Chapter One
Celeste crossed her arm over her eyes, hoping to squeeze a few minutes more of sleep before waking up to face the day. Then she remembered that it was Saturday and she was in for a lazy, relaxing day at home. She could feel the rays of the sun streaking through the slits in the bedroom windows and thought that she should have done a better job of closing the curtains the night before.
After one last stretch, she finally decided to open her eyes and drag her lazy bones off the bed. There was only one problem – Celeste’s body didn’t seem to be moving. “How could this be?” She thought to herself. “I can feel myself moving, but why isn’t my body moving?” Celeste tried to move her leg and then her arm. No matter what she did, nothing seemed to work.
After what felt like an eternity, Celeste thought, “am I dead?” “Is this what it feels like to be dead?” “Is this how my mom felt as she died?” All of these thoughts began to race through Celeste’s mind as she lay on her bed, unable to move her physical body.
Finally, she thought, “well, if I am dead, there is nothing I can do about it.” Resigned to the thought of her demise, Celeste decided to try getting out of bed, even though she could not move her physical body. Though it felt strange to her, Celeste found that she was, in fact, able to move. Celeste rose out of bed and knelt beside her bed. She thought, this time with more resolve, “ah, this is how mom felt when she died.”
Just then, Celeste could hear her twin sister Carine and their friend Morgan in the living room chatting and laughing. So she decided to take a look. Moving around was much easier than Celeste imagined. Celeste could see Carine and Morgan happily chatting and looking at the television when she got to the living room. The finale of a popular talent show was just about to begin, and they were excited to see who would walk away with the title.
Although she could see her sister and Morgan, it was clear that neither one of them saw Celeste. The thought saddened Celeste, but there was nothing she could do about it. Earlier that week, the three made a pact to watch the finale together. So Celeste thought that she would fulfill that promise by watching the show with them.
Each of them had their favorite. Celeste was rooting for the group, her sister for the female soloist and Morgan for the male soloist. In the semi-finals, the male soloist seemed to be the one to beat, but they each held out hope. Finally, it was time to announce the winner.
Major upset! The favorite, the ‘one to beat’ male soloist, placed third, the female soloist second, and the underdog group walked away with the title. Carine and Morgan immediately started arguing, as they were often prone to do. While Celeste thought to herself, “best moment ever!” She then quickly thought, “If only I were alive to see this happen in real life.”
Celeste then thought, “I wonder if there is a way for me to get back into my body and make it work again?” With that thought, she left the other two arguing and went back into her bedroom to see if she could achieve the impossible.
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