Disclaimer: …No, I don't own anything. Nada.

Warnings: Beware of boogeymen, people! (Meaning: dead people/ghosts)

A/N: Guess what? Axel and the gang are going to make their first appearance soon. Not in this chapter, though. This chapter is more about Roxas' inner turmoil; am I crazy or not, dear mommy in heaven? Oh, and I wanna thank you all who gave their time to review. You guys rock! Hope you like this chappy. XD

P.S. From now on I will put the chapter songs at the beginning of every chapter. You don't have to listen to them, but they kind of set the mood I'm trying to create. :D

Chapter Song: Slipped away by Avril Lavigne

Chapter Two: Deep in Death

– / –

I was running. I was running as fast as I could. The only sound I heard was my own footsteps. I ran and ran and ran. I heard someone's voice calling after me, but I just kept running.

"You can't escape from me, you know. I just want to talk to you. I'm not gonna hurt you, so please boy, stop running," the corpse man yelled. "Just talking, that's all you have to do!"

I ran along the hall.

"You're really selfish, you know that?" His voice was getting closer.

I ran into the cafeteria, ignoring the people I had to push out of my way. I didn't stop running until I saw Olette, Pence and Hayner, sitting on our usual table.

"What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost," Hayner laughed. "Was it Kairi again?"

Somehow, that joke wasn't so funny anymore.

– / –

Kairi's brother Reno drove me and Sora home after the school ended. Reno's hair was also red, like Kairi's, just little lighter and longer, and he had two symmetrical red tattoos on his cheek bones. He had really cocky attitude, but otherwise he was a really nice guy.

I was sitting on the backseat with Sora and Kairi. Reno had only one rule for us, and that was: no little termites on the passenger seat. And when he said "little termites", he meant us.

Sora was explaining something to Kairi, but I didn't know what because I was too lost in my own thoughts to find out. I heard only the rain patter against the car window. Cloud wouldn't be pleased. He really didn't like when it rained. And I knew the reason why; when our parents had died it had rained. Cloud usually didn't even want to drive in rainy weather.

Mom. Her arms around me, her beautiful ringing laughter – I would never feel or hear her again.

Death was end. The final end of life.

Or was it?

That corpse man surely didn't seem to be alive. He was really, really dead. No one normal couldn't have walked in that condition. And when I had glanced over my shoulder in the cafeteria, he hadn't been there anymore. He'd just vanished. Just like that little girl with her red balloon.

Was I going crazy? Did I have a nervous breakdown?

I saw and heard people that nobody else could see. Maybe I really was hallucinating like Hayner had said, 'cause I haven't slept enough lately. Thanks to the stupid dreams I saw every night.

Yeah, I wasn't crazy. I was just super tired and imagined things.

"Roxas! Snap out of it, we're home." Sora's cheerful voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I just stared at him. He had perfect white teeth, a big goofy smile and twinkling eyes. I couldn't be crazy, just couldn't. What would happen to that innocent boy if he would lose his little brother too, like he had lost his parents?

I didn't even want to know how awful it would be to my brothers if I really was going crazy.

– / –

After I had heated up some milk for hot chocolate, I curled up with a blanket on our couch. Cloud would be home after ten, and Sora was playing video games in his room. My mind was racing too much to sleep, even if I wanted to. I'd seen two persons that nobody else could see. The first one had looked normal, but she had jumped front of our car, and that's so not normal. The second one had been scarier, like he had jumped out of a horror movie.

Oh bloody hell.

"You're sure you don't wanna play with me?"

I raised my blue eyes up into Sora's identical ones. "Yes, Sora, I'm sure."

"Pretty sure or really sure?"

"Really sure."

"Oh, okay. I just wanted to make sure," he sighed, giving me a crooked smile. "Wanna watch the first Narnia with me?"

"I don't really like that movie; the White Witch is horrible. She's really mean and cruel even to her own servants."

"I'm sure she just had a really difficult childhood," Sora said. "You know, people usually take their suppressed pain out of everybody else."

"Sora, it's just a movie. She's an actress, not a real person."

Sora was looking at me, puzzled. "Of course she's real! She's a breathing, living creature like you and me. No need to be a racist, Rox. Actors and actresses are humans too!"

"I meant – never mind." I sighed. "I just don't like her character."

"I do!" Sora grinned to me. "I think she's really beautiful and nice! Doesn't she have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her, and rabbits and deer and a couple of mouse doing her laundry?"

"Sora," I sighed again. "That's Snow White, not the White Witch."

"Oooh, they're not the same person? But they are both White!"

I didn't know why I even bother. Sometimes I really hated Sora for being so thick-headed. "Sora, Snow White's beautiful and nice and the White Witch is mean and cruel. You got it now?"

Sora looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he smiled. "Wanna play with me?"

Oh hell.

– / –

My arms and legs felt amazingly light, tingly and warm, like I had just slipped into a hot spring. I could feel the sun caressing gently my skin and I felt a light breeze ruffle my hair–

Wait, what?

I opened my eyes. I was staring up at a light, which surprisingly didn't hurt my eyes. I sat up quickly. I was sitting in the middle of a field. Everywhere I looked, I saw flowers.

"Hello, my child. Welcome to the Land of Dead, a place where dead souls that didn't cross over, stay."

I turned around and felt a jolt of electric shock. A beautiful blonde woman in a blue linen dress was sitting next to me, a woman I knew almost too well. After all, she was my mother.

"M-mom? B-but…you're dead!" I blurted.

She chuckled. "Yes my dear, I am indeed dead. Like I just said, this is the Land of Death."

"No, this…this can't be! I'm not dead…am I?"

She laughed her ringing laugh; the one I loved so much. "No Roxas, you're not dead."

"But…how? If I'm not dead then why am I in the Land of Dead?" I asked, puzzled. She just smiled at me. "I don't know darling. I'm here because you're here. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't summoned me. I had wished that you would know what we are doing here."

I stared at her. "I summoned you? No, I– That's not possible. I was playing a video game with Sora, and then suddenly, I woke up here. Or maybe I didn't wake up. Maybe I'm still sleeping. That would explain a lot."

My mother kept smiling. "Of course your body is sleeping. Your mind wouldn't be here if you'd be awake."

"Mom, I– Wait did you just say that my mind is here? Not my body? So this is all happening inside my head?"

"Yes and no. Mind can't survive without body but body can survive without mind."

That really didn't make any sense to me. How the body could survive without a mind?

"Of course, if you lose your mind, there's no joy of be alive anymore. You lose your purpose and that's not nice. What I meant was, that if you don't have a body anymore, there's no place for your mind to go back to. Like me, example. My body was destroyed in a car crash and therefore, my mind didn't have a place to be anymore, so I died. You are alive, because you have a body for your mind to go back to, even if your mind is now here with me. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"No... Not really, no. But it doesn't matter, right Mom? The point is that I'm not really dead and I can talk to you again, even if you are dead." I was really confused, but I didn't really care about anything else than the fact that I was sitting next to my mother again. Mother, who had died in a car crash when I was little.

"Oh, but our time is running out, I see. Somebody's trying to wake up your body," mother stated, calmly. "Like I said, your body can survive without your mind. But it can't wake up without it." She was staring at my body. I glanced down – only to see that my body was fading. "Just before you go, dear, I have one question for you."

I raised my blue eyes back to hers. "Anything Mom, you can ask me anything."

She gave me her brightest, kindest smile. "Do you still have the moonstone necklace I gave to you?"

– / –

Na na, na na na, na na

I miss you, miss you so bad

I don't forget you, oh it's so sad

I hope you can hear me

I remember it clearly

The words of the song floated through my mind. I curled up on my side, sighing, as I rubbed my cheek against the fluffy pillow. Unfortunately, moving my body caused an ugly pain shoot through my back.

The day you slipped away

Was the day I found it won't be the same

"What am I going to do with you two?"

I blinked my blurry eyes open to see Cloud standing beside the sofa, where apparently Sora and I had fallen asleep after six hours playing video games. No wonder my back was a little sore. Sora in turn was still snoring lightly on my left side, almost pushing me down off the sofa. My blanket was lying forgotten beneath us.

"You two gonna be late for school, again, if you don't hurry up," Cloud said and rolled his eyes. "But then again, that wouldn't be anything new."

…I didn't get around to kiss you

Goodbye on the hand

I wish that I could see you again

I know that I can't.

– / –

Great. Just great. I just wanted to be normal, live like any other teenager – pass math, keep my grades up so I could get accepted into the Twilight College, and after that, move out of Twilight Town. But most of all, I wanted to fit in – at least at school.

But no, of course not. Life can't be that easy, right?

A little ghost girl jumping front of Cloud's car, a corpse man chasing after me and of course, my little chat with my dead mother. Not very normal, eh?

It was lunchtime and I was standing at an empty restroom, looking into the mirror. A familiar stranger looked back at me. He had my blue eyes and my hair – spiky and blond. The stranger had also my high cheekbones, little nose and cupid's curve lips (I got them from my mother). The fluorescent lightning made him look really pale. He was me, but he also wasn't. He looked so lost, his eyes round and terrified.

So that's how crazy people looked like; lost and scared.

I ran my fingers quickly through my hair and hurried out of the restroom. As the door shut behind me, all went silent. An empty hall.

"You, boy!"

I spun to see the same man I saw day before; dry-as-bone corpse body man. He was just standing in the middle of the lobby, staring at me. "I – I have to go…" I said. "I…am already late, excuse me." I started walking.

"Roxas?"

It was Kairi. She had just walked out of the ladies room, and she was staring at me. "Who were you talking to?"

Many things happened at the same time. The corpse man turned his gaze on Kairi and smirked at me, before attacking her. I started running towards them as Kairi started screaming, not knowing what hit her. I heard other voices but I didn't mind them. I tried to hit the corpse man so I could get Kairi away from him, but I didn't even get a hold of him before I felt a shock of energy passing me by. It hurt so much that I had to scream. I fell back, doubled over, wheezing.

When I opened my eyes I saw the corpse man standing over me. "Hey, kiddo, are you okay? Will you listen to me now?"

I screamed and tried to get up, but suddenly my geography teacher Mr. Blake, and Ms. Clark, the music teacher, were holding me down while Mr. Taylor babbled into a cell phone, walking beside Kairi's unmoving body.

The corpse man leaned through Mr. Blake. "Let's talk now, shall we? You can't move, so..."

I trashed, kicking at the corpse man, trying to pull away from the teachers. They only held me tighter, squeezing my hands. Pain stabbed through me.

"Can't you see him? He's right there! He attacked Kairi!" I shouted. "Please! Get him away from us!"

But they didn't listen. I continued to struggle but they held me still. I heard a familiar voice but I couldn't locate it. Finally, two men in uniforms hurried through the main door. The first one helped the teachers restrain me while the second one stooped down beside Kairi.

I was staring at her lifeless body as I felt a needle prick. Ice slid through my veins. The lobby started to sway.

"No! You can't do this to me! He can see me. Please, I only…"

The corpse man's voice faded. Everything was swaying. I couldn't…focus…

The pain in my head was sharp, but it lasted only an instant before blackness swallowed me.

The last thing I heard was mother's ringing laughter…

Hmmm... I see I like cliffhangers. :D Sorry. And I'm saying this again: sorry if there's mistakes, I'm so f*cking tired right now. Why I always update so late?...Stupid me.

Please review! I want to be sure I'm not just wasting my time. I really mean it. This fic is so exhausting. :D