Chapter 2 - Dawn

Chapter 2

Dawn

"I have never failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that didn't work." - Thomas A. Edison

Everyone remembers their childhood, right? Well I remember when I was nothing but a week old. Life was simpler back then. No worries in the world and your only care is to survive. I was given a limited life. Born in 1977 and died 24 years later. What can I say? I didn't have much in life. You might think I'm crazy, but I'd rather be dead than alive. Either way, I'd be dead in the present so why bother. I wouldn't change anything about my life. Well, maybe the end. Oh well, it is what it is. Life is cruel sometimes. I just wish I wasn't living in a science room closet.

People think afterlife is fun and you get unlimited freedom. Freedom this, Freedom that. The truth is there is no freedom. You're held down to the ground for eternity. The thing holding you down? Chains. Chains with bricks on them. It depends what you did in life. If you did a lot of charity work and all of that, you would only have a chain. No brick.

If you were a criminal, 10 chains with 20 bricks. Me though. I was neither. I have 3 chains with 4 bricks. Never happened to a ghost before. Only me. So, yeah. That's ghost stereotype 1 taken care of.

I could sit here all day taking care of ghost stereotypes. Seriously, I could. But I won't. I have better things to do. I left the closet. 10:02 pm. I should be good for a while. I thought. Twas the night before the first day of school. No, this isn't some lame story I'm going to tell you before you go to sleep on christmas eve.

I left the school and met up with the other ghosts.

" Hey look! Dawn showed up." said Burt, my old friend.

" What? Did you think I would chicken out?" I replied.

" Woah, Woah. Ok man. We don't want trouble." added the newer kid, Ralph. He's from the 20th century so I don't know what he is talking about half the time. He's a big nerd, according to Burt.

" Finn, come here. He arrived. We can now discuss our negotiation." Burt called. Finn came over with a little girl with her chains wrapped around her hands. " So, do you have the sapphire?" he asked. I reached into my pocket for the sapphire. It had this light blue glow to it. My hands were shaking.

" You do your part first. The sapphire might be more precious for you, but my sister means more to me than gold." I replied. She smiled.

" Yeah, yeah. Alright." Burt said as he snapped his fingers. Finn unwrapped her chains from her hands. She ran over and hugged me.

" Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" I asked several questions.

" Dawn, I'm ok." she replied as her eyes lit up. " They didn't do anything. I'm just glad you saved me."

" Violet, how fast can you run?" I whispered.

" Pretty fast." she replied. I guess she caught on. 1… 2… 3… Run. We ran until we couldn't see them following us.

"This brings back memories when we were kids." Violet said with a smile.

" Yeah." I said, catching my breath. " Well we better get back to the closet. School is about to start."

" But, why the closet? Can't we go somewhere else?" she asked. The light in her eyes started to slowly fade. I sighed.

" In my lifetime, I was a remarkable scientist. I had an easy life. Graduated college and top of my class, and I was 10. You know that science experiment I did, right?" I replied.

" The one that ended your life?" she looked down at the ground, slightly floating above it. " Yeah, I know about that one. It was the worst day of my life."

" Yes, but that experiment made society the way it is today, didn't it?"

" Well, yes. But barely anyone knows your name. The science teachers in every school don't even mention a successful scientist named Dawn Hills."

" I know, but I have a feeling, deep down, that at least one student in this very classroom knows who I am." I had a stern look on my face. She shook her head.

" You know, you are still the same. Still hot headed. You just don't know when to stop." she smiled. " You're still the lovable Dawn I know. You do what's best for everyone, even if it means you have to perish. I hope you're happy with what you did in life." she said. She slightly faded. My sister lived to be 83. She had 2 kids and was an artist. She always had a paint brush nearby.

" What's going on?"

" It's nothing." she said with tears in her eyes. Her chains slowly went away. " I-I'm going to go find me a place to live."

" Maybe the art room. They do a lot of projects about your work, you know." I said as she started to go. Probably to the art room. I went into the closet. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. I sat there admiring the sapphire's glow. One day… I thought.