𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬

𝟎𝟓 | 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬

It was as if we were being dragged through some kind of portal. I couldn't help but wonder if the end was upon us. As in the end. Our time was up as ghosts and it was time to go to hell. Well, technically I wasn't supposed to be going anywhere. Luke Patterson was literally dragging me to hell with him. Remind me, how did we get to this point? Hot dogs? Are you kidding me?

"Whoa!"

Out of nowhere, the spinning stopped and we landed on the ground with a thump. To say we were completely disorientated would be an understatement. It took us a second to realise what was going on, but once we did, Luke and I briefly exchanged eye contact and untangled from one another. As we stood up, we saw Alex and Reggie had also arrived in the same destination. A small comfort in the midst of chaos.

"Whoa!" Luke exclaimed as he observed his surroundings. "How did we get back here?"

Before I could even process where 'here' was, I saw a girl around our age staring at us from across the room. It looked as if she had seen a ghost - four to be exact.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

Not even a minute out of darkness and we had already spooked someone. We really were ghosts, weren't we?

The four of us latched on to one another as the girl ran like hell out of there. We broke away from one another once she was out of range. As I took in my surroundings for the first time, I realised where we were. I turned to face the guys.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

The boys exchanged unsure glances. Of course they didn't know what was going on, they were in the exact same situation as me.

Suddenly, it hit me all at once. I started pacing.

"So you're telling me," I began. "That we died, came back to life - or death - as ghosts, floated out of an ambulance, ended up in some kind of purgatory, got dragged through a portal, we have no way back, no family, no friends - oh my god, Rose! - I'll never see Rose again! I'll never get to tell her about the new job I got. Oh wait, never mind! I'll never get to start that job because I'm dead and a ghost and - "

I came to a halt as I felt two hands rest on my shoulders.

"Alright," Luke's voice said. "Take a deep breath."

"Can she even breath?" Reggie asked. "I mean, she is dead."

"Shh!" Alex hissed.

Regardless of the laws of the afterlife, I inhaled and exhaled slowly.

"See? You got it!" Luke smiled. "Okay, let's sit down."

Luke guided me towards the couch and sat down next to me. Alex and Reggie sat either side of us.

"So, a bunch of crazy stuff happened," Luke began. "But we're here now."

"Yes, but why here?" I asked. "And how? I can't even remember the last time I was in here."

"What do you mean?" Reggie asked. "This is our studio. You were never in here."

I turned to face him. "Your studio?"

"Yeah!" Luke smiled. "Pretty sick, right?"

"Yeah, it is pretty sick," I replied. "Considering this is my uncle's studio I was telling you about!"

"This is your uncle's studio?" Alex asked.

"No way," Luke beamed. "Tom is your uncle?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Ruth Sinclair. Tom Sinclair. I didn't know he was renting this place to you guys."