Chapter 13

Aster:

Aster opened her eyes. She was wrapped in a blanket of complete darkness. At first, panic threatened to overwhelm her, but then she remembered. I’m dead. This is death. She sat in the dark, trying to remember how she died, but couldn’t recall anything. There was nothing really, no memories of who she were, what her life was like – nothing. It was a complete blank

The darkness was complete. She could it feel pressing in on her. Arms outstretched, Aster turned in a slow circle, and touched nothing but emptiness. She wasn’t sure if she made a complete 360 turn, but slowly she started shuffling forward, keeping her arms outstretched in case she met a wall.

Something unpleasant curled around her feet, like tendrils of slime. She inhaled, realised she couldn’t, and remembered she was dead – dead people didn’t breathe. “Hello?” she cried out.

Her voice echoed in the darkness. Apparently, dead people did have vocal chords. She