On the plane, our seats weren't next to each other. However, as it turned out, the seat next to Melinda was empty, so once we were allowed to move freely on the plane, I took this as an opportunity to sit with her. It truly was amazing how much we had in common. We were born in the same year, we're both aspiring to be artists (the difference being that she paints and I write), and neither of us want to talk about our school years. It's funny that I had to go through... all the things I went through, just so in the end I could meet this wonderful girl. So yes, we talked, we laughed, we seemed to understand each other better than most people understood us. If this isn't a good reason to start falling for this girl, I don't know what is. But... there was a catch there. During our conversation she expressed a sort of anger with that clipboard-man. She didn't see the light that I saw, but just the fact that he touched her at all was enough to set her on edge. It made me afraid of touching her in any way, or to even say that I like her. But as that thought was being processed, I remembered what happened before I met the clipboard-man. I saw something crawl into one of planes, and forgot to tell anyone about it. I started telling myself to hope that "it", whatever it was, didn't crawl on this plane. But just as I started hoping, the fasten-seat-belt light flashed. That couldn't be a good sign, I thought to myself, so instead of fastening it, I got out of my seat to check the plane. But just as I got up, I felt something grab hold of my hand.

"What are you doing?" it was Melinda, stopping me, "We're supposed to st..."

As much as I'd love to cherish that moment where she was holding my hand, there were other important things to consider. So I replied: "There's something I have to..."

I couldn't finish my sentence, as the plane started shaking, oxygen-masks dropped down, people started screaming, and I felt myself being forced to the back of the plane. We were crashing.

This realization was the last thing I remembered before I woke up. And this sensation of waking up was different than ever before. You know how when you wake up from a dream, you first think whatever you dreamed of was real? But then, after a few seconds, reality catches up with you, and you realize it was a dream after all? The same happened to me, except I felt wet, as well as water dropping on me like rain. I could smell the grass that I was lying on, as well as something burning. I could feel my right hand was holding something, which felt like somebody else's hand. In short, I woke up from a dream, realizing it was a dream, only to than find out it was real after all. Because of this disorientation, it took me a while to collect myself, open my eyes and finally get up. What I saw was unbelievable. I saw a plane, or what was left of it. Pieces of it were scattered throughout the area, all on fire. I saw a man, who was on the highway, running towards the wreckage, authorities following suit. It was the very plane where I saw the little critter crawl into. The very plane that I was in. As well as Melinda. Once she crossed my mind, I reminded I was holding someone's hand. I turned to look, and found the seats that we were sitting on, with Melinda lying underneath them, her arm sticking out from under it. I'm not entirely sure of what happened exactly, but I guessed that the plane was breaking apart as it crashed, and in so doing tossed our seats out here. I wasn't wearing a seat-belt, but Melinda was, and since she was holding me, she pulled me with her. I immediately grabbed the seats and lifted them up, hoping to find her still alive. Her seat was sitting right, so I called her name. She didn't respond. I checked her pulse, but in so doing, I felt something in her neck. It felt like there was a bone sticking out. The weight of those seats must have broken her neck on the fall, I realized. With all the other dead bodies I had seen up until that moment, I had begun feeling stoic about seeing a body. But now that it's someone I actually loved, I didn't know how I should feel about it.

"No..." I heard someone whisper, just as I was about to say it myself.

I turned to look at who was whispering.

"Melinda?" I couldn't believe it. I had her dead body with me, and yet at the same time I saw her standing before me. Am I seeing her ghost?

"No!" she shouted, "You can't do this to me!"

She collapsed and started crying her eyes out. I walked away from her body, crouched down next to her, and tried to comfort her. I inhaled to start talking, but nothing came to me. What do you say to someone who just died? I died once before, but got resuscitated. And the circumstances in which they happened were so specific, I'd be surprised if the same would happen to her.

"Look, Melinda, I..." was the best I could muster.

"You know, I was ready to die, just a few hours ago!" she said, "I didn't get accepted, like so many other times before. If I died just then, I wouldn't have cared. But then... then there was you!"

I gulped: "Me?"

"Our talk, it's the longest conversation with a guy I've had since... ever!" she explained, "You listened, you understood, you made me laugh... you're the first decent guy I've ever met in my life! And now I'm... and now I can't..."

She couldn't finish her sentence. Not that she needed to, as I fully understood what she meant. I wasn't sure how I should feel about this either. I mean, I'm used to disappointment myself. I liked a girl, I start talking to her, befriending her, and before I know it, she got herself a boyfriend, and it's not me. Here a girl seemed genuinely interested in me, and she died. I realize she had become a ghost, but I knew that that wouldn't last very long (if at all long). This was the one time where I thought a hug would be appropriate, but as a ghost, she probably wouldn't feel it. I had already raised my arm to wrap around her before I came to that realization. She turned her head to look at my arm. Embarrassed, I lowered my arm again.

"I... I really don't know what to say or do now." I said.

She chuckled: "At lea... at least I... I managed to save you."

She began acting more pleased all the sudden, but I couldn't be sure why.

"Save me?" I questioned, "How?"

Melinda got up, slowly, as she continued: "I hate being dead, knowing that it means I can't be with you now. But... I'm glad that you'll live."

In so far it was physically possible, she caressed my hand and kissed me on the cheek. A shiver went through me, though I'm not sure if that was because she was a ghost, or because I'm not used to a girl giving me any such affection. She turned around and walked into... I wasn't sure what. I've heard stories of people walking into a light, but here the light looked like an art museum. A museum that evaporated as soon as Melinda had walked inside it. This left alone in the rain, next to a plane wreckage, feeling grieve over the loss of a girl, happy to know how she felt about me, and confused about what just happened before me.