Elara always believed that there was life after death — what she didn't expect was to be trapped in a dark room forever by herself. Her parents were nowhere to be seen, and although she hated to admit it, she was secretly grateful she wasn't stuck with them.

She had no concept of time, it was just herself alone with her thoughts. At first she couldn't stop crying, she had so much to look forward to and it'd all been taken away from her in mere seconds. Then she began to accept it, yet she couldn't help but wonder if this was it. Surely she couldn't be alone forever.

Loneliness began to creep in and it was almost unbearable. She'd tried everything, calling out for help, walking as far as she could before she hit a wall, everything.

Years passed and nothing changed, the room grew colder, and if it was even possible it became darker.

When Elara had given up all hope, laying on the cold floor, a bright light shone in the distance. Before she had a chance to shield her eyes the light engulfed her, she felt like her body was being pulled towards something and suddenly she was falling.

She landed on something soft, when she opened her eyes she was blinded by the sun. Elara jumped up in awe, staring at the ball of light in the sky. Looking around she saw a familiar place — the hill where the limousine had crashed on the night of her 17th birthday. Flowers had been laid out on the ground, there were pictures of Elara surrounded by candles and stuffed animals people had been placed on the side of the road.

Elara found it odd that there were only pictures of her until she finally spotted two figures kneeling besides the memorial.

"Mom... dad...?" The words were barely a whisper, she hadn't used her voice for years.

Neither of them looked up, instead they stood up, hugged each other and went their separate ways in different cars. Before they left she'd noticed neither of them were wearing their wedding rings.

She'd always assumed they'd died that night too, but now it made sense why she was all alone.

After being in the dark for so long she wasn't used to being in the sun, it was almost blinding — she stood still for a moment soaking it all in. She wasn't sure how she'd ended up back on Earth, but whatever the reason was she was grateful.

Stepping towards the memorial, she knelt down and read all of the handwritten notes. Most of them were from fans of her parents saying how sorry they were for their loss. Elara didn't have a lot of friends growing up, she'd been homeschooled by a private teacher, and she wasn't exactly the extrovert her parents were.

One note was from a girl that lived next door to her growing up, saying how she'd wished they'd been friends. It made Elara tear up slightly, thinking about all of the friendships, relationships and experiences she'd missed out on.

It was dark before Elara decided to leave, she wasn't sure where she was going, but she couldn't stay there. Somehow she ended up standing outside of her old home, it looked like a new family had moved in. She wondered when her parents had decided to separate and move out... unless she was the one thing keeping them together. It was hard to think about.

As the sun began to rise on the City of Angels, Elara had reached downtown Los Angeles. Everything seemed... different since she'd last been there. Multiple people walked right past her, not noticing her.

Walking past a store front with televisions on display, she did a double take when she saw the date, October 25th 2020.

Her eyes widened as she took a step back in disbelief, someone walked through her but she barely noticed. She'd been stuck in that dark room for 21 years.

Suddenly she felt like she couldn't breathe, she had to sit down on the edge of the pavement.

She'd been gone 21 years... and now the universe decided to bring her back? She didn't know what to do, she had no one to talk to, no one to ask what was happening to her, it felt like a horrible nightmare.

Elara spent the rest of the day wallowing in self pity, before she eventually picked her self up and dusted her self off. She decided that if she was put back on earth it must've been for a reason and she wasn't going to waste it — even if she couldn't talk to anyone.

Los Angeles was one of the most beautiful cities in the world to Elara, and she was glad that she was somewhere familiar at least. She decided she would figure out why she was brought back later, for now she wanted to do her favourite things whilst no one could stop her. First, she wanted to go and see a movie and she didn't care what it was. She found herself sitting in the back row of a romantic comedy, which had her crying into the sleeves of her jacket. Before she knew it she had sat through three films, completely forgetting the slight problem that she was a ghost.

She'd laughed, she'd cried and when she finally decided to leave she spotted a familiar face on the way out — her Mom.

She watched her walk straight towards her, a glimmer of hope sparked inside of her as she thought she could see her... but she walked straight past her and towards one of the other screening rooms.

With a sigh, Elara left the cinema and walked the streets of Sunset Boulevard, she wished she could talk to someone, she was tired of being alone.

♡