Page 167 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
“I did,” the woman murmured. “A young girl, around my age. She was struck by a car while assisting at an accident. An EMT.” The woman blinked rapidly against the tears filling her eyes. “I live my life as boldly for her as I do for myself. Make sure you do too.”
I hadn’t realized we had done a full circle and were now back at the attendant. I gestured that we were getting off, and as Ellis rose, so did the woman, pulling her into a hug before letting her go.
“Don’t hide your scar either, love,” the woman said. “The world needs reminding that there are some tough bitches out there, and we won’t be taken out so easily.”
Ellis laughed under her breath and wiped her eyes. “It was nice meeting you. Enjoy your trip.”
“You too, love,” the woman said, giving Ellis’s hand a final squeeze. “You too.”
By the time we creaked out onto the landing platform, my palms were damp, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the height, the constant stopping and starting, or that shared story now sitting between us. What I did know was that an ordinary moment had just turned into one that would become a core memory for both of us.
We shuffled into the crowd, Ellis dabbing at her eyes. Liv walked silently beside her. Then Ellis’s hand found mine as we hit the boardwalk—not in question or plea, just contact. A reminder that there was a body here. Her body, attached to a person with a name and a heart working so hard to keep her right here.
“Thirty years,” Ellis croaked under her breath.
“I promise my heart will give you at least sixty,” Liv assured her, a small grin dancing on her lips. “I planned on living till, like, a hundred anyway.”
“Good to know,” Ellis said with a laugh as we came to rest by a railing, looking out into the Pacific. “It shouldn’t make me feel better, but it does.”
“Why shouldn’t it?” Liv asked, folding her arms.
“It’s greedy,” Ellis said with a shrug. “I’ve already defied death so many times. It feels greedy to want that much, to imagine more and actually have it.”
“It’s human,” I told her firmly, throwing my arm over her shoulder and pressing a kiss into her hair. “It’s human and it’s fair, and it’s yours.”
We were silent as we stared out at the water. There was no snarky joke from Liv to undercut the moment; we just stood there and let the wind cut through us, both Ellis and I taking a sobering breath as the expanse of her life seemed to stretch out before her, like she had just received the final answer she’d been searching for.
“You okay?” I asked softly, squeezing her shoulder.
She considered for a moment, then nodded with a single, precise dip of her head.
“I’ve never been more okay than I am right now.”
Ellis continued to stare out at the water, and Liv met my eyes above her head—a small, almost contented smile on her face as she looked at me, then back down at Ellis, some final acceptance snapping into place in her eyes.
Then, in true Liv fashion, she sighed dramatically and slapped the railing.
“Okay,” she said, saluting the Ferris wheel before turning to face us. “Let’s go shatter Jedd’s sense of reality and get some fireworks built, shall we?”
I winced at the idea. “This poor guy has no idea what’s coming.”
“It’s fine,” she said with a flippant wave of her hand. “He only owns, like, one gun.”
I blinked. “He ownswhat?”
“Don’t worry, he won’t use it,” she assured me as we started walking. “We’ve already greased him up a little. He’s expecting us. Don’t panic, Dove. We’ll be fine. We’ll tell him you two are here with my ghost, and we need him to complete a small task so I can officially rest in peace, blah, blah, blah.”
Liv clapped her hands together and pranced ahead of us, and I shot Ellis a nervous look.
“Yeah, why do I think it won’t happen like that at all?”
“Because it won’t,” Ellis said, her tone dry but a hint of a smile tugging at her mouth. “Come on, let’s go risk our lives and get Margaret turned into fireworks, shall we?”
ELLIS
Tip #27: Before you panic, hydrate. Before you argue, breathe. Before you doubt, ask.
Thirty years.
