This is still in progress... if you guys like it, leave me some comments and I'll write some more on it. AU REVOIR!

Much love and thanks for reading!
Amalia-Ashe

The story began when she died. Her life had ended, but it had also just begun. I know this sounds confusing, but just keep up with me. You'll eventually catch on…

Allena dabbed at her eyes as her sister's coffin was lowered into the ground. She and Dina had always been so close and now Allena would never get to speak with her again. She sniffed and felt a hand place itself on her back. She turned and saw David, Dina's boyfriend, looking at her sympathetically. He bowed his head quickly and sniffed. Allena turned back around so he could have a moment to himself.

After the funeral, Allena and her mother made their way back to the car. Neither spoke. Just two dark silhouettes against the bright sun. Everyone else had already left to go change clothes. Allena and her mother were having a get-together back at their house in Dina's memory. Only her closest friends and family were invited.

What Allena didn't understand was how Dina could be dead. She was always so very much alive. Even her blonde hair had a life of it's own. It would stick up when she wanted it straight and stay straight when she wanted it curled. Her green eyes always twinkled and her voice always floated and covered all those who heard it in a coat of warmth and comfort.

Allena was almost the exact opposite. Her naturally black hair was badly dyed red at the tips and her dark brown eyes told everyone to stay away. Her voice was harsh and held the weight of the world in it. She wasn't unhappy; it was just how she looked.

After they got home and changed clothes, Allena and her mother set up a small snack table and had a small memorial with pictures of Dina set up all over the fireplace. They had candles throughout the house for light. The first person to arrive was David. He smiled sadly at the two and kissed them both on the cheek. They were both like family to him. He and Dina had been dating for three years. Before she had died, David had bought a ring for Dina. He never got a chance to ask her the question. He now wore a wedding band on his left ring finger.

As people arrived, they all said a brief hello to the pair. Some asked how they were and Allena's mother would reply with 'as good as we can be.' Then, the guests would stop at the fireplace to say their last goodbyes to Dina. Some took five minutes, a few positioned themselves permanently around the fireplace. David began the trend.

The get together was hard for all involved and didn't last long. Most left within half an hour of arriving. Some lasted an hour. Only three lasted two hours. The three were David, Allena, and Allena's mother. After everyone else had left, Allena's mother retired upstairs to sleep. Allena went into the kitchen and was followed by David.

"So, how you holding up?" she asked, grabbing two cups from a cabinet.

"Not too well…" he said, resting his head in his hands on the counter top. Allena got some ice from the freezer and filled both cups with it. She then poured water into the cups. She handed one to David.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

"You know, she has some stuff up there that you might like to have," she said, trying to raise his spirits a bit.

"Oh? And what stuff would that be?" he asked, not raising his head.

"Oh, pictures, poetry, Bear…" she listed, taking a sip of water. "I'll go get them for you if you want me to," she offered, already heading that way. She didn't wait for an answer and headed up the stairs to her sister's room.

Dina's room was a canary yellow. It matched her personality to a T. And it was her favorite color. The only thing remaining in Dina's room was her empty bed and canopy. Her mother had packed everything up quickly to help numb the hurt. Allena walked over to the box labeled 'David' and picked it up. It wasn't all the way closed because Bear was a little too big.

Bear was a teddy bear that Dina had had since she was only a year old. The reason it was going to David was because when they'd first gotten together, Dina had taken Bear to a sleepover at a friend's house. What Dina didn't know was that the one girl in the school who hated her was going to be there too. The girl had taken Bear and hidden him somewhere. The only hint she would give was that he was still in the town. David stepped up and went a full week without sleep searching for Bear. He finally found him at the trash dump. The girl was never liked by anyone after that…

Allena set the box down and grabbed Bear. He was falling apart. One blue eye was missing, he had a million stitches, and his purple fur looked as if he had been run over by a Hummer a million times. Allena laughed when she remembered the time she had asked Dina why she'd named him Bear.

"I was only a year old!" she had protested. When Allena asked her why she wouldn't change his name, she said, "Well, that would confuse him!!!" Allena smiled sadly. Never again would there be an opportunity for a funny memory like that. What she had now was all she would ever had. She felt tears welling up and brushed them away. She put Bear back in David's box and headed downstairs with it.

On the other side…

Dina closed her eyes as the large SUV came swerving towards her. She was returning home from a date with David. Her small Chevy couldn't take the impact. Dina felt a searing hot flash of pain and then… nothing. She felt no pain, bruises, or scrapes. She felt… nothing… She opened one eye and she was standing outside of her car.

Her tiny car was completely smashed. She figured she was thicker than it was at the moment. 'That's going to cost me a fortune!' she thought. She watched as the driver of the SUV stumbled out of his car to see if anyone was hurt. Of course, no one was in her car, so he looked in quickly and then ran towards his truck and sped off. His SUV didn't have a scratch.

As Dina made her way to her car, she figured she must've been thrown from it. That would explain the searing pain. But as she neared her car, she saw something inside that didn't look like anything in the interior of the car. She walked closer and saw… her body. Flat as a pancake, blood everywhere. She gasped in horror and backed away, trying not to puke. She plopped down on the other side of the road and tried to figure out what was going on.

She sat for a few hours before she heard a siren. When the ambulance finally did show up, they took one look at the wreckage and shook their heads. She knew they would have to get her body and they probably weren't looking forward to it. After they pried what they could of her body out of the car, they waited for the police to show. When they did, the ambulance quickly said what they knew and took off with her body. The police stuck around for a couple more hours and took tire prints and other things like that. After they had cleaned up the mess, they all left. Dina was all alone.

Dina sat and thought about what she'd just seen. She'd seen her flattened body removed from her smashed car and taken away to be buried. But her question was, how? How had she seen all this… was she dreaming? She convinced herself that that must be it. Now, to prove it.

She waited for what seemed like forever waiting for a car to drive by. She finally heard a motor and waited till it got close. When the car came around the turn, she jumped in front of it and waited for impact. Impact never came. She opened her eyes in time to see the end of the car go through her. She stared in horror. It was then she knew… she was dead.

Now, being dead isn't what you would think it is. Most people believe that you immediately go to Heaven or Hell. That would be wrong. You see, Limbo, which is basically earth after death, stands in the way of final judgment. There are certain tasks that must be completed before moving on. Actually, they're more like rules…

The way the whole thing works is like this: First, the deceased individual (we'll call them DI's) must get in contact with all the deceased workers (DW's). The old have workers, the young have workers, and yes, the dead have workers. You would think this would be easy. But you'd be wrong. There are only four DW's in existence. The DI's have to travel the world to find them. The DW's move after every meeting with a DI. So, it's really hard to find them.

After filling out all the paperwork with the DW's, the DI's must find the stairway to heaven. This is by far the hardest task. The Stairway is hidden as a regular staircase. DI's must walk up the staircase to reach Heaven and get judgment. Sounds hard enough, right? Well, while doing all this, the DI's are not to communicate with any living human.

Communication between the two sides of life is actually quite simple. The dead see what the living see. But, they also see other dead people. The only way for the dead to communicate with the living is to talk. I know, I know, it sounds too easy. But the dead don't really have much to talk about anyway…

So, all the DI's have to do is: 1. Meet with the DW's, 2. Find the staircase, and 3. Avoid communication with any human during the whole she-bang. Some can do it in a week. Others get it done in a year. Still, some have been trying for thousands of years… and continue to search. Deliciously evil, isn't it?

Dina cried. She sat in the middle of the road and cried. She was dead and she knew it. She would never again be held by David, or laughed at by Allena when she did something stupid. She sat for a week. Just sat and cried. Finally stood, wiped herself off, and started walking. She walked in the direction of home. She wanted to see her mother and her sister. Wanted to hug them. But she knew she couldn't.

A good half-hour later, Dina was still on the road walking home. As she took the last turn to home, she saw something farther down the road. It looked like a floating wig… She walked cautiously towards it at first, and then she remembered she was dead and ran towards it, throwing all caution to the wind. As she got closer, she saw that the ghost hair was attached to the head of a little girl.

"Hello? Are you lost little girl?" Dina asked, temporarily forgetting she was dead. The little girl stared at Dina with her sky blue eyes. The little girl almost looked sick. She was extremely pale and her hair was an almost-white blonde. The only color on the little girl was her fully black dress. The dress fell to her ankles and was made mostly of what looked like lace.

"Little girl? What's your name?" Dina asked, kneeling down to the little girl's level.

"My name is of no concern to you. No, I am not lost. It is you that is lost," the little girl finally said. Her voice sent a chill up Dina's back. The little girl's voice wasn't one of a little girl. It sounded like the voice of a 27-year-old businesswoman whose heart had been frozen in ice for years. Dina was, to say the least, surprised. She stumbled backward, the little girl matching every step.

"Wh-who are you?!" Dina said, walking even faster backwards.

"Me? I am Farina. I am your guide. Your death guide. My job is to give you the information you'll need to get to your final judgment. The one that will determine where you'll be for the rest of eternity," Farina instructed.

David drove home slowly. The get together had been painful and hard to get through. He looked at the box full of Dina's stuff and wiped away a tear. He turned into his driveway and turned off his car. He grabbed the box and went inside.

When David turned on his living room light, he almost dropped his box.

"Hello, David."

Dina walked with Farina along the road.

"And so, by completing all these tasks, and following the one rule, you'll make it to final judgment," Farina finished. Dina looked at her feet. She had to work so hard.

"And, how do I find all this stuff?" Dina asked looking up at the little girl.

"You must search. There will be clues along the way. Just search," Farina said. As Dina began to ask how, Farina disappeared. She just… left. Dina thought about all the things Farina had said. She had to go around the world and look for clues to find people she didn't even know. Being dead was so weird…

"Marie? What are you doing here?!" David set the box down carefully.

"I came to pay my last respects to Dina. She was such a saint," Marie said with false respect. "And I wanted to see how you were," she said, walking towards him.

"Marie, we're over. I told you that. Now please leave. I need to be alone for a while," he said, standing strong.

"How long are you going to go through this mourning crap?" she asked grumpily, throwing her arms around him.

"She died last week!!!" he yelled, trying to get her off. She'd gotten stronger in the last few years.

"Exactly. A whole week ago. Now we can pick up where we left off. I don't even remember why we broke up," she said still on him.

"We broke up because you cheated on me with my best friend. Now get off of

me!" he yelled, flinging her arms off. She looked shocked for a second, but then she smiled.

"Just wait. I'll get you back…" she said, sauntering past him and out the door. He slammed it shut behind her and leaned against the door, crying. He never wanted to hear Dina's name from that woman's mouth ever again.

Dina had made her way to her house. She saw all of her friends and family there. She wandered over to the fireplace and saw a memorial area set up for her. She shed a tear and wiped it away quickly. Then she saw David standing next to her memorial. She had to get away from everyone because she knew she was going to cry and that it would make noise.

She ran up to her room… and found it empty. All that was in it was a bunch of boxes that had different names and places written on it. She looked through a couple and then came across one with David's name on it. The box was slightly open and a little leg stuck out of it. She opened the box and saw Bear. She giggled to herself and wiped away a tear. She took Bear out and hugged him tightly.

"Do you mind?!"

Dina jerked her eyes open and gasped. She held Bear out.

"D-did you just talk?!" she asked nervously, making sure no one was in the room.
"Yes, and I believe I made a request!" Bear said, sounding agitated. Dina stared at him with wide, confused eyes.