After Death
Chapter 2
I looked at the folder, "CASSIE TURNER" it said. I stared at my mum, tears started to pour down my cheeks. It seemed that even in heaven you could cry.
"Mum, its Cassie! They can't kill Cassie, can they?!" I screamed.
"I'm sorry sweetheart." She tried to comfort me.
"Say if I fail? That means I've killed my best friend! If that happens I'll never be able to forgive myself!"
"You won't fail. You will be able to save Cassie's life. I'm sure of it."
"You can't say that! It's not fair on her that she has to die! Her poor child… how is her child going to live without its mum? This is horrible." Then I considered something, "Say if I become a shinigami… then Cassie's life will be saved!"
My mum shook her head at me sadly, "Matilda, it doesn't work like that. If you became a shinigami you would still have to collect Cassie's soul."
"Well, say if I DIDN'T collect her soul?"
"Someone else would collect it then." My mum hugged me again, "Matilda, you must know that Cassie is lucky. If she hadn't been randomly selected then there would be no chance of her surviving but now because of you there's a chance that Cassie could survive."
It looked like I would have to save Cassie no matter what the cost – and if I failed, well then I would make it my duty to protect Cassie's soul and stop anyone from grabbing it.
"You must go now." My mum told me. "I wish you all the best… and I want you to know that no matter what happens I'll always be proud of you."
Next thing I knew I was back in Summer Bay. From what I have been told I would have to fix what I hadn't fixed while I had been alive. I wonder what made me regret dying so much. Maybe it had something to do with not being able to travel all over the world or maybe it was about me not being able to get married or something. Whatever it may be I would have to fix it.
Ahead was the Summer Bay house – that would be where Ric would be at. I walked to the house and then I wondered, do you think I will be able to walk through walls? I then successfully walked through the wall. There I saw the most horrible thing I had ever seen. Viv and Ric. What the hell was he doing with her? Then I remembered that my mum had said that people who had cared about me would be able to see me. So I quickly hid under the table when they weren't looking. You know, this suddenly seemed so annoying – how come I couldn't just make myself be visible? I watched Viv hold her son and talk to Ric.
"Ric, your son was born and you didn't even come to meet him!"
My Ric looked sad. "I'm sorry… I've just been so miserable. Mattie's dead."
"I'm sorry about what happened. It must be rough on you."
"Yeah, it is. I feel like it's my fault actually. I failed Matilda somehow."
"I can go." Viv said, "I doubt Matilda would have wanted me here, talking to you."
"But she would have still wanted me to see my son." He smiled even in spite of his sadness.
"What's his name?"
"I was thinking of Matthew… but we could call him Mattie for short. A dedication to Matilda."
"I would love that." Ric said, "Tomorrow is her funeral. We are having it on the beach where we had Beth's memorial. Tony and I decided that the best thing that we could do was to cremate her so that she could be with her mum."
"Well I hope it goes well. Mattie say bye to your daddy." The baby didn't do anything since he was sleeping.
The next day I found myself at my own funeral. I stood in the water where I had once thrown flowers in for the memory of my mum. It was difficult to believe that now people would be throwing flowers in the water for me.
Everyone was sitting down, getting ready for the service. Everyone was there. Even my brothers were here. It had been forever since I had spoken to Scott, Robbie and Henry.
Henry was sitting with Cassie, Lucas and Ric. I heard Henry say, "It's weird when your twin dies. You feel so strange. I…." He then stopped talking.
"What is it Henry?" Cassie asked. It pained me to look at Cassie since I knew that if I didn't fix something then she would die. She was also holding a baby. I remembered that it was a girl.
Henry said, "I think it's the twin thing, you know. I can sense her."
The service went on and on and on…. I don't really want to describe my funeral or what was said about me but near the end they had to sprinkle my ashes all over the sea and throw flowers in the water. As this happened Cassie stared to where I was in the water and froze.
"Mattie…. Mattie… is that you?"
Everyone stared at Cassie. Henry then said, "I sensed Matilda before and now Cassie can actually see her."
I did not answer. I didn't want to start talking to people at my funeral… Colleen then muttered, "Now the town is haunted. Someone save us!"
I then walked further into the water and then went under. I could do anything under water because of my condition. I then went on the sandy ground of the water and grinned. This was so cool.
After the funeral I decided it was about time that I spoke to Cassie. She had already seen me after all.
Cassie, Sally, Cassie's daughter and Pippa were living in the Summer Bay house with Ric and Miles until they decided they were ready to travel again. I waited until Cassie was alone in her room before I spoke to her.
"Cassie." I said, "It's me, Matilda."
Cassie looked at me in shock, "So I wasn't just imagining things. You are really here."
I nodded. "Yeah, I'm here but lots of stuff is going on and I need your help."
"What do you need help with…?" Cassie asked and then she asked, "Are you staying?"
"For a while I suppose… well I've been told that when I died I regretted it and there was stuff that needed fixing but I have no idea what it is about."
Cassie looked thoughtful. I then asked, "How is your HIV?"
"It's fine. The doctors say I'm going to live a long life."
Was Cassie lying? Or did she not know what I knew? But at least Cass was healthy and with that it seemed that I had lots of time to fix these things up…. unless she died from something that wasn't HIV… I would have to check the folder to see what information they had about Cassie.
"So do you have any idea of what made me regret dying?"
"There are numerous of things." Cassie explained. "It could be about Ric, Annie, Lucas, Henry, Nicole, Aden… it could be about most things."
For some reason my knowledge about the month or so before my death was unclear… I mean, I didn't even know how I died!
"Aden and Nicole…? I didn't even talk to them much!" I said.
"And it could be about Tasha and Robbie too…"
"What about them?"
"Well I don't know!" Cassie said, "I haven't been around much since I moved. I've only been back recently… there could be thousands of things that you would have to pick."
"Argh, what am I going to do? I don't think I want to talk to everyone! If everyone knows I'm here they will all go berserk."
"Maybe talking will help some of the other people… like with Ric, and its helping me."
"But say if people get attached and want me to stay?"
Cassie shrugged. "I think the best thing you could do would be to talk to Ric and see what he knows…" Then she reconsidered, "If you don't want to do that then we could look at your old laptop."
Cassie then got my laptop and started it.
"Cassie, you must promise me something."
"What is it?"
"That you and your child will stay in Summer Bay for as long as my spirit is still here. I need you here."
"Is there something else going on?" Cassie asked. I did not answer her.
I then tried to type in my password to be able to log onto my laptop but my fingers just went through the keys.
"Cassie, you will have to do it. I'll tell you my password!"
The laptop then annoyingly logged onto MSN by itself.
Matilda has now logged online.
"Your username didn't exactly give us any clues." Cassie muttered.
Matilda has received an offline message:
Richie: Hey, where were you on Saturday? You better not be playing tricks on me. Some people were very unhappy.
"Who is Richie, Mattie?"
"I have no idea, Cass. But it could mean something right…?"
Then someone else new was trying to talk to me.
Ric: Who is that pretending to be Matilda?! That's very disrespectful of you!
It pained me so much to see him so miserable… but what else could I do? I couldn't reply to him so I just turned off the laptop. Now next I would have to figure out who this Richie is… and I needed a clue.
NEXT TIME:
Who is Richie? How is Matilda ever going to find out who he is? Who will help her uncover the secret?
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