Home / I Closed My Eyes Forever / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of I Closed My Eyes Forever: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Inside the dark casket, I held my hands up and looked at them.They should be clean by now.Maybe the medicine I'd taken from Evan was finally working, because his face started coming back to me, black as a thundercloud. He'd slammed the big gate shut."Maisie Callahan, you're nine years old. Why can't you behave?"How many times have I told you to leave Molly alone? Why did you have to lie about it?"I didn't raise you all this way so you could turn out bad."Curled up in the casket, I whispered that I hadn't lied. I hadn't meant to get Molly's dress dirty either.I didn't know why Evan was so angry. Molly had already said it was fine.Well, fine. When I got to heaven I was going to ask the angels to let me come back as Evan's big sister, and then I could twist his ear whenever I wanted.The more I thought about it, the happier I got, and my eyelids sank.There was only one problem. I'd used this casket. Grandma had bought it for herself years ago and made Evan keep it out b

Chapter 2

When I woke up again, I opened one eye.Was I in heaven?No. I was floating over our square little yard. What was I still doing at home?While I was still confused, brakes squealed out front. Evan and Grandma were back. I wondered if he'd managed to smooth things over with Molly.The three of them came through the gate with Grandma held up between them, and they looked so much like a family it made me jealous. Well. I was the one who'd made Evan mad. That was why they'd gone out for a good meal without me.I hurried over to help with Grandma so they'd see I could be useful, and my hand went straight through her. That was when I noticed I seemed to be see-through.I waved carefully in front of Evan's face."Maisie?"He could see me? I started rattling off everything I'd done, the way you do when you want credit."Evan, I took some of your medicine today, but it didn't do anything. I couldn't get to heaven at all."I even counted all the bottles for you. Two whole hundreds."A

Chapter 3

Evan used to be a proud kid.After school he'd watch cartoons with me, and he played games with me too. My favorite was Red Light, Green Light.Except one time, we were playing out front. Evan called it, and then some boys from school pulled him away to shoot hoops, and I stood right where I was for a long time, waiting.A stranger picked me up and carried me off. I fought as hard as I could, and my head came down on something sharp. The stranger dropped me and ran.Mom and Dad saw what I'd turned into, and then they got divorced.Only Evan stayed. He put all of us on those skinny shoulders of his.But even somebody as slow as me knew this much: none of it was Evan's fault.My brother was supposed to be the kid who went wherever the wind took him and got everything he wanted. Not the one dragged down by me. Not the one too scared to say out loud that he loved somebody. I knew that if Molly hadn't taken the first step, he'd have watched her from a distance forever and wished her

Chapter 4

Evan sat down at the table, still mad."Maisie doesn't care about anything. She heard us come home and she's still holed up in there."Sleep, sleep, sleep. Sleeps like a rock. One of these days she'll sleep herself to death and never notice."All she does is get into trouble, and she can't even learn to count."I did learn. I floated up in front of him and pointed at the pile of empty bottles."I counted every single one. Check it if you don't believe me. Bad Evan."I'm never speaking to you again."I huffed and floated over to sit on top of the casket.Grandma kept reaching for the fish, so I hurried back over."Grandma, you can't eat the fish. There are bones in it."And like she'd heard me, she mumbled, "No. No. Fish is for Maisie."Molly put plenty of the other dishes on her plate and spoke up close to her ear. "Ruth, Evan set a plate aside for Maisie. Go ahead and eat."Grandma nodded, and only then did she pick up her fork.I looked around, and sure enough there was

Chapter 5

Evan's face was hard, but he still crouched down gently in front of Grandma."Grandma, you can't spoil her like this."Maisie's growing up. Even if I shield her now, she still has to go out into the world."What happens the day we're not here? How is she supposed to survive?"I rubbed my eyes. He'd woken me up. Strange — did ghosts sleep too?Before I'd even come around properly, what he said got to me.Evan never used to be like this. He never called me slow. He used to say I was the present Mom and Dad left him, that I was his little princess, and a princess's job was to sit at home and be waited on. He said I was the one thing nobody was allowed to touch.I never understood his fancy way of putting things. I only needed to know one thing: Evan would protect me forever.Men. You can't tell what's going on in their heads. It hadn't even been that long and here he was calling me slow.I stuck out my lip and turned my back on him.Grandma kept pointing at the casket and saying

Chapter 6

Honestly. Dumb Evan. Dumb Molly. Not half as smart as Grandma.Grandma already told you. I'm lying in the big casket. You're the ones who wouldn't believe her.I floated around the yard and watched the two of them tear through every room."Maisie! Maisie Callahan!"He shouted my name and I answered him like mad from six feet away.Evan, I'm right here. I really wasn't mad at you. I'm never going to weigh you down again.I said every last thing I'd been holding in, and he couldn't hear a word of it.I watched them search the whole block. Dale Pruitt from next door heard the noise and stuck his head out to make a face at Evan."The dummy got lost again. The dummy can't find her house."Evan's jaw tightened. He didn't have time for him and ran past, so Dale ran right up in front of my brother to say it louder."My mom says Maisie Callahan is useless. She says your house is a dump and you all stink."Evan's fists closed. He gave him one hard look and kept going.I floated along

Chapter 7

I went over with him and looked in, curious.That was when I saw myself lying in there, foam at my mouth, my face gone blue-gray.Oh, wow. I looked awful. I wasn't even a tenth as pretty as Molly now. Would Evan still recognize me next time around?I made a face and was about to tell him not to be sad. Then I saw him standing there stiff as a post, like somebody had nailed him to the ground."Maisie... it really is Maisie."He dragged up an ugly smile and looked at Molly."Molly, I don't have a sister anymore."I don't have a sister!"He dropped to his knees and slammed his forehead into the side of the casket."It's my fault. It's all my fault."He hit his own face until Molly caught his hands, and then he just kept bowing his head to the ground."Why? Why did I leave Maisie home by herself?"Why—"The sound he made stopped me cold.I was gone. Wasn't Evan supposed to be relieved? He was finally free of me. Without me he could be happy with Molly.I turned around to get

Chapter 8

My tears fell onto Evan's hand and mixed into the blood there, like raindrops running into the ocean. That small.And I finally understood what a stupid thing I'd done. I left Evan and Grandma here and I ran, because it was easier for me.Maybe next time around we'd never find each other at all. Nobody would spoil me like a princess. Nobody would yell my name and call me his sister. Nobody would make me braised fish, and nobody would throw a punch on my account. Next time around we'd be two strangers in a crowd, and maybe a nod as we passed each other would be the most we ever said.I was wrong. I shouldn't have used my own death to punish my brother.Right then, my head was clearer than it had ever been in my life. If Evan knew I'd died and grown up in the same week, I wondered whether it would make him happy."Evan. Look at me."Molly looked like something out of a story, holding his face in both hands. Her hem was dragging in dirt and blood and she didn't care. She was so gent

Chapter 9

He opened his arms to pull me in and came up with nothing but air."Maisie... you still won't forgive me?"Two tears came out at the corners of his eyes. He went to step closer and stopped, like he was scared it was a dream."Evan, I'm not slow anymore." I spun in a circle in front of him, light as anything. "Look at me. I'm healthy as a horse. Everything's fine now."Evan, does that count as something good coming out of something bad?"I gave him a mischievous grin and blinked hard to hold the tears back."Maisie, you... you..."Maisie, I swear I didn't mean the things I said."You have no idea how much I regret it. Losing my temper at you."It's too late to say this now, isn't it..."In front of everybody, he went down on his knees, like he was begging me to forgive him. I couldn't stop him, so I knelt down facing him."Evan, you're the one who told me people go to heaven when they die. I'm on my way there. Aren't you happy for me?"The truth is, I'm sorry too. Sorry I th

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP