By Shaun Grey

The flicker of the candle on the bedside table created stretched shadows on the walls of his bedroom, the figures dancing softly in an orange glow.
“How are you doing kiddo?” The mum asks standing in the doorway of his room, one hand behind her back the other holding a bright torch casting a beam of light which halted some of the dancers mid waltz.
“Mum you don’t have to worry about me, I’m ten years old now that’s double digits” the kid replies clearly happy with his mature age.
“Well very well sir!”she responded, somewhat in the voice of some old English butler.
“Then I guess you wont need this” She says whipping out Mr Trex from behind her back.
“Mr.Trex! You found him” The kid shouts with such delightful glee.
The mum walks over to his bed, sits down on the corner and hands him the small, green and cuddly T.rex shaped toy, the kid grabs his long lost friend and gives it a suffocating hug.
“Where did you find him?” he asks, still not letting Mr.Trex have any breathing room.
“He was under the sofa, probably scared from the power cut. Even dinosaurs get scared sometimes” She reports as the kid carries on hugging Mr.Trex.
“Now come on you it’s bedtime” she asserts as she grabs the duvet cover. The kid lies down in his space themed bed and the mum throws the duvet on top, covering him from the shoulders down in stars. She then blows out the candle and gently kisses the kid on the head.
“Good night little man” she whispers in to his ear before leaving the room but just as she is about to leave she turns around.
“If there is anything you need I will be right down the hall, I love you sweetie.”
“I love you too Mum” the kid replies taking off his glasses and putting them next to the candle which is now producing strings of grey smoke. The mum shuts the poster laden door behind her.
The kid, not wanting to let his mum know he is still afraid of the dark, panics and stretches for the matches that he took from the kitchen draw earlier that day from the bedside table and strikes it against the box to light the candle again. In the darkness he could see the claws of monsters poking out of his wardrobe door but the light has defeated them for now. He sets his alarm for seven forty five so that he doesn’t miss school in the morning. No longer scared of what might grab him in the dark he rests his head and lets tiredness overcome him, swiftly he is asleep.

The kid wakes up to a fresh icy chill hovering in the nights air. He puts on his glasses and notices that it is brighter outside of his window, but not bright enough to be day or to have any kind of sunlight. He twists himself and hops out of bed, leaving Mr.Trex to slumber on his own to have a look at what is going in outside. He walks up to his window and glances outside. Snowfall and lots of it. The kid runs to the wardrobe to grab some appropriate clothing and quickly wrestles them on. Turning around he notices his body still sound asleep in it’s bed. The kid smiles quite happily with the thought of his success. The kid sprints down the landing and then down the stairs with no sound following him or echoing in the halls as a consequence of his rapid movements. Upon reaching the porch he grabs his red and black chequered slippers from the shoe rack and slips them on to his small feet. He then bursts through the front door leaving the safety of his house to venture in to the night.
The snow softly falls all around him, cars are no longer instantly recognizable and the roads are all but gone, replaced with an endless blanket of the stuff. The kid is standing in the garden enjoying the sight, right next to the garden gnome sitting on a tree trunk who has, according to the wooden sign next to him, gone fishing. There is no pond in the garden nor any body of water but the kids mum insists they have it there as it was a present from uncle Terry who lives just a few minutes away. They cant let him know they don’t like it. So here he remains, fishing forever in the impossible to fish snow ridden grass. The kid strolls through the gate and on to the path on front of him, that he can make out. The houses are all dark apart from a few dancing lights flickering through the windows and nobody is out on the street.

“BOOOOOOOOOONES!” He screams as loud as he possibly can, his voice bouncing through the blanketed neighbourhood. Nothing. All that can be heard is the icy howl of the wind as it passes by.

“BOOOOONES, come out!” He cries at the top of his lungs. He waits for the sound. A few seconds pass before he hears the first one. Boom! A loud bang which sounded like something hitting the ground came from down the road near the box of flats. This was the one he had been waiting for. He turns on his heels and sprints as fast as he can down the snow covered path for what seems like an eternity until he reaches the box of flats. To the kid they seem like five story skyscrapers guarding the estate from the woods on the other side of the field next to it, making sure the trees don’t try to move in to somebody’s house or break in to eat all of their food from their fridges. He imagines that trees probably would enjoy a bit of leftover lasagne or broccoli, unless eating broccoli is frowned upon in tree societies. Boom! Boom! The loud booms are getting closer to the kid. He stares in the direction he thinks they are coming from, just behind the flats. A giant white hand wraps itself around the top corner of the building, groaning as the separate fingers clinch and scrape against the old brick. A pair of giant glowing yellow orbs hover against the dark of the night sky, drifting from the building to reveal a face, a face of bone. With multiple cracks and creaks the mass rises and straightens itself out to an almighty height. The light of the yellow orbs move, illuminating the kid where he stands. Alone. The mass walks out of the shadows of the flats, shuddering the earth with every heavy step, revealing his skeletal form. His bones as long and thick as tree trunks, and his skull as large as a truck.
“Hey Bones!” The kids shouts up to the large skeleton.
“Hello there young Meatbones, Welcome back to the land of the dead” Bones replies with a loud, soft rumble.

The city looks so different when you are sitting in the rib cage of a giant skeleton pondered Meatbones who had his legs wrapped round one rib and his arms round the one above which had a rather large crack in it. Clinging on as each step rattled the various bones left in his large collection. The houses look like small boxes and the lamp posts look like matches pushing their light as far as it can possibly whilst trying not to set the boxes on fire.
“It’s a good thing the living cant see us because you stick out like a sore thumb you do” Meatbones jokes. A small boom of laughter is felt through Bones’ skeletal figure as Meatbones holds on a bit tighter.
“Are you not cold little one?” Asks Bones noticing the fact that he is just in his Pyjamas.
“Nope, I’m actually really hot. I feel like I’m burning” Meatbones notices the sweat on his forehead. His body being cooled only by the snowflakes landing on his burning skin.
“Are you feeling okay?” Bones questioned, avoiding a traffic light narrowly with his humongous right foot.
“Yeah in fine, just hot that’s all” the kid responds
“Hmmm,Well I can certainly do something about that my young friend, hold on tight!” and with a sudden jolt Bones was running through the streets of the town building up speed, faster and faster dodging cars buildings and deceased people alike. His movement was pretty swift and he moved with a lot of grace for such a large…skeleton. The cold air lashed at Meatbones like he was caught in some sort of vicious storm so much so that he couldn’t feel his temperature any more. Just the wall of air whizzing in his direction. Upon all of the shut shops and houses Meatbones noticed that Bones was headed straight for a Large cathedral which had hordes of what were once people gathered around it. Bones continued to run.
“Ummm Bones! We’re headed straight for that cathedral” Meatbones shouted up to Bones.
“Don’t worry yourself young man, this is going to be fun” Bones replied.
“Oh no, no no no” Meatbones screamed

“We gather here today to celebrate this years Death day and to try to answer your questions about this life, we will start with you the crusader” said the undead vicar standing at the top steps of the pointing to a man donning full armour with a slightly suspicious arrow going through his helmet. The sacrificed Aztec next to him felt upset we wasn’t chosen and drops his shoulders accordingly.
“Yeah is there any chance or any way you can find out how I was killed?” asked the crusader politely, his speech slightly muffled by his helmets visor. The whole crowd turn around in a unanimous confusion. The Aztec leans over and whispers in to his ear for a while whilst everyone watches, the steel of the armour scrapes against each other as he slowly reaches up to grasp the arrow patrouding from the top of his head. He hold his hand on it for a few seconds before letting his arm fall to his side.
“Unbelievable” the crusader sighs
The crowd is silent.
“No one told me that there was an arrow in my head, are you kidding me?”
“We thought it was best not to mention anything, seemed a bit rude” replied a small Victorian woman from a few rows of people ahead of him.
“Seemed a bit rude?!” the crusader raised his voice his annoyance clear to see.
“This is a conversation starter if ever I’ve seen one !” he shakes his head and his arrow pierced helmet rattles a way in the awkward silence, the spirits saying nothing.
“You know what I’m going, damn this place” he scoffs and as he is pushing his way through the crowd of confused spirits to leave he notices a large white blur moving through the street at some pace getting closer and closer. He starts to make out the humanoid shape of the blur before noticing the giant skeleton sprinting his way.
“Oh my Godfrey of Bouillon, everyone make haste!” Screamed the crusader running to his right hand side his armour jingling in a slow rhythm before diving in to the bushes of the cathedral gardens. The crowd turn around, some quicker than others, to see this mass of bones sprinting right at them.
“He’s not going to stop!” screams one spirit as panic suddenly rises amongst the crowd as screams and shrieks echo through the night sky with people running in all different directions hoping not to get knocked over. Just before the walls of the cathedral gardens Bones lets out and almighty roar as he plants his right foot down and flings himself in to the bitter air soaring over the crowd.
“I’m Soooooooooorrrrry!” is faintly heard from a small voice above as they float over the roof and dissapear in to the snow speckled black abyss beyond them. A silence is left hovering over the crowd as they pick themselves up and dust each other off.
The undead vicar picks himself up after stumbling down two of the old cathedral stairs and straightens out his unevenly risen shirt collar.
“Any more questions?” he puffs out.

Time seemed to freeze for Meatbones as he floats through the chilling darkness of the sky. Everything looked so small and insignificant. People looked like ants and ants would be very difficult to see indeed. The clouds looked like an ocean of cotton bobbing along endlessly. The moon was at eye level staring at Meatbones with its lunar gaze and it shone on this undead world like a torch lighting up a dark cavern. Suddenly the moon started to rise until Meatbones discovered it was gravity taking them back to the snow laden ground. With a massive gush of wind and G-force levels rising to extreme highs for him they plummeted through the clouds to the ground toward a giant hill which sloped toward a forest.
“Hold on!” Bones rumbled some of his voice getting lost in the wind whipping past his skinless exterior.
Meatbones wrapped his arms and legs around the ribs he was near and held on as hard as he could. As they got even closer to the ground Bones leaned back and aimed his right leg forward and tucked his left leg underneath it in a sort of karate kicking motion aiming his body at the slope. The hill got closer and closer until Bones connected with the slope with an almighty thud which reverberated through his whole skeletal body. With his right leg guiding him he was sliding down the hill like a surfer riding a giant, grassy and muddy wave. Bits of dirt where flinging themselves towards Meatbones, slapping off of Bones’s ribs and spine as they flew past. The adrenaline run through Meatbones as he reckoned this was even better than the ‘El Diablo’ roller-coaster him and his mum had ridden a few moths ago at the Green vale theme park. But that feeling quickly turned to panic as the forest was approaching at a tremendous pace. The wall of trees challenging the duo to try and stop before them like a line of soldiers holding formation in battle.
“Bones we are going too fast!” Screamed Meatbones who was bracing himself for the inevitable crash. Bones recognized this and promptly threw his arms to the side of him and dug his fingers in to the hillside hoping it would slow them down further. It seemed to be working. The loss of speed was noticeable as the wind’s howling eased and the muddy slush splatter wasn’t quite so violent. They slid down the remainder of the hill and Bones pushed both of his legs forward to absorb the impact of the trees ahead of them, his hands still digging in to the earth. They started to slow down quite significantly, Bones’s legs managed to find two trees on the outskirts of the woodland and he used his body in such a way that managed to let him take all of the momentum out of them using his knees as they pushed up to his chest. Bones’s knees eclipsed the light from the moon from inside his ribcage. They stopped dead as the two trees splintered and collapsed to the leaf ridden ground letting out a massive groan as the fell.

“You alright there kid?” asks Bones who is starting to pick himself up from the ground.
“Yeah, I’m okay” Meatbones replies just about managing to slither the words off of his tongue. As Bones fully picks himself up he turns around to see the hillside torn to shreds with long bony drag lines carved in it all the way down.
“This wasn’t me if anyone asks okay?”
Meatbones puts his hands to his mouth and locks it with his imaginary key and throws it somewhere in the carved up hillside.

“So how’s school going for you Meatbones?” Bones asks whilst swatting the branches of the forest from his face like they were some sort of annoying wooden fly. “Well it’s pretty much the same as last time, they changed the macaroni and cheese at lunch time and it tastes really weird now” Meatbones replied. Bones lets out a light chuckle.
“Your studies, are you learning anything new? Last time you told me you were learning about space and planets.”
“Yeah we are still doing that. We were recently told that Pluto was once a planet but they had too kick it out of their club or whatever. Apparently it is too small to be a planet so I think it’s now a dwarf planet which are like planets but smaller. I feel sorry for Pluto.”
“Don’t feel bad for Pluto Meatbones, if you look in to the sky there are roughly one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty billion stars in our galaxy alone. I’m sure Pluto will find a new club.” This made Meatbones feel a little bit better about Pluto’s situation.“How long have you been here Bones?” Meatbones asked inquisitively
“That’s a hard question to answer” he leaves Meatbones in silence giving himself a few seconds to ponder. “I’ve been here longer than most and longer than I can care to remember young one, so I cant fully answer your question. But I suppose I’ve been here since it began”
“Since what began?”
“Death” Bones replied softly.

Bones carried on marching through the snow drizzled trees until they could see what looked like a glow of lights and the sound of music in the far distance. Meatbones was awoken by the change in atmosphere after drifting off for a few minutes.
“Bones what is that?” Meatbones asked slightly worried for what was coming up.
“That is what I’m taking you to young one, it’s a surprise” replied Bones.

As they moved closer the sound of laughter could be heard echoing between the bare branches and off the snow soiled bark. The multicoloured flashes drowning the forest with every colour. The flashes looked to be in some sort of shape or word in the far distance soon he could work out that it was part of a sign of some sort. The trees started thinning as they reached a huge opening in the middle of the forest which was filled with what looked like some sort of amusement park that that seems to go on for miles. Roller-coasters as tall as towers and so many games you couldn’t possibly comprehend and somewhere to the left of the mass of fun and games was a giant space shuttle which looked like it was prepping for launch.
“Wow! Bones what is this!?” Meatbones screamed with excitement.
“Oh this? This as our annual day of the dead celebration, I knew that they had the shuttle this year going in to space as their main event so I thought I would bring you here. It thought it could help you with your school work”. There were hundreds of spirits walking under the entrance arch way which was formed with colour changing smoke. Bones being the giant skeleton that he was walked over it with a large amount of nonchalant and entered the park avoiding a family of what looked like middle class Victorians. There were hundreds of games to play everything from hook-a-dead-duck to splat the Skelton, which Bones understandably wasn’t too big a fan of. A zap of white light bounces off of the many faces followed by a stomach churning pain lead scream. From his vantage point Meatbones could see a man sat in a wooden chair, he had some sort of metal helmet attached to his head.
“Step right up sir if you think you have the strength” shouts the guy in charge of the stall who was dressed like a circus ringmaster.
A young man steps up alarmingly quickly.
“You think you can do it young man? Then go ahead and test your might and just remember Mr. Saxon is on the electric chair for the next hour because in his physical life he ran over his neighbours cat and decided not to tell them” he announces as people from the crowd boo at the cat murderer.
“Please don’t do this” the man in the chair begs as the ringmaster hands the young man the giant hammer.
“You know how it works just get the weight to the top and score 100 then you can enjoy the show” proclaims the Ringmaster.
“You don’t understand it was an accident, it was late at night and it jumped in front of the car” he screams. Meatbones looks on in some confusion.
“What’s happening?” asks Meatbones who is frightened of what the answer will be. Bones thinks his answer over before replying.
“91” the Ringmaster yells.
“In the land of the dead you have to serve out justice for whatever was missed in life, kind of like balancing things out. The bigger the injustice the more lengthy the punishment. This is one of the more humane ways it gets done here. It’s wrong but that’s how it’s always been.” he answers with a sadness that Meatbones has never heard from him before.
“94, you’ve nearly done it just a bit more umph!” he gestures smashing a hammer in to the ground.
“Please, I was a good person. I gave to charity. I helped my community please stop” he yelps in a very frightened manner. The young man steps up one last time, lifts the hammer over his shoulder and with a ferocious swing smashes the metal pad sending the weight up and up until the sound of a bell rings out amongst the masses. The crowd start applauding and cheering the young man who gets a few pats on the back from his peers.
“Well it looks like you did it sir and well done to you that was a very impressive feat of strength” The ring master pauses, clearly revelling in the power he has over his audience and the man in the chair.
“But now it is time to give a little back from what was taken on the night of September the fifteenth nineteen ninety four. Lets have a countdown shall we!?” He roars. The crowd begin to cheer even louder now.
“You’re all monsters, the lot of you!” the man in the chair bellows.
“You don’t need to see this little one,” Bones turns around and starts walking away.
“3…2…1…” the crowd chant as if they were counting the switching on of Christmas lights and as the pair of them walked away instead of hearing cheers of joy all they heard next were the screams of unthinkable pain.

“Please present your tickets if you want to board the ‘Stargazer’, if you haven’t got tickets but wish to see the beautiful stars in the vacuum of space then please speak to my colleague at the ticket booth. We have trips every hour!” The Captain heralds to the masses in the only giant bit of space in the whole area that for soul safety reasons must be empty. He spots something in the corner of his eye and turns to see what it is. He looks up to the white mass moving towards him.
“Ah Bones my dead fellow how are you today!?” he asks in a jolly manner.
“I’m well. Thank you for asking. You see in my ribcage here” Bones points to Meatbones who is waving at the Captain who polishes his glasses on his uniform shirt so he can see better. “This is my good friend Meatbones”
“Hello there young man, I going to guess you’re here to experience outer space?”
Meatbones nods with an extreme enthusiasm you’d expect when you ask a 10 year old if they want to visit the infinite black of the universe.
“Well then we launch in roughly 3 minutes so board when you are ready, tell me Bones are you going up there too?” he ponders. “Well then we launch in roughly 3 minutes so board when you are ready, tell me Bones are you going up there too?” he ponders.
“Yes, cant let Meatbones go on his own can I?”
“And how do you intend to… you know what never mind, I will inform the control team, enjoy gentlemen I’d better get the shuttle ready” He waddles toward the towering image of the Space shuttle and climbs the private staircase away that leads to the cockpit.
“Mr. Captain don’t you need a space suit!?” Meatbones shouts noticing the lack of any space gear, just the captain in his brown waistcoat and trousers, white shirt and bowler hat as he opens the door to his button riddled domain.
“Why young master Meatbones why would I need that? I don’t need to breathe in the vacuum of space I’m already dead” he laughs as he takes off his hat and gives them a bow. “I’ll see you amongst the stars!” Screams the captain with excitement as he retreats in to the cockpit slamming the door shut.
“Bones, if you dont need to have a space suit why have a shuttle at all?” quizzes Meatbones.
“It’s mainly for aesthetic reasons and being able to experience a shuttle launch, but young Meatbones we will not be on the inside of this shuttle”
“Wait what?” Meatbones asks in a perplexed fashion as Bones sways up to it and wraps his giant arms around the hull of the shuttle and hugs it tightly like a long lost friend that he had been reunited with.
“I cant imagine I’d fit Inside of it so this will have to do” he says as he settles himself on to the hull.
“Bones is this okay? Like this wont effect the shuttle right?” Meatbones asks as he looks at the undead ground control team panicking at their stations and pointing at their monitors in a frenzy.
“No young Metabones it wont…” he replies as the jets start to fire underneath them causing the nearby undead civilians to stop and stare in wonder at this tidal wave of orange. The Ground starts to rumble like an earthquake just hit and the speakers start to crackle.
“Alright everybody we have lift off in…” Echoes around the amusements
“At least I don’t imagine it will” Bones finishes to the horror of Meatbones who clings even harder to the nearest vacant rib.

“5…4…3…2…1… and lift off ” shouts the soul of the tannoy system who’s supervisor pats them on the back for job well done and like that there was a near deafening roar coming from below them where smoke was filling everything in sight and just like that they were going through the air with incredible speed. Meatbones hangs on to the shaking ribs as hard as he can. Everything is fine, everything is fine he thinks to himself as he rockets through the night sky with a tremendous shudder. He looks down for a split second to see that what was once the carnival is now a blotch on the parchment of the world. Everything is not fine! He panics and puts his head against the rib he is clutching and closes his eyes as they start to shake more and more vilontley, he wraps his arms around it as hard as he can. I’m not going to be able to hold on much longer as the rib shakes his grip loosens and just as he is bout to lose all of his strength all of the shaking and rattling stops. A sudden weightlessness gives way, and suddenly calmness and quietness seep in to their surroundings. Meatbones regains his grip as he clambers back on to the rib and as he does his legs start to give way and float above his head like he was suddenly in a pool of water. He opens his eyes to see an ocean of infinite darkness surrounding him. Bones lets go of the ship and lets himself float in to the unfathomable tide of pressure less space. A tide of nothing carrying them.
“It’s okay little one, you can talk” bones claims as he tries to flip himself to what he thinks is the right way up. Meatbones hesitates.
“Hello?” he squeaks.
“Wait how can I talk in space?” Meatbones asks in disbelief. “Wait how can I talk in space?” Meatbones asks in disbelief.
“Well your physical form isn’t here so neither are your troubles with trying to get air in an airless vacuum little one” Bones responds as he spots the group of souls leaving the Stargazer led by the captain who is clearly loving the privilege of showing people space, they spot Bones and float over to him.
“Ah Mr. Bones I see you are having a bit of trouble with known which way is up, not that there really is a right way up, give Mr. Bones a hand if you would be so kind ladies and gentlemen” The captain chuckles as he and a small collective spin him around by pushing on his shoulder and stopping his rotation by when he is upright. “Ah Mr. Bones I see you are having a bit of trouble with known which way is up, not that there really is a right way up, give Mr. Bones a hand if you would be so kind ladies and gentlemen” The captain chuckles as he and a small collective spin him around by pushing on his shoulder and stopping his rotation by when he is upright.“There we are, now ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce you to planet earth” he announces to the crowd who are all staring in awe at the big blue sphere glowing radiantly below them.
“Just some facts for you all today Planet earth is said to be four and a half billion years old,give or take a few years, and is home to more than seven billion people. The hottest spot ever recorded on earth was in Libya and the coldest was in Antarctica…”
“Bones?” asks Meatbones who now has the confidence to let go of the rib he was hanging on to and float on his own but still not very far away.
“Yes young one, what is it?” replies Bones.
“Is it possible to stay here with you? It’s just you’re my best friend and I don’t have nearly as much fun in my world as I do here…”
“No young one I can’t do that” replies Bones.
“But why not, I saw plenty of kids running around at the celebration it wouldn’t be too difficult to…”
“I said NO!” Bones raises his voice to a level almost alien to Meatbones who is shocked by his sudden outburst.
“I’m sorry young one, you have so much to give down in your world. So much to experience, so much to see. You shouldn’t wish that ever, there are so many people on my side of the world that would do anything to be in your shoes and feel life in them once again.” Bones says angrily as he floats in a sea of stars.
“What you can do little one is a mystery to me, leaving your body is something not many people can do, its a gift to be sure but you mustn’t abuse it.” Bones says calming down as the sun starts to reveal itself behind the spheric shape of the Earth. Meatbones stays silent clearly upset by what Bones has said.
“The sun will soon be rising near your home little one we must leave soon” Bones points out seeing the darkness shed on their side of the Earth speeding itself peaceful. Meatbones begrudgingly swims over to Bones and grabs hold of the all too familiar rib which has been his travelling partner for the night. Bones swanders over to the group who were absorbing the view, each one of them awe struck by its beauty and its power to make any giant seem small. Just behind them the ship is floating sombrely with the captain clinging on to it observing the time on his pristine pocket watch as it ticks away he closes it and gently puts it back in his pocket, and like that another trip to the outskirts of the Earth was accomplished for The Captain.
“Alright Ladies and Gentlemen as soul changing as I bet this was for you I must advise that we all get back on board for the return journey, if I can get your names as you come back in I can check my list off to make sure you’re all on board.” The Captain announces as he takes the clipboard and pen from under his arm. The group all start to flounder back as he ticks them off. As the final member of his group enters the ship The Captain double checks his list of names. “Granville” he says to himself. He walks in to the ship and looks at the souls strapping themselves in to their seats. “Granville?” he questions as he tries to find the missing “Granville? No?” he asks again slightly louder.
“Is that the guy who is dressed like a French dandy?” asks the woman who clearly died in the 80’s,possibly in some sort of horrific aerobics accident. The hair and the leg warmers are a bit of a giveaway. “He said something about going off to live with the stars?” she answers with slight confusion. With a deeps sigh he goes in to a locker near the cockpit and pulls out what looks like a gun. He walks to the door and hangs out of it grabbing the door handle to see a what looks like a man swimming in to the infinite horizon. He pulls the gun out and folds out a screen. He aims at the blob, the screen tells him the the target has been locked. He pulls the trigger and A laser shoots out triumphantly and tags the newly made space explorer. T he screen victoriously beeps ‘Target tagged please name’ The captain has a think before typing on the touch screen ‘Space Dandy’ in to the system.
“Are you not going to get him?” asks the 80’s lady worryingly.
“Nope, he can do whatever he wants to do its not up to me how he chooses to spend his afterlife, he’s tagged so we can keep track of him in case he is going in to a black hole or something… strap in were going back in” he checks his pocket watch “ 5 minutes” he says as he smiles with the confidence of a man who clearly loves his job. “Happy trails Space Dandy” he whispers to himself as he folds the screen back in and and puts the tagger back in to its locker domain. “Right, lets get back to the party shall we?”

After a trip to space and a long walk back through the empty snow laden streets Meatbones arrives back at his house. The early morning sun skipping off the roof of his home as the darkness is starting to fade in to light. Bones places his flat hand near his ribs. Meatbones lets go and jumps on to his hand.
“Bones?” he shouts as the hand starts to rise to the yellow glow of the skeletons eye sockets.
“Yes little one” he responds with a low rumble.
“I’m sorry I said those things it’s just… you’re probably my best friend and really I enjoy hanging out with you, you’re not like anyone else I know” he says with tears building up in his eyes.
“Little one, it’s okay. It’s just you need to live your life. You don’t have much time on this world so you need to appreciate what you have here. Your mother, your family, Mr. Trex. You will have plenty of time to explore here when the time comes, and when it does I will be here” Bones explains, his rumbly voice shaking Meatbones. The hands starts to move towards the window of his bedroom and Meatbones pulls it open and climbs off the skeletons hand and in to his room where his body is still laying sound asleep. He glances at the alarm clock sitting on his bedside table. Twenty minutes to seven. He scrambles to the bed to go and lay down but stops before he gets there. He turns around as the glow from Bonses eyes illuminates the room with a tide of yellow.
“Thank you Bones, I’ll miss you” he announces
“And I will miss you… until next time little one” Bones says as the yellow dissapears from his room and the shuddering boom of his footsteps fades away. Meatbones watches as his friend turns from a skeletal form in to a distant blur and then he is gone. Meatbones turns to his bed and hops in to his body which is in a peaceful slumber. He drifts off to sleep dreaming of stars and undead festivities.

“A little bit more to the left, a bit more, a bit more and…done” Shouts the captain as Bones places down the platform for this years space adventures amongst the various day of the dead celebrations.
“Moving stuff is so much easier when you know a giant skeleton” The Captain proclaims as he winks at Bones who feels like he is doing all of the work.
“Oh come off it you get to go in to space for free, go have a break” He shouts as he walks off to instruct his team of helpers on how to put together a launch pad. Bones strolls off through the thick assortment of trees that make up the forest and out in to the streets which are covered in light orange glow of the street lamps. The breeze whistles through his bones as his takes in night time atmosphere the peace, the silence the…
“Excuse me”shouts a voice from below. He looks down to see and elderly man standing on his own flooded by the yellow light of Bonses eyes.
“I don’t suppose you know anybody who could help me? I’m looking for a giant skeleton by the name of Bones. I’m asking on behalf of a Master Meatbones?” he croaks through his sentence.
“I’m Bones yes.” He responds intrigued by the outcome of the conversation.
“Well I’ve been asked to tell you that Master Meatbones did very well on his science homework and passed his space presentation with flying colours” the old man explains.
“That’s great news, thank you for telling…”
“He also said that he fell in love with space and became an engineer for NASA where he met the love of his life Natalie whom he had 3 wonderful children with. He grew old in happiness. He passed away this morning at the age of eighty one surrounded by his wonderful family” The old man describes whilst wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve. There is a silence amongst the two which seems to last for hours.
“I’m glad that life has been so kind to you Meatbones, you’ve been truly lucky” Bones says sympathetically.
“I’m so sorry in never came back Bones, I’m so sorry. I tried many times but I couldn’t get it to work… I…” Meatbones stumbles through his words.
“There is no need to explain. I’m extremely happy for you. Extremely happy.” Bones replies as he bends over to lay his hand flat on the cold ground. Meatbones stumbles on as quickly as his old bones will let him and the hand rises to his all to familiar ribs. Meatbones grabs hold of one as Bones begins to walk off. The rumble of each footstep embracing his memory like an old friend.
“Where are we going Bones?” Meatbones asks as he grips as tightly as he can.
“To a nice place where we can talk, we have a lot of catching up to do.”