Luna and the Snowman sat on the edge of a sidewalk, watching the far right of the bridge where there was swirling, whirling mist, waiting for someone to come through. Luna didn’t know how long they waited before she got a stick and pulled up some grass. The man didn’t move an inch or even blink.

Finally, she sighed loudly and fell backward on the ground. She’d never lived so long without a television in her life and it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, but it wasn’t great either.

“How long until Pink comes?”

“I can’t tell you that because I don’t know.”

There were a lot of things he didn’t know.

“I would’ve thought that someone who’d been dead for so long he forgot his name would know more stuff.”

“I know a lot of stuff,” he said, “but almost none of it is about this.”

“That means some of it is about this. What do you know?” She took him by the collar and shook him, not with any real force, but enough to make sure he knew she was serious.

She thought he was laughing at her. His eyes sparkled again.

Well, that was alright. She didn’t like him looking actually dead.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“I-” she frowned. “Boo, that’s not fair. That’s the one thing I don’t know. I’m old enough to stay in the room by myself and I can use the microwave.”

“A microwave?” He removed tiny fists from his person. “It’s been a long time since I used one of those.”

She sat beside him again. “Do you have to eat when you’re dead? Am I going to get hungry?”

“I don't believe so.” He was quiet for a moment then asked another question. “Are you old enough to go to school?”

“I haven’t been to school, but Pink got me a backpack. I had it on when she dropped me out the window. I bet my phone broke.”

“That’s too bad,” he spoke gently and then said, almost to himself, “That must mean you’re very young.”

When he didn’t speak again, she looked at him and he was staring off across the bridge, across the water. There was nothing to see out there.

She stared with him until a movement caught her eye. She stood, but he didn’t move, and it wasn’t Pink. She sat down again as he stood up, furious.

“Huh?” she looked up at him. He was so angry! His blue eyes turned black and his hands shook.

The person walking didn’t see them, like he said Pink wouldn’t, and it wasn’t long before he lost all his steam. His posture relaxed and he sat once more.

“Why’d you get so mad?” she asked.

“I’ve seen that man before, many times.”

“Is he a bad person?”

“I believe he is.” Even as he said it though, she didn’t think he sounded very convincing, as if he wasn’t sure he meant it.

Luna didn’t think she’d ever seen a bad person before so she got up and walked across the street to look at him up close.

He didn’t look bad to her.

“Hi!” she said, jumping up and down in front of him.

She heard the snowman groan from all the way across the street.

“Let him pass, Luna,” he called.

Nope.

“Welcome to Hell!” She grabbed his hand and he stopped walking. “Lookie there,” she held his hand palm side up. “You’ve got a first-class ticket to the first circle. I don’t know much about it, but I think it’s over there,” she pointed to the seated man.

Why was everyone around here so slow with the blinking? She was pretty sure she’d been blinking like a normal person the whole time.

“I will lead the way!”

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He came with her, but not because he seemed to understand what was happening. That was okay. She still didn’t get it either.

“Luna,” Snowman huffed. “I told you to leave him.”

“You’re not my mother. Anyway, you said people walking wouldn’t see us and he sees us. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he definitely knows he's here.”

“That’s because-”

“Hell?”

“Ohhh, he’s coming around! Yeah! Yup! Hell! Or, well, probably not because it’s not bad so far and I think it’s supposed to be the worst. But Snowman here said he’s seen you before and you’re a bad person, so I think if you are then this must be Hell. Maybe he’s wrong. Or maybe Hell isn’t that bad for me because I’m a kid? Ooo, or I bet this isn’t Hell. It might be purgatory. The waiting room before Heaven or Hell.”

“Snowman? Snowman? I might not remember my name, Luna, but that is certainly not it!”

He hadn’t been this animated the whole time she’d known him.

However long that was.

“Well, if you don’t remember then you can’t know for sure.”

“Hell?”

“Yeah!” She looked up at him. The new stranger. He was the exact opposite of Snowman. Black hair and hazel eyes. Not the exact opposite. He was tall, too. “Or the land of the dead. There's no one else here right now and we’re waiting for my mother. Her name’s Pink. She died in an explosion.”

Something in the new guy snapped. “Dead?” His eyes narrowed at her and then Snowman. “Dead?” he repeated, ripping his hand out of hers.

“Hey!” she shouted after him. “Where are you going?”

Snowman grabbed her arm as she tried to follow. “Leave him alone, Luna. His greatest ambition is to outrun death and you told him he died.”

She blinked.

“Whoops.”

And what a whoops it was! He was flipping out over by the swing set.

“How was I supposed to know that was his dream?”

“You weren’t. It’s fine.”

It didn’t look fine.

“He deserves it, trust me.”

“Mmmm,” she didn’t know about that. Did anyone deserve to have all their hopes and dreams crushed in an instant?

“Luna, he does. If anyone does it’s him.”

“I don’t know-”

“That’s because you don’t know him. He’ll bounce back until,” he thought for a moment, “Ink Pen ends it all and even then, he’ll be alright.”

“Like you?”

He nodded with a sad smile. “More than I want him to be, yes.” He squeezed her hand. “But also like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re the same, Luna.”

“Is he the same, too?”

“Not exactly...”

“How’s he different?”

He frowned and said, “You must not be too far past two.”

“I’m not two years old!” she shouted, affronted. There was no way she was two!

“I didn’t say you were, I said-”

“Is this death?!”

Snowman was interrupted by the angry dead man who was looking for someone to blame for the loss of his hopes and dreams. Apparently, the little girl wasn’t the one he thought was at fault, or not the most at fault; he glared at her like she might be in on it though.

The man held Snowman with more force than she was able to, his fists were strong enough to pull Snowman off the ground. Then again, he didn’t fight it; instead, he seemed resigned, like there was no escaping this fate. The fate of being shaken around by a dead guy.

And who was Snowman? He kept changing the subject and dodging the question and it kept working.

“Gosh he’s good,” she muttered.

Then, suddenly, the dead man with hair black as night was gone in a flash, flying through the swing set and landing on his back atop a picnic table that wasn’t there before.

“Holy shit you’re a superhero!” Luna exclaimed. “I can’t call you Snowman anymore, you need a cooler name! No, wait, maybe Snowman is your superhero name!”

“My name isn’t-”

“Snowman, listen, since you keep not answering my questions and asking me ones instead...Oh! Wait a second!”

Dead man was back and madder than ever. His whole face was as red as a firetruck.

“In this corner-”

“Luna-”

“Deadman! He planned to live forever, but fate had other ideas!” she made her voice as deep as it could go in imitation of the movie announcer guy. “This summer-”

“Luna, stop-”

“He will face his greatest challenge yet in Snowman! Already dead for thousands of years he’s jaded and doesn’t even remember his own name. Who will win? Will anyone win? Maybe everyone has already lost. Rated R for blood, curse words, and other stuff.”

Deadman was staring at her as hard as Snowman, but with less exasperation.

“Yes,” Snowman said, “You are dead.”

“But, hey!” she said. “So are we! It’s not like you’re all alone or anything.”

Deadman looked like he wished he was all alone.

“I’m not dead Luna,” Snowman said.

“What? Then how are you here?”

“The same way you are. My body is lying somewhere, comatose until I decide to return to it.”

“Wait a minute, I’m not dead?!”

White hair swayed as he shook his head. “Life cannot die, what it can do is move elsewhere.”

While Luna failed to put the pieces of the puzzle together, Deadman did not.

All at once he seized the child.

Snowman lunged for them, but it was too late. Deadman had taken hold of her and in the moment Luna gasped, her eyes opened to the ceiling of a hospital room.