Izzie's POV

    When I entered my house, I was shocked.

    It was not only completely furnished, like what Julia had said, but it was also decorated. The weird thing was... it was exactly how I would want it to be decorated.

    Posters of famous female track athletes, a closet full of Nike sportswear... and a pantry stocked with Twizzlers? I've never tried Twizzlers before, at least not in the Afterlife, but I found myself gravitating towards it because I just knew I would love it. It was creepy.

    "Hello!"

    I screamed and turned around to see a woman with blonde hair, smiling widely at me. "Who... who are you?" I asked, breathing heavily as I placed my palm on my chest. "I'm Paige. I'm a robot."

    "What? A robot?"

    "I'm the personal assistant to everyone in the Afterlife. I do anything and everything that you tell me to."

    "Your name is Paige?"

    She looked at me with the same robotic smile before nodding. "Well... Paige... um can you tell me how my house is completely decorated. And why it's decorated to my exact liking?"

    "We have data of your personality, likes and dislikes in the main office. In your previous life, you must have liked running, Twizzlers and slurpees."

    "Slurpees?"

    "There's a slurpee machine in your kitchen."

    I gasped in excitement before running into the kitchen. There was a huge slurpee machine between the coffee machine and the fridge with 7 different kinds of flavours. I heard a sound and turned behind to see Paige with a hologram floating above her hands.

    "Here are your likes and dislikes. Likes are slurpees, Twizzlers, track, astronomy and women."

    "Wait women?"

    "Dislikes are carrots, men, the subject Physics and the colour yellow."

    "Wait go back to that, I like women?"

    "Most certainly. But please do not be attracted to me. I do not have any feelings."

    I bit my lip and thought about it for a while. It might explain the feelings I had about a certain someone just now.

    "What a coincidence! Your neighbour, Casey Gardner, actually has all the same interests as you. Except for Twizzlers."

    Casey has all the same interests as me? Maybe we did know each other in our previous life. Friends perhaps?

    "Anyways Izzie, I will give you your privacy to settle in. But there will be a dinner at the town hall tonight. We have one every Friday night. Please be there. It will be your officiation day as an official citizen of The Afterlife."

    And with that, she disappeared.

    Night came rather quickly. I spent a lot of the time working the slurpee machine and enjoying the scent of lavender that just continuously flourished through the house. But Casey Gardner was constantly on my mind. She was the one thing that kinda made sense in this world. She felt like a connection to my past. An extreme case of deja vu for sure.

    Paige had reminded me that the event was a formal one and I found a dark purple dress in the closet that fit me perfectly. As I walked towards the town hall, I couldn't help but look behind to catch a glimpse of Casey's house. Her curtains weren't closed so I could see some of the interior inside. It was very similar to mine. She had track posters too.

    Walking into the town hall, I felt a pang of anxiety hit my stomach. I was the newbie here while everyone else has lived here for maybe tens, thousands of years. They've already accepted this life while I, on the other hand, definitely have not.

    When I entered, people looked at me in confusion before their face turned to sudden realisation. They looked at me and whispered to each other so I kept my head down and walked to the front.

    "Oh Paige, thank God," I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw her standing with the same smile on her face and the corner of the room. "Hello Izzie. How may I help you?"

    "I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do here."

    "Worry no more!"

    And with that, another floating hologram appeared above her hand with a seating plan on it.

    "Julia has allocated you to the first table. You will be sitting next to Casey and Erika. They are your neighbours."

    Oh Casey...

    "Great, great thanks Paige."

    She nodded slightly before turning around and walking to another corner to attend to someone else.

    I nervously shuffled to my seat and sat down, looking around awkwardly because no one was there.

    "Izzie Taylor," I heard her voice again and suddenly I felt like I was somewhere else.

Somewhere in front of a 711. On the top of a car?

    And then I was brought back.

    "Oh, h-hi Casey..." I mumbled, looking at her as she smiled before sitting down. "Don't be too nervous. Everyone here is great. You'll like my friend Erika. She should be on the way."

    "Yeah about that... how do you even make friends here?"

    "It's just like any other world. But it's rare for people to come here as 16 year olds. You don't really hear of people who had 16 as their most purposeful life. That's why everyone's talking about you. I faced the same thing when I came here."

    "Sorry I'm late!" Another voice spoke and we both turned around to see a girl with short hair, rushing to the table. "Izzie, this is Erika. Erika, this is Izzie," Casey spoke and we smiled at each other.

    "So you're the one everyone's been talking about. You look great in that dress by the way," She said and I blushed.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the weekly Friday night dinner!" Julia announced from the stage and everyone clapped.

    Casey and I looked into each others' eyes for awhile before I turned around to pay my attention to Julia.

    "Today is special though because we have a new citizen of The Afterlife. Izzie Taylor, would you like to come up to say a few words?"

    I looked at Casey nervously as everyone started to clap. She rested her hand on my back gently and gave me a reassuring smile.

    The butterflies...

    I cleared my throat before slowly getting up, the crowd's cheers becoming louder.

    "Uh... hi. I'm Izzie. Izzie Taylor. I uh... in my previous life I was born in Santa Clarita... on Earth... and then I moved to New York."

    I noticed Casey look at me with so much confusion and panic. "I'm... I'm 16 in this life. I hope that... we can all get along?"

    The crowd started to notice that I was losing words and started to clap. I flashed them one more smile before getting off the stage.

    "You were born in Santa Clarita?" Casey asked as I sat down. "I was born there too," She stated and for a second, just a split second, I felt her touch on my fingers.

    "Woah that's so cool! Both of you were born in Santa Clarita?" Erika exclaimed with a gasp, putting down her fork.

    Now Casey and I knew. We knew something wasn't right. There aren't supposed to be this many coincidences.

    "Izzie do you wanna... I don't know get an ice cream or something?" Casey suddenly asked and I found myself at a lost for words.

    "Yeah sure... sure.. when?"

    "Like right now? I'm not really loving this steak."

    Paige suddenly appeared between us, making us jump. "I heard you didn't like your steak Casey. Is there anything else I can get for you? I can provide, lobsters, potatoes, salmon, chicken, or any edible substance from your list of likes. Your likes include: slurpees."

    "Slurpees?" I asked, with a little too much excitement. "Yeah... they gave me a slurpee machine in my house."

    "No way, me too!"

    Paige continued to stand there with the usual smile. "I'm good Paige. Thanks anyways," Casey said and Paige nodded slightly before disappearing again.

    "You wanna come with us Erika?" Casey asked. "Oh no thank you, previous life me had insane lactose intolerance," She said with a sigh and I giggled.

    "Alright come on then, let's hope no one sees us," She said and took my hand.

    Her touch.

    We snuck past the crowds of people talking before we finally pushed the doors open and left.

    The thrill of running away from dinner with her sent shivers down my body as we both giggled at each other.

    "Wouldn't the ice cream shop be closed now?" I asked Casey and she smirked at me. "Our night just got better," She said as we looked into the dark ice cream shop.

    "Paige we need you," Casey called out and within a second, Paige appeared. "You have got to stop appearing like that," I said, holding onto my chest again.

    "Sorry Izzie. But I am actually not sorry. I do not have feelings."

    "Paige we're gonna need you to help us out with this lock, buddy," Casey said, holding onto my wrist to bring me away from the door.

    She did her usual small nod before fixating her eyes on the lock. Before we knew it the door was unlocked. "What?! How?" I stammered. "I am a robot," She simply said before disappearing.

    Casey couldn't help but laugh at the shocked look at my face. "You'll get used to it. Trust me," She said and we have each other sheepish smiles before we went into the shop.

    "Have you done this before?" I asked her and she giggled. "Sometimes. For a midnight snack. Slurpees everyday aren't very healthy you know?"

    "Yeah. Ice cream is definitely the healthier alternative," I joked and she rolled her eyes. "Look at this," She said as we got to the back of the store.

    She pushed away these heavy sacks of ingredients that were covering a gigantic door.

    She held onto the handle and pushed the door open, a chill gush of wind greeting us. "Welcome to heaven. Well heaven on heaven at least."

    My eyes widened at the fridges stacked with tubs of ice cream of every possible flavour.

    "This is so illegal," I told her and she smirked. "That's what's fun about it."

    It was freezing cold but I didn't let it show. She took off her jacket before handing it to me and I looked at her with confusion. "How did you know I was cold?"

    "I don't know. Just got the feeling that you were."

    Weird...

    "Don't worry about it. I'm used to the cold," She said with a smile before I shyly took her jacket. As I put it on, she opened up the first fridge. "What's your favourite flavour?" She asked.

    "Cookies and cream."

    "Gross."

    She found the tub of cookies and cream and brought it out before getting two spoons from the drawer.

    We sat down on the floor, backs against the fridges as she opened up the tub.

    "So tell me about your life," She said.

    "You mean the life that I just started this morning?" I asked and she looked at me in amusement. "Right, forgot about that. But you should know some of your likes and dislikes from your previous life right? Tell me about that."

    "I thought you said cookies and cream was gross," I said as she ate a spoonful of it. "Maybe I'll like it now," She said, shrugging and I couldn't help but smile. It's so easy to talk to her.

    I feel like I've known her for a long time.

    "Well apparently I like track. I love slurpees. I love the scent of lavender. I love astronomy."

    She was now staring at me and I found myself getting lost in her eyes.

    "I still don't like cookies and cream," She said after a long time, breaking the silence. I bit my lip and looked down, hiding the insane blush on my face.

    "You like the stars?" She asked quietly. "Yeah... well according to Paige. But when I was walking to the town hall I couldn't stop looking at the stars..."

    We didn't say a word for a long time.

    "Izzie I know you."

    I turned to look at her and she now had a more serious look on her face. An almost scared look.

    "I don't know who you are but I know you. I just know that I know you."

    "Is it the deja vu?" I mumbled quietly.

    "It's more than just that."

    Oh God she feels it too...

    "Um it's getting late," I whispered.

    "Yeah, yeah it is. We should go," She said, getting up.

    I want to know who she is so bad. Why is she here? Why did she die when she was 16? Why did we both live our best at 16? Why do we just know each other?

    Who are you Casey Gardner?

A/N

this is insane. you guys are amazing. thank you for the support❤️