Time passed, but Eliza didn't realise it. She'd gone from the moment she died a second time to the moment she'd boarded the train in a mere instant. But the memories of what happened were there, though hazy. The echoes of what he had told her resonated inside her skull, or they would if she actually had one.The first time she died, her life had fshed before her eyes, and she felt a bitter sting of regret. She'd wasted her time, and died before she'd gotten a chance to actually act on anything she'd naively thought would happen anyways. The second time, though, it was not regret, but relief. It hadn't even been that long, really, but she felt more fulfilled in the past four years than she ever had in the prior thirteen. Even in the bad moments, even when her mother was awful to her, telling her she should've stayed in the ground if she was going to change herself the way she had. But Eliza had to grow. And maybe digging up body parts that fit her better wasn't the most 'normal' way to go about it, but it was what she had, and it had worked for her.The memories of the past few hours fed themselves to her in increments. The fear in Kiera's and Alicia's eyes as they watched their friend die. The ghoulish form of the undead conductor compelling the family, and anyone who saw him, into a strange trance as he gathered her body parts up and dragged them to a car. He did so much in such a short span of time, but it wasn't clear what exactly he had done until he was standing on the ptform with her, and she felt her arm move on its own, she felt her face forced to smile at him, as he collected her ticket. He had erased her, that was what he'd done. The past four years of her life were gone, and she would be forgotten by everyone she had known in that time.

  Now, here she was. The Charon. The train that takes the souls of the dead to the other side. It was about as ornate and prissy as she'd anticipated, with booth seats and tables, the other ghosts around her looking like exactly the sort of passengers she'd expect to see on a luxury train ride; ancient and slow. Well to be fair, she had thought that, but as she found herself catching glimpses of the others, occasionally she would see a fsh of a young, well dressed woman in the pce of the gentle old dy across from her. Death was strange, and it wasn't something she felt she wanted to understand quite yet.The door at the end of the carriage slid open as Eliza returned to her booth. Now what was she to do? Simply rot in her grave? Graves, she supposed. Though the body parts she stole were not initially hers, they were part of her, she felt. In some ways, more than her original body had been. Her mother gave her so much crap for 'adhering to beauty standards', but this wasn't that, she just wanted to be normal, she wanted to express herself in a way that made her feel like a person.

  Gasps of outrage filled the carriage behind her, as various elderly passengers let out an 'oh my!' or a 'good heavens!', and Eliza was about to turn around to see what was going on when the seat beneath her rumbled and someone walked into her foot."Ow!" Alicia said.Eliza jumped back in shock, "Wait, Alicia? Holy crap, you're dead?"Alicia peered at her from under the seat, "Oh, hey Eliza. Yep. Bit the bullet. This is going to seem weird to say, but have you seen a dead guy around here? About my height, looks a bit like me?"

  ***

  Alicia lived in a two-story house on the outskirts of town. Even though it wasn't anywhere close to a mansion, it definitely had this old, abandoned feel to it. You could walk to her work from there, and it seemed like she did, since there weren't any bus stops that went by, but it was a bit of a walk. Kiera had stopped in a few times to pick her up, but hadn't been inside to see the mess before. Faith had, of course, that time for movie night, and was a little shocked to see the window had only been sealed up with tarp since she was here st."Gosh, this pce looks run-down," J said, looking out the car window, "This is where your friend lives?"Faith nodded, "This is the pce. Looks like Kiera's already here."They parked up and got out of the car, and Faith waved at Kiera, who was still in her private school uniform."You weren't kidding about the window," Kiera said, "It's amazing nobody's tried to break into the pce.""Maybe they did..." Faith replied, "Have you knocked?"Kiera nodded, "She wasn't answering. And it's locked.""Crap. And she's still not picking up her phone?""Nope. I think... maybe... we should check she's okay?"J looked over at the tarp-covered window, "Well, it shouldn't be too hard to get in."Kiera gave him a weird look, "You brought J?"Faith nodded, "I don't know what's going on, but three of our friends are missing and two of them are being forgotten. So I'm not dropping a single lead."Kiera shrugged, "Fair."The trio headed over to the smashed window and opened the tarp. If Alicia had been with them, she would have gotten a horrible jumpscare of him, standing there in all his corpsely glory, but as it stood, the only reaction he got was Kiera sniffing the air and compining of the smell."She died," He said, "She fell down the stairs and broke her neck. I don't know what the fuck I'm still doing here. Enjoy the sight, I got a good look but even I couldn't bear it for long.""Be careful," Kiera said, gently crossing the shattered gss, "Don't touch the frame or you might cut yourself."J proceeded to do just that as they came in, and grabbed a few tissues from the side table by the couch. He watched the three of them as they turned the corner, and waited in biting anticipation of the terrified screams.

  ...

  Curious. No screams."Oh, I found her phone, it's totally smashed."He walked into the hallway, and as he got to the stairs, there was no sign of her. Unsettling. One of her friends had gone upstairs."Alicia?" J called out, "Are you home?"There was no response. Faith looked down at them from the top of the stairs, "Alright, I'll search this floor, you two search the ground floor. Got it?"Kiera nodded, and J groaned. He loathed to stay down here with the werewolf, so he followed the changeling upstairs. She opened the bathroom door. That bloody handprint wasn't here before. More unsettling. Faith looked directly at it on the sink, smiled at herself in the mirror, and walked out."Wha- no- what are you doing?" He yelled, "You can't be ser- can you not see that? Come back here you stupid elf!"Faith opened the door to the room Alicia never went in and gasped. He stood by the door, not going in. After a few minutes, Faith walked out and started to hyperventite."Oh my god..." She muttered, then held her hand over her mouth as she gagged."Faith!" Kiera called out, "We found her!"

  He joined her as they made their way to the stairs once more, and peered down. Sure enough, there she was, smiling."Oh my god, are you alright?" Faith asked, "Where've you been? We haven't been able to get a hold of you."He, on the other hand, looked terrified."How the fuck did you do that?" He yelled.Alicia looked straight at him, "What do you mean?"Faith, J and Kiera looked to the empty space where he was."Uh, Alicia?" Faith asked, "Who are you talking to?""Who's Alicia?" Alicia asked, "I'm Rachel."