𝚜𝚒𝚡

I inhale a breath as my jaw continues to hang open. I'm speechless, having no words to speak at the sight of him in front of me. Blinking a few times, I'm convinced this entire past thirty minutes has been a dream. My brother is here, standing inches away from me. His dark hair, beautiful eyes, perfect dimples. It's all right here.

"Hi Hope." He flashes me his familiar and warm smile, a smile that lights up the whole world.

"How is this possible?" I step closer to him, every sad part of my body suddenly feels oddly calm.

"I've been waiting for you to get here for awhile now." Hunter whispers with a small smile.

"So, we are dead?" Grayson nervously speaks up from behind me. "You told me your brother died last August."

"I did. I'm fully dead, but you aren't." Hunter shifts his eyes to Grayson.

"What does that mean? Please explain to us what's going on." I demand, still staring at him in utter shock.

"You're in-between heaven and earth. This isn't technically the full after life, it's just a part of it. Your bodies are on earth, but your spirit is here." He motions his hands around the silent street.

"And where is here, exactly?" Grayson's breathing becomes heavier.

"Your own personal piece of heaven." A smirk forms on his lips as he looks down at me.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Grayson begins to pace around with his hands on his hips.

"So, we're not dead?" I slowly ask. I still have no idea what he's talking about.

"Technically, no. You're still breathing, but your conscious is going to be trapped here for awhile." Hunter keeps his eyes on me, the small smile is still covering his mouth. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you more. Everyday I-"

"Go to the cemetery and write in your diary. You vent about mom and dad for handling my death the wrong way." He finishes my sentence for me.

"You know?" I gulp.

"I see everything, little sis." He starts to laugh and I feel like crying. This time, happy tears, but nothing leaves my eyes. I feel too peaceful to cry. "I'm with you every single day. That bay window must be real comfortable."

My chest heaves up and down as I try to let out my emotions. I want to cry, but physically can't. Stepping closer to my brother, I wrap my arms around him. When I can't feel his body against mine, I slowly pull away.

"I can't hug you." I whisper.

"We don't have contact with each other." He rubs his lips together.

"Why not?"

"Because we're in two different states." He tries to explain, even though this is all confusing.

"I can't believe you're actually with me. Not just here, but also in the real world." My head is reeling.

"Of course I am. Just because you can't see me doesn't mean I'm not there."

"So, this is heaven?" I whisper while looking around.

"Incorrect, this is your heaven." He points out.

"Where's real heaven?" Grayson speaks up.

"Well, you have to die first to actually see it." Hunter shrugs. This causes Grayson's entire face to twist with anger.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" He steps in front of me, getting extremely close to my brother.

"Grayson." I mutter, hoping he'll stop.

"You show up out of nowhere, telling us we're half dead and half alive, that we're in our own personal heaven, but you aren't telling us how to fix it!" His voice grows louder.

"Damn, that irritated temper didn't take long to come out." Hunter raises an eyebrow while smirking.

"How do you know anything about me?" Grayson continues to raise his voice.

"I see everything. You can't hide anything from me because I see it all."

"You sound insane." Grayson groans.

"Nice to meet you too, man." Hunter displays his most cocky smirk, causing Grayson to clench his jaw.

"Did you know the car accident was going to happen?" I gulp while staring at him.

"Yes, I'm the one that convinced you to go to the carnival."

"So, that was your voice? I wasn't going insane?" My eyes widen as try to put the pieces together.

"This is going to be hard to explain, but you needed to go and you needed to get into that car accident." He lowly whispers with sad eyes.

"Why?" Grayson chimes back in.

"I don't know."

"Are you kidding me?!"

"No, I seriously don't know. I don't make the rules here, but the universe wanted this to happen." Hunter crosses his arms over his chest.

"What do you mean?" I start to panic while stepping closer to him.

"You have a purpose here, but I don't know why. You have to figure it all out."

"What happened to our bodies?" Grayson pushes himself to say.

"I'll show you." Hunter replies.

With one swift motion, all three of us are standing in the hallway of a hospital. There are people everywhere, all passing us with ease.

"Where are we?" I whisper while looking around.

"On earth. I can transport back and forth because I'm officially dead. There's no saving me, but that's not the case with the two of you." Hunter begins to walk down the hallway.

Grayson and I follow him, making our way into a large room with multiple people in it. Doctors and nurses surround the two beds that sit side by side, while Ethan and Linda sit on the chairs in the corner.

"Ethan! Grandma!" Grayson rushes over to them.

Before I can stop him, my eyes catch a glimpse of the bed. My body is lying there, eyes tightly shut. There's a million IV's covering my skin and a breathing tube shoved in my nose.

"Oh my god." I whisper while staring at myself.

"This is where your body is going to be until further notice." Hunter lightly says.

"I'm in a coma." I point out, terrified to say the words.

"You both are." Hunter nods his head to the second bed.

My eyes shift to Grayson's unconscious body, which is next to mine. He's in the same state as I am. He's not moving and barely breathing. We both are hooked up to oxygen machines to pump the air into our bodies.

"What the hell!" Grayson yells while standing over his own bed. "No, this can't be happening."

"I'm sorry, but it is." Hunter whispers.

"Put me back." Grayson demands.

"Excuse me?" Hunter scoffs at his request.

"You heard me. Put me back! I want to go back."

"Put yourself back, man."

"How do I do that?" Grayson looks at his body with a groan.

"I hate to break this to you, but you can't go back. It's not the right time." Hunter sighs while staring down at our bodies.

"We've been here for, what, an hour? I'm pretty sure it's the right time!" Grayson begins to freak out. He tries to run his hands through his hair, but fails. "Why can't I feel anything?!"

"Because you're numb to this world. You have no physical feeling whatsoever."

"You know what, I'm so sick and tired of-"

"Hope?! Oh my god, where is she?" The sound of my mother's shrieking voice interrupts Grayson's rant. I turn around to find both of my parents charging into the room like a tornado.

"Oh my god! My baby! What happened to her?!" Tears overflow her eyes once she sees me in the bed.

"She was in a really bad car accident. Unfortunately, your daughter fell into a coma. She's still alive, but hasn't been able to breathe on her own yet. There were many broken bones, we just had a five hour surgery." The nurse gives her the run down.

"Five hours?" I gasp at Hunter.

"Time is slower here." He explains.

"How did this happen?" My father asks the doctor.

"Police are investigating the scene now to see what happened to the vehicle." The man calmly states.

"Your grandson." My mother points her finger toward Linda. "He was the one driving?!"

"Yes." The elderly woman lets out a sigh.

"My daughter might die because of him!"

"It was the windshield wipers! They stopped fucking working." Grayson screams in my mother's face, not that she can hear him. "I couldn't see anything!"

"It wasn't Grayson's fault. The rain was extremely heavy, he probably couldn't pull over." Ethan defends his twin, knowing him like a book.

"Look at what it cost them! Their lives!" My mother angrily yells at him.

"They're not dead." Ethan states.

"Yet." My father adds more negativity.

"We have round the clock nurses for them twenty four seven. We are doing everything we can to allow them to wake up." The doctor informs them.

"How long will they stay like this?" Ethan whispers with tears in his eyes.

"Unfortunately, that's up to them."

"It is." Hunter mumbles while looking at me.

My eyes move back to myself. It's the scariest sight I have ever seen. I look so helpless, so destroyed.

"Ethan, listen to me!" Grayson continues to yell in his direction. "I'm right here, you need to hear me!"

I feel so terrible. He's in total shock, you can see the fear in his eyes.

"It's no use, he can't hear you." Hunter lowly says.

"This is bat-shit crazy, you know that, right?" Grayson turns away from his brother in order to look at mine.

"Oh trust me, I know."

My eyes stay locked on my body, I can't seem to rip them away. All the wires and tubes hooked up to me is placing a heavy weight on my shoulders. I finally shift my eyes to Hunter, who is already looking at me.

"We have to wake up eventually, right Hunt?" My voice is a weak whisper.

"Eventually." He looks back to my body on the bed. "But not now."