Everything from last night is a blur. I can't remember anything, from the time I left my house to go to the party to now. I wake up on Margaret's bedroom floor, but she isn't in her room. Margaret and I have been best friends for thirteen years. People call us the twins, because we do everything together and we look alike. We both have long, dark hair, and brown eyes. I walk downstairs and see Margaret slumped over on the kitchen table crying. I also see her parents, with tears in their eyes trying to comfort her. I walk up to them but they don't seem to notice me. Her mother, Lisa embraced her, whispering, "She's in a better place." I offered my condolences for whoever died, but when they ignored me I left thinking that they wanted some privacy. I wonder who died. I left her house and went to the coffee shop, where no one offered to wait on me and when I stood in line they took the order of the man behind me, and continued ignoring me. I left angrily, and decided that I would have to go home sometime, but I had not mentally prepared myself to face my mother, after our fight yesterday. I walked home anyway, hoping to avoid my mother, but no such luck. I saw her crying on the sofa, through the window. I guess this had something to do with how I didn't come home last night, after the big Fourth of July party. When I walked in she didn't even seem to notice me.

I called to her, "Mom? Mom I'm home, I'm perfectly fine. I just decided to stay at Margaret's house last night."

She wouldn't look at me, she just kept sobbing hysterically. I tried to get her to stop crying, but she just ignored me. I decided that I needed some air, so I went out to take a walk. I was still stuck in my thoughts when I ran into a man on the street.

He looked at me and asked, "Elena Grayson?"

I looked at him and said, "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

He was a tall guy, with shaggy, blonde hair, and he looked to be about twenty five. I swear I have never seen him before, in my entire life. I know most people in our small little town of Beaufort, South Carolina.

He looked at me and said, "I have been looking for you everywhere, I bet you have a ton of questions"

To which I replied, "Yeah I do, starting with who you are!"

He smiled and said, "I'm the mors shadow, I help people in the in between phase and I'm here to help you."

I managed to sputter out, "What??"

He looked at me sadly, and said, "Last night you were murdered."

I was speechless, I can't be dead I mean I'm still here aren't I?!? He held up a newspaper which read, Seventeen year-old Elena Grayson... Murdered. There was also a picture of me, underneath the headline. This couldn't be real.

He said, "I'm here to help you though, you were not ready to die. We can go back to the day before yesterday, and if we can figure out who is going to murder you, we can stop it, and you will have a second chance at life. We just have forty eight hours to figure out who wanted to kill you. Are you up for it?"

I took in everything he just told me and said, "Ok but first tell me your name."

He smiled and said, "I'm Nick."

We go back to July third, the day before my murder. I re-attain my humanity, so that I can live my life like I normally would. Margaret calls me, and I walk over to her house. I walk in to see her sprawled out on her bed, with her hands over her eyes.

"What's the matter with you?" I ask.

She replies, "I just broke up with Tyler."


I gasp,and say, "What happened? How did he react?"

She defeatedly said, "He was furious, he accused me of cheating on him, which I didn't. But he totally overreacted. I hope he can get over it even though he swore he never would."

I tell her, "I'm sure he will, it's just a breakup."

Margaret sighed, "That's what I thought, but I don't think he's just going to let it go. He was such an obsessive boyfriend, and he looked like he was ready to explode when I ended it."

I spent the rest of the day with Margaret and called Nick that night telling him that I was no closer to figuring out who the murderer was. I think I'm just going to see who is upset with me tomorrow and who has the motive. I go home the next morning, and my mom is waiting for me at the kitchen table. I remember our fight, and I try to think of ways to avoid it, but my mom is not willing to accommodate me. She screams at me, asking where I've been for the past day and a half. I try to calm her down, but she is not willing. There is nothing to stop my mom when she is in one of her fits of anger. I just walked away, while she was still screaming. I go upstairs to get ready for the big Fourth of July party tonight. I still don't have any suspects,and no one was really mad at me except for my mother, but she wouldn't do anything to hurt me. Would she? She did have explosive fits of anger and mood swings, but I was her daughter. I pushed the thought from my mind, being too painful to dwell on. Margaret told me she was going to wear jean shorts with a red tank top, so I decided to wear the same. I met Nick at the party and told him that the only suspect that I had was my mother, and I didn't really want to consider that. I hung out with Margaret most of the night as Tyler angrily watched us. Once the fireworks started it was around 9:00, and I was running out of time to figure out who did it. I took a walk on the beach to clear my head, and Tyler followed me to the beach, thinking I was Margaret. Margaret also followed us to the beach, but hid in the shadows.

Tyler screams across the beach, "Margaret!" I turn around and see that he has a gun in his hand, I realize that he is the one who killed me. Except the bullet was not intended for me, he was trying to kill Margaret! The beach was dark, so he didn't realize that it was me and not her. I saw Margaret hiding in the shadows in fear. I knew that he would kill Margaret, if I didn't play along and pretend to be her.

So I responded, "Yes, Tyler?"

He held up the gun, and said, "If I can't have you no one can." With that he pulled the trigger as I took the bullet for my best friend. The noise of the fireworks did not cover up the sound of gun shot, like Tyler intended. Tyler tried running, but was soon apprehended by the police. Margaret ran back home in tears, knowing that she would have died that night, if I hadn't taken the bullet for her.

My funeral, was well attended and many people mourned for me. Tyler was found guilty of first degree murder, his punishment being life sentence. Nick and I went to heaven, now that our tasks on Earth were complete. Margaret's last year of high school was difficult for her with the pain of losing me, and witnessing my murder.

Margaret's freshman year of college provided a fresh start for her. I often watch over her just to make sure that she is okay. I guess she has two guardian angels now. She never forgot her dark past and the horrors that she experienced in her home town, but she was forever grateful for the life she got to live because of her best friend's sacrifice.