As the pub door closed behind her. Emily barely noticed that there was no breeze. Slowly, she walked away from the pub with her head down and her eyes constantly scanning her blue hands and wondering, this must be a dream. It just had to be. Yes, it was. She was just so nervous about her marriage that she was having this horrible dream and would soon wake up to sneak to the graveyard.

"But now that I know it's a dream, how do I wake up?" she said to herself. She raised a hand and pinched the skin on her forearm. But it didn't hurt and it certainly didn't wake her up. She tried again, this time digging her nails in and piercing her blue flesh. But it still didn't hurt. She started to panic, looking up she started to notice more than before. The hunched figures at the corners missed body parts, had gaping holes here and there and one man was split clean in two. She ran towards him with fear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry sir but I have to ask, am I really dead!? Are you!?" she shouted. The man's left side looked up at her, noticing the wedding dress and the fresh look that new comers bore.

"I'm afraid so dear. You might want to find someone you know down here. An old man came down not long before you. Gut wreck I think his name was. Anyway, he went to that big tower over there." his right side pointed up to a tower on the other side of town. "Funny guy he was, seemed to know what was going on instead of panicking like everyone else." he chuckled to himself as Emily thanked him.

oOo

Her heels hit the stone hard with each step. Surprisingly, they didn't brake or even falter under her weigh as she rushed up to the top of the tower. She burst into the doors without even knocking and saw him, elder Gutknect standing with another man who was only bones at the top of another smaller staircase surrounded by books and papers.

"Emily? What are you doing down here?"

"That's what I need to ask you. We seem to be… to be… dead!"

"Sit down dear, I just need to finish this and I'll be right with you." he turned back to the skeleton and they resumed their conversation. Emily sat down on a pile of books, trying to gather her thoughts but at the same time wondering why Gutknect was so calm about all this. She placed her head in her hands and it wasn't until there was a loud bang that she looked up to see Gutknect next a plume of blue smoke. The Skeleton man had disappeared and Gutknect was smiling sadly.

"Now dear, allow me to explain." he came down the stairs and towards her.

"Yes, we are dead. The fact that we died at a similar time to each other is a mystery to me, including that beautiful dress you're wearing. No, I don't know how either of us died but if you want to get out of here then I'm afraid you can't unless you finish your business, whatever that might be." he explained quickly.

"Then why are you so calm about this?" she asked.

"Because I have been here before my dear. That skeleton, he was the elder before me and told me about this place the way the elder before him had. Then, once he had died, he visited me as a corpse and brought me down here to teach me how to help those who had died. That is my role. I must try and help those who need to pass on. I will only pass on when someone replaces me and as I didn't have an apprentice, I'm going to have to visit the land of the living very often to find someone to have my job. I will also rot a lot quicker than you considering all my visits here whilst I was still living." he finished.

"You mean we can visit the land of the living?" Emily asked eagerly.

"I'm afraid only for an extremely special reason and no, no one is allowed unless they remember for sure someone from their life. Try now to remember someone, perhaps what your parents look like?"

Emily thought for a moment, tried to picture her parents' faces but nothing came. She should be able to remember, shouldn't she?

"I… can't. But then, you remembered that skeleton."

"Because that is my role. I don't know why but for some reason people like me remember what is important in order for us to help others passing on."

"I think I understand. But, I think I need some time." Emily slowly got up and left. Elder Gutknect just smiled sadly after her. He knew that her story would become known everywhere and be the saddest and most tragic yet. He knew that even if he didn't know her death story.

Well, there's another chapter. I know this is slow progress but I'm basically just writing whenever I feel like it. Plus, I'm at that point where I feel like everything I write is just... meh. However, I know how frustrating it can get when someone doesn't finish a story so I'm trying! Hope you liked it and please review!