Chapter 3:
Back On Earth

The next thing Candy knew, she was hearing her cousin's voice.

"Wake up, Candy! Oh, please wake up!" Sandy said. She shook her cousin's body.

Candy's eyes snapped open and she said, "I'm here, Cousin."

"Thank Neptune! But how did you survive an attack like that?"

"I didn't," Candy said. "I died and went to Heaven."

"Wow, so you had a near death experience? That's fascinating! You know those are just illusions conjured up by your brain. There are several scientific theories about it. Maybe we can run some tests later." She examined Candy. "Huh, you don't seem to be injured. I guess I'll help you up." She gave Candy a hand and Candy stood up. "I really wanna look into that near death experience of yours. Do you have a history of REM intrusions?"

"What?" Candy asked.

"Sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations, hypnic jerks, that sort of thing."

"Uh...I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Well, I'll run some blood tests to see if you have a lot of carbon dioxide in your blood stream. Maybe that's what caused your hallucination."

"But Sandy, it wasn't a hallucination. It really happened! I can prove it! Look into my eyes when I say that I saw God and Jesus and they made me an angel." Candy's eyes turned silver.

"Haha, now I'm seeing things! Oh wow, I must be tired," Sandy said. "Look, Candy, it's been a long day. Let's not talk about the accident anymore."

"But I want to talk about it! I'm an..."

"Ah, hush. I'll make us some dinner." Sandy grabbed Candy's hand and dragged her inside. "Acorn chili sound good? You always like that."

"Yeah, I guess, but I'm not sure I need to eat since I died."

"No more of this crazy talk! Nothing you saw is real and you're obviously still alive."

"But Sandy, God and Jesus are real. Very real indeed," Candy said and her eyes turned green.

"God and Jesus are myths created by humans. Why do you even know about them?"

"Because they're not myths and I saw them."

"Riiight. Seriously, can we talk about this later? I wanna cook up a storm!"

Candy sighed. "OK. We'll talk about this another time and I'll find a way to make you believe."

A/N: And that's all. Candy tried to talk to Sandy a lot when she visited, but it took a long time to get through to her. Read my Christmas story to find out what ultimately happened. I'll write more about other SpongeBob characters later.