I stopped in my tracks and looked up at my house.
An old oak sat in the centre of the yard, its leaves blowing in the summer breeze. The shade the tree offered looked so comforting compared to the sun-lit sidewalk that led up to the large bricked house. The gravel path was lined with violet geraniums. My mom hated those? Velvet curtains draped each of the French windows, not allowing as much as a peek inside. It was if something was being hidden away from the outside world. I coughed up a splutter of dirt, spitting it out onto the sidewalk before making my way towards the house. I stumbled a little my legs still numb from being laid in a coffin for god knows how long. If I remembered correctly there was always a key under the flower pot. I leant down; the silver key with a teddy bear attached to it hid where I'd left it last. I let out a sigh of relief at the fact it hadn't been moved before fumbling with the key in my trembling fingers. I heard the click of the key unlocking the door as I slowly made my way around it, making sure I didn't make a noise. I took one step at a time, when I heard a noise coming from upstairs. I snapped my head up, trying to focus my attention on the voices when something out of the corner of my eye caught me instead. Lying peacefully on the oak wood table was a picture of me with a lit candle beside it. Rose petals scattered around the table and I let the fragrance crawl up my nostrils as I let out a breath. I stared closely at the picture, which was of me on my sixteenth birthday smiling, displaying teeth covered with braces. A sudden sadness overwhelmed me. I remembered that day so clearly. I took a few steps towards it and before I could make out the words written beside the picture, loud footsteps coming down the stairs stopped me. Quickly, I fell back against the wall to only meet my Moms eyes as her foot touched the bottom step. That's when the screaming occurred. I put my hands over my ears as loud screams pierced my eardrums. My Mom stood frozen in shock, tears streaming down her face. I noticed the silky dressing gown she was wearing but chose to ignore it; I had bigger things to worry about. She stopped screaming thank god, but began to rapidly choke on sobs her whole body shaking. I slowly went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder to calm her. She just stared up at me wide eyed.
"You're alive" She cried her face drained of colour. I just slowly nodded, worrying that if I spoke she would scream again. She hesitantly touched my cheek and when she realised I wasn't dead she let out a huge breath.
"We buried you" She said in disbelief "You were gone for good"
"I came back" I said quietly, the realisation hitting me. I hadn't died. How did this happen?
"But you was dead you weren't breathing" Before I could respond she pulled me into a hug and held me tightly, as if I was to disappear once she let go. She started to cry again.
"My daughter isn't dead" She was saying it to herself rather than me.
I rested my head on her shoulder and felt the warm tears fall down my cheeks.
"I'm not dead" I breathed convincing myself as she started to stroke my hair gently. We stayed like this for a while until she gasped and took a step away from me.
"What am I going to do about the wedding?" She flung a hand to her mouth and started to pace the hallway "I can't get married now not after this"
Realising what she was talking about I pulled out the crumbled piece of paper in my pocket "I was invited"
She stopped pacing and turned to me, her eyes darting to the paper in my hand "Where did you get that?"
"I found it at my grave" I tried to ignore the shiver I felt at the words my grave.
"What am I going to say to people, I can't tell them my daughter has come back to life now can I?"
"Tell them I'm your niece" A smart idea I thought.
"But you look exactly like you" I could hear the pounding of her heart as the panic rose. I ran over to her putting my hands on her face forcing her to look at me.
"Listen, I'll just cut my hair shorter we can even dye it how long do you have till you need to be ready?"
"People are coming in four hours to get me ready" She mumbled her blue eyes glued to mine.
I half smiled "We have enough time Mom"
"How are you still alive after all this time?"
"How long has it been?" I raised a brow; it must have been a couple of months surely? I couldn't have been down there for long. The memory of my death was still fresh in my mind.
"It's been two years Nora"
