MICHELLE RICHARDS was a simple girl. She had a simple style, a simple way of living, and was finally at some content with her nonexistenting life.

She wasn't fully at peace with it, but she was better. Especially when Hunter had introduced her to the afterlife support group that was held by Mr. Martin.

She joined a few days after she died. It wasn't easy. She wasn't really opened to telling everyone in the group how she died.

She eventually grew more comfortable with everyone, even with the new people that had joined such has Charley, who died sometime in the 90s'.

Michelle was able to gather a routine. She would watch Jennifer drop her kids off at school, make art, hang out with her dead friends, if they had a group meeting, she'd go, watch Jennifer pick her kids up, and finally spend time with Wally.

She did that same routine almost daily and hadn't bothered to change it. The only person who could change her routine was herself and that was that.

And sometimes, Michelle had her bad days. Everyone had them; but no matter what Michelle was going through, she always found the time to watch Jennifer.

It sounded stalkerish. But she had every right to do so, especially when the women she watched had killed her with no remorse.

And thought it was gloomy outside, Michelle was okay. She was feeling okay today. Of course, she stood at the edge of the school and watched as Jennifer's car pulled towards the building.

Wally and Hunter stood further behind the girl and watched her. Every day Wally would stand behind Michelle as she watched Jennifer. Some days he would be standing close by with just himself and other times he was with Hunter or Charley. On this occasion, it was him and Hunter.

Charley was busy with the new girl, Madison Nears or Maddie for short. The school was holding some sort of event for Maddie to talk about her disappearance.

But since she was here, in this world with Michelle, Wally, Charley, and Hunter, amongst others, to say she had disappeared wouldn't be the case.

"Do you think she'll stop?" Hunter asked, "Stop watching her."

"I hope." Wally said.

It took a couple of days for Michelle to tell Wally what had happened to her.

That Jennifer had killed her that day in the girls' locker room. Every time she told the story she always felt a new emotion, but it was mainly anger and sadness. She would always shed some tears. Sometimes she cried extremely hard and other times she let a few tears shed.

Michelle wanted answers. What did she do to deserve this? Why did Jennifer do it? Was it a game? Was Jennifer set up? What was it?

Michelle's case had gone cold. There was no other evidence of who killed Michelle Richards. So, her file was stuck away. Possibly on a high shelf in a dark police station where no one would care to touch.

She just wanted to know what she'd done to Jennifer and that's why she watched her. She just wanted to know why.

Soon, Jennifer's car fully pulled into view. Her kids getting out of the car and she drove off. It was like that every day and nothing changed.

Wally began to make his way towards Michelle.

Depending on how she looked when she faced him would determine the day that Michelle would have.

A smile, a frown, tears, a blank expression. Those looks sometimes had daily rotations, sometimes she would have the same look back to back. It was like this ever since he'd shown up in 1984.

Michelle finally turned and saw Wally, a smile on her face.

It was going to be a good day for Michelle Richards and Wally Clark was heavily grateful.

He jogged towards her and threw his arm over her shoulder. Michelle held her smile and laced her fingers with his.

It was strange that a couple had ended up in the same place and as sad as it sounded, it was great for Wally and Michelle to have each other. No one else in the support group had that. Absolutely no one.

They knew that they were lucky in that way. To have each other, to be with each other for as long as they possibly could. They had been on this regime for almost 37 years.

"What's on the agenda today?" Wally asked.

"Same as always." Michelle smiled.

Wally removed his arm from Michelle's shoulder and took both of her hands pulling her in close.

"How about... we switch up today? Do something a little different."

Wally only wanted to change Michelle's routine because he wanted her to feel more free. To feel like she had more freedom than she knew. And it was because she did. She didn't have to stick to the same thing everyday. He wanted he to know that.

He couldn't stop her from watching Jennifer every morning and afternoon. Everyone had tried and nothing worked.

But he could get her to try something different. Something that wasn't apart of her schedule.

Michelle pursed her lips and squinted, "What do you have in mind?"

Wally smile couldn't have grown any bigger. Michelle had dipped her toes into some sort of change and he was ecstatic.

"Are you fucking serious?" He asked, his smile never dropping, "Holy shit. Come on."

Wally pulled on Michelle's arm and the two of them ran of to wherever Wally's mind had thought of first.

He hadn't planned on her saying anything but "no", so he hadn't thought about what he wanted to do with Michelle if she'd said yes.

With that said, the two of them found themselves in the gym.

"Wait right there." Wally said.

Michelle only nodded and Wally ran off to grab a basketball.

He returned and passed the ball towards Michelle. She completely missed the ball but ran after it. Once she caught it, she returned to her spot and stood there, holding the ball close and brushing the hair out of her face.

"All right." Wally smiled, "Try to make the ball go into the hoop."

Michelle nodded and bounced the ball. She threw it incorrectly, but it hit the rim, so, it was close enough.

Wally chased after the ball and made his way towards Michelle once it was in his hands.

For a couple of hours, this was all they did. They passed the ball to each other, threw it into the basket (some more than others), and he would guide her on how she could make better baskets when they would play again.

"All right everyone." Mr. Martin called, "Let's get started."

Mr. Martin waved his hand in the air and caught the attention of the two teens. Wally made sure to tell Michelle that their game wasn't over and the two of them made their way towards their respective seats to start the group session.

"I'm glad you decided to join us." He smiled, "I'm Mr. Martin. We have a new student with us today. Um, would you like to introduce yourself?"

"I'm good." She paused before sighing, continuing on, "Um, sure. Hey. I'm, uh, Madison Nears, but everyone calls me Maddie."

"Hi, Maddie." The small majority of the group spoke.

"Welcome to Split River High Afterlife Support Group." Mr. Martin smiled, "It takes a lot of courage to be here, especially when you're new."

"Thanks."

"Would you like to tell us a little about yourself?"

"What do you need to know?"

"How'd you die?" Rhonda asked.

"Ok, Rhonda." Mr. Martin called, "Why don't we try to raise our hands if we're going to ask a question."

Maddie sighed, but answered Rhonda's question, "Uh, one minute I was ditching study hall, and then the next I'm here. But I don't know who did this to me."

"You were murdered?" Michelle asked.

"Welcome to the club." Rhonda said, playing with her nails, "The party of two has expanded."

"Can we maybe exchange names first so Maddie feels a little more welcomed?" Mr. Martin asked, but his question fell flat.

"I don't know, exactly." Maddie said.

"Exactly?" Hunter questioned.

"Look, they haven't found my body yet. But I know that there was blood on the walls of the boiler room, and I'm here now." Maddie said.

"Huh?" Wally sighed.

"Huh?" Maddie repeated, "What's huh? What? Is that— is that weird or something?  Not knowing?"

"It's definitely a first." Hunter said, slouching down in his seat.

"So, what do you remember, cherry pop?" Rhonda asked.

Maddie didn't answer her question. She only glanced down at her hands and Mr. Martin began to speak, saying that Maddie was clearly uncomfortable about what had happened to her, though, she hadn't had much memory of it.

Soon, the meeting ended and everyone had dispersed.

Wally and Michelle ventured the hallways, talking about nonsense and whatever memories that they had of the past.

"Hey, there's the new girl." Wally said and began jogging towards her.

Michelle followed behind and the two of them met Maddie in the middle of the hallway.

"Now's not really a great time." Maddie said.

"Wally Clark." He smiled, sticking his hand out, "Class of '84. I was laid out by a tackle during my senior year homecoming game. Never made it off the field. Nice to meet you."

A beat of silence fell between them and once Maddie hadn't said anything, Wally put his hand down and rested them on Michelle's shoulder, pushing her in front of him.

"This is Michelle Richards." He smiled, "Class of '84."

Michelle have a small smile towards Maddie who only glanced her way. Michelle being thankful that he hadn't spilled her story as easily as he did his own.

"Maddie. Current unsolved mystery. Pleasure." Maddie furrowed her brows and faced the couple again, "Wait, Wally Clark?"

"Yeah." He smiled.

"Why does that sound familiar?"

"Oh, well, they named the stadium after me."

"Ah. That must feel nice. Look, I can't really chat right now, because I've got some holes in my memory to fill."

"Hey. Well, that's why we're here." Wally said.

"It is?" Michelle questioned.

"It is." He smiled, "We can— we can totally help you fill your holes."

"Excuse me?" Maddie questioned.

"What I think he's saying, is that, you don't have to do this by yourself." Michelle corrected, "We can help you figure things out."

"Ok. I can handle myself. And I don't really think I need to take advice from someone who looks like they're headed to aerobics class."

Wally and Michelle looked down at the boys' clothes. He was dressed in a letterman jacket, a pair of shorts with joggers underneath, and his Nike shoes.

"Yeah, right? I mean, I'm glad I had this in my locker, or else I would have been rocking shoulder pads. Which would've sucked, because I think those are totally out now." Wally ranted, "I do wish I brought my Walkman to school that day. Or clean socks. Or deodorant."

"Wait. Were either of you missing anything when you came here?" Maddie asked.

"I mean, other than a pulse and a heartbeat? No. No, not really." Wally said, "Did you?"

"Um, I have a small dent on the back of my head, but no, just missing what was once flat." Michelle answered, "Why?"

"My phone and my backpack, they were with me. And I'm missing my necklace too."

"Huh." Wally sighed.

"Can you please stop saying huh?" Maddie asked.

Soon, the bell rang. Michelle didn't bother saying goodbye to the duo and rushed down the stair of the school building and outside to see Jennifer pull into the school yard.

"Where'd she go?" Maddie asked.

Wally sighed, "That's her story."

Two other people began walking past the two and Maddie began to follow, but Wally had grabbed her upper arm to stop her.

"Maybe it's a good thing you don't remember everything. Ok? Sometimes I wish I could forget. And I know Michelle's the same way."

He soon let Maddie go and followed Michelle's trail.

He jogged towards her and just in time to see Michelle turning away from the parking lot.

"Did you make it?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded, "Always the same."

He reached his hand out and she grabbed it, "We've got more basketball to play. If you're down."

Michelle gave him a small nod and made their way into the gym.

AWHILE HAD passed and Maddie came marching into the gym. The group had been sitting in the same area as they were during her first support group meeting.

Mr. Martin caught her eye and he smiled, "We— we just started the session."

Maddie's focus wasn't on Mr. Martin though. It was was on Wally and Michelle.

"You want to help me?" She asked, "Fine. Help me. I need either of you to force a confession out of someone. You know, rattle some chains. Inhabit his body. Scare the life out of him. Whatever it takes."

She said, but nothing was said back to her, "What's the problem?" She asked, "I need you to channel all your ghostly energy and dangle this sack of shut of a window until he cracks."

"We can't do that Maddie." Michelle said, "That's not how this life works. If it did someone would've done it by now."

"Yeah. Maybe you're all fine just accepting this, but I'm not. I need to know what happened." Maddie said.

"We're not in some haunted house, chick." Rhonda said, "Maybe this doesn't jive with your fantasy of what this should be, but we're quite literally a world away. We're not there. We're here. Stuck."

"No. Not good enough. You know, if my friends can't get the truth out of him, then I have to."

"How are you gonna do that?" Michelle asked, "This is all new for you, but not to the rest of us. You can't just spook him and get what you want. That's what this group is for. To talk."

"I wasn't ready to die. Talking about it won't change anything." Maddie said, "If I have to search this entire town for answers, I'll do it. I'm not willing to just give up, like the rest of you."

"We're not giving up." Hunter said, "You don't know half of our stories. You can't say we're giving up and you don't know us."

"He's right, Maddie." Mr. Martin said, "This isn't giving up. We're moving forward."

"Yeah?" Maddie questioned, "Well, for a guy who's supposed to be getting people out of here, this still looks like a pretty crowded room. I'm getting the hell out of this place."

Maddie quickly left the gym and left the group in silence.

Michelle began running her hands up and down her legs and it was noticed by pretty much everyone.

"Michelle." Wally called under his breath.

She finally stood up saying she only needed a second and left the gym.

Wally soon stood to his feet and Mr. Martin called out his name, "30 minutes. We give her 30 minutes."

Wally turned back towards the exit. Michelle had been long gone and he soon sat back down, waiting for her to return.

Michelle sat in the hallway. Her hands gently rubbing the sides of her neck to try and calm herself down.

Maddie's words had hit hard and she tried not to let it get to her. It didn't matter whether or not Maddie meant it, she said it and it affected her.

Michelle had gone years without her case being solved. She'd watched Jennifer for years. She watched Jennifer walk across the stage, she saw Jennifer get accepted into college, she watched as Jennifer dropped her kids off. She wanted answers. She wanted to know the truth.

But there was absolutely nothing that Michelle could do. She had ideas after ideas, but in reality, she could only stand and watch.

Michelle heard footsteps running past her several times before someone sat down bedside her.

She looked over and saw Maddie sitting next to her. Michelle continued to rub her hand's gently against her neck.

The two of them didn't say anything. They only sat in silence.

Michelle sighed, "Tried jumping the fence?"

"Yeah. I don't get it."

"You can't leave. You try and you'll pop right back where you died." Michelle softly chuckled, "I did it three times before it finally set in."

"Where did you want to go?"

Another beat of silence passed. She wasn't quite keen on telling her story to Maddie, especially when she belittled her situation moments prior.

"My, um, my best friend." Michelle answered, "I wanted know what she was going to do without me."

Maddie watched as Michelle ran her hands against her neck. She would occasionally pause to just rest her hands there to calm herself.

"Are you apart of that murder party that Rhonda mentioned?" Maddie asked.

Michelle only nodded and Maddie could sense that it was still a sensitive subject for her.

Michelle finally looked over at Maddie, "You're not the only one trying to figure shit out. You're lucky that people are looking for you. I know it's hard. We all know it, but you're not alone. That's what the support group is for. It may seem small and pointless right now, but it helps."

"Does it help you?"

"Sometimes." She answered, "But you have to try. My opinion doesn't matter. It's up to you to go and see if it works for you."

"I'll go back." Maddie said, "It's not like I have anywhere else to be."

Michelle took one last look at Maddie and the two of them stood to their feet and made their way back into the gym.

They had heard Rhonda telling part of her story as they made their way back to their seats.

"You were murdered by your guidance counselor?" Maddie asked.

"Yeah. Guided me straight to the light."
Rhonda chuckled.

"Michelle, Maddie, welcome back." Mr. Martin said as the two of them took their seats, "Uh, we were having a discussion about literature. Got a bit derailed."

Maddie turned her focus towards Rhonda once more, "How can you laugh at it?"

"What, you want me to cry?"

"Ok." Wally interrupted, "You gotta— you gotta try to think about it as encouraging, right? Like, at some point, you'll be able to laugh about what happened to you."

"Or not. Uh, but look. Either way, holding on to the past— what happened or didn't— can only hold you back." Mr. Martin said, "And that's what we're working to learn here together. Right, Rhonda?"

"Mm." She nodded.

Mr. Martin continued, "Now, I don't know why you got diverted from the highway of life. But I really do believe that the easiest way to miss you exit is if you're always staring in the rearview mirror."

"He's right, Maddie." Charley spoke.

"Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road." Rhonda quoted.

"Everything ahead of me." Maddie repeated.

Soon, the gym doors opened and people piling in.

"What is it?" Maddie asked.

"I think it's your memorial." Wally answered.

"Vigil." Michelle corrected, "They don't know where her body is remember?"

"No body, no burial." Charley added.

Maddie stood and saw that her mom had shown. She seemed shocked that she'd been there.

At this point, people still thought that Maddie had been missing instead of dead.

Maddie soon made her way into the crowd as her mother began speaking, but her mother didn't get very far as she stumbled over her words and couldn't finish what she wanted to say.

Maddie left the gym and nightfall fell upon the school.

Michelle laid out in the middle of the gym. The group of ghost who lived at the school had the places they would sleep at night.

Whenever she was able to grasp the fact that she was in purgatory and possibly never leaving this school, she made her way towards the drama department and found one of the prop bed to sleep on.

Though a prop, the mattress was soft, not as soft as the one she use to have at home, but it was better than nothing. She soon shared that prop bed with Wally.

But she laid in the middle of the gym, her arms and legs spread out and her eyes shut.

Today was different. She had never had a day like this before and it threw her off. She didn't know whether or not she liked it. She didn't know if she liked Maddie yet, but there was time for people to change.

The gym doors soon opened, but Michelle didn't move.

Wally soon joined her side. The two of them sat in silence. It was peaceful, probably the first sign of peace that Michelle felt all day.

"Are you okay?" Wally asked.

"I've had better dead days, but yeah. I'm fine." She sighed, "I'll be fine."

Wally sat upright and Michelle followed his lead. He held his hand with hers and she soon fell into his touch. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and he rubbed his one hand up and down her back.

This is what many of the others couldn't have. This was a different type of love. Of course, Michelle loved being around the others even when Rhonda was a bitch sometimes, but the love that Wally and Michelle had wasn't comparable to the others.

That was the difference.

They had each other and they were lucky to have that.

— lucy has something to say !!

the way ghost are almost written differently in every show is insane what do you mean these ghost can eat

anyway just wanna say that i'll try and update this story every saturday :)

also i'd do anything for simon he's so lucy's bbg besides wally xoxoxoxo

milo manheim army is strong and i declare myself as leader!

bye :))))