DEAD BUT NOT GONE



“...and now to Jeff Clas for the breaking news.”

“Yes, thank you Rick. Last night there was a terrible car accident on Route 42. The car for an unknown reason drove straight off the road and into the ocean. One of the people in the car got out, but was viciously attacked by a shark. There were-”

Lili turned off the TV. She had to go down to the beach to meet her best friends, Caty and Ryley. They were going to go surfing all day long.

When Lili got there, Ryley and Caty were already there and Caty was freaking out about something. Caty’s brown hair was falling into her sparkly blue eyes. Her hair was getting soaked with tears.

“What’s happening?” Lili asked as she reached Caty and Ryley.

“Last night, my family and I got into a car accident and they all died!” Caty cried, barely able to get the words out.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! Was that on the news this morning?” Lili replied with sympathy.

“Yes, I was the only one that lived!” Caty started bawling. Her whole family was gone and she didn’t know what to do. She had no relatives left. She didn’t know who she would stay with.

Lili told Caty she could stay with her. Caty questioned it at first, but Lili just told her she didn’t even have to ask. Her mom wouldn’t care! Caty agreed and stayed with Lili.
5 years later

“Ryley, wake up!” Caty exclaimed!

“What? Ryley said tiredly because it was 5:20 in the morning.

“You turn 17 in three minutes! Get up and come to the kitchen! We have cake and everything!” Lili answered bursting with energy.

“Cake at 5:20 in the morning?” Ryley answered, “Don’t you think that’s a little weird?”

“Whatever, come on,” Caty announced.

When they got downstairs, there was a huge cake on the table and the room was decorated extravagantly!
There were at least three dozen balloons decorating the living room and kitchen. There was a huge banner that said, “You’re 17!” But the best thing was the cake. It was a two layered cake with chocolate on the bottom and vanilla on the top. It was decorated with surfboards, flowers, fish, etc. All the things Ryley loved. Then, it turned 5:23.
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ryley, happy birthday to you!” Caty and Lili screamed.
They all laughed and got ready for their exciting day. They were going to the beach, the movies, the mall, and they were going out to eat two times.
They left Lili’s house and started off to the beach. They were going to surf all morning long.
They got to the beach and a ton of surfers were in the water already.
“Hey Ryley, happy birthday. Hey Lili.” a voice said cooly behind them. They turned around and it was their friend Arran with with a bunch of their other friends. Arran had brown hair and light brown eyes that sometimes had green in them. He played basketball, football, and he even swam on the swim team. He was the most popular boy in their school.
“Hey,” they both replied.
“Oh and thanks...for the happy birthday,” Ryley added.
Arran looked right into her blue eyes and said, “You’re welcome.”
Ryley had blue eyes and long, thick blond hair. She had a lot of freckles and an energetic smile.
“Hey, Arran, are you gonna say hi to Caty?” Lili questioned. Arran looked at her like he was really confused. He turned around and started talking to Ryley.
Lili turned around to talk to Caty, but she wasn’t there. She figured that’s why Arran looked confused when she asked if he was gonna say hi to Caty, but she still had to find Caty.
“Hey, Ryley, can I talk to you for a second?” Lili asked.
Ryley looked at her like she was interrupting the best moment of her life.
“Go ahead. I’ll catch up with you later,” Arran said, noticing the intensity between the two girls.
“What was that all about?” Ryley questioned angrily when Arran left.
“Where’s Caty?” Lili replied, not at all bothered by the anger in Ryley’s voice.
“She probably went to the bathroom, come on!” Ryley said.
Just then, they heard a noise behind them. It was Caty. She told them she had been in the bathroom. Ryley was anxious to get in the water so they left the conversation like that.
When they got in the water, Ryley heard two more voices directed to her.
“Happy birthday, Ryley,” her friends Ed and Harry said.
Ed had straight brown hair with glowing green eyes. He had several freckles and a scar on his left cheek. Ed was athletic, smart, a great singer, and was good-hearted. Harry had curly brown hair and had bright brown eyes. Harry was also smart, athletic, funny, and always happy. They were amazing.
“Thanks guys,” Ryley said with a laugh.
Ed smiled while Harry said, “You’re welcome Ryley Poo.”
Ryley hated when people called her that so she pushed him into the water. Ed laughed and they went deeper into the ocean.
They surfed all morning and by the time it was 11:30, they were starving. They invited Arran and their other friends Harry and Ed to come with them, but they just wanted to surf so the three girls left alone.
Ryley, Caty, and Lili went out to lunch at the Olive Garden. Ryley and Lili stuffed their faces, but Caty didn’t eat anything. She claimed she ate too much at breakfast. It was true.
After they finished eating, they drove to the movie theater. They were going to see two movies back to back. The first movie was “Non-Stop” and the second was “Divergent”. They were so excited.
When their movies ended, Lili and Caty convinced Ryley to go back to the beach and hang out for a while.

When they got to the beach, Ryley understood why Caty and Lili had wanted to come back. They had thrown a huge surprise party for her. All of their friends were already there waiting for them to arrive. It was going to be a fun night. Arran had reserved a huge section of the beach for them until midnight.

Everyone was either dancing, singing, or eating on the beach, or surfing and swimming in the water. Caty and Lili were far away from the shore, splashing each other. Lili’s long blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her ocean blue eye’s were sparkling with excitement. Caty’s brown hair was in a french braid sometimes being pulled by Lili. They were having a blast.
Arran and Ryley were a little further out. They were just talking about Ryley’s day and random stuff.
“Have you had a fun day?” Arran asked Ryley quietly.
“Yeah, it’s been a blast. All of you guys made it so much fun,” Ryley replied.
“I made it fun too?”
“Yes. You made it very fun.”

They didn’t say anything for a minute. It got really awkward so Ryley decided to break the silence.
“We have had some really good memories,” she said.
Arran laughed and nodded in agreement.
Ryley knew her and Arran were more than friends, she just didn’t know if he knew that. She really liked him and little did she know he liked her too.
They were silent when Ryley fell over her surfboard. Arran didn’t know why. He pulled Ryley up right away and asked what happened.
“A shark bumped my board,” Ryley mumbled shocked.
“Oh my gosh,” Arran said, “it looks like it’s headed towards Lili.”
“What?” Ryley questioned.
It was true the shark was going over towards Lili. Caty was underwater doing a duck dive right in front of Lili. She didn’t see the shark yet, but she would soon. The shark was coming fast and it was not going to slow down.
Ryley started off towards Lili and Caty. She wasn’t going to let her friends get attacked by a shark, but Arran held her back.
“Aarran, what are you doing?” Ryley questioned.
“You think I’m going to let you go and risk your life? She’s my best friend too ya know?” Arran shouted. That was very true. Arran had been best friends with Lili since they were little. He lived right across the street from her and they hung out all the time.
Ryley looked at him like he was the craziest person alive. She was capable of going and saving her best friends too.
“Just stay here. I’ll go help,” Arran continued, but it was too late.
The shark had reached them and they heard Lili scream. She didn’t get attacked by the shark, but Caty did. The shark had left as soon as it came, but there were massive injuries done to Caty. Ryley and Lili reached her and saw she was bleeding bad. Ryley called over Arran for help, but he just looked over at her hopelessly and didn’t do anything.
“Stay with us, Caty,” Lili shouted almost in tears. Ryley was already bawling. She didn’t know what she’d do without Caty or Lili.
They started making their way to the shore and by that time everyone had noticed something was going on in the water. Caty was losing loads of blood.
“CALL AN AMBULANCE!” Ryley screamed to the people on the shore. They immediately did as they were told and called an ambulance.
By the time Lili, Ryley, and Caty got up to the shore, they could hear the sirens about a block away. They put her down on the sand and ran to Ed to explain what happened. He looked at them seeming to be very confused, but they left before he could talk. The ambulance was here. They rushed to Caty. She wasn’t there.
“Where’s the shark attack victim?” a policeman called.

They looked at him blankly, but then finally Lili cleared her throat and answered.

“Her name is Caty and she was here a minute ago, but now she’s gone,” Lili explained.

“Could the waves have pulled her back into the ocean?” the officer questioned.

“No, we pulled her back really far onto the sand,” Lili answered.

“Okay….well we better take you to the station and ask you some questions and figure out who this missing and attacked girl is.” the police officer said.

Ryley and Lili rode over to the police station in the squad car. They were heartbroken and confused and didn’t say anything on the way there. When they got there, the police officer started asking questions, but soon stopped.

“So what happened?” the police officer asked. His name was Jack Harvey.

“We were having a party on the beach and I was the farthest out in the ocean with Arran Sanders. We were talking and something bumped my board. I fell into the water and my foot touched something slimy and then I felt a fin. I knew it was a shark. Arran pulled me back onto my board right after I fell off it. He told me the shark was headed towards Lili and Caty, the missing girl, but it was too late. The shark attacked Caty and then left as soon as it came. We tried to get people to help us, but nobody did. Lili and I dragged her to shore all by ourselves.” Ryley explained while Lili silently broke down.

“What is Caty’s last name? We’ll file a missing persons report once we find out a few details about her.” Officer Harvey replied.

“Caty Howards.” Ryley said with no expression at all. The experience had been traumatic and completely insane. Ryley and Lili were both looking down waiting for an answer. When none came, they looked up at Officer Harvey.

He had become pale and he looked like he was going to be sick. He slowly got up and started talking to his fellow officers. It looked serious. Lili and Ryley were very confused. Why was Caty so important?

It was a good five minutes before he came back. He still looked pale and he still looked like he was going to be sick.

“Um, girls. This is going to be shocking, but stay calm. Five years ago when the Howard’s family got into the car accident there were no survivors,” Officer Harvey explained. He was expecting scared expressions, but they were just staring at him with blank, confused faces.

“No, Caty was the only survivor. She’s been staying with me for five years,” Lili answered, confused and shocked.

“No, we buried her and her family five years ago. She was the one who got out of the car, but was viciously attacked by a shark. Currently, there is no one with the last name Howards in this city nor in any city near us. We believe you have been being watched over or haunted by her ghost all these years. Think about it, has anyone ever talked to her, or looked directly at her for more than three seconds,” Officer Harvey concluded.

You could tell Ryley and Lili knew he was right. They realized nobody ever did talk to Caty and nobody helped them when she got “attacked” by the shark. Nobody could see her except them. They also realized, through the years, that whenever they needed advice she gave them advice that made the situation bad or worse. Why would Caty want to haunt them? What did they do to her? Little did they know, their questions would be answered soon.

The police officer drove them to Ryley’s house where Arran was waiting there for them. They explained everything to him and he tried to help them figure out why Caty would haunt them, but they fell asleep before the could figure it out.

The next day was warm and sunny. Lili woke up first. She saw Arran and Ryley still asleep. She didn’t want to wake them because she figured they needed their sleep so she left them. She walked into the kitchen, and began to cut fruit when she heard a noise.

“Hello Lili,” a voice said to her. It was really dark in the kitchen so she couldn’t see anything. Lili went to turn on the lights, but when she flicked the switch they wouldn’t come on.

“Who is it?” Lili said trembling with fright.

“I think you know who it is,” the voice replied.

Lili didn’t answer. A ton of thoughts were running through her head. She didn’t understand why this was happening to her.

“You’ve probably been wondering why over the past five years I’ve been haunting you and Ryley,” the voice continued.”You’ve probably been thinking you did nothing wrong, but you did. You know what you did. I have been waiting five years for this. This is all I came back for.

“Caty, what did we do?” Lili answered a little less afraid.

Before Caty could answer, she started changing. Her lips were filling with bubbling puss. Her hands were cracking. Her head was expanding like a balloon. Lili screamed. It looked like her favorite horror movie was coming to life. The scream woke up Arran. He tried to wake up Ryley to ask what was going on, but he soon realized she was cold as ice. There was a scarf around her neck and it was tied around tight. Someone had choked her. Ryley was dead.

Arran sprinted into the kitchen to find Lili with another person. He didn’t know who the other person was because it was really dark.
He pulled up the blinds to see more clearly. He then realized that the person next to Lili, wasn’t a person, at least not anymore. He tried to run over to Lili, but before he could do anything to help the the thing lunged at Lili.

He noticed the puss dripping from it’s lips, it’s head the size of a balloon, and it’s hands were cracked like cement. He also noticed all the bumps along it’s skin. He realized the bumps had spiders in them and the spiders were coming out. He didn’t know what the thing was, so he decided to call it the monster. Some of the monster’s teeth were falling out, but the ones that didn’t fall out turned into pointy fangs.

It was all so slow. Lili knew she was going to die. She watched Arran run in and then Caty lunged at her. It was all in slow motion for her. She noticed all the things that changed with Caty. Caty looked like a monster. Lili’s life was playing out in her mind. She’d had a nice childhood. Loads of friends. Her sister died when she was 13 so she knew she’d be reunited with her soon. She knew death wasn’t something to be afraid of so she was looking forward to it.

Arran knew he had to try and do something. Lili was his best friend. He had to try and save her. He’d already lost Ryley. He couldn’t lose Lili too. He saw a knife on the table and reached for it. It was the knife Lili had been using to cut fruit before the monster had come.

Caty landed on Lili. She was happy to kill this girl just like she had done with Ryley. They deserved to die. Nothing could get in her way. Nothing at all.

“I’m going to kill you just like I did with Ryley, but your death will be more painful,” Caty shouted. She laughed at the thought of murdering someone.

“What did we do to you?” Lili screamed at her.

“That night when I died you and Ryley were with me. You don’t remember because you went unconcious, but you were. You and Ryley were in the car with me and my family. We were playing around with my brother. You decided to play mercy with him and when you did you snapped off his hand. He turned 17 and a half that day so he started changing into a monster like my family does when they turn that age. After you snapped off his hand, he changed more quickly and you guys got scared and jumped out of the car. You fell and become unconscious. We drove into the water and we all died thanks to you morons.

“Why does your family turn into monsters?” Lili asked terrified of the answer.

“To kill people. That’s why I want revenge on you so bad. I would have had a life full of killing people, but I died. I am only back for a limited amount of time. So I told myself to wait to kill you at the perfect time and now is the perfect time,” Caty returned with a laugh.

Arran knew he had to act fast. The thing was inches from Lili’s face and he didn’t know what it was going to do to her. He lunged forward and stabbed the monster in the stomach. Right away he pulled it out and then stabbed it in the head. The monster went down with a blood curdling scream. He was ready for Lili to jump up and thank him for what he had done, but she didn’t come up. He looked down to see her on the ground in a pool of her own blood, barely alive. Before he stabbed it, the monster had bitten her chest and and dug it’s teeth around in her neck and part of her stomach. He knew she was going to die.
After Caty’s explanation, she bit Lili a lot. Lili thought Caty was going to keep biting her everywhere, but someone stabbed her and she went down. Lili tried to lift her head, but it was too hard and she knew more blood would come out if she moved too fast. She knew she was going to die, but she wasn’t scared. She was going to be reunited with her dead sister.
Arran sat down next to Lili and grabbed her hand. He didn’t want to say anything because he didn’t want her to become afraid. Lili must of sensed it because she said,
“I’m not afraid,” she said gasping for breath because her lungs were filling with blood, “I would prefer if you did talk to be honest.”
Arran didn’t want to disobey, but he felt like he was going to start crying. His best friend and the girl he loved dying on the same day. He didn’t know what to do.
“I know you’re not afraid. I’m afraid. I don’t want to lose you. You’re a strong, brave, beautiful girl and I’ve loved being your friend. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you,” Arran began.
“I know I’ll never forget you, or Ryley, and I know you won’t forget me either. I am going to miss our fun times together. Also, tell Ryley I have always loved her,” Arran continued, starting to tear up.
“I will,” Lili began, breathing slower and taking less breaths, “She did love you...you know?”
They didn’t say anything else until Lili was about to die.
“Take care, Arran. I will watch over you and when you die, I’ll be the first to greet you! Just because Ryley and I are going to be dead, doesn't mean you can’t live a great life,” Lili said slowly with an encouraging smile.
“Thank you Lili. I will miss you.”, Arran said sadly and with that Lili died holding on to her best friend’s hand.
Arran began to cry. He knew he shouldn’t, but he had to let it out. He had to go tell their parents and their friends and the police and he didn’t know if he could do it. He wanted to die, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to hold on because his best friend told him to before she died. That was her last wish and he would make it come true.
1 year later

Arran was done with the police. He didn’t have to answer anymore questions. He was done with guilt. He knew Lili and Ryley didn’t hold him responsible for their deaths, and after all he did kill the monster. He was starting fresh and for the first time in forever, he was happy. He was happy he still had good friends and he was happy that Ryley and Lili’s deaths weren’t controlling his life. The thing he was most happy about, though, was that he avenged their deaths by killing Caty. He was proud. He knew she was gone.

But was she?

Caty was mad because she had been defeated two times. By a shark once and that stupid Arran boy the other time, but that wasn’t a problem. She was back and ready to kill. Ready to kill Arran, his friends, Lili’s friends, Ryley’s friends, everyone. She wasn’t playing easy this time either. She was going to kill everyone. Including you.