Chapter 1

It was the third day after I died when my phone rang with the coroner’s office calling to identify my body.

“Dead is dead,” Jake said, his voice muffled as he held the phone to his ear, still tangled in the sheets with some girl. “Cremate her, then call me.”

My remains were sent into the incinerator, reduced to ashes. The office contacted him again, relaying that the cremation was complete, the ashes were ready.

He let out an annoyed “Tch,” like he was bothered and inconvenienced.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming.”

Jake finally showed up two hours later. His clothes were a mess, his shirt collar sporting a bright red lipstick stain.

You could tell he’d just come off the battlefield. He found the attendant, a smirk playing on his lips. “So, where’s Annie’s ashes? That’s what I’m here for, right?”

The attendant, after confirming his identity, handed him the box. Jake took it, all nonchalant, but his eyes were mocking.

“You sure this is really Annie? You didn’t just scoop up some stray cat or something to pull a fast one on me, did you?”

The attendant looked mortified. “Mr. Harrison, these are definitely Miss Annie’s ashes. We have records. Would you like to see them?”

Jake just grinned. “Nah, I trust you guys.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know why, but even though I was dead, my spirit was still hanging around.

I figured it was because I hadn’t been laid to rest yet. Now that Jake believed I was really gone, maybe, just maybe, out of some shred of our past love, he’d bury me somewhere.

But before I could even get my hopes up, Jake let out a sudden gasp. The box slipped right out of his hands. My ashes scattered all over the floor.

Jake’s grin turned cruel. “Oops, butterfingers.”

He shoved his foot into the pile of ashes, grinding my remains into the floor. My breath caught in my throat.

I stared into his icy eyes, but couldn’t make a sound. It wasn’t until my ashes were completely gone, ground into the cracks in the floor, mixed with the dust, that Jake finally pulled back his foot.

He smirked, a glint of satisfaction in his eyes, totally unfazed by the attendant’s shock. “Tell Annie I said her little stunt was creative, but it failed miserably.”

“It’s my mom’s anniversary in a few days, she better be kneeling at my mom’s grave, begging for forgiveness. Because if she doesn’t, even if she is really dead, I’ll dig up her corpse and desecrate it.”