After a few hours with mom helping her unpack in Hel, I asked "Hey, do you think you'd be able to come back and visit dad with me? The barrier isn't a problem, so there shouldn't be any issues."
At this, mom noted "You do realize my body's been buried for about three years, right? I'm pretty sure that getting it out from under that headstone is pretty far outside the realm of feasibility."
I only grinned, before noting "Back in the land of the living I was actually able to pull off a bit of telekinesis, and I'm pretty sure that's what I'm using to move my bones around in the first place. I'm thinking that us dead folks are probably able to muster a lot more spookiness than that if we put our minds to it, meaning that our bodies probably aren't actually necessary for anything."
After a few moments of thinking, mom nodded, before saying "Well, it's worth a shot at the very least."
The decision made, we left mom's house in the snowy norse underworld behind and made our way to the world of the living. Both of us slipped through the gash I'd already chainsawed in the afterlife barrier around the police station, making the last step out of the afterlife simultaneously.
Sitting my corpse up again, I noted that I was no longer in the cleanroom, but that was definitely still the police station. To be more specific, it was the main lobby. Apparently once my bones had been cleaned, the CDC folks had been nice enough to wire me together, and they'd even provided a plain white sundress held in place by shoulder straps. Also, dad had just jumped me for a hug, probably as soon as he saw my eye sockets light up green.
Pulling back slightly, I told dad "Don't worry, I'm still here. I'm still Taylor. I'm just a bit spookier now."
Sniveling, and barely wiping the tears from his eyes, dad nodded. After nearly a minute of hugging, he released, and I could finally stand up properly. Looking around to see if mom was present, I noticed a vaguely humanoid area of heat haze in the room in a spot where it had no reason to be. The heat haze I suspected to be my mom waved, and with a slight nod all three of us made our way to the car.
Getting into the truck next to dad, I buckled up out of sheer habit, the lower seatbelt pulling the dress back and settling up against my spine. Huh, just realized I could actually feel that, despite not having any nerve endings. Meh, I'm a spooky ghost wearing her skeleton, none of this makes any sense, so let's just roll with it.
Either way, as dad drove through Brockton Bay, it only took him a few minutes to ask "So, how's the afterlife?"
Thinking on things for a few moments, I replied "This is going to take a bit to explain. So, start with your stereotypical mythological underworld."
Dad nodded, before saying "I can do that. Dreary cave atmosphere, rocks everywhere, that sort of thing."
Nodding, I elaborated "Then have massive numbers of regular people in charge of the decorating for who knows how long, knowing they'll be there forever, and with the ability to literally imagine new scenery into existence."
As we pulled up to a traffic light, dad answered "Ah, that seems like it would change things."
While the light was still very firmly red, mom spoke up from the back seat, suddenly visible (if a bit translucent, with blue eye-flames) as she said "Yes, it most certainly would. You wouldn't believe some of the ludicrous architecture trends I've seen."
Jumping in his seat slightly as the light turned green, dad replied "Annette? Have you really come back?"
Mom smiled before saying "Well, I'm still dead, if that's what you're asking. However, thanks to our little girl here chainsawing a hole in the afterlife that doesn't seem to matter quite so much any more."
That evening, dad was the only one to eat dinner; in the case of both mom and I it seemed rather silly to try that considering that the most likely result was it falling right through to the floor the instant we weren't paying attention to it any more. I really didn't want to spend ages trying to get bits of cheese sauce out from all the little nooks and crannies in my pelvis.
Either way, as we all sat around the kitchen table, mom asked "So, now that we're all together again, what's the plan?"
I immediately replied "Well, I for one intend on getting some education reforms rammed through so that a case of bullying like what happened to me can't happen again. I should probably also get ready for Emma, Madison, and Sophia's trials, since I'm somewhat likely to get called as a witness. Never going back to Winslow, though."
Mom just nodded, while dad replied "Firmly agreed on that point. I'd still like if you finished your education, though."
Shrugging, I replied "Well, my options there are to either try and transfer to Arcadia, or attend one of the schools in the afterlife. Not like I'm the first girl who died before she could finish her education. The only problem is that the diploma may not be transferable to stuff in the living world."
Either way, after dinner mom and dad both went upstairs. In mom's case, she just floated up and phased through the ceiling, while dad took the stairs up. Personally, I opted to stay downstairs for about an hour to use the computer, looking up the laws relevant to my situation, and browsing PHO. Huh, apparently I'd become a meme, also good going Cattyness!
Either way, I got pretty bored, so I wandered upstairs and knocked on the door to my parent's room. After a few seconds I heard dad mutter "Come in." so I opened the door.
Looking upon the scene in front of me, I quickly saw rumpled sheets hastily placed over dad's pelvis, a small blob of barely-visible white goop floating inside mom's ghostly form, and some rather specialized props in use. Knowing exactly what I had just walked in on, I hurriedly stammered out "MomdadI'mgoingforawalkdon'tworryI'vegotmychainsawseeyoulater!" and vacated the area immediately.
Yeah, I was already planning for that walk, but now the awkwardness level made it pretty much mandatory. Either way, I got my keys, opened the door, locked up behind me, and strode out into the night.
