one — the sick joke

"That's the sickest joke I've heard in my entire life." I heard a voice that made me open my eyes. Where exactly am I? I began to look around. I found myself in a wide room, with a huge queen-sized canopy bed placed by the large glass window framed by the ivory-colored wood. An armchair was settled by the fireplace, where the voice probably came from. There was only dim light, so the fire gave most of the light inside. The floors were covered with carpets of different shades of blue. A completely unknown location, as I may say.

"B-but it's true, mistress. He really did die at the pool. Even his coach was horribly shocked by the incident. No one saw it coming." Hmmm. The story kind of reminds me of something. Oh, right. It's just like the one about my death. How horrifying. How pitiful the guy in their conversation was. he ended up just like me.

"But it's ironically impossible! I know Kyle is a very good swimmer. He can't die because he drowned!" Why do I have a feeling that the subject of their conversation is me? Or is it just my nonsense thinking?

"There was nothing they could do about it anymore, mistress. His body is being groomed for the burial. Mr. Morris' body is going to be at the St. Michelangelo Chapel downtown."

That rang the bell.

Crap, I am dead. But, who is this so called 'mistress'? Why does she know me? Her voice sounds familiar but I can never be sure.

"What's with the sudden change of attitude, Nadine? I didn't expect that kind of reaction." A wicked voice came from the door. She was standing with her both hands on her waist. Have I seen her somewhere?

"I'm not in the mood to play games, Nicole. And what do you mean 'that kind of reaction?" This Nadine person said sarcastically. The Nicole person smiled devilishly.

"Apparently, I was hoping for a jocund aura in this area of the house. I was thinking that you might be exulting now that your rival for the Olympiad title is gone with the wind. It's a surprise to see you so mad at the news." Rival for the...Olympiad title?

Sh!t. So that's why Nadine was such a familiar name to me.

Nadine Coleman. She's also a swimmer but from St. Augustine Academy, an exclusive girls' school, which happened to be my school's, St. Boniface Academy, an exclusive boys' school, long-time rival for, like, everything. She's the greatest swimmer in their school so she's always trained for the inter-school swimming competitions. Not that I'm saying that I'm the greatest swimmer in my school. We were battling for almost every trophy that can be claimed. And now, our subject of battle: the Olympiad title. But now, she'd be the winner, since I lost to my game. And she won to hers.

"I-i would've cared less about the title. If I lost, then I lost. But...his death...was unexpected. Surprisingly unexpected." I agree so myself. I guess, life's too short eh?

"Am I hearing you right, Nadine? You're having a change of heart? Could it be that...?" I know her now. She's Nadine's older sister by two months. They're Irish twins, in simpler terms. But they look pretty much like each other as if they were twins. But Nicole looks more matured than Nadine.

"Spare me the sudden conclusions, Nicole. He's still a good person, and there's nothing else they could do about him. Can't you understand, Nicole? He's dead! He can never be born again. He won't be here anymore. He won't be..." Then I heard soft sobs escaping from her lips. She's crying because of...me? I rushed to see her by the fireplace. And then...

I tried to reach for her face, but my hand just passed through her tear-filled eyes. I felt a pang of an unknown emotion. Is this what they call...?

"Great. Now you're crying. I better get outta here before any words came out from your mouth to Mom's ears." And she walked away, closing the door as she left, leaving me with her crying sister.

I hate to see her crying. I feel so uneasy. It makes me panic. I feel like I'm such an idiotic person to make a beautiful girl like her cry. I wish there was something I could do for her to stop crying. I wonder what can I do...

"I hate you, Morris! I haaaate yooou! If you were only alive and here with me, I'd be...I'd be..." Hmm. That was convenient. I didn't even have to ask her that.

I am with her, am I not? But for the alive part...I'm not so sure myself.

"That's why you're there, Kyle Morris."

Who goes there?!