12/16/23 9:00 pm

   I'm back. Just needed a breather, remembering hurts a little. Maybe you've already guessed the punch line? Yeah. I died in that car crash. But more on that in a few, here's more of the story:

   I woke up in a haze. Huh, I thought. The ceiling I was staring at wasn't my room ceiling. It was a chalky blueish color. I wasn't in my own bed, and what the...? I sat up. I was in a pale purple dress, holding a bouquet of red roses. "Okay, Maci, ha ha. Nice prank. I'm so not laughing." I thought she had moved me to her friend's house again to prank me. Then, I looked around. There were a TON of people staring at me, all in black, with roses everywhere. I started to get a little creeped out... I wondered what I was sitting on. I looked down. It was casket! I was sitting in a COFFIN!!!
    Suddenly, all the images rushed back to me. The car crash, blacking out, all the fuzzy lights, the warmth, and finally, the cold, black, nothing. Someone in the crowd gasped as I stumbled to get out of the coffin. I was in a freaking funeral home! I looked around a bit more. Alex was in the casket next to me, just playing with her roses, not caring that she was in a pastel pink dress, almost girlie enough for me to laugh and point, despite the situation. Heh. I went over and stood over her. "Um, Alex?" "Yeah, Sammi?" "You. Are. Sitting. In. A. Freaking. Coffin. Playing. With. Flowers. I THINK WE HAVE AN ISSUE!!!" She rolled her eyes at me. "Sammi, this isn't my first time waking up. I just decided to fake sleeping still. They would FREAK if they knew we were," she whispered, "you know, UNdead?" I screamed. I couldn't take it anymore! "UNDEAD? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, UNDEAD? I DIDN'T KNOW I DIED!!!!!!" Then conveniently, I blacked out. Yeah, I actually blacked out, for the second time in however many days.
   
  I woke up for the SECOND time in a strange room in who knows how many days. I looked around, checking for any people who might be about to collapse with hysterics or something. There were none, thank goodness. I was all by myself, in what appeared to be some kind of hotel room.
   I was lying in a queen size bed that was still made, I was on top of the comforter. The giant TV thing that's normally on top of the dresser was there as well. All in all, it looked like I had been left in a pre-paid hotel room. Hmmm... This was strange. I got out of bed, and almost knocked over a chair with some fresh clothes, that looked to be from my room, and a note on it.
    
     " Dear Sammi," it read, "Sorry for giving you such a fright at the funeral home. You died in the car crash. So did Alex. When you died, it made me wonder why I never did more than say hi or something like that. I guess this is a second chance for me, your undeath. You're going to see a lot more of me, and I'll try to be a better friend to you. Anyways, your sister smuggled some clothes to me out of your closet. I went and got your driver's license finalized, and I arranged for a debit card to be sent to you. There is a list of apartments that you and Alex will need to choose from as soon as you can check your email. I hope this helps.

                  A friend"

    I got down to business. I put on the clothes, and went over to the in-room laptop. Hey, that's my laptop! He/she must have smuggled it in here while I was knocked out. I opened my baby up, turned her on, and was instantly comforted by the bright glow of technology.
    First things first. I checked my email. A list of three little apartments was at the top. I clicked "open", and started paging through them. The first one was all the way downtown Atlanta. No, thank you. I'm a dead sixteen year old, not an idiot. The second was on the outskirts of Acworth, close to where I originally lived. Hmm, might be good to stay in the neighborhood. A place called Cherokee Summits was the third complex. It was town homes, but that would work too. I clicked on it to get a better look.
   It was a sweet little town home, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full size kitchen with and island in the middle, and a bar on the side. I sent the link to Alex through email, only hoping that the mysterious person had left her some stuff as well. *BINK* The "you have email" signal appeared on my screen.
     Alex had just emailed me! Good, she was awake too! Her email read "Hey Sammi. Get a load of this! Some stranger left me a note in my room, with some clothes from my house. I guess we DIED in that car crash after all. Huh. Can you believe it? We're UNDEAD!!! This is gonna be soo cool! So, the person left me a list of apartments, and I want the town home in Cherokee Summits! I love it, it's so cute!"
     I quickly typed back a reply. " Dear Alex. What hotel room are you in? I'm in 124. Come over here!" I sent it, and waited a second for her reply. It never came. Uh-oh, what happened?
     "Augh!" A knock sounded on the door, and I jumped two feet in the air... I looked through the little peep hole thingy. Dang, I was jumpy! It was just Alex... I opened the door.
"Alex, you scared the crud out of me!!!" I squealed at her. "Sorry, didn't mean to. You DID say come over, so don't blame me..." "Good point. So, it's decided. We're getting the Cherokee Summits one?" I asked hopefully. "Um, duh! Isn't the one I said I liked?" She always had had that attitude... I guess being dead, pardon me, UNdead, didn't change too much... Thank god. Any more weirdness and I was gonna check into a mental institution.
   We walked out the door to go get breakfast. Mmmm, the sweet smell of pancakes and hot syrup filled the cafeteria. Or whatever it was. We walked towards the buffet line. I saw toast, scrambled eggs, and all sorts of delicious breakfast foods! We collected our plates. Alex got her normal breakfast, which was cheerios with, like, a pound of sugar in a Ziploc bag, no milk. I just grabbed a yogurt with peaches at the bottom and a Dr. Pepper. I HAVE to have a Dr. Pepper to wake up in the mornings. I HAVE to!
   We grabbed a table next to a window. I noticed that I couldn't feel the warmth of the sun. That was weird. I opened my mouth to ask Alex if she could. She beat me to it. "Hey, Sammi, can you feel the sun? I can't... This is really weird." "Maybe it's just a side effect of being- you know," I whispered, "undead." She gasped. "Oh my gosh. You're right!" We agreed that this was too creepy.
    After that, neither of us was very hungry. "Hey, Alex, let's go grab our stuff and head out to go apartment shopping, sound good?" "Yeah, sure. The sooner we're in our own place, the better..." We headed back to the room. She got there before me. Alex just stood there, at my open room door gaping. She whispered "There's someone/thing in your room!"
    I crept up to the doorway, just to see if I could spot the intruder and identify him/her. It looked EXACTLY like... No, it COULDN'T be...
"Jake???" I half-screamed into the room. The intruder jumped about two feet in the air. "What the he...?" The person turned around. OMG! It WAS Jake. I screamed a little bit. "What in the WORLD are you doing in our room!!??" "Dude, CHILL OUT, Sammi!!" "Um, you snuck into our room, as in, breaking and entering-" "No, I've got a key! Listen to me! I sent you the apartment list. I wrote y'all the notes. I brought you fresh clothes, and rented a hotel room for each of you. Would you just give me a chance?"
    Lex rolled her eyes. "And so the happy couple reunite..." "Happy couple??" Jake and I turned to look at her at the same time. I went first. "Alex? Have you LOST IT? We are SOOO NOT dating. Last time I checked, he barely knew my name!"
      He grew strangely quiet. That was weird. We stood there for a moment.
"And this is where I leave the room! By the way, Sam, did you READ what he wrote? He's so into you!" Alex yelled on her way out the door.
I stood there for a second. Should I tell him how I've always felt? Is undeath my second chance at love with Jake? But most importantly, I wondered, did he feel the same way about me?
  
  Sorry about the long post, but I'm gonna hit the hay now. I'll finish up tomorrow afternoonish, or whenever I get the chance.