 ( chapter one )
IT'S ONLY THE DEATH OF ME

Once upon a time Alice Cameron had a life. She'd once had friends, and a job, and even a future. One where she'd get out of Split River and make a name for herself. Yes, Alice Cameron was going to be someone. And then, she was murdered.

You know, going from working at a donut shop to help pay for ballet school and training every day to never being able to leave your high school isn't exactly anyone's dream. And Alice was no different.

If she got to choose, she would have chosen not to be killed. Shocking, right? (Cue her eye roll).

Alice had been trapped for 5 years now, and she was already done with it. Everyday it felt like the same day repeated. Group sessions, walking around the high school, watching her sister, group sessions, and repeat.

And Alice found this trend continuing as she sat in a group session at that very moment.

The brunette girl was curled up on her seat, finding her smaller size helpful with the uncomfortable plastic chairs. Ghosts around her chatted as basketball players practiced, except they were actually still alive.

She was wrapped up in her usual red jacket, one she'd found lying around in the school after her death. Everything she wore was from the day she died, but she quickly realized dying in ice didn't allow for her to have a normal temperature even after death. So, Alice was always freezing, feeling like her skin was ice. So she wore the jacket to try and help it as much as she could.

Just another problem that occurred from her death.

Alice watched as Charley walked up with someone new. She must have died recently, she still had that new person look on her face. it seemed like today would be different. Well, only a bit but Alice would take the win.

The blonde girl Charley was with went to sit down, immediately being stopped by Rhonda. "I'm sitting there."

The new girl moved to find the seat next to Alice's. "Is this seat taken?" She wondered, sending Charley a quick glance. "Uh, not anymore. That was Janet's." The girl just stared at the chair. "What happened to her?"

"All right, everyone. Let's get started." Mr. Martin spoke, waving none other than Wally Clark over to sit down. He'd been playing basketball, somehow enjoying pretending to be normal.

Wally took his seat on the other side of Alice with a huff, obviously winded. Alice sent him a small glance, one he returned with a small smile instantly. "Hello. I'm glad you decided to join us. I'm Mr. Martin. Well, we have a new student with us today. Um, would you like to introduce yourself?" Mr. Martin started, motioning toward the new girl.

She just shook her head slightly. "I'm good." Charley cleared his throat, indicating to something Alice assumed was a prior conversation between the two. The girl sighed, fidgeting with her hands. "Um, sure. Hey. I'm, uh, Madison Nears, but everyone calls me Maddie."

"Hi, Maddie." The group spoke, minus Alice who just looked at the girl quietly. And minus Rhonda, who just rolled her eyes. "Welcome to the Split River High Afterlife Support Group." Mr. Martin welcomed. "It takes a lot of courage to be here, especially when you're new." Maddie nodded. "Thanks."

"Would you like to tell us a little about yourself?" Mr. Martin wondered, obviously trying to learn as much about the new girl as he could. For whatever reason. "What do you need to know?" Maddie wondered. Alice noticed how the new girl seemed to want to keep all her cards close to her chest. She understood it.

"Well, you could start with how your day is going. Has Charley been a helpful guide?" Mr. Martin wondered. "How'd you die?" Rhonda questioned, staring at her lollipop with little interest in Maddie.

Mr. Martin sighed. "Okay, Rhonda. Why don't we try to raise our hands if we're gonna ask a question?" Rhonda just made a mocking face in response with an eye roll. Alice kept her eyes on Maddie. She couldn't help but be curious.

Somehow, she felt she'd seen the girl before. Obviously, she'd seen her at the school... but something about her felt familiar from when Alice was alive.

"Uh, one minute I was ditching study hall and then the next I'm here. But I don't know who did this to me." Maddie revealed. It was curious, the rest of them had pretty vivid memories of their death, whether they wanted them or not. So someone not having any memories was... strange.

"Oh, you were murdered." Wally realized, eyes widening. "Welcome to the club." Rhonda sang out, staring at her nails. Alice chuckled silently to herself, knowing herself to also be in that club.

"Can we maybe exchange names first so Maddie feels a little more welcome?" Mr. Martin questioned. "I don't know, exactly." Maddie spoke. Alice looked at her confused as Charley looked at her concerned. "Ex...actly?"

Maddie sighed. "Look, they haven't found my body yet, but I know that there was blood on the walls of the boiler room, and I'm here now."

"Huh." Wally reacted. No one really knew what to say. "Huh?" Maddie responded, almost irritated. She looked like she needed someone to tell her the answers she was craving... and all she got was huh.

"What's huh?" Maddie continued. "Uh." Wally didn't seem to be able to say anything else, the awkward moment hitting the whole group. "What?" Maddie tried again. "Is that— is that weird or something? Not knowing?" Maddie questioned.

Charley sighed. "Well, um, it's a first." Alice rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's a bit weird." She caught how Maddie looked her over for a moment for the first time, something in her mind seeming to click.

"Hey. I— I remember you. You're Ivy's sister. The one who drowned." Maddie spoke, eyes wide at Alice. She used to go to the Cameron household often in middle school and always idolized Alice, unknown to the brunette. She'd honestly completely forgot about Alice until that moment. Times sure had changed.

Alice just nodded, awkwardly. She didn't remember much about Maddie at all... besides the hallways of course. But it seemed Maddie knew her, which confirmed the small question in her mind of why the girl seemed more familiar than a face in the halls. "Drowned, murdered, same difference I guess."

"Oh, I—I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd want that to be the way I said it." Maddie apologized. Alice shrugged. "Say it however you want to, doesn't change anything."

"So what do you remember, cherry pop?" Rhonda wondered, monotoned. She was getting bored of the conversation and wanted to spice it up a bit.

"Okay, Rhonda, um, clearly Maddie doesn't want to talk about it and she doesn't remember. Let's leave it at that." Mr. Martin tried. But Alice noticed Maddie wasn't even paying attention anymore, like she was off in her own world.

And then, the blonde stood up suddenly and left. She just grabbed her things and hurried out of the gym. Charley looked around for a moment. "I should probably—" he stood, moving to follow after her and make sure the new girl was okay.

"Okay, well... let's get back to it. How's everyone's day going?" Mr. Martin questioned. And suddenly, everything was normal and boring again.

———————

Alice stood behind her little sister, Ivy, as the girl talked with her friends. She had no idea Alice was there... and it killed her. The two hadn't exactly been close, Alice dying her senior year of high school while Ivy was only in 7th grade. But, she'd overheard her mom tell Ivy one day when they were older that they'd be best friends. That that was how all sisters worked. And then Alice died.

She'd been watching sadly since Ivy was a freshman and had seen her grow up. But she wished she could have been apart of it in more ways than a reminder in the back of her sisters head.

When Ivy had first come to Split River, there'd been an assembly to welcome the new high school class. And with that, an announcement that Alice Cameron's little sister was with them and how sorry they were for the families loss. The principal had said Alice was a bright star who had a very successful future ahead of her before... "the accident." Alice had left the auditorium so quick she didn't even hear whatever else the man had said in her "favor."

How could he think he was being uplifting and helpful just to call what happened to Alice an accident? She was pretty sure the courts would disagree when Jessica was convicted of first degree murder.

But now Ivy was about to be the same age Alice was. She'd be turning 18 in just a few short months and it killed Alice that soon enough Ivy would be older than her, than she'd ever be. She was stuck at 18 and that wasn't exactly a great age to find yourself stuck at forever.

"Hey. You watching your sister again?" Wally questioned, walking up behind Alice. The brunette turned around, her sister was going to class anyways. "No, I'm watching her friend. Very interesting life that girl leads."

Wally smiled. He didn't seem to be thrown by Alice's constant sour mood. Somehow she hadn't scared him away like she wanted to. "Well, I was just talking with our new friend Maddie and told her I was always ready to help if she needed anything."

"Okay?" Alice questioned. She didn't really get how that had to do with her. "And, since we're the dynamic duo, I wanted to let you know." Alice smiled faintly, rolling her eyes. "I never agreed to being called that."

Wally shrugged. "You didn't have to, it was going to happen either way. So, what now that your sister went to class?" Alice shrugged, looking around. "I suppose I could walk around the school in silence, you know, like usual."

"That's lame, and kinda sad. How about we do something fun?" Wally smiled, reaching out his hand. "Your version of fun is driving a golf cart into things." Alice retorted, scrunching up her nose as she looked at him, deciding whether or not to trust it. "Well if you're gonna ruin the surprise you may as well come." Wally responded, wiggling his fingers out toward her.

Alice sighed, placing her hand in his. "Fine. But don't you dare flip it, again." Wally put one hand up and the other over his heart, taking Alice's hand with him. "I swear not to flip the golf cart. Now, let's go!"

Alice officially wished she could punch her past self for agreeing to this as she held onto Wally's arm for dear life. The ghost boy was cheering as he drove into things and Alice was horrified. Of course she knew she couldn't get hurt or die, but that doesn't just erase fear all together. Stuff like that takes a lot more time than Alice has had dead.

She felt the cold wind blowing on her face, the only thing keeping her from feeling like she was freezing to death again being the boy beside her being strangely warm.

"Wally! Slow down!" Alice screamed, only holding onto his arm tighter. "Wow, Alice! I didn't know you loved the speed this much. Of course I can speed up!" Wally responded, slamming down on the gas. "No, no, no!" Alice laughed, digging her face into his arm.

Wally laughed as well, slowing down to take her request seriously now that he had his fun. He slowed to a stop with a chuckle, breathing deeply. "That was awesome."

"I didn't know you could fear for your afterlife until now." Alice breathed out, slipping her arms off of Wally's arm as she sat up straight. Wally turned towards her, smiling. "You wanna drive?"

Alice shook her head instantly. "God, no. I think I'll leave the driving to you and the horror to me." Wally chuckled. "I guess I can live with that deal."

Alice sighed, looking the boy in the eyes. "Thanks. You didn't have to do this." Wally shrugged. "How are we meant to be a dynamic duo if I don't cheer you up when you're down? One day you'll return the favor."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. You're never down. In the 5 years I've been dead I've never seen you upset." Wally shrugged. "I mean, what's to be upset about? I get to live my glory days all the time, I have sweet friends, and I'll never get old. It's a sweet way to roll."

"I don't know... I was excited to grow up." Alice shrugged, pulling one of her knees up so she could lay her head on it as she faced the boy next to her. She still hadn't exactly... opened up to anyone about what happened the day she died. Sure, they all knew she drowned and that there was some conflicts and murder involved, but she'd never told anyone what she lost in death. What pain she held onto.

Wally shrugged. "Sure, it would have been awesome. But, I don't like to dwell. Sure I miss some things but I never would have been able to smash into things in golf carts, or played the Homecoming game year after year. And besides, you'd be, what? 22 almost 23? While I'd be kicking it in my late 50s so we definitely would not have been friends. I like to count the not aging a win on that part."

Alice smiled lightly, shaking her head. "Gross, dude. I can confidently say we would not have been friends if we were alive and you were a 50 some year old man." Wally put a hand up. "Okay, hurtful. Let's not start saying things we can't take back here."

Alice chuckled lightly at that as Wally laughed, the two falling into a comfortable silence.

Until... "Did you have anything lined up for you? Once you graduated from Split River?" Alice wondered, facing away from Wally as she looked out at the school grounds she was cursed to stay at for all eternity.

"I was gonna play ball in college, I think. Probably go pro or something and live a life of fame and fortune." Wally smiled. He looked towards Alice and his smile faded slightly, watching the longing look on her face. All of this was still so new to her, especially compared to Wally, who'd been a ghost since the 80s. He'd had so much more time to get over what could have been, but for her it was still a new wound.

He sighed. "What about you?" Alice turned to look at him again, shrugging slightly. Wally smiled. "Oh, come on. We both know you had something going for you, what was it?"

"Okay, okay. I was going to move to London to study ballet. Then, the goal was to graduate and join a touring show like the nutcracker or something." Alice admitted, watching Wally carefully. She hadn't told anyone about that yet. Of course people had asked, but she'd just told them she didn't have much planned when she died.

Truth was, Alice Cameron had her whole life planned out and was on the road to making it happen.

Wally's smile widened. "That's so cool! So, you were like a super good dancer then?"

Alice shrugged. "I guess so." Wally tilted his head slightly. "Just guess so? Come on— I bet you were amazing. I mean, you kinda have to be to be able to move to London, right?"

Alice nodded a bit, saddened as she thought about it. "Yeah... yes. It was going to be great, but it's not like that can happen anymore, so..."

Wally's eyes widened, realizing how his question had become a harsh reminder of what wouldn't ever happen. "Sorry— I didn't mean it like that I—"

"No, no. You're fine, I promise. It's not you... the topic is just a bit sensitive." Alice replied, cutting Wally off from apologizing even more. She knew what he meant, and it was really sweet of him. It wasn't his fault her life plans hadn't happened. But, she supposed, neither had his.

Alice turned completely toward Wally, something he instantly mirrored. "Can I ask you something?" Wally nodded. "Of course."

"If you could have done anything differently, what would you have done?" Alice questioned. "Not played football." Wally replied easily, though his tone was obviously joking. Alice smiled lightly.

"What about you?" He wondered in return. "Taken a bath at home." Alice spoke. She honestly enjoyed being able to joke again with someone, even if the topic wasn't one they'd normally joke about.

Wally had called them the dynamic duo, something Alice laughed at. But maybe, just maybe... he could be someone she spent more time with.

She grieved her own death for five years, and there wasn't any reason to keep up that pity party infinitely. Especially because it seemed the boy next to her wouldn't be letting her do that anyways.

AUTHORS NOTE!
hey hi chapter one is done and I already love alice and wally

gif is subject to change but I like it for it only taking like 15 minutes to do