Zach Brimstone- Afterlife Pt. 1
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Hey guys the name is Zach Brimstone. I could tell you my life story up until now but you can read it in those chapters before this one. Go ahead; I can wait while you catch up. I am in no hurry. I think you might enjoy it, it has twists and turns and an ending that you will not believe.
Now that you're all caught up on me and my adventures with my love and friends, it sucks that it ended that way. Yet, if you read that last line of the last chapter, it looks like I might have a second chance coming my way. Here let me set up the scene from the last chapter of my life.
A few moments later, I opened my eyes but I was not looking up at people or the scene that just happened. It completely blew me away and then I started putting two and two together. I did not care what was going on down below me but I was more concerned about where Damien was. I started floating around the house to see if he went looking for me. He was nowhere to be found.
I went back into the living room, Jackie and Elliot finally arrived to the horrible scene that went down just moments ago. I started watching the police men do their work. There was one person per body. Each person was looking around our bodies to see if there were any signs of life. I went outside and sat down next to Jackie.
She was crying her eyes out on Elliot's shoulder. Elliot was being the strong one for her. I was happy that she found someone that will be there for her. I was still wondering where Damien was and why I was still here. I took a seat next to them and put my arm around her body. She looked up for a quick second then went back to crying on Elliot's shoulder. I tried to rub her back but it did not work.
"Why did they come back here?" she finally looked over at Elliot and spoke.
"Probably to get some clothes or belongings so they could live at their parents place," Elliot said back. "We should have got here sooner."
"Do not blame yourself; it was not your fault. It was that stupid Logan's fault. Where is he? I am going to make sure he pays for what he did," I said and was about to go drag him out of his body. When I noticed a hand grabbed mine. It was Elliot's hand.
I never did realize that we had a deeper connection or that he had a connection with ghosts. "Talk through me," Elliot whispered to me.
"What?" I said.
"If you want to say anything to Jackie to calm her down, now is your chance," he told me in a calm demeanor.
"Ok, I guess I want to say that she was always my best friend and not to blame herself for what happened here," I told Elliot.
"Jackie, Zach tells me that this is not your fault and that you were always his best friend," he told her.
"Where is he? Is this a joke?" she asked while drying her tears.
"No, this is not a joke, remember when I told you I can see ghosts or at least hear them. Well, Zach is sitting right next to us and told me to tell you those words," Elliot said to her.
"Fine, if it is really him, ask him to tell me something only he knows and not something I told you," Jackie said to him.
"Well," Elliot asked me.
"I guess she wants proof, tell her that she has had a secret journal hidden in the park that I once dug up and read. She thought keeping it in her room would not be a safe spot. In that journal, there was an entry marked 8/12. It was marked for me if anything happened to her. On that page, is a map to your most cherished treasure but I will not tell Elliot what that is," I said to Elliot.
He repeated everything that I told him to Jackie. She had a completed shock on her face. "Tell him that we love him and will never forget him."
"We love you and you will forever be with us," she said out loud.
"You heard that goes for all of us," Elliot said. "Is Damien with you?"
"No, he is not with me. I checked the house and his spirit could not be found," I said to him.
"Maybe he left to go look for you," Elliot said and shrugged his shoulders.
Jackie was looking at her phone; she was debating to call all his friends. She started texting them one by one. It was a simple text just saying to meet at Damien and Zach's house. I have something to tell you.
The coroner wheeled in three gurneys into the house with his assistant. The cops started going and the coroner came out with two of the three gurneys. Everyone started showing up one by one. The last gurney came out as Sean and Ethan came up. They were the first ones to come. Then Chase and Justin and right behind them were Ryan and Bobby. Jackie knew where my parents were and Damien's dad as well.
They were all sitting outside the house that was now closed off with the do not cross police tape. "What happened?" Sean asked once everyone got there.
"Not sure, we are waiting for the police to come tell us. All I know is that Damien and Zach are gone. What I pieced together is that Logan and Zach must have fought inside the house," Jackie said to us.
"I have talked to Zach as a spirit but I have lost contact with him," Elliot chimed in.
"What? You talked to his spirit," Ethan blurted out.
"Yeah, been able to do that for a while now, either way, he has not come back since he went to look for Damien's spirit," Elliot said to everyone.
"I wish he was here, we could find out what really happened," Ryan said and rested his head on Bobby's shoulders. A couple tears roll down his face onto the awaiting shoulder.
A moment of silence was made within the circle, I was floating above them. Just then I had a thought. "Wait," I thought to myself. "If I am dead, shouldn't my life flash before my eyes or something like that?"
"You're right, that is if you were dead," a voice from behind me said.
I turned around to see someone dressed in a long black robe. "Are you here to take me away, death?"
"Death," he said with a chuckle. "I am not death, I do know him and he is not great at parties. I am here to see where you belong."
"Belong? You mean heaven or hell," I said back to this man in black.
"Well, there are those choices but then there is a third option and I will see if you can go back," he told me.
I just was dumbfounded; I did not know what he meant. "Go back?"
"Yeah, every once in awhile we will give a chance to someone that is special and shows promise. Your love with Damien is so strong that if it can surpass time then that will give you the chance to go back and change what happened, are you ready to go find him?"
"I would do anything for him, let's go find him," I told him.
As you can see this reaper fellow over here has given me a second chance to hopefully come back to life somehow.
"I am not a reaper," you heard from him in the background.
"Ok then what would you like to be called," I asked him.
"My name is Ethan and whenever you're done with your ramblings we have a few things to discuss," he told me.
"Ok, ok," I told him and closed the gap between us. "What do I have to do to get this second chance?"
"Patience young one, it was one of your better qualities that made you more likeable. Damien is not going anywhere for the moment. Plus I have to tell you a few other things as well that do not pertain to Damien, like where we are and everything about it," Ethan told me.
"Ok, ok, sorry. I just died and do you blame me for being worried about Damien, the love of my life. Do what you have to do and I will listen," I told him and took a sit on the somewhat ground that was beneath me.
"Ok, now that you know my name I can explain what is next, welcome to the crossroads. Think of me as your taxi driver. I told you before that I was not a reaper, just someone to help you get to your next destination. Normally, there are only two choices one has to make after their soul leaves their body. Going up to the bright light or going down to the fire pits," he told me and waived his left hand. A door with a bright glow around appeared to his left and then he waived his right hand a Door with flames around it appeared on his right side.
"I got that and I figured those were the normal choices when one moves on," I said back to him.
"Yep, there are some people that do not get this choice. They automatically go to one or the other. It all depends on what you do on the planet that you come from. Yet in your case you have the third choose. It does not happen that often but it does," he said and stepped to the side. A door was right behind him with big letters that read "Trials" "The choice is up to you on which door to choose. I will be waiting on the other side."
Ethan vanished and I was left with the three doors in front of me. "Wait, I have a few more questions before I make the choice. Which door do I need to choose to get to Damien," I yelled out in the vast emptiness. There was no reply to my question.
"Ok, well let's think this out logical. Damien was a good person so I know he would not be down there," I said out loud and point to the fiery door. "That door is out of the question."
As soon as the words left my mouth, that door vanished. It gave me a puzzled look on my face but I figured it was what happens when you make a choice in the crossroads. It does not give you the chance to go back and change your answer.
"Ok, well I guess that makes it easier for me," I told myself. "Down to two doors left, the choice of the unknown and the light and I still do not know which door would lead me to Damien."
"I guess my best choice is the unknown, I might be able to go back and prevent this from ever happening with this door," I reached for the Trials door and turned the handle. It opened up and there was Ethan standing behind the door.
"I knew you would choose this door," he told me and extended his hand. It was not a skeleton hand or anything grotesque. It was a normal hand; it almost looked like the hand of a teenager. It started getting me thinking about what he looked like underneath that black robe. I grabbed his hand and just as I touched it the ground vanished from underneath us.
"Where are we going?" I asked Ethan.
"To your first trial," he answered. With a flash of light we were in a room, there was a kid sitting on his bed crying. I looked back and Ethan was disrobed. He was hot. He was about five feet nine inches and looked to weigh about a hundred and thirty pounds with a washboard stomach. His blond hair covered his deep blue sparkling eyes it gave him a mysteries look about him. He was dressed in a suit with black pants, white undershirt and button down shirt as well. His over coat was black as well as his tie. Taking a close look at his tie was a white skull sitting in the middle of it. It was like he was trying to keep a neutral position about himself. Neither light nor dark yet I could not pick up on his intentions like I was able to do.
As I was trying to figure out Ethan, my intuition was picking up on the kid. The kid was putting out some very dark vibes. I looked back at Ethan and he was already gone. "My first trail huh, great got to figure this out on my own," I said out loud.
"Hello," the kid said into the empty room.
"I guess he can hear me," I thought to myself.
"Hello," the kid said again.
"Hello," I said to the kid.
"Who are you and why can I not see you?" he asked to the shadows of the wall.
"My name is Zach Brimstone; to be honest I am not sure why I am here. By the way where is here?" I asked.
"You're in my bedroom. My name is Hank. Nice to meet you," he said. I noticed he backed up in his bed. I looked down and noticed that my body was coming into sight. Then I was fully visible to him.
"Don't be afraid, I think I am here to help you," I told him. I was getting the feeling that Hank was about to do something horrible.
"How did you die?" he asked.
"I died saving my lover, Damien. Now I am trying to get him back or get myself back to change things that happened," I told him and then his dark aura was fading away.
"You're gay?" he asked in shocked voice.
"Yes or I was when I had a body. Nope, guess I still am," I said with a chuckle.
"Let me guess, you're here to stop me from killing myself," he said and then pulled a letter opener from underneath his pillow.
"Why would you do something like that," I asked him.
"You should know or were you one of those people that never came out," hank said back to me holding the letter opener.
"No, I came out and had my fair share of bullying throughout my life. I am not going to sit here and tell you that being gay is an easy life but I can tell you that it did change me. I bet you either came out or were forced out by someone you love. You confessed to that person and then he shattered your world by denying you the one that your heart wants. Can I be honest with you?" I said to him.
"How did you know, his name was Peter. I told him I was gay and he just walked out of my life not saying a word. This was a week ago," he told me and a couple of tears start falling down his face. I quickly embraced him into a hug and let him cry on my shoulders. "I remember the first boy I came out to. You're lucky that he just walked out of your room. I was not so lucky. I did it in the boy's locker room. We both were almost done changing, he had his shirt off and I just finished putting mine on. I did not know what came over me but I guess my mind was tired of not being me to others. I just went for it. I kissed him on the lips and it took him a quick second to get over the shock. He shoved me into the locker and then he started beating me up," I told him.
"Really," he said wiping away his tears. "What happened after that?"
"I was pretty much beaten to a pulp. He finished beating me up with on finally kick to the stomach. It knocked the wind out of me. He walked away with only one thing left to say, "Never talk to me again, Faggot," my now ex-friend yelled at me as he walked away. I was curled up into a ball holding stomach from his last kick. I pulled myself up onto the bench and just rested there for the period. I changed out of my now bloody clothes and left school that day," I told him.
"What happened next?" he asked now sitting in front of me.
"Well that was the worst week of my life, word spread around that I kissed the guy and of courses he could not keep his mouth shut. I became the butt of everyone's jokes. "Hey, suck my cock, Faggot, Bend over pussy boy. People grabbing my head and shoving there crotches in my face. Yeah it was bad. That week, I was not only bullied but beaten up a couple of times as well," I paused to make sure he was getting the point. "Then I finally realized, they were doing it to get a reaction from me and I was feeding right into it. That weekend, my best friend Jackie came over. Probably the only person that was still friends with me, we came up with a plan for me to get tough skin. She worked on me to the point where I was ready to end my life from what she was telling me. She knew all my buttons and boy did she push them. We ended Sunday night and I was ready for what came Monday."
He was now completely listening to my story. "Ok, Monday came then what..." he awaited me to finish my story.
"I awoke Monday morning and walked into school with my head held high. The teasing started coming with jokes and I just let them roll right off my back. Then someone started to grab my head and force me down upon them. I just wiggled my way out of their grab and stood up straight underneath them. My head forceful slammed into his chin. He fell backwards onto the ground. Everyone around us took a step back and gasped at what I had just done. Everyone was waiting for me to start beating him up for what he did and the next thing I did was extend my arm to help him up. He took my hand and I pulled him to his feet. The crowd vanished and we talked. The guy that I knock down was the same guy that I kissed, I apologized to him and he apologized to me as well for starting the whole thing and for beating me up. After that everything went back to normal for a little while anyways," I said and waited for his response.
"Really, that is how you dealt with it," he said all surprised.
"Yep, that is how I came out to the school and most of my friends. Now, let's make you tough for tomorrow so you're ready come what may," I told him and jumped off his bed.
"Yet, I do not have any really good friends to help me get tough. I am better off just using this and ending it all," he told me.
"That is not the right answer, it never is. You're stronger than them. Now hand me the letter opener," I said and walked towards him.
"Fine but can you help me be tough," he asked as he hand the letter opener.
"Of course," I said with a big grin on my face. "I will also teach you a few moves to defend yourself if anything gets worse." Throughout the night we practice moves on each other and also started his tough skin. By the first ray of sun peeking though his window, I knew he was ready for the day. I followed him to school and watched over him like some guardian angel or something like that. It felt good to know I was helping a complete stranger. He was lucky though, nothing happened.
About halfway through the school day, Ethan shown up with a smile on his face, "Congrats," he said.
"Congrats," about what. I just help him out because he needed it. I was not going to have someone kill themselves over that. It is just play wrong and stupid," I told him.
"You're absolute right. I was congratulating you on that fact that your still have your heart," Ethan told me.
"Thanks, I guess," I told him with a confused look on his face.
"It is a good thing, if you were heartless and let the kid died there was no way this second chance would go through," Ethan told me. "No we can move on to the next trail."
"Wait, can I at least say goodbye to Hank?" I asked but it was too late. I was already in front of the next door.
"No worries, it will be taken care of," Ethan told me. "Let's continue onto the next trial."
Here is the first chapter of the next Zach brimstone series. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Let me know what you think by email or going to the site. joshmisses@yahoo.com or samuelstories.wordpress.com