Afterlife Academy Read Online Free Page B

most important person in the world. Let’s just listen
to what the lady has to say.”
    Eliza Carbonell nods towards him
and smiles.
    Great, I think. Suck-up jerk has
made a friend. Too bad he couldn’t do that in normal school.
    “What do we do after we
graduate?” Anthony asks.
    “It all depends on your level of
graduation,” Eliza says.
    “Level of graduation?” I ask
dubiously.
    “It’s like an exam result. It
determines the sort of jobs you will be suited for in the outside world.”
    “Jobs?” I ask. “Outside world?
There’s an outside world here? Where? Is it like a ghost world?”
    “There are many jobs here,”
Eliza says. “All the staff here for instance, we are all employed by the silent
partners. That’s just one example of the types of jobs you can do in our
world.”
    “So I could graduate from school
to work in a school?” I ask. “What fun that sounds.”
    She ignores me.
    “Is everybody here dead?”
Anthony asks.
    “Yes,” she says to Anthony. “It
is not possible to get into this world unless you’ve died.”
    “What about home?” I ask. “What
about my family and friends?”
    “You will grieve for them,” she
says. “That’s understandable and there’s a school counsellor available to you
at all times.”
    “I’ll grieve for them? But
they’re still alive. They are still alive, right?”
    “Yes.” Her voice softens. “But you
have lost them in the same way they have lost you. Grief is double-sided. But
it will get easier, I promise. Everyone misses their loved ones. I have been
here over sixty years and I still miss my family.”
    “If you’ve been here for sixty
years, how come you still look the same way you did when you died?”
    “There is no aging here. The
passage of time is different from what you’re used to. One plus is that you
don’t have to spend a fortune on all those fancy new anti-aging creams.”
    If that was supposed to be a
joke it wasn’t funny.
    “How do you even know about
anti-aging creams?” I ask. “I bet they didn’t even exist in the 1940s.”
    “I might be dead but I still
like to keep up with the times. And of course I have a lot of contact with
modern teens. We also have the ability to visualise the living world.”
    “Really? Can I see? I want to
know if Wade is okay after the accident.”
    “I can’t tell you that, Riley.
Visualisation is a skill you have to learn.”
    “Where do I learn it?”
    “Here,” she says. “In class.”
    “What else do we learn here?”
    “That’s all something that will
be revealed in Induction class this afternoon.”
    I nod. This is so wrong. I can’t
believe it’s happening. It can’t be happening. This is all some completely
bizarre nightmare and I am going to wake up any second now. Any second…
    “Do either of you have any other
questions?”
    I shrug and look over at
Anthony.
    I have a million questions, but
none that I can seem to find the words for. This is all too odd.
    Anthony shakes his head as well.
    “In a minute you can head over
to your dorm rooms. There you will find some personal belongings and everything
else you need. Your roommates will be in their own classes now, but you’ll meet
them later. After you’ve settled in, there will be Induction in the canteen.”
    “We have roommates?”
    “Everyone needs a friend,
Riley.”
    I sigh. Not only am I dead, but
I also have to share my room. Ugh.
    “Any other questions?”
    Neither of us can think of
anything to say.
    “Right,” Eliza says. “You’re
lucky to already know your way around this place. Now, you know where the
canteen is, don’t you? Head towards that, go around the side, and you’ll come
to the dormitories. Boys in the building on the left, girls in the one on the
right. Absolutely no mixing. Give your names to the advisor on the front desk,
he’ll show you to your rooms. In a quarter of an hour, please go down to the
cafeteria for Induction.”
    I really don’t like the sound of
this