CHAPTER 23! SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER D:

Oh, and Leumer, next chapter (which I have written and and am posting tommorow) is the epic deep backstory.

When I die (Does that sound weird?) I am magically somehow transported to LA, California. I find myself sitting down in some sort of office, and outside, there is a sign that says "DOA Recording Studios. LA, California." I wonder what DOA stands for. I start to wonder what I'm doing here and why, so I go up to a man waiting by an elevator door.

"What am I doing here?" I ask.

"You're dead, hon. Got any drachma? More than one would be preferable," the man replies.

"Drachma?" I ask.

"Drachma. The stuff I get paid with," he replies. I guess Drachma is some form of money. I dig my hands around in my pockets to see if these Drachmas have magically appeared in my pocket, but nothing happens. I look back to him, and he seems to be looking at me as if he's analyzing me. He then starts sniffing. "I should've known," he says. "Scratch that, you're coming with me." He grabs my hand and we enter the elevator and travel far down into the ground. I can't even keep track of how far we are down, and eventually, the door opens.

There is a boat ahead at a dock in this very . . . interesting river. Everywhere was polluted with broken toys, ripped up diplomas, and a lot of other stuff I didn't recognize. It took me only a few moments for me to realize that these are bad memories, wishes that didn't and will never come true: all the things that anyone has ever messed up in their life. All bunched into a river. "This is a very interesting river," I remark to myself.

"Don't touch the water," he says. I have enough common sense to trust him and not to touch it. He helps me into the boat and we quickly start traveling downstream. Well this is interesting. He's treating me like I'm some sort of royalty. I think. We sail down the scary river of memories, and we eventually reach gates. I climb out of the river, and the first thing I notice is that there is a three headed dog. Am I dreaming? I wonder. Today has been a really weird day. Again, I am treated like royalty, and this dog ignores me an lets me pass.

I stand in front of the gates, and they magically open as if I'm entering some sort of magical fairy land. Which I'm 99% sure I'm not.

When I enter the gate, I look around, and there are people before, waiting as if we have been waiting forever. Waiting. . in a line. Okay I think to myself Now we're in a line. You've been transported to LA, had a lesson on money, been taken down in an elevator and taken down hundreds of stories. Then you've ridden on a boat on a weird memory river. Then a giant three headed dog that looked like it was going to kill you- Wait, you're already dead. . . - So, the giant dog ignores you. You go through a gate and now you're in line.

I contemplate what's been happening to be, and after about ten more minutes of standing in line, I hear somebody say, "Kid, come here. You get up to the top of the line. The boss wants to talk with you ASAP." I blink my eyes, and when they open I then find myself in front of a bunch of serious-looking people, like I am being tried in a trial.

"He died a noble death," one says. I am confused and I stand there awkwardly.

"He's a-" another butts in, but doesn't finish his sentence.

"You can't blame him," says another.

"What about his sister?"

The chattering goes on for about 10 more minutes until the guy who looks like the head judge bangs a gavel and says, "Elysium."

Elysium? That name rings a bell. Elise may have mentioned it once or twice. I don't know. I remember her saying something about where you go when you die. The Otherworld, was it? No, the Underworld. That's it.

The next thing I see in this fantastic journey of death is rainbow grass. Okay. You're dreaming. I hereby declare you alive and dreaming, Elijah, because this journey has been WAY TOO WEIRD. Yes! There is grass that ripples in rainbow colors everywhere. I hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking. My vision clears up, and I can see that I am looking out the window of a house.

I turn around and look at the room I'm in, wondering how I got here. There is a nice full sized bed, a comfortable looking couch, and a door that I guess leads to a bathroom. I walk across the room and open another door to see a closet full of clothes. "Wow," I say. "Dying was totally worth this!" I cross the room again and lie down on my bed and close my eyes.

Suddenly, I am engulfed in some sort of. . . dream, I guess. It's kind of like I'm watching a TV. I hear the words, "LIVE! Coverage from the Hunger Games, right here!"

I see clips of Sadie running through the desert and into the woods, with somebody chasing her. She looks unarmed and exhasted. She must be running from the time that I died! I think in my magical dream-vision. Wait a minute. Sadie. Oh my gods she kissed you! Well, it's not like you wanted to kiss her. Just great. The Kiss Of Death. I think to myself. I sit down on the bed and continue watching. There are now shots of Elise and Crystal sitting around a fire near a camp. Then, an announcer says, "Wait, by the looks of it, District Four is going to collide with One And Two!"

Elise. Please don't die in the process. I think. It then shows an overhead, and then it shows Sadie yelling to Elise and Crystal. "QUICK! Scale a tree!" She yells. They all drop everything and scale a tree that ever-so-conveniently has a pack of food in it.

Then I get to see my sister freak out. I guess it's probably the afternoon of when I died, so she probably hasn't figured out I'm dead yet. We see shots of her begging Sadie to know where I am, and then Sadie upchucking, and then my sister throwing a fit.

I want to start crying watching her throw the biggest fit of crying any fourteen-year-old could ever accomplish. The sun sets, and then they show the deaths for today. I see my face and the boy whom I guess killed me.

My eyes open and I jolt up suddenly, awake from my dream/vision of The Games.

.-.-.-.-.-.

I sit there for hours, doing nothing except for worry and worry about what is happening to Elise. There are no clocks and no light, so I have no clue what time it is, and It's really bugging me.

Then starts the ringing in my ears. The ringing that happens when anyone dies. I want to scream, because it's so annoying. "ELISE!" I yell as if I know that it's her life force that's the ringing stops. Now she's taking the magical journey of death! I think.

I can basically feel where she is as it happens: She's at the weird man begging for the money in the boat in the river full of dead memories. She's in line to be judged. She's been kicked to the front of the line, as I was, and is being judged.

"What?" I hear a familiar voice downstairs. Elise. I think. I stand up and bolt downstairs as fast as I can, trying to navigate my way through this unfamiliar house as best I can. "Where am-" I hear Elise, but she is cut off when she sees me and screams.

She runs over to hug me and she starts crying. Hard, and long, and I just stand there and pat her on the back. "Elijah. You- you died!" she says, and then bombards me with more hugs.

"Did you have fun on your magical journey of death?" I ask, and she laughs.

"Yes," she says. "I had lots of fun. It was great. I somehow managed to convince Charon to let me through without any Drachma.

"Is that the guy in the weird tux who asks for Drachyma?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says. "And it's Drachma."

"Drachma," I repeat.

"Yes," she says, and hugs me again. Then I hear a knock on the door. We navigate ourselves through the new house we have down here in the Underworld. We open the door.

There is a serious-looking person in a tux. "Lord Hades wants to speak to the both of you," he barks. Oh God. Am I in trouble? I wonder.