Afterlife Academy by Admans Jaimie

Author:Admans, Jaimie [Admans, Jaimie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-03-06T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Group therapy is our lesson that afternoon, and it’s a weird one. I don’t know what I was expecting when I walked into the building that used to be our gym, but it probably wasn’t this.

There are five people sitting on red plastic chairs in a circle. Standing in the centre of the circle is an older man.

“Ah, new arrivals,” he says. “Make room, folks. You two grab a chair from the back and come join us.”

We do as he says and squash into the circle next to each other.

“Don’t worry,” he says to us kindly. “We’re all new here. Except me, obviously. You’d be a bit worried if I was new too, huh?” He laughs like this is the funniest joke he’s ever made.

No one else laughs.

“Well, well,” he says, still spluttering to get himself under control. “My name is Mr Perkins, but you can call me Oscar. As you’ve probably guessed, I am the school counsellor and am here to help you adjust at this difficult time. We all understand what everyone else is going through. Back in the living world, your friends and family will no doubt be receiving grief counselling, so we see no reason why you should not be entitled—and more than entitled, in fact, required—to have the same. No reason to think that you are not just as bereaved as those you’ve left behind.”

I see one girl across the circle roll her eyes.

I look around me while Mr Oscar Perkins twitters on.

Apart from Anthony and me, there are two other girls and three boys. They’re all about our age, maybe a couple of years younger.

Mr Perkins is still talking. “Let’s all go around the circle an introduce ourselves. Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to all stand up and say ‘My name is Oscar and I have a problem’. This is just a bit of getting to know each other. We all know how difficult it can be to make friends in a new place, especially a place like this that can be so far from what you’re used to. Just tell us a little bit about yourself. Share how you died, if you like. At least it’s one thing we all have in common. Here, I’ll start.”

He stands up and says, “Hello, my name is Mr Oscar Perkins. I’ve been working her for thirty years. I died before any of you were even born. I have a bad relationship with my pancreas.”

He points to the boy sitting next to the girl who rolled her eyes earlier. “See? Easy. Let’s start with you, William.”

“It’s Will, actually,” William says, standing up. “I’m sixteen and I died about three weeks ago. I was killed by an egg beater. Switched off.” He sits down again.

I stare at him. How on earth do you kill someone with an egg beater?

Apparently I’m not the only one thinking that because the girl who rolled her eyes says, “How the fuck do you die from an egg beater?” in a rather incredulous tone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.