You can't be here

 The darkness left far too quickly.

The heaviness that claimed my bones like chains slipped off sooner than expected, taking the high pitched ringing with it. The cherry blossom tree was still there but its flowers were missing, its boughs empty and cold. I blinked several times and squirmed tentatively but nothing hurt like it had a few seconds ago, though there was a residual ache in my lower body and all down my spine.

The startling blue of the sky made my close my eyes for a second and I rolled over onto my side, carefully patting the ground next to me. My open palm dropped through thin air and I stopped moving at once, squinting down into the gloomy depths of a cliff side that sent my stomach spiralling. And I loved heights.

“Oh wow!” I rolled again in the opposite direction, scrambling up into a sitting position with my back against the trunk of the tree. “What fresh hell is this?”

It wasn't a cliff but a canyon that stretched away for miles on either side, shaped by black and dark grey rock, and filled with an smoky substance that could have been fog but didn't seem to match the weather. Trees lined the opposite side, their bright and dark green leaves highlighted by the azure sky, but from what I could tell the only tree close to the edge on my side was the leafless one currently propping me up.

There was no road and no hospital. No cars, no people, and no blood. It was so calm I almost convinced myself I had ascended to the outskirts of heaven. Honestly I hadn't expected to make it there. I also hadn't expected to feel so unnerved about doing so. But the soil and grass tickling my hands smelt like they had recently bathed in rainfall and, as the seconds passed, I started to hear voices behind me over the slowing beat of my heart.

Fragments of a heated conversation coaxed me to my feet even as they shook beneath me.

“... dare you … someone like her…”

“You don't know … done without …”

“... murderer …”

By the time I peered around the large tree trunk, holding onto it to stay upright, one of them was stalking away from the conversation towards a forest further away. All umber skin, sharp dark grey hair, and lean muscle. I flinched as the second person, who was dressed in a beige tunic and trousers that looked like it had been stolen from a museum, yelled after the first.

“She lied to you and your friends! Don't forget that!” He turned and spat at the base of the tree.

His eyes connected abruptly with mine and we both froze for half a second.

“Uh – sorry to interrupt,” I said, raising a hand and only just noticing the wide sleeves of my white kimono. One I had never owned. “I was just wondering if –”

His disbelief slammed into me like a wooden fire exit door as he stepped back, brown eyes wide open. He looked middle aged but his unsteady gait and walking stick indicated a leg or balance issue that didn't seem age related.

“You – how can you – ” He pointed and I glanced over each shoulder to make sure we were both talking about the same person.

“Me?”

“Are you – a ghost?” he choked, holding up his cane as though it were a magic staff.

“Honestly I'm not sure,” I replied, offering him a crooked smile. “It looks like you might beat me on the paleness front right now though.”

His horror switched to fury. I nearly forgot the canyon behind me as he walked forward, now waving his cane like a magic wand instead.

“How dare you come back?” he demanded. “I won't go easy on you, even if you are a cursed spirit.”

So people hated me here too. At least that was familiar. I wondered if I would have the chance to appreciate it later. For now, the most important thing to do was get away from the endless-looking drop at my heels.

“Sorry, I was joking!” I said, waving my hands like white flags. “I don't know who you think I am but I've never been here before –”

“Enough with the lies, Shizuka!” he roared.

My heart skipped a beat as I sidestepped around the swing of his cane and backed away from the edge. The name I had heard at the moment of my presumed death rippled through me, leaving waves of goosebumps behind it.

“I'm not lying,” I said quickly. “And I'm not Shizuka.”

“We're not as stupid as you think we are,” he spat. “The whole town knew your face. You think any of us would forget it after all this time? You think you can fool us again?”

“I don't know what exactly this Shizuka did to you.” I held a hand out to him, gently warding him off. “But I swear my name is Sheila. And you should get away from the edge before you fall – whoa!”

I barely managed to dodge his cane as he hurled it at my face. My spine twinged.

“Um – didn't you need that?” I turned back to him.

As if everything wasn't weird enough already, the man lifted his arms and somehow ripped five chunks of earth from the ground without touching it. Each clod dripped moist soil as they levitated around him and it occurred to me that I might have been dreaming. Perhaps the impact of the car had left me in a coma and this was all just a vivid coma dream. Oddly enough, the idea didn't make the floating lumps of dirt any less intimidating.

“Hey, look.” I held both palms out towards him this time. “There's no need for – uh – that. Why don't you just put the mud down so we can talk about this, hm?”

“Oh, I'm putting something down today all right,” he sneered. “And it ain't this earth here.”

I laughed. Which was apparently the wrong response because he raised his hands higher until they touched above his head. The chunks of soil stuck together and his palms sliced down towards me. I crossed my arms above me and stepped back, but I was a call centre operator who had already died once and fast reflexes weren't my trademark.

I almost missed the flash of grey hair and brown skin at the edge of my vision.

Someone pressed a warm hand firmly between my shoulder blades before their whole body encompassed me. Their second hand cradled my head parentally and the impact of the earth landing on them sent ripples through their torso, yet their hold on me didn't waver. I couldn't understand how such an unexpected, unknown touch could feel so natural but there were more pressing issues to pay attention to at that point.

“Shizu?” she said as soon as her grip loosened.

We both straightened up and my mouth dropped open for half a second before I regained control of it. The other woman was about a head taller than me, her shoulders nearly twice as wide as mine. The rusty red sheen to her stare matched the flecks in her hair but this was completely overpowered by shock and something undeniably warm. She didn't seem hurt as she cupped my face with both hands and I gulped.

“Is that what you were doing here?” demanded the man who had nearly turned me into a confused pancake. “Using dark magic to resurrect her?”

“It wouldn't have been a waste if I had,” she replied.

Rapid calculations zigzagged like fireworks behind the brown veil of her eyes and exploded into a desperate conclusion. I grabbed at her forearm as she turned to face him, briefly slowing her down. The taut lines of her expression softened as if she had interpreted my message before I even knew what it was and she splayed her free hand at him.

“Lucky for you, we haven't got that far yet,” she said, curling her fingers inwards and encasing him in what looked like a iron cocoon that left his head free.

Clearly he wasn't the only one who could manipulate elements in this weird but impressively creative coma dream.

“W-what are you doing?” he screamed.

“Not killing you,” she said, swinging her hand viciously toward the lifeless tree.

I winced as the top of his head collided with the trunk. He groaned and dropped to the ground beside it as she released him from the metal bindings.

“Uh, are you sure about that?” I asked, pointing at his still body. “That didn't look very safe.”

She turned back towards me, scanning my face, my strange clothes, and then my face again as if she expected it to change in the span of a few seconds. The CT scan I had a week ago had nothing on the intensity of her examination and I had to look away.

“How?” she murmured, grazing my left cheekbone with the back of her knuckles. For a second I thought I heard the flutter of angel wings but it was only my heart beating in my ears once again. “How are you still alive? How are you here?”

“I wish I could tell you.” I tried to make some space between us and the world tilted backwards.

She grabbed my shoulders as I keeled over and kept me on my feet.

“You can't,” she said, her voice unsteady. “You can't be here. We have to go. Now.”