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says. "Looks a bit like you, too."
    "We're dead, you know? We're all dead. And we're never going to see any of them ever again,"
    Liz cries.
    "Who knows, Lizzie? Perhaps we will."
    "Easy for you to say. You chose this." As soon as the words escape her mouth, Liz regrets them.
    Curtis waits a moment before he responds. "I was a drug addict. I didn't want to die."
    "I'm sorry."
    Curtis nods without really looking at Liz.
    "I'm really sorry," she says. "It was a stupid thing for me to say. I only thought it, because a lot of your songs are kind of, well, dark. But I still shouldn't assume things."
    "Apology accepted. It's a good thing to know how to apologize properly. Very few people know how to do it." Curtis smiles, and Liz returns his smile. "And the truth is, some days I did want to die, maybe a little. But not most days."
    Liz thinks about asking him if he still wants drugs now that he's dead, but she decides the question isn't appropriate. "People will be really sad you're gone," Liz says.
    "Will they?"
    "Well," she says, "I'm sad you're gone."
    "But I'm where you are. So to you, I'm not gone, am I?"
    "No, I guess not." Liz laughs. It feels strange to laugh. How can anything be funny now?
    "Do you think we'll be on this boat forever? I mean, is this all there is?" Liz asks.
    "I suspect not, Lizzie."
    "But how do you know?"
    "Perhaps my mind's playing tricks on me," says Curtis, "but I think I can see the shore, love."
    Liz stands to see over the binoculars. In the distance, she can see what appears to be land. The sight momentarily comforts her. If you have to be dead, it is better to be somewhere, anywhere, than nowhere at all.

Part II: The Book of the Dead

Welcome to Elsewhere
    We're here!" Thandi is looking out the upper porthole when Liz enters the cabin. She jumps down from the top bunk and throws her solid arms around Liz, spinning her about the cabin until both girls are out of breath.
    Liz sits down and gasps for air. "How can you be so happy when we're . . . ?" Her voice trails off.
    "Dead?" Thandi smiles a little. "So you finally figured it out."
    "I just got back from my funeral, but I think I sort of knew before."
    Thandi nods solemnly. "It takes as long as it takes," she says. "My funeral was awful, thanks for asking. They had me made up like a clown. I can't even talk about what they did to my hair."
    Thandi lifts up her braids. In the mirror, she examines the hole in the back of her head. "It's definitely getting smaller," she decides before lowering her braids.
    "Aren't you at all sad?" Liz asks.
    "No point in being sad that I can see. I can't change anything. And I'm tired of being in this little room, Liz, no offense."
    An announcement comes over the ship's PA system: "This is your captain speaking. I hope you've enjoyed your passage. On behalf of the crew of the SS Nile, welcome to Elsewhere. The local temperature is 67 degrees with partly sunny skies and a westerly breeze. The local time is 3:48 p.m. All passagers must now disembark. This is the last and only stop."
    "Don't you wonder what it's like out there?" Liz asks.
    "The captain just said. It's warm with a breeze."
    "No, not the weather. I meant, everything else."
    "Not really. It is what it is, and all the wondering in the world isn't gonna change it." Thandi holds out her hand to help Liz off the bed. "You coming?"
    Liz shakes her head. "The ship's probably super crowded. I think I'll wait here a bit, just until the halls clear out."
    Thandi sits next to Liz on the bed. "I'm in no particular rush."
    "No, you go on ahead," says Liz. "I want to be by myself."
    Thandi looks into Liz's eyes. "Don't you stay in here forever."
    "I won't. I promise."
    Thandi nods. She is almost out the door when Liz calls out to her, "Why do you think they put us together anyway?"
    "Beats me." Thandi shrugs. "We were probably the only two sixteen-year-old girls who died of acute head traumas that day."
    "I'm fifteen," Liz reminds her.
    "Guess that was the best they