Sail
Prologue
"I'm sorry, Kallie. God, I'm so sorry. I tried to help."
She was kneeling on the ground with her head in her hands, tears streaming down her face and her words hiccupped around sobs. She reached out and grasped the edges of the gravestone right in front of her, with the words 'Kallie Philips – 1998-2012 A loving daughter, twin, and best friend' etched into the freshly planted black granite.
As she stood up, the knees of her black dress grass-stained, she placed the bouquet of forget-me-nots on the top of the stone. Her mom came up behind her and slid something into the hand that had held the flowers. She looked down and was hit with another wave of sobs.
"M-mom. You kept it?" she said as her mom came to put an arm around the grief-stricken fourteen-year girl.
"Yes, Amanda. I figured you might want to keep a reminder of her with you."
"Are you stupid?!" Amanda shouted in a sudden surge of rage, "Keep the thing that killed her?! That killed my sister." Her voice broke at the last word and she sunk into her mom's arms.
"I understand, Amanda. I really do. Here, give it to me," she said, holding out a hand. Amanda clutched the bloody, frayed rope in her hands, closed her eyes, and handed it over, "It's okay, Amanda. Everything will be okay, I promise." Amanda just scoffed and rolled her eyes. As her mom was walking away, she slid to ground again and pulled her knees to her chest.
"I already miss you more than anything, Kallie. Just one more miracle. For me. Don't be dead," Amanda whispered, letting out a laugh that could've been mistaken for a sob at her own reference to one of her and Kallie's favorite T.V. shows. As she rested her head in her arms, her twin's grave began to shake. It was so slight, that Amanda didn't notice it at first, but as the shaking grew more intense, she looked up in alarm. She let out a scream when the shaking stopped and an arm forced its way up out of the dirt at her crossed feet.
"K-Kallie?" Amanda said shakily, reaching her hand out to the girl dressed for the afterlife.
"Amanda? I thought I was dead. Did the doctors manage to save me again?" Kallie said exasperatedly, not sounding the least bit dead.
"Y-you were dead. I saw your body hanging from the rafters. I checked your pulse seventeen times for God's sake!" Amanda practically shouted, breaking down in tears again. Kallie rushed to her side and held her close.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm here now."
"Yes that's the problem! We buried you! How are you here right now? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy, but how many zombie movies have we seen? We know this won't end well. For either of us," Amanda pleaded as Kallie pulled away, with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Well I won't let it go bad," Kallie assured her sister. Amanda looked at her skeptically, but nodded anyway.
About a month later, everything was still running fairly smoothly. Amanda had kept Kallie hidden from everyone else. Although, it was getting harder and harder. Kallie was claiming to see giant, black, bloodthirsty dogs roaming around the house. And they kept getting closer.