I am not dead guys! I started working on a book, and this year has been very busy for me. I have been working on all of my stories, but I wanted to start this one because my inner nerd needs to show even further! Now sit back and enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I only own my OCs
A groan sounded in a dark bedroom as an annoying beep echoed. Blue eyes glared at the alarm clock signifying it was 6:30 in the morning and the young woman had to get ready for work. "Stupid insomnia...being a fucking dick," she growled as she smacked the alarm clock to shut it up.
With a sigh, the twenty-three year old rolled out of bed and headed to the attached bathroom before getting ready for the day. The young woman worked retail for a living, so she was well aware she had to put on her best face regardless of how she was feeling. In her opinion, it was one of the many disadvantages of working retail. Despite her personality, she didn't really care for most people. But no matter, she had to smile and get over her anti-social behavior for seven hours.
As soon as the brunette finished her morning routine and ate her breakfast, she entered the bathroom once more before grabbing her hair dryer to dry her short hair. Thankfully the length allowed it to be fully taken care of in a matter of minutes despite how thick and how much hair she had on her head. She did one quick look-over at her appearance (not that she really cared) before heading out the door. Piper was very happy at her job. She worked as a key-holder in one of the many stores in the town of Sevierville, Tennessee. There was little to no drama at the store, and she loved all of her fellow coworkers. If she had a complaint, it would be all the traffic that came with living in a tourist town. Thankfully, that left her overall happy in her life. She didn't have many friends, but those who were her friends she was loyal to.
As she drove, she frowned at the annoyance of her knee brace. About two and a half months ago she had accidently dislocated her knee while in martial arts. Piper wasn't an average girl; instead of shopping, getting her nails done, or anything like that, she preferred going to the dojo, gaming, and any other activity along those lines. She was always happy to learn the next new thing or even just pick up a book and read. Because she enjoyed working out, she wasn't skinny. Piper stood at an even five foot tall, but she made up for her height with her muscle. She had a flat stomach, but she had broad shoulders, wide hips, and built to be athletic.
Piper's day went by as it usually did at work; from people commenting on her harem pants or her dragon necklace to her informing people on the salt lamps or something else within the store, conversations were always rolling to make people feel welcomed. The Himalayan salt lamps and the essential oils seemed to be the more popular items within the store it seemed. Piper grimaced as rain began to pour down; it was Spring, so rain showers were always sporadic and it irritated her. Rain always made her feel drowsy; she preferred the rain when she was at home, curled up in a blanket, and reading a book. "It always seems to rain when I'm close to getting off when I open..." the twenty-three year old sighed.
The assistant manager laughed slightly, "You'll be okay, it's just water."
This resulted in the key-holder hissing much like a cat. "I hate rain..." she grumbled.
"Aw, it's okay. It'll go away soon," the short brunette mused; the assistant manager had recently dyed her hair black.
"Thanks, Amanda," Piper chuckled.
Piper was glad March wasn't as busy of a season in comparison to the summer season; hell, rod run weekend was worse despite it being only a few weekends a year. She despised the traffic that came with the rod runs more than anything in the world. During that weekend it would take anyone driving two to three hours just to go one mile in bumper to bumper traffic. March was very quiet in comparison and as boring as it could get at work, it needed to balance out to give the employees a break from the busy season.
Four o'clock finally rolled around, and the twenty-three year old was finally able to head home from work. The ride home was going well, or at least it was. While on Collier Drive, the young woman was driving, minding her own business, when another car came flying around the curve at sixty miles an hour while texting. Needless to say, the other driver had managed to cross over the middle lane, to the lane Piper was in, and it resulted in a head-on collision. The brunette felt a sharp pain in her neck before she found herself looking over the wreckage. Piper was confused as she stared at her now destroyed car, and frowned as she saw her body in said car; her neck was twisted in an odd angle. "What the hell is happening?" she asked herself.
She looked down at her hands, and if it were possible, she would have frowned more. Her hands seemed to e transparent. "Did-Did I just die?" the brunette wondered.
The other driver quickly rushed to Piper's car despite her own injuries (adrenaline and all) and looked at the once lively girl in horror. Piper scoffed at the driver's reaction. She felt no sympathy for her considering it was her fault that the accident happened. The other driver had bleach blonde hair, expensive clothes, car, and probably had the latest phone. She didn't look to be older than the age of eighteen, but it also could have been the make-up she was wearing.
Piper glared down at the girl as she waited. She tried moving, but it was useless. All she could do was watch as an ambulance pulled up to the scene. She sighed as they hauled her body out of the car and onto the ambulance along with the girl in the other car. Piper found out the hard way she was still attached to her body as the people tried to bring her back to life. So many thoughts were running through the now deceased girl's mind, mostly her worrying over her friends reactions about her death. Piper may have been twenty-three, but she knew her car payments and family would be taken care of thanks to her life insurance policy she chose to invest in. She felt a pain in her heart when she thought about her niece and nephews, and it hurt more when she thought of her boyfriend; he had only loved one other person before her, and now she had left him because of an idiot. Life was truly unfair.
The young woman watched all the failed attempts at bringing her back before the doctor finally pronounced her dead. Piper clenched her ghostly fists as the doctors got hold of a couple of cops to deliver the bad news to her parents. She had hoped they'd call Shadow. Shadow had been her best friend since the seventh grade and had been the only person who didn't leave her after school. Her best friend had been there when her father died and when she needed her the most. Piper managed to make her way to the ground, instead of just floating, and began pacing back and forth for what felt like hours. She frowned when she heard the sound of hurried footsteps and she swallowed a lump in her throat as she watched her mom, stepdad, and her youngest sibling, Alicia, sob as they identified the young woman's body. She was at a loss of how to react aside from letting a few tears fall down her cheeks. "Momma...I'm okay..." she muttered, even though Piper knew she couldn't be heard.
She wished she could comfort her family, but she couldn't. Not long after her family left, Shadow and her mother drove by the hospital along with two of her friends that she gamed with and met when she was with her ex boyfriend, Victor. More tears began pouring down Piper's face as she saw her friends stare at her without any words. It hurt her knowing she would never see them again. It felt like someone had put a fist through her heart, kinda like in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.
"We'll miss you, Weirdo," Shadow sighed; she had issues with showing emotion at times, mostly with people more than anything.
Said brunette frowned when she noticed she was becoming more and more transparent. She looked at her friends once more before letting out a dry laugh. "I love you guys. Be good, destroy the world-I mean, be on your best behavior," Piper said in her usual goodbye, as if she'd see them again tomorrow. She didn't know if anyone heard her, but she had hope her best friend did because she had always interacted with spirits growing up.
The brunette felt a pull in her body before she found herself surrounded in a bright light. She was going to accept whatever outcome was going to happen, however, she got confused as a voice spoke. "Piper, your life journey isn't over," it began. "Changes to your lifespan and a few other aspects have been modified to help you where you're going. Things will become clear once you enter this realm. Your job is to save the line of Durin."
Piper looked taken aback by the voice. "Line of Durin? The fuck are you talking about?" she questioned; she was too confused to even think straight. "Can't I just haunt someone or just do whatever happens after a person dies? Why is my lifespan important? What changes?"
There was an amused chuckle, "Everything will be made clear."
That was the last thing she heard before she found herself drifting out of consciousness. When Piper woke up, she wasn't expecting what she saw. In bewilderment, she looked at her possessions that happened to be in her car when the accident took place. "The hell is my car then?!" she shouted; a bit pissed off.
Piper gathered up her messenger bag (her bag still contained her iPod along with headphones and her solar charger, a pen and notebook, a few books [including Dragon Rider, Eragon, The Little Prince, and The Hobbit], and a pair of pajamas because she was planning on staying the night at Shadow's the day of the accident), her umbrella that she had always carried in her car, and her Tai Chi Dao that she had stayed in her trunk since she bought the real thing for martial arts practice; the real sword made an awesome sound when used properly. The brunette checked her left leg and nodded that the knee brace was indeed still where she put it, and looked at her surroundings. She ignored all her car paperwork that littered the ground and scowled at the trees surrounding her; she had no idea where she was. With a grumble, Piper stood up. "Well," she muttered, "No point in standing still...Should probably find the nearest road."
With a short destination in mind, she began making her way in a random direction. The brunette was growing increasingly frustrated as hours passed and she was still as lost as ever. Piper began muttering curse words at her situation as she continued. The young woman had soon guessed it was midday because it got increasingly warmer since she started walking. It was then she was glad to be wearing what she was. Her orangish-yellow harem pants felt like air because they hung loosely on her body, and her burgundy bralette acted as a crop top and it held the girls in despite it showing a good amount of cleavage. Needless to say, it was comfortable considering the situation she was in. Anxiety was starting to set in as the sun began to set over the Earth. With the sun setting, more realizations began setting in like, for example, she was now alive again. Earlier in the day, she had dug out her pocket knife and cut a part of her arm to see if she was alive; the brunette quickly found out that indeed she was. More questions began popping up in her mind after that incident, and she put thought into each answer she gave herself. If she was indeed alive, was it possible this was a very lucid dream? She knew she had those frequently, but she quickly came to the conclusion this was no dream. Everything smelled and felt way too real; the detail of every little thing was enough to give her doubts that this was a dream. Was she near Sevierville? Again, she answered with a no. Even if she were in the mountains, the air where she currently was seemed way too clean to be near any town.
Piper sat down as nighttime neared and rested her back against a tree. She hung her head and ran her fingers through her hair. She knew she was lost beyond any hope and no one would be looking for her because anyone who knew her saw her dead. With a sigh, she rested her head on the tree trunk and closed her eyes as tears started running down her cheeks as everything began to really sink in. She had witnessed her death and mourning to those who were closest to her, and instead of the doctors saving her, she was forced into her current situation because of an idiot. Piper began to cry until she couldn't, and sleep finally took her an hour before the sun rose.