Young Writers Society

Esther felt a lump in her throat.

While she knew Jessica would eventually find out about the Outpost, she wasn't ready to take her there, not yet. She gestured to the ice cream parlor across the street.

"Do you want to get some ice cream? You can... tell me about your life."

"Oh sure, I love ice cream. I always get it with..." Jessica voice broke slightly as she realized she could no longer be using the present tense with that particular statement. She'd never be able to go on another ice cream date with Daph. She thought for a second about asking whether there'd been another new arrival to this place then immediately hated herself for it.

Daphne had to have survived whatever crashed their car that night. She'd be a little broken, but she was such a wonderful girl, she'd move and she'd have a wonderful life. She deserved a wonderful life. She couldn't be did and she hated herself for wishing it even for the briefest moment.

"Well, there's a starting point to talk about my life," said Jessica, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. "Ice cream was my girlfriend's favorite food."

Esther felt a lump in her throat. She hadn't intended to hit a sore spot, but it was what it was. Most everyone who died had people they'd left behind. "I take it she's still living, then?"

They walked across to the street. The ice cream parlor was almost overwhelming in its turn of the twentieth century theming, but what mattered is that it had every flavor you could possibly dream of. There were a few people in line ahead of them. They got in it as Esther waited for Jessica's response.

Jessica followed behind Esther as she led them towards the ice cream parlor, unable to answer immediately as her earlier thoughts returned.

"I hope so," Jessica finally said,"she was with me in the car. She's not here after all."

In the car with her.

That was rough.

Esther back at Jessica, and she knew there wasn't going to be able to keep a secret anymore.

"What if I told you there was a way to watch the people we loved... the ones that were still living?"

Just then, they were ready for Esther to order. "A scoop of pistachio, please, Jerry," she said to the old man at the counter. Service jobs here depended on volunteers. Jerry was probably about eighty and had owned a diner when he was alive, so he'd jumped at the chance to do something similar in the afterlife.

Jessica found herself speechless for the second time in five minutes.

She mechanically put in her own order of a double scoop of chocolate, as she processed the implications of that particular reveal. To think there was a way she could make sure that Daph, Sue and the rest were alive. That would be amazing. Almost too good to be true.

"I have no words," said Jessica, truthfully, before she decide that she had to ask before she got her hopes up too much. "Is there a catch to that?"

Esther felt a lump in her throat. A catch. She was sure that there was, but she hadn't quite figured it out.

"If you want, I can show you."

They stepped to the side and before long, their ice cream was ready for them on the counter.

Jessica moved to pick up her order.

"Okay," said Jessica, tentatively. Esther not volunteering an answer for a potential catch made her suspect there might be something but she didn't press the matter. It sounded a little too good to refuse especially when she could the confirmation she needed at the moment.

It wasn't a long walk to the Outpost, but it felt like an eternity as both girls walked in silence. All Esther could think about was seeing her brother again. The last time she'd been there, when she'd been new to the afterlife, he had sobbed over her casket at the funeral, and his very pregnant wife had to help guide him back to their seats otherwise he would have collapsed.

It had hurt Esther to see him so sad. And yet, she knew that he would be okay. He was going to start a family of his own. Still, it had been too much for Esther, and she had to stop.

Mike had warned her afterwards that visiting the land of the living wasn't a good idea. And yet, in the weeks since, Esther she ignored him as she led Jessica into the sterile double doors.

Not many people were there. There was a long row of doors.

"You enter one," said Esther. "There's a headset you put on. And it'll take you to the people you love."

Esther entered one door and let Jessica enter the one next to her, figuring that this was something they'd each have to do alone.

Jessica walked in silence along with Esther as she guided her towards whatever contraption would grant her the ability to watch the people she loved. It was a short walk and Jessica's mind was racing with hundreds of possibilities. She had no idea what to expect, and now that it seemed possible for her to have the answers she'd so desperately craved earlier, she didn't know if she was ready to receive them. What if Daph had also died? Or, what if Daph had survive but Sue had died? Daph would be utterly distraught if she had lost her girlfriend and her little sister on the same day.

As Jessica waded through one horrible possibility after the other, Esther announced they were here and told her what she needed to do. She nodded, the icy chill of adrenaline flowing through her veins. That surprised her. Jessica hadn't expected feelings like that to translate over to her now that she was dead, but she supposed if sadness was a thing, excitement and fear would be no different.

She slowly stepped into one of the doors and picked up the headset that Esther had told her about with trembling hands.Thoughts of her beloved Daphne flowed through her head as she put it on.