The House Of The Dead- The Heroes' Department.

• Hannah Weng, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2020

I woke up.

I was in a strange place, it was like a house except it was way bigger and filled with people.

Everyone started murmuring until a muscular guy stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Jake, a fireman. I've worked for—"

"Okay. Why are you here?"

"I don't know either. I was dragging someone out of a fire and in a second, I blacked out and that's all I remember."

"I don't think he's dead. This is the house of the dead. If you're not dead then you're likely going to die in a couple of minutes."

I'm in some house filled with dead people and I’m about to die...

I don't believe this stuff.

"This is the heroes department, everyone here died saving someone. I'm Emma, a doctor who wanted to be a rapper but unfortunately died after contracting a disease while treating people." A ginger-haired lady explained.

"I want to try something I read on the outernet..." A man suddenly walked forward, "You're supposed to see the moments right before we died."

After seeing my confused face he cracked up, "It's a joke, everything is opposite here. Anyways, hold my hands and close your eyes. Do it or I’ll beat you up."

What is wrong with people here…

I placed my hand in his and immediately, everything changed.

"I think it's actually working..."

His voice slowly faded and was replaced by another.

"Dad!"

It was a chilling high-pitched scream that bled through my ear.

I could feel goosebumps all over me as saw a little girl was wearing a dress soaked in blood.

Gunshots burst through the wall, hitting right at me.

I seemed to be hugging her tiny body.

I whispered some words in her ear.

The shot stung and hurt so bad but for, seeing the little girl curled up while crying broke my heart completely.

"It's okay, daddy's going to protect you forever, I promise. When daddy goes away, tell mummy that I love and miss her every day. I love you, remember Bailey, daddy will always love you."

Hot tears rolled down my cheek as I came back to reality.

I wanted to stay in that moment and hug her longer.

"Look at you crying." He said while staring at me.

"Is Bailey okay?" I asked while tears poured down.

He froze.

"I've always thought the outernet is filled with fake stuff but I guess I’m changing my mind now." He sighed.

"She's so lucky to have a dad that saved her life. You guys all saved lives and died…”

Just thinking about how hard and painful it was for him made me wonder what everyone else went through.

"You know, you did it too. That's why you're here." Emma said.

"It's been more than 10 minutes and you’re not dead..." The muscle man exclaimed.

Everyone started to look at a clock-like object.

My vision started to fade.

Soon, I woke up to beeping sounds.

A doctor walked in the room.

“Emma?”