Laura Shepherd

I was sitting in the church at night, alone, when I heard a rhythmic thumping come from one of the walls. Overwhelmed by boredom and loneliness, I went outside to see what it was. Probably quicker than I should have, but what did I have to be afraid of? It was just a kid bouncing a tennis ball off the side wall.

“Oh hey, didn’t know anyone was in there,” he said.

“It’s alright, there never is besides me. I haven’t talked to anyone in days so I’m kind of glad you’re here,” I said.

“Well, good,” he said before going back to throwing the ball at the wall. He didn’t bother to take his eyes off the ball before continuing, “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before. That’s pretty tough in a shithole this small. You probably never come out of the church.”

“I just moved here,” I said.

“Pretty fucking shitty time to move here, right?” he laughed. “My name’s Jackson. Don’t call me Jack.” He caught the ball and held on to it.

He looked at me straight on, and that’s when I saw he wasn’t actually that much of kid. He was still caught in that awkward time of teen and man, but he was well on his way to be a fine looking man.

“I’m Laura,” I said. “Do you mind…would you…do you want to go inside and talk for a little while?”

He looked around at the night and took a deep breath. “Sure, not like there’s anything better to do around here.”

Excerpt from Bill Huxley’s Address to the Town of Post Falls

A lot of things happen in this world that I can’t hope to understand. I guess you can add this one to the list. But I doubt any of you know any better than I do, so… whatever that means.

Look, I’m not really good at this public speaking thing. Someone had to do something though. Us sitting around doing nothing can’t do nothing but bad. We have to figure out our situation. We have to figure where we’re going from here.

Most of all, we need to get to know each other, know who’s here. It’s a small town but I’ll be damned if you know the person sitting next to you right now. So we’re going to do some things, we’re going to do them together, and I’m going to need all your help and all your input. As far as I can tell, we’re going to be in this together for a good long while. I’ve already got a few projects lined up for us...

Steve Bilko

The sheriff is gathering everyone in town for a meeting I guess. Maybe a “State of the Town” speech or whatnot. Good for him. Someone is finally stepping up and taking charge of this situation. I hope he has a plan for what we should do. I hear food is running out and people are getting antsy. God knows I have no idea what to do.

I don’t even know if I’ve moved from the couch since that night. I’ve had to start rationing out my beers because I don’t know if these will be the last. Mary disappears for long periods of time with the kids. I wonder where she goes, but I find it hard to care.

I don’t even know if I’m going to go to the speech. I don’t know if I’ll be able to look into everyone’s scared, confused eyes. I just feel so tired, and all I can do is watch the TV and let the images wash away my thoughts.

Sheriff Bill Huxley

With my name, how could I not become a sheriff? But here’s the truth. I’m too damn young for this job. Have you ever heard of a 30 year old sheriff? Me neither. They are all grey hairs with pot bellies who waddle into bars to check up on the good ol’ boys. They let their deputies do all the work.

I got one good deputy. In a town this small, that’s all you really need, but it’s still a buttload of work for me. And it’s only looking to get bigger.

The mayor was out of town when this whole…whatever it was… happened. Now people are looking to me for answers. People a whole lot older and wiser than me. People who might have a better idea of what’s going on, I have no idea how though.

I’m going to try though. Someone needs to step up, and if it has to be me, then it’s going to be me. I’m trying to write a little speech, gather everyone together. Maybe get a roster of who’s here and who’s not. And for God’s sake, we’re going to figure out what to do.

Everything’s been on hold here and it’s got everyone antsy. We’ve got to do something. I’ll figure it out.

Laura Shepherd

Well, I definitely thought the afterlife would be different than this, but who am I to know the ways of the Lord? I’ve been the only one sitting in this church ever since the night, praying for a reason, praying for answers, but maybe it’s not for me to understand.

Father is just as confused as I am. The only advice he can give me is “trust the Lord”. But nothing I can think of can find a reason why God would do this to us. Why would God take the life of an entire town, and then leave their souls there? Why would He have all of us remember dying, and then have us wake up the next day?

What does it mean for me? Are our lives over? Is this heaven? Is it purgatory, or worse? I have no idea what to do but sit here and pray, but who’s even out there listening?

I’m sorry, all I have are questions. I don’t know anyone here. I just moved here last month. I was supposed to start teaching elementary school in August, so I came early to get settled. I was just getting started, just in time to die.

But I’m sure it’s all for a reason. I don’t know if I can go on if I didn’t believe that. I have to trust and love and do what is right. I have to be the good Christian I was taught to be, and everything will be alright. I have to live right and live for the Lord.

But, I have to ask myself, if my life is over, how do I live for the Lord?

Steve Bilko

I have to admit when I saw myself on the news, dead, face down in my birthday cake, I laughed. That’s all one can do, I suppose. My kids still don’t know what happened. I have a strict honesty policy with my kids. They ask a question, and I answer it truthfully, no matter what it is. But this... what can you say? I don’t even know if I can explain it to myself. I can barely get myself away from the TV. Seeing you and everyone you know dead, as if time itself stopped. It is weird.

No one knows what happened. No one on the news, no one in town. But I swear, I somehow knew I was going to die that night. And since there was nothing I could do about it, it was kind of peaceful. Maybe that’s the way it was for everyone. Maybe that’s why everything is still quiet around here. Don’t know if it’ll stay that way for long.

Mary is staying busy, playing with the kids. She has no idea what to tell them either. Good thing it is summer, or else we would have to make up some lie about school being cancelled. We haven’t even talked about this, her and I. She looks at me with a face I can’t decipher, as if she’s trying to look inside me. Like she’s trying to determine if I’m still really me. As if anyone besides her exists.

I guess she has a point. Are we all dead or just me?

Jackson Thomas

Imagine turning on your TV to the news and seeing graphic footage (viewer discretion advised, hide the kids) of everyone you know dead. Dead in their beds, dead over a bowl of cereal, dead in front of the TV, dead on the toilet, dead with bodies interlocked. Embarrassing, right? Luckily, they didn’t show me. Not that I was doing anything embarrassing, I was just playing Xbox 360 (trust me, my screams of anguish were from waking up to find out I died during my best Call of Duty round ever), but still, I didn’t need my 15 minutes of fame like some of the families around here glued to the news, so excited to see themselves. Yeah, they weren’t so excited the morning of, but everyone seems to have settled down...

“The whole nation is watching this! We’re famous!”

Some sucky shit to be famous for, if you ask me. Forgive me if I sound a little bitter. I’m seventeen years old and I’m fucking dead. Do you have any idea how shitty it is to wake up one morning and just know without a doubt in your mind that you died last night? One year away from finally getting out of this town and getting a chance at making my own way and all that bullshit. And instead of finding out life after death is some wonderful amusement park in the sky, or, God forbid, a neverending chorus of angels, I find out that death is the same fucking town. Fuck.

Oh well, I promise I’m going to make the best of this, but right now, no one really knows what to do. How long are we here for? Where can we go? Are we here forever? Please God, I hope not. How does this whole thing work?

It’s been a few days and no one’s figured out shit. There are no communications with the outside world (yeah, I know, no fucking internet, just kill me now), but somehow we still get some radio and TV stations over the air. No one has tried to leave town yet. I think we are all scared of what might happen. I think we are all scared of what might be out there, or what might not be out there. Maybe one day I’ll drive out there and see for myself. When I get bored. But for now, I’m going to try to enjoy what I can.