"Hey, don't die on me, weirdo," the man on the bench whispered to his friend.
"No I won't, dumbass," his friend chuckled, and the first man now was laughing.
An Hour Later
The same man now stood looking at a coffin. On top of it was a photo of his friend.
"How did you die, man?" he asked in sadness as he viewed his friend's body. "I told you not to die."
He laid his hand on the coffin and gave a sad smile. "You're still smiling, even though you're dead. You dumbass."
He walked over to his friend's parents after his goodbyes and told them that he was truly sorry for their loss.
"What am I supposed to do without my best friend?" he said, mumbling to himself down the street after the funeral. He had done what he had come to do: see his friend for the last time.
He went into a store and bought cigarettes. He came outside and saw a bench, the exact type on which they had sat together. It hurt.
'I still don't know how he died,' he thought. He lit a cigarette and looked at the road. His eyes welled with tears until he couldn't hold them back anymore.
Change of View
My eyes were still blurry, but something felt different. The air felt weird and it smelled bad. Then an arm went around my shoulder.
"Hey, don't cry. You look stupid," a familiar voice said. I turned and couldn't believe my eyes: it was my friend, the one who died.
"This has to be a dream," I said, laughing nervously. "But I wish it was real."
"Bad news-it's not a dream," he said.
"Really? Slap me if it's real."
He slapped my face at once; it stung, and I knew this was real.
"Where are we?" I yelled, holding my cheek. "How are you alive?"
"Ooooh, I'm a ghost here to haunt you!" he said in his best spookiest voice.
I hit him in return and yelled, "Don't touch me, ghost!"
"Ow! My face!" he shouted, clutching at his cheek. But when I hit him, it felt real. He was really here.
"You're alive! Let's go tell your parents!" I said, standing up.
"Too bad, dumbass. We're not even on Earth anymore," he calmly said.
"What?" I stared at him like he was crazy.
"Look around. Does this look like the Philippines? It looks like a messed up version of India," he said, pointing behind me.
I turned and saw a terrible place-garbage all over, what appeared to be blood on the ground, and dead bodies. It was like a nightmare.
"Did we get transported to another world?" I asked, beginning to panic.
"Obviously! What did you think would happen after I died?" He rolled his eyes. "Remember that Korean game you always play?
"Shut up! It's not my fault the characters look good," I said. Then I understood what he meant. "Wait, you mean.?"
"Yep. We're in the world of Project Moon," he said, rising and stretching.
"We're dead," I said, falling to my knees.
"Don't worry, dumbass! I'm here!" he said with a smile, holding a bloody knife.
'Did he just kill someone?', I thought, staring at him in shock. "You're crazy!" I said, backing away.
"Relax. You're not so innocent either. Remember when you brought a knife to school because a first-grader took the last palabok from the cafeteria?" He put the knife away.
I tried to think of something to say, but I couldn't. He was right. I straightened up and nodded. "Okay, you're right."
"So how do we survive?" I asked. His face turned serious.
"We rob people."
"We rob people?
"WE ROB PEOPLE!" he shouted, attracting the attention of people outside on the street.
'This idiot,' I thought. I covered his mouth. "Stop shouting! You'll get us killed! Where are we, anyway?" I looked around, worried someone would come after us.
"Shhh, I know a place where homeless people sleep," he said with a grin, drawing out his knife again.
Confused, I let him take my hand and lead me into a dark alley.
We went behind a wall and waited. Soon enough, we heard footsteps. When the person was close enough, we jumped out.
"Give us your stuff! We're robbing you!" my friend yelled. Then we saw who we were trying to rob a man in a blue coat with a sword at his side. We are in big trouble, I thought. We both knew it.