I blinked, watching the horrific scene unfold before me.

Boy have I gone and done it.

What the heck was I thinking?! Lighting a bunch of matches inside the house?! Sure, I've played with fire before, but...but not like THIS! ..Its all my fault..my house is burning down..my father is DYING...And its all my fault. I collapsed to my knees, my mind reeling. My father..my father...

"D-dad..." I whimper, tears forming and already begining to fall in my eyes. What...what have I DONE?! The stench of wood, cloth, and hair burning in the firey blaze fills the air around me, making me sick to my stomach. I was a murderer. I had killed my father, the only one I had left in this world. Unable to bear the flaming inferno tearing apart and eating everything I had known and loved blaze before me, I lower my head down into my hands and begin to sob. An entire ocean poured from my eyes, filled to the brim with much more sorrow, regret, and despair a human being should ever feel in its lifetime. My clothes grew damp and wet with my tears. My soul was burning, being torn apart at its very core.
WHAT HAVE I DONE.

"..Goodness, you've gotten yourself into quite the predicament, Silvania." A mysterious voice stated, seeming to echo from all directions. I suddenly lifted my head and look around, searching for the source of the voice.

"W-what...who are you?" I asked, rising to my feet. My searching becomes frantic with fear and curiosity as whip my head around, searching madly. "S-show yourself!"

"If you insist.." The voice echos again, before it's owner materialized before me. It was a girl, who appeared to be anywhere from her late teens to early twenties. She looked like a wich. Odd, Halloween was already over. The girl was dressed in a poofy purple dress, a sky-blue silk belt wrapped around her waist. She had an also purple witch's hat, which also had a silk sky-blue stripe on it. The mage had blue and purple striped tights on, but didn't appear to be wearing shoes. She slowly walked torwards me. "Didn't your parents ever tell you not to play with matches...?" The girl asks, smiling lightly.

"..." I had no words. I just hung my head in pure shame. The mage chuckles and places her hand on my cheek.

"There there, don't look so glum! Its not that bad, you'll see!" She chimed, her smile showing no signs of escaping her mouth. I felt something inside of me snap.

"'Its not that bad'?! ITS NOT THAT BAD?! EVERYTHING I'VE EVAH KNOW AND LOVED IS GONE. KAPUT. BURNED OFF THA FACE OF THA EARTH. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA, ANY IDEA AT ALL, HOW THAT FEELS?!" I scream, my hands balling up into fists. How DARE she say that to me, after what happened to my father and I! The mage raised her hands defensively, and backed away from me, although her facial expression looks far from paniced. She actually looked amused by my screaming.

"Trust me, its not that bad. You're getting a second chance at life."

I blink. "A second chance at life..? B-but I'm not-"

"Dead? Oh yes you are. Have you looked in a mirror recently? You're a ghost. " The mage finished for me, smirking. I looked down at myself, and nearly had a heart attack. SHE WAS RIGHT. I could see right through myself! I looked almost like a cloud.

"..S-so...I...DIED back there?! ..B-but.." I began, dread crashed over me like a tsunami wave. The mage chuckled.

"Appears so, kiddo. But as I said, you're getting a second chance. But, theres a catch."

I looked back up at her, blinking. "..A catch? What is it?" I ask, curious.

"You need to earn it. Go find, and kill, the acient dragon spirit of fire. Then, and only then, will you be brought back to life...along with some 'other' things... Until the dragon is dead, you're stuck in purgatory." The mage explains,as her grin reached nearly sinister levels.

"W-what?! A dragon? Those don't exist! You're CRAZY, lady!" I exclaimed as anger began to flare up inside of me. Was this some sort of cruel joke?! The girl only chuckled again.

"Of course you still believe they don't exist. This is the 1920's. The first dragon wasnt discovered until 204- ...Ahh, but thats another story..." The mage said, stopping herself before the vital and interesting information could be given away. I blink.

"...Wait, what? What were you gonna say-"

"Nothing, nothing at all! If I were you, I start looking for that dragon. Toodles~!" The mage exclaims, before she poofed away in a cloud of pink smoke. ..Start looking for the dragon? But I had no idea where to start! Newyork is HUGE! ..In fact, the dragon probably wasn't even IN Newyork! I sighed and looked up at the sky idly.

I felt empty on the inside. ...When your alive, theres this slight, constant warm feeling deep inside you. But when your a ghost..its like being an icecube. I felt the breeze blow right through me. Not against me, but straight through me, like I wasnt even there. I couldn't even feel the ground underneath my shoes.

So this is what its like to be dead.