not caring, you think it. I think you’ve fooled yourself.” She appeared beside him instantly in a tiny flash of light. He jumped at the sight of her next to him.

“It’s easy to talk about it. But I don’t think you want to die. Look at you now; you were scared beyond belief when you thought this was it. You have your problems…but you want to live. And that’s a start.” She smiled.

“How do you…”

“Know? How am I here?” She reached up, tried to fix his ruffled hair. “Because He wants me here. He wants me to know.”

“What is all this? Whatever you did, put me back!”

“This, well, this is a chance…maybe your last chance. Who knows? The big guy, well, He thinks you have potential. So much that He’s having me help you.” She rolled her eyes. “I think I annoyed Him recently, because honestly, you’re already getting on my nerves.”

He raised a brow. “You’re not much fun to be around either. You haven’t even answered anything!”

“Have I? Think about it. And anyway, for right now, we’re stuck with each other. So we’re both going to have to deal with it, and make it work.”

“Don’t I have enough problems?” It was her attitude that was infuriating him so much. He was so confused, so at a loss for what was going on. And he would never admit it to her, but he was terrified. He may have seen his body there still breathing, but at the same time, he knew he was here. As some sort of spirit. She had been right about one thing, he wanted to live. Despite everything wrong in his life, despite his actions, Nick didn’t want to die. He wanted to live more than anything.

But because he was so freaked out by everything, he found himself acting cocky. His old standby.

“That’s exactly my point!”

“Why? Why me?”

“You want to know why? Well, because right now, you could go either way at this point. It’s all up to you.”

Nick smirked, raising a brow at her. “Oh I can huh? And just who the hell are you anyway?”

“I’m what you’d call...a guardian. Well, I’m more than that but we’ll go with that for now. He told me to keep it uncomplicated. Easy for Him to say.” Lightening lit up the sky as the thunder followed. “The name’s Grace. But more importantly, right now?” She grinned. “I’m your new best friend.”