The Dead Friends Society by Paul Gandersman & Paul Gandersman

Author:Paul Gandersman & Paul Gandersman [Hall, Peter & Gandersman, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Encyclopocalypse Publications

Eli was, to put it mildly, really fucking confused. He wasn’t the only one. Rose had been uncharacteristically quiet while Drew recapped everything that happened in the attic, leaving Eli to wonder if she was feeling some residual guilt from their pizza heist. Nothing bad had happened afterward, and they’d even shared a great moment in the laundry room. But now Drew was freaking out and the calm of their new norm was shattering.

It’s not that Eli didn’t believe Drew; it was just too much new information to process. He thought the rules of the afterlife were, all things considered, logical. It was Toy Story, right? If there were no people, then their universes were merged; If a person looked at them, then their universes went back to being parallel. Andy’s toys weren’t supposed to be able to play back with him.

“Are you absolutely sure she touched you?” he asked her.

“She didn’t go through me, Eli.”

“No, what I mean is, you know the barrier around the living? Maybe there’s a barrier around us, too? Maybe she was just touching the barrier?”

Drew threw her hands up in frustration. “What’s the fucking difference, Eli? I was literally holding her in my arms, man. Barrier, no barrier, I don’t know what the hell you want to call it. I could feel her, and she could feel me.”

“What did it feel like?” Rose asked, staring at her shoes. Her tone surprised Eli. There was a hint of jealousy to the question.

“It was incredible,” Drew answered. “Just... I’ve never felt anything like that. It’s like we were... connected... not just physically. It was more than that. It was deeper, it was like—”

“Was it worth it?” Rose interrupted.

The jealousy in Rose’s voice had sharpened, giving Eli that queasy feeling he got whenever his parents argued. All of a sudden, the basement erupted into shouting, with Drew pleading that she hadn’t meant to do it, and Rose accusing her of always being too impulsive. Eli retreated to the corner, wishing he could melt into the wall. He loved to argue, but in a devil’s advocate kind of way; not in a “Is this going to end our friendship?” kind of way, and the tension between the two of them made his skin crawl. He wanted to talk to Wes just so he wouldn’t feel like such a third wheel, only Wes was nowhere to be found. Eli realized it’d been a while since he’d seen him. He’s probably sulking by a window somewhere.

Eli started up toward the stairs but stopped when he felt a squish under his sneaker. He knelt and discovered with horror that he’d accidentally stepped on a mouse. Or, what used to be a mouse. He looked closer at the smashed sack of bones and blood-matted fur. There was no way a normal footstep did that amount of damage. He had an immediate, gut impulse that Wes was responsible. He didn’t know how Wes had broken the barrier with the living, but he was certain he’d found a way — just as he was certain his brother would not stop with just a mouse.

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