A/N: because one of my friends is going to read this, and has not yet read Keeping it Real, I took out the name of Mel's killer. So yes, I know who it is, but I don't want to spoil it for her! XD hehe anyway, enjoy.

The portal room, as usual, was buzzing with intense activity as Michael and I made our way through the crowds.

Being in the Agency, whenever an angel was on official business, they had to leave Heaven from this place. Some would stay dematerialised and in our dimensions, others would be on Earth masquerading as humans.

So in between noticing all these angelic auras, you end up seeing a mass of historical clothing too. It really is an extraordinary experience.

I waited for Al, one of my favourite time technicians, to finish fixing my portal. After a few particular missions I've been on, we were far more vigilant and careful, if I must say so.

Michael cleared his throat, removing my mind from my thoughts. "Just be prepared, Mel," he said in a simplistic way. "What you may be confronted with might really shock you."

"Why? What has Jade done?" I panicked. My horrified look on my face made Michael put up his hands in a silencing manner.

"It's not what Jade has done, or will do, that is the most intense parts. We will be delivering you to Earth in 2001, specifically a day in July you may remember well."

I stared at him. It took a few blinks for me to really comprehend what he was implying. "Are you talking about the date of my death?"

"Portal's ready, Michael." Al's voice was the only thing that stopped me from firing off a massive amount of questions.

Dumbly, I shuffled into the glass portal, sending off silent prayers to the Universe. In a split-second decision, I decided to grab my iPod out of my bag and play an upbeat pop song, something that would help calm my nerves.

Shoving the earphones in my ears, I waited for Michael's bright face to give the a-okay.

With that uplifting, you'll-be-alright smile of his, and his thumbs up (which I nervously returned), I was suddenly catapulted into the threshold between space and time.

As DNA-like strands of pictures from history twirled and fizzes around the portal, I tuned out to the music to take my mind off the quite scary ordeal.

It certainly wasn't the worst travelling experience I had been on, a journey through a human-made time travel device, and definitely the cosmic bolt-holes, were the worst. But still, nobody liked the travel from Heaven to Earth, did they?

As my destination grew closer, I felt this overwhelming feeling take control of me. I couldn't tell what it was - sadness? Grief? Unhappiness? Whatever it was, I knew it was coming from Jade. And here I was, her dead sister about to return to her, but she had no idea.

In a flash of white light, I left the vortex of the cosmos, and my foot touched the ground of Earth.

Coming back home, literally, was an extremely emotional moment for me. I had already done this before, as a mission when I was thirteen involved looking after my best mates. But this... My sister was a youngster, and according to the time on my angelic watch, she had no idea her sister was going to die soon.

As I did my usual acclimatising routine, I noticed where I was. A few blocks away from the sight of my death.

How odd.

Why wasn't I with Jade at home? Because it was school holidays, she had time off from her preschool.

Shrugging, I turned my iPod off and put it and the earphones back in my bag. There was a little zing that told me to walk down the street, so following my angel instinct, I did. Ignoring the alarm bells in my head telling me I was heading to the place I got hit, I kept on putting one foot in front of the other.

Out of nervousness, I started humming Reuben's little theme song for us Cosmic Musketeers. It was the only help in certain situations.

I have to admit, the idea that was forming in my head wasn't pleasing at all. For some reason, the Universe said I would be here instead of with my sister. Maybe it was some little time travelling glitch? Or was there a reason?

My eyes looked straight ahead as my heart rate suddenly kicked up a few thousand beats. There it was.

The zebra crossing.

The place I died.

For a split second, I had the thought in my mind to turn tail and run. This wasn't nice at all, so yes, I was v. stressed out! But Helix, my Inner Angel, gave me some soothing advice that helped calm me down.

As I glanced down the other end of the street, I saw something that pretty much made me feel like I would die for the second time over.

ME!

Now, I'm not gong to lie, this was the most shocking moment of any mission I've had to far. You're probably thinking, "huh? You've dealt with worse!" but look at this from my point of view. I was having an, er, out of body experience and seeing myself walk down the freaking street!

"Way to go on this one, guys," I muttered in an angry thought towards the Agency. What little crackpot idea of theirs was this?

I was a clueless thirteen year old. I actually looked totally happy, in that blissed-out way we get. And yet I thought, was this me just being a dreamy teenager, or was I subconsciously preparing for what was just around the corner?

Actually, that thought was legit. My radar flared up. The car was at least a minute away!

"Stop! Don't do it!" I yelled out on some weird impulse, my human reflex that says my screaming could do something to alert.

But it didn't. With my earphones in my ears, humming (god, I sounded tone deaf!) a silly little Jewel song, I stepped onto the zebra crossing.

I sprinted from my position, trying as fast as I could to reach myself. Stretching out my hand, I touched my own shoulder, trying somehow to do... Well, I didn't know what exactly. But nobody wants to have a horrible death, do they?

When the human-me shivered as my angel hand went straight through the skin, I shrunk back with horror and realisation. Right before I died, I thought I felt something, as if someone was touching me.

It was me.

It was ALL ME.

An engine in the distance roared to life, coming closer to where we, er - I was.

I whipped my head around quickly and squinted into the sun. There was the Ford Fiesta. And there was the teenage guy who had taken my life, behind the wheel, looking pale and scared at his success of the car-jacking joyride.

I knew what was coming. From a different viewpoint, I was seeing my own death. So feeling defeated, I knew there was nothing I could do, so I walked backwards and stood on the pathway, waiting for the impact.

Time just seemed to run slower as the stolen car approached the human me. In a nanosecond, I saw the dazed Mel Beeby snap out of her little daydream, and turn her head to see the car.

My expression now mimicked the one I was watching. Fear. The knowledge that this was it, my teenage life would be snuffed out for good.

Then it happened. Bang.

I died in a quite graceful way. A quick roll up the windshield from the kinetic energy, and as the car screeched loudly to a halt, gravity took over, and I fell back down onto the ground. People around us started screaming and running towards me.

There was barely a drop of blood spilt, just a tiny stream from my skull, and a small amount that came from my nose. My eyes were frozen open in shock, but I could see only a small amount of life left in them.

I began shivering violently from the human-me having her gaze set right on the angel girl beside her. It pained me, and yet I was morbidly awestruck, as I realised the Agency didn't lie. Nobody dies alone - as an angel, I was there to witness my own passing.

Blinking away tears from my eyes, I saw a beautiful stream of white light come from the sky. Angel paramedics were coming to rescue me, to take me home.

I gave a watery smile and wave to the paramedics, one of them giving me an extremely bewildered look, as he looked back and forth between angel-me and human-me.

Within the blink of an eye, the paramedics (obviously with my spirit in their arms) had disappeared. As I looked down at myself once again, that speck of life that had lingered in me was drained. I was gone.

Thanks to the beauty of cosmic timing, I had finally gotten all the answers to my questions. This gave me a sense of peace - I silently thanked the Universe. Kneeling down and wiping the tears from my eyes, I kissed my fingers and then pressed them against my pale, lifeless forehead.

"You're home now," I whispered, choked up with emotion. As I stood up, I caught the eye of an earth angel who was standing in the distance, watching this scene with interest.

He was shrouded by an oversized trench coat and a large hat, but I could see underneath the shadows, he was smiling at me. I returned the gesture and waved - it was awesome to know that no matter what, angels were all around.

However, in the real world, there was just absolute chaos. Panicking out of his mind, trying hard not to cry, the one who killed me did the only thing a teenager could. Run.

He cranked the car into reverse, backed away a few metres, before gunning it and burning rubber to drive away.

Witnesses of the crash were now rushing around me, crying and yelling out to call 999. A woman in her forties was checking my vitals, but I already knew the answer.

There was a small frown on her face as she tried in various places to find a pulse. Nothing.

"She's gone," she muttered quietly to another man, who was trying to find some blankets to keep me warm. "Not breathing, no pulse."

"Such a young girl too." He swallowed hard, taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes.

The woman then used her fingers and pulled down my eyelids, in a sweet gesture of respect for the deceased.

The sirens of the ambulance wailed as they came into view, and I watched on in pure amazement as the moments of my post-mortem existence unfolded in front of me.

In an instant, I understood why the Agency had allowed me to see this. Closure. A sense of knowing how I died. The answers to everything I had ever wondered. This was only the catalyst for why I was sent on this mission.

And yet, there was one of the freakiest moments that I will never forget for eternity.

"MELANIE!" a loud, long shriek echoed practically throughout the whole area. All heads turned to where this scream had come from, including mine.

As the ambulance attendants got out their stretcher for corpses, a young girl pushed her way through the crowds, tripping and just superficially skinning her hands and legs.

"What?" I yelled, nearly fainting at the sight of the female who came into view. Could this get any more weird?

Ashen with tears gushing from her red eyes, was a young thirteen year old girl that I knew very well. My best friend, Sky Nolen, had been in the area at the time I died.

"That's it," I whispered, watching her being held back by other ambulance officers, and Sky deciding to kick and scream just to get out of their strong grip. "That's why she was so crazy over my death! She was here!"

"No! I must be with her! She's my best friend!" A last ditch effort to come with me to the hospital, she thrashed around, crying. But the attendees would not let go.

"You cannot go with her, dear, we must take her to a special place," one of the females tried to reason with her calmly. Eventually, sobbing and breathing hard, Sky relented and stopped trying to fight the paramedics.

The body bag zip closed over my face. As they loaded me onto the stretcher and into the van, a very shaken Sky got on her phone and tried to contact Mum.

"What is your name?" a kind looking woman asked her.

Sky could barely reply as she inwardly swore at the phone for my mother to answer. "Sky."

"You best go home. I understand this is traumatic for you deary, but you need to be with your parents."

"Hello, Mel's Mum?" Sky said into the phone, ignoring the woman. She let out a sob, nearly collapsing into tears. "Something happened."

Dazed, and just as freaked out as she was, I felt I wasn't needed here. As much as I wanted to stay with my best friend, angel intuition said I needed to hot-foot it home as quickly as possible.