Rewind (Teen Fiction Collection) (3 page)

That’s the story of how I died.
The next thing I remembered, I was sitting at my desk, staring at the clock
next to my bed. The stars were bright outside my window. It was midnight.

I caught my breath very suddenly,
a huge, cold, gulping breath. I felt dizzy. It was like being woken suddenly
from a very deep sleep. For a minute I was completely disorientated. I didn’t
know where I was or when it was. I snapped open my laptop and checked the date.

It had been reset. Just as they
said it would. Rewind had worked. It was the day before everything had
happened. I hadn’t yet eaten the muffins, I hadn’t been to school in those
ridiculous shoes, I hadn’t slapped Becky Lane or got that kid run over.

I hadn’t died.

I wanted to run downstairs and
check that all the muffins were there, but I couldn’t. I felt weak. I wasn’t
sure my legs would be able to support me if I stood up. But there was the date
on my screen, comforting and honest.

I breathed out, a huge, relieved
sigh, and it turned into sobs. I rested my head on my folded arms and cried.
Everything was ok again.

What was it like?

I must have died instantly. I
tried to keep my eyes open as long as possible but they shut of their own
accord a few moments before impact. It was like darkness hit me, hard and
sudden, not painful, but all-encompassing. Imagine a brightly-coloured screen
with loud music playing, and then everything goes black and the sound is shut
off, all at once, right in the middle. The
absence
hits you. After that,
nothing. There was the
whumph
of blackness and then here I was, gasping,
at my desk again. I saw no heaven. I saw no hell. I saw nothing.

Overcome with emotion and
exhaustion, I climbed into bed. My head was pounding. I felt hung-over. I fell
into a deep sleep.

The next day, I leaped out of bed
and gave my mum and sister a huge hug each. They were both surprised.

“What’s got into you?” they said.
I smiled brightly, scooping my hair up into a ponytail.

“Nothing. I just felt like
appreciating you today.”
I came so close to losing you,
said the voice
in my head
. I never want to come that close again
. If I thought about it
too much I still got the shakes. I couldn’t believe it had happened, I couldn’t
believe I had ever had the guts. Maybe it was all a dream. Maybe it was just
easier for me to believe it was.

At school I skipped over to
Natalie and gave her a hug, too.

“Hello to you, too,” she said.
She nodded over towards Todd and his mates. “Someone’s looking particularly
gorgeous today,” she said. I barely glanced in their direction.

“Let’s go to the movies after
school,” I said. “Or the park. Or something. Let’s do something.” Nat laughed.

“Ok, sure,” she said, linking my
arm. We walked down the corridor together.

As we made our way to first
period, I passed a group of lower school kids. There was one, a small boy with
scruffy brown hair and freckles, and seeing him gave me the hugest feeling of
relief. I wanted to scoop him up and spin him round. I didn’t even know his
name. I gave him the biggest grin I could, and in response he looked terrified.

I saw Becky Lane and Mr Denver
that day, too. Neither of them paid me any attention at all, and it made me so
happy.

In English, I worked on my
presentation with my assigned partner. I glanced over at Todd. I knew now that
if I chose to speak to him, we’d get on. I could make friends with him if I
wanted. But there was no rush, after I debriefed with the Rewind people, I
would have all the time in the world.

The
End

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