Aggie looked all around her, confused. All that was there was bright light. But not the scary bright light like she created when she had been woken up; this seemed like a good light, a calming, peaceful light.
She stood up and started walking, not really sure where to go. She walked forward for a few minutes until she tripped. But the way she landed…it was like she tripped while walking up some stairs, but there was noting there. She stood up and turned around…only to walk into an invisible wall. She rubbed her forehead before turning to the right…only to again walk into an invisible wall. She then turned around and walked, this time sticking her hands out in front of her. Sure enough, they touched a wall.
Aggie realized that whatever was going on, she was supposed to walk up the stars. The little girl nervously wrung her hands before carefully ascending the invisible stairs.
As she climbed, she thought about Norman, the boy who could see ghosts, the boy who had helped her find peace. He had told her that he was a lot like her. At first, she refused to believe him, but when he calmed her down, she realized that he was telling the truth, that he had problems of his own because of his gift. She hoped that he would get the praise he deserved for…stopping her curse.
Normally, some adult would just come to her grave and read a fairy tale to her to keep her asleep for another year. She didn't like those fairy tales; they weren't like the ones her mommy told her. When her mommy told her fairy tales, she felt peaceful, because they were always told with love. When those "readers" toldher the fairy tales, they were told in ways that made it obvious the adults wanted to get it over and done with. It always made her sad, because she remembered her mommy holding her and stroking her hair while she told her the stories.
At the thought of her mommy, Aggie stopped walking and let a couple tears roll down her face. Would she ever get to see her mommy again? She had spent the past 300 years wondering about that. Norman told her if she found peace, everything would be better, but Aggie wasn't so sure.
She remembered when Norman had told her her own story, and how he said what happened next was up to her. If she were to finish the story, she would see her mommy again, and they would hug, with her mommy holding her tight and promising to never let go while telling her everything would be alright.
Since she had fallen asleep next to Norman and drifted off into the afterlife, Aggie had been feeling quite nervous. What would happen next? How long had it been since she entered this…light place? What would happen when she got to the top of these invisible stairs?
That last question came suddenly, when she tripped and landed on flat ground. She stood up and wrung her hands in worry, when she spotted something up ahead. Not knowing what else to do, the nervous child headed in the direction of the object.
When she got closer, she saw it was a tall golden pole, with what appeared to be a…metal box of some kind on it (being born in the 18th century, Aggie didn't know that the box was a speaker).
Suddenly, a voice spoke out, "Name, please?"
"W…what?" Aggie asked, nervously looking around, "Who's there?"
"Name, please?" the same, high-pitched voice asked again.
Not knowing what else to do, Aggie said, "Agatha Prenderghast."
"One moment, please," the voice said, and then all was silent. Aggie continued wringing her hands in worry, wondering what was going on. She heard some weird sounds (not knowing that it was the "whirring" of a machine) and began to get scared.
Suddenly, without warning, a giant gate appeared in front of her. The giant gate opened, and there, standing in front of Aggie was…
"Mommy?" Aggie asked, tears welling up in her eyes. A woman who looked like an older version of Aggie walked up to her, tears welling up in her eyes as well.
"Aggie," the woman said, opening her arms. Aggie ran into them and her mother scooped her up. The two of them hugged each other and cried for so long, happy to finally be reunited.
"I thought I'd never see you again," Aggie cried after a few moments.
"You weren't able to find peace," her mother said, stroking her hair, "But I've always been watching over you, hoping we would be together again. Now we can be."
"Thanks to Norman," Aggie said, as her mother started walking away from the giant gate.
"Yes. He's a good boy. When each reader passed the job onto the next person, I would always get my hopes up, praying to myself that the new reader would find a way to help you. But they never did. Over a dozen people reading to you, none even thinking about helping you move on and end your curse."
"I'm sorry about that, Mommy," Aggie said, biting her lip nervously.
"Baby, I know you are. Neither you nor the townspeople were truly at fault when it happened. It's just that you made each other so scared, nothing good could have possibly come from it. But now you and them have been able to move on and can enjoy the afterlife."
At this, she stopped, and set Aggie down, next to a tree. Aggie realized it was the place where she and her mommy had always come to enjoy themselves, where she had been buried, and where she had found peace.
Her mother then sat next to her and began, "Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Aggie…"