Ch. 7
I fell, screaming as I tried to brace for the impact. There was a light, something I must've imagined, and then I slammed into the ground. Pain spiked through my back, and I nearly blacked out. When my vision cleared, I sat up slightly with a groan, one hand rubbing my head. Puck flew down to me, and it was then that I realized that I had somehow made a crater in the sidewalk. "Well it's about time! Didn't think you'd actually hit the ground, though, to tell ya the truth," he said, peering down at me with a mildly impressed look. "You idiot, I'll kill you!" I yelled, angry all over again. Without thinking, I lunged at him. He turned intangible, and I ended up smacking into the window of the building I had just been pushed off of. "I'm a ghost, in case you hadn't noticed," Puck reminded me oh-so-kindly.
Scowling, I glared at his reflection in the window. I almost turned to face him when I realized that something was off. My reflection...wasn't me. Well, it was, but I definitely did not look normal. Caught off guard, I stared at myself for a moment before backing away. "No...no. That's impossible!" I said, feeling panicked. The girl staring back at me mirrored my moves, erasing any doubt. It was me, but not. My hair, skin, and eyes were blue, exactly like in my dreams. I had actually turned into the other me! I looked down at my hands, forming fists and then releasing them. They were real, alright. I was still me, only tinged with blue. Glancing up at my reflection again, I noticed that there was also a faint white outline around my figure, something that was also present around Puck. "Nothing is impossible," he pointed out, watching my reaction with a smirk.
I whirled around on him, taking him surprise and even prompting him to take a step back. "You killed me! You literally murdered me!" I yelled, punching at him. He ducked, but the next punch caught him off guard. The ghost stumbled back, looking a bit shocked but the expression disappeared quickly. "I didn't kill you!" he snapped, straightening out his ridiculous jacket with a huff. "Yes you did! You pushed me off of a building!" I charged at him, tackling him to the ground. The coward phased through the ground quickly, leaving me to pound out my frustration on the sidewalk. "Get back here you stupid ghost! I will end your afterlife!" Needless to say, he didn't reappear.
Grumbling, I sat back and ran a hand through my hair, noticing that it felt lighter than normal and it seemed to take a bit longer to float back down. Great, now I could play with my floating hair for the rest of eternity. I took a moment to squeeze my eyes shut, jaw clenched as I tried to control my rising panic and despair. I was dead. Dead and gone and there was nothing I could do about it.
And it was all Puck's fault.
After a few moments, I opened my eyes and got up, a mixture of rage and sadness fighting for dominance inside me. Only when I looked down did I notice that I was no longer on the ground. With a yelp, I jumped slightly, only accelerating my ascent. Squirming and flailing did nothing except turn me upside down. Even with my arm stretched out, I couldn't reach the ground. Frustrated, I yelled out and tried to swim towards the ground like the air was water and the sidewalk was the surface. It didn't help. With a huff, I hung there for a moment, trying to think. How was I going to deal with this?
Before I could anywhere, I heard a voice above me. "You look pretty funny like that, you know," said the ghost kid. Ah, how fantastic. I craned my neck awkwardly, trying to get a good look at him from my upside down perspective. He was simply floating there in his glorious right-way up manner, an eyebrow raised at me. "Oh, shut up," I grumbled, reaching up for my toes and finally managing to right myself. It was a bit terrifying, to say the least. "Ha!" I yelled triumphantly, but then I was suddenly swathed in a weird light and was being pulled towards the thermos in the ghost's hand. "Wait! No!" but my pleas went unanswered as I was crammed into the tiny thermos. Everything was dark, and I couldn't breathe. Well, not that I needed to, but it would've helped. There were others there too. Ghosts were yelling and cursing in my ear, only fueling my panic. It was too tight, much too tight. There were too many of them, too much noise. I tried to bang on the walls, but there was no way I could move at all. My voice was useless, I felt too choked to say or yell. It was like being in my own personal hell. It seemed like hours before there was a click outside, and then we were all sucked out of the thermos. Other ghosts flew past me, and I was so relieved I almost cried. Free at last to move!
Then, I noticed where I was.
It was almost exactly like my dream, except I wasn't standing on a rock. The black and green place was disorientating and freaky. I backed up and succeeded in making myself go upside down again. After muttering a curse, I gathered up all of my willpower and, after some difficulty, I finally righted myself. Exercising my thoughts a bit more, I was able to push forward and sort of...float forward a bit. Slow, you bet, but at least I was right-side up and somewhat steady. Now, for the real question. Where the hell am I?
Every once in a while I'd see another ghost go by. Those lucky people could fly perfectly well, too. If I was a ghost, then why couldn't I fly as well as them? Did I really have to practice flying? That seemed kind of silly to me, but oh well. I leaned forward and gained some speed. Well, how about that! Once I got over the lack of ground, I found flying was actually quite enjoyable. That is, when I wasn't struggling upside-down. Satisfied that I had enough control to maneuver myself, I went back to examining the strange place I had ended up in. There were floating doors everywhere and beyond them were large areas of floating rocks, some with structures built on them. When I managed to turn around, the view was similar, though I did think I caught some kind of green glow. Probably just a ghost. This place did seem to be their home, anyways.
Time was impossible to tell now. It felt like it had been hours by now, but it might have only been a few minutes. Panic and despair started to settle in again. Lost, dead...what next? Was I going to get beaten up again by Puck or some other ghost? Was there some kind of newbie ritual that I had to be afraid of? My inner turmoil distracted me as I glided along, eventually colliding into something very big and very solid. I looked up into the face of a ghost with flame-like green hair and a metal body. His voice was deep and creepily familiar. "So, you were caught by the ghost kid too, yes?"