Haunted Sister - by Lael Littke

Haunted Sister - by Lael Littke
Have any of you ever heard about something called a "near death experience"? [Let your audience respond. If no one volunteers, describe it briefly]. Basically, whether you're a materialist, and think that it's your brain trying to make sense of getting briefly shut down or a spiritualist who thinks it's a clue to life after death, people do "remember" some strange stuff when they're technically "dead" and resuscitated.
Janine has had a near-death experience. She's hovering above the body of a teenage girl on an operating table, listening to the worried voices of the doctors and thinking that this poor kid is really messed up. Then she remembers the accident and realizes that the body below her is her.
She sees a white light that pulls her toward it, hurrying her toward a beautiful city. She sees people she knows have died; that kid in her class from middle school, her grandpa and her long-dead twin-sister. In an instant she's beside her beloved grandfather. He's telling Janine that it's not her time, that she has to go back. To her surprise her dead twin sister snarls at her. "It's your fault I'm here!"
The next thing Janine knows she's waking up. Her head hurts. Her whole body hurts. She's a hospital bed, bandaged, splinted and catheter-ed. As she moans Janine's mom reaches down to hug her. Her mom is sobbing, "My baby is alive!"
And a voice in Janine's head says, "Wow. That feels really good. I've missed our mom." Janine is confused. What's wrong with me? She thinks. The voice in her head doesn't go away. [Sweetly] "Don't you remember me, Janine? It's me. Lenore. Your twin sister. [Menacingly] The one you killed.
"I'm back. I want my share of living. This is our body now and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Find out what happens in Haunted Sister by Lael Littke

2001 Evergreen Nomination