So here's my beloved first story since long ago!! Please be kind, and feedback, I'd love to hear about you!!

As always, I don't own the celebrities used on this story for my own entertainment. They might have a little voice that tells them about a brown eyed girl, paler than anything mexican girl, but no, they don't know me, sadly. The other characters except Claudia are slightly based on a cast call I made time ago, but most of the drama is my own. I love drama. All the situation that happens in the story is also mine, everything is fictional and it's all made for my personal fun and stress healing... Also, the songs used on this fic are owned by their own interpeters and I just use them because I love them so much! The title of this story and the words that appear on the banners belong to Iron and Wine "Such Great Heights" the original song is from Postal Service. Amazing song, you'd listen to it..!!

Well, that's all for now...

:D

Let's start

Ps. I need a Beta Reader, so if someone is interested... Pm me please :)


Characters and Banners

Claudia - Main Character


Airefeaiel

Antigone Cooper (I changed your name hope you don’t mind) – Claudia’s older sister

Ambrosia

Violet Wolfe – Claudia’s cousin

Blondie:

Nyla Flynn – Claudia’s Roommate

Jaime Girl:

Rosalie Ryan – Actrees and Claudia’s best friend

Mena

Dixie Ryan – Rosalie’s sister. Claudia’s roommate

Darinithlien :

Claire Robertson – The girl next door

Felonaz:

Fiona Ni Dhomhnaill – Actrees at Lost

Cat

Serena Cooper (I changed your name I hope you don’t mind) – Claudia’s sister

Bunny:

Carrie Miller – Nurse at Violet and Nyla’s hospital

4everElijah

Allison Sutton – Elijah’s Assistant

Kloey

Elizabeth “Andy” Andrews – Drummer at World Without Sundays

Sammi

Liliana Crooke – Claudia’s Boss

Kit-Kat

Kathleen Nightly – Orlando’s Assistant.




Such Great Heights



I’ve found three things had changed since I left: Friends is over, Bush is still as president and my sister moved to America.

I can’t really say that I’m guilty of the two first things, even if I can’t really say if my lack of obsession over Friends would have change their destiny, but I’m kind of guilty about Claudia. She left Spain because I left her in the first place.

But I think she is fine now. She still misses me sometimes, and I’m missing her all the time. But we can’t really do a thing about it. Sometimes I try to talk to her and she blocks me out of her life. Other times I’d appear like memories but she closes her door in my face. I even try to make her remember me with sweet thoughts and essences, but she still doesn’t like me. I can’t blame her, I’d do the same in her situation. But she’s my sister, my little sister Claudia, and I’m Antigone, and I died three years ago.

What?? WHAAAT?

She died?

No... must read it again, Im so confused now!

But at least I can enjoy the reading treat twice. I missed your stories, mi querida!

And I'm the first to reply, woot!

Yay! I'm really exited that yu posted this!!! :lol:
Can't wait for more!

Wow, this sounds amazing Andie! I can't wait for more and thanks for putting me in the cast!
:love:
~Kit-Kat~

Oh me! Dead? Have I read correctly? Is this story going to be told by a dead character? This is quite an interesting point of view!

Wheeeow!
:tehee:

First of all...SQUEEEEEEE! It's up. You posted.

Second of all, lovely banners. Thank you my dear and thank you for letting me have a part in your story.

Enough of all that chit chat, let's get to the part that made my jaw drop! Antigone is dead?! And she is the narrator for the story?! What an interesting take. I'm super excited to see how this all plays out.

Ooooh...Andie, you tricksy little author you. ^_^

WAHHH!!!! :eek: I love this song! *gasps and smacks herself for not answer the castcall that she guesses must have been at some point* Mmmph... *mock weeping*

Great, great begining. I love it when POVs are unusual :love: I will probably be haunting this fic as well (with a post here and there)- sorry that I can't be around on a regular basis- classes and work keep me from doing so. Still, loved the begining, and the banners aussi.

Tchao! *gazes longingly at banners* le sigh...

I'm so excited that you're up and running again, Andie! :comeon: And the banners are absolutely lindo!! And, I looove that song. :bow:

As for the story.. :wacko: I love this take on it. Don't think I've ever heard of a story told by a dead one.. but wow. Talk about a shocker! :eek:

Post more soon, hun!

:x
Samma

I'M DEAD?????

:eek:

:heartbeat: Pat

wow...starting from the point of view of a dead girl. I like it! Please write more soon Andie!!

Chloe xxx

OMG, wow. What an opening. That was killer, love, seriously, can't wait for more! :)

Thanks a lot for all your replies!! I'm so glad you liked my little twist, and if I'm lucky, hopefully you'd like the rest of the story :)

I'm glad to thank Blondie for accepting the tough work of bein a Beta for a Mexican girl, I love her for that :wub:

Hopefully I'll post some more soon :)

:love:
Andie

That was awesome and just incredible. I can't wait to see what happened and everything. Hope there is more soon. Keep up the great work your writing is terrific.

Ciao

I forgot the rules in the last banners :lol: I have problems remembering numbers.. bah for me! But here they're the new banners that follow the rules like good banners :D ok.. I'm babbling, here they are.

Thanks so much for the part!!! :)
I love the banners and the first part... I can't believe she's dead... such a different start!!
Can't wait until the next chapter :)

Andie! *screams and tackles* I am so happy to see this up! Sorry I did not reply sooner, I was stalking our hobbit in New Orleans. :yes: But, I am super pumped to see a new story by you. And, this one has me intrigued from the start! That is such an awesome twist...the narration coming from a dead girl. I find it very interesting the way she keeps trying to get Claudia to think of her, yet she always blocks her from her mind. Tres cool! Cannot wait for more!

^^ WHICH HOBBIT? Why I never know about hobbitses near here? I'd totally go there, I'd push me to do it.. bah, this is boring! Hope you had a great time!!

Blonie, :love: thanks for beta reading this for me :) I hope it didn't give you trouble :D

Lovies :wub:
Andie

Prologue

True, it may seem like a stretch
But it's thoughts like this
That catch my troubled head
When you're away, when I am missing you to death

I should explain how I died in the first place. I didn’t die alone; I think that was what affected her the most. She lost the most important people in her life all in the same second. There was a terrorist attack at Madrid where Claudia, her fiancé Alfonso, our roomies Martina and Veronica, and I all used to live and attended college. Some bombs exploded in different apartment buildings in the city, one of them was ours.


Claudia is my little sister and sometimes it felt like not only was I her older sister but also her mom. We have another sister, Serena. She is the middle/sandwich child, and the one who was never there for the family. After mom died, it was as if she just kind of vanished from our lives, we were nothing more than a forgotten memory. Our mom died when I was 12 and Claudia was only 7. It was at that point that Serena just pushed us out of her mind, and our dad was suddenly trapped in the classic and vicious cycle of attempting to balance work and his family. Not surprisingly, work won out and his daughters were forgotten. So I raised Claudia with my own knowledge. I was the one she ran to when she became a woman and it was me who cried by her side when she was first heartbroken. And when she met Alfonso, I was the one who saw that they were meant to be.


They met each other through Serena, oddly enough, when she was in Madrid visiting. We rarely saw her during her “visits” because she was so busy with her nightlife and friends. One night, Claudia went out with her, and she met Alfonso, the only one who wasn’t drunk in the group. Let’s just say that they clicked almost immediately and he became Claudia’s new attraction.


She spent half of her time with him; the other half was divided by school and us, her friends. I didn’t mind the change since I was busy working in my new job, but I could see the changes and I was pleased. A year later they were engaged and they moved in together to his apartment. But destiny is cruel sometimes. The week of the attacks, Alfonso was painting their apartment so they temporarily moved to our apartment. Just for those days. Claudia never forgave herself for convincing Alfonso to go to her old apartment instead of a hotel room. He didn’t want to and she didn’t want him to pay for a hotel. He died, and she didn’t. Tell her how to forget that.


Claudia heard the explosions while she was on her way to college. We lived only a few blocks away from campus so she used to walk there every morning to her 7AM class. At that time I was already dead. It all happened so quickly, too quickly for me to even recall how the pain felt. I hadn’t even realized what happened, and before my mind could quickly process the events I was already viewing Claudia from high above her. It didn’t hurt. Not then. It was only when I saw Claudia standing there, the tears welling up in her eyes as she saw the building engulfed in yellow and red flames, and the pain she was feeling, the heartache searing through her chest was apparent That is when it hurt for me. Only in a different way; I couldn’t rest in peace as I watched her in pain. I just can’t do it, so I decided to stay.


After the whole deadly wave ended, with funerals, tears and hugs, my sister stood in the world half dead and half alive. That’s when Violet, our only American cousin, came to rescue her. Violet convinced my dad to let Claudia go back with her to America, so that she could finish college and recover part of her life. My dad didn’t want to at first. He had lost me and Serena, only he’d lost her long ago. He didn’t want to let go his only daughter, and even more so, his baby girl. But he did. And I’m glad he did.


Claudia moved to California, more specifically to Santa Monica. Violet hoped that the sun, the beach and the hot Californian boys would help her cousin come out of her hole. At first it was useless. Claudia would go to school and focused only on that. She barely had friends, with the exception Violet and her roomies, Nyla and Dixie. Slowly, she let herself come out of that hole, but the pain and heartache resurfaced every time her mind traveled back to the past. Despite that, Claudia managed to put a rigid wall between her present and her past. She tried to forget about us. But instead she boxed up the all the pain and loss, and nothing was forgotten. She is a girl with a beautiful broken smile.


I cried in happiness when she managed to finish her double major in Music and Entertainment Marketing. And I jumped up and down when she got her first job. But I still wait for the time she lets herself go from the pain she still hides. Maybe someday I’ll be able to rest in peace, and maybe someday she’ll be able to live in peace.

They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now," they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now," but we'll stay*


*Iron and Wine lyrics: Such Great Heights

I just wanted to add: Amber, I hate you! Bah! You just don't get comfortable with the fact that you flirted with him against my own hopes, but you go back there to gain his heart back...

Well, I didnt add as I should, I saw the pictures you took of him, and I must add, he was smiling to you :lol: You're so lucky to meet Elijah again..

Well, what can I say about it? I'd the same, we're family after all..

:love:

You know I'd not be able to hate you :noangel:

ANdie

Oh wow. I'm so used to awesomely cute romance from you, Andie, but you're outdoing yourself with this one! Really, this is beautifully written, and I'm already in love with these two characters. Really, really great work love! :)

I found that incredibly amusing! lol

I'm crying, this is so sad, but great writing and so intriguing!

More soon hun!

:heartbeat: Pat

I adore this line!! It says so much in so few words!!! But the whole chapter was just beautiful. It as depressingly heartwrenching, but beautiful none the less.

I love this first chappie, its a good way to get to know the first few characters.

Can't wait for more!!

Chloe xxx

*shivers*

I remember it well when madrid was attacked, I was at school and, actually, at a Spanish class. I remember one of our teachers got in and said very quickly in Spanish that the train station of Atocha had been blown up...

maybe it's not the event you are referring to, but as I read i remembered about it sharply and suddenly i wondered about all the people who lost a loved one there.

They say death is harder for the ones who stay behind, alive... but how terrible it must be, to see someone you love suffer and weep because you're gone!

It was so touching, hon.

I'm so glad the chapter had the result I was hoping, It's going to get happier, really, hehe with the time, but it was only the introduction for the characters :) So glad you liked it.

And Mena, I thought about Spain with the attacks but the fic's attacks never happened, I think that I'd not be able to use a real thing on a fic because of the pain it caused, I don't know...

But I'm so glad you're liking it!!

But Blondie has credit, she knows what I meant to say every time :wub:

Andie

Gah! I can't believe I didn't see this was up!! *dies* :doh:
:cry: This is really pretty heartbreaking... I love that we're hearing about the main character from her sister, I think that's a really original and very cool way of doing a prologue! I'm looking forward to the first chapter ^_^
And I love my banner to pieces!!! :love:

Oh wow. As someone who has just lost someone who was very close to them for no reason at all, I have to say, this chapter nearly made me cry. I'd like to think that when we lose people, they are still able to see us from wherever it is that they go. -_- Somehow makes it easier to bear. I'm really glad that you decided to write this. :yes:

Pffffttt.... :blush: Andie you are giving me far too much credit. I just tweaked a few sentences here and there. Really, twas nothing. The writing, the emotion and the ideas, hun, that was all you, and it was simply beautiful and very touching.

*whispers* I'm glad you are happy with the changes I made. I was worried that you would think that I ruined the story or the mood.

Back to the story. I have to agree with Jaime, I was expecting lots of giggling and love struck sighs while reading this story, but instead I am left near speechless at the raw emotion in this update. So beautiful.

and

These two pieces really jumped out at me and touched my heart. The emotion and the passion in the words...man, I can't even describe how it affected me. Rest assured bella, you were able to convey so many emotions and feelings with these words. You did good! :hug:

Aw, babe, this is such a heartbreaking tale you are weaving for us! I can't imagine how poor Claudia would feel...losing her sister and her fiancee' both in one day. That is horrible! :cry: You wrote this so beautifully, though...the way she won't leave Claudia until she finds peace because she was always so like a mother to Claudia. But, I bet it's a good thing Claudia went to America, hopefully she will be able to eventually heal as her sister wants her to.

I am sooo loving this!

Aww! I'm so sorry! ^_^ I had to go back, my hands were tied...there was no other choice but to see the wee blue eyed hobbit! I remember last year when you thought you might be able to come...I wish you could have! Maybe another year, for it seems like he does enjoy the Mardi Gras. :yes:

I was talking about it with Marisol. I guess I'll try next year, I hope he still enjoys it. And I hope you did your homework and took him away from his gf ;)

You know a girl has to do what she has to do :D

You're so, so, so lucky! I'm still frustrated that all hobbitse I got to see was Sean Astin, and what it was worst... He flirted with me :cry:

Bah

Bad luck I guess. Nothing good happens in Mexico.


Thanks so much for the kindest words I've ever told about a story!!!! I'm shocked, really, I think my muse stopped being cheesy after having a real boyfriend. Bah, see what real relationships bring??? I actually killed my bf (His name is Alfonso :P) hehehe but don't tell!! :lmao:


Andie

:cry: Aww, man. I feel so soooo sad for Claudia. Losing a sister/best friend and lover at the same moment, in the same catastrophe to a freakin TERRORIST ATTACK??!!? I mean, what the hell, man? Seriously... life? Could you get less fair please?

Your style is beautiful, Andie. :hug: I can't wait for this to get more cheerful. :yes:

:heartbeat:
Sam

I'm at a lost for words when it comes to describing this fic. I think its the perspective that its written right now. The fact that this person isn't experiencing life anymore. I don't know it just hit a cord with me. Anyways keep up the goood work because it is such an amazing fic.

Ciao
~Claire

:cry: Wow, that was a sad chapter but very good! I liked it and you've now got me hooked for more! I can't wait to read more and please oh please update soon!
:love:
~Kit-Kat~

Such a great chapter... I really like the characters but what happened to them is so sad :cry: I hope it gets better for them...
Great writing, I'm really hooked and can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter :)

:yahoo :getdown: pulpfiction

For Blondie for betareading my little chapters!!! :D :hug: Can't get enough of thaking you, I swear you make my writing so perfectly perfect !! :blush:

Here's a little bit happy, don't worry, drama is around the corner, well, what can I say? I love drama. And I love roomies :lol:


Chapter 1



She got it all man
She got everything
Wish I was half as glamorous
And out of hand
So help me Claudia, huh,
Be more just like ya
'Cause I'm scared stiff
Scared half to death
Oh help me shake this pettiness

An annoying sound disturbs Claudia’s sleep. Frustrated, she opens her eyes and sighs loudly. She flops over in her bed and crushes her blue pillow over her dark brown curls. But the sound still is in the room. She realizes that the annoying sound is a cell phone ring tone, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” to be exact. And the owner of the cell phone is Violet, our cousin sleeping in the bed next to hers.

“Vi, your cell phone” she muttered, her speech muffled by the fluffy pillow.

Claudia’s head was killing her, she didn’t actually remember last night, but she knew that she had fun. Otherwise, she’d not have a hangover this bad.

“Mmm,” Violet whispered in her dreams.

Violet always was a deep sleeper. The house could literally crumble over her head and she’d wake up hours later asking what happened to the house.

“Damn.”

Claudia’s patience ended there. Maneuvering until she was on her knees, she scanned the room with sleep heavy lids trying to find the source of the hated sound. Claudia was wearing a blue top with the quote ‘Kick him to the curb’, a gift from Dixie and Violet last Christmas, and Alfonso’s boxers. She has been wearing his boxers ever since the attack and his untimely death. She never stops wearing them. She has a collection that was recovered from his apartment after his passing. They were the only thing she took from his apartment. Well, the boxers and a few cds, nothing more.

“Vi,” she whispered aloud to no one in particular. “Tell me why you always seem to wake up because of Pollanka, but yet your cell phone doesn’t even startle you?”

Crawling out of bed, Claudia begins her search for the most hated cell phone in the entire world. When she found it, she smiled and turned it off. Happy with her victory she walked back to her bed, with every intentions of killing her hangover with some much needed sleep. Before she even had the chance to throw herself back upon her glorious bed, her dreams of deep sleep where shattered by loud laughter that could belong to only one person…Nyla.

Tired and frustrated beyond belief, Claudia realizes that sleep is something of the past for her, so she stumbles out of the bedroom. The bright sunlight blinds her eyes, and it’s then when she realizes that it’s a little too late in the day for sleeping.

“Good Afternoon Sleepy Beauty! How is your hangover?”

Nyla questions cheerfully. The blonde was sitting in TV room with a huge bowl of dried Cheerios in her lap and Pollanka, Claudia’s chinchilla, running laps around the room in a plastic ball.

“Just three words about it: Too Many Margaritas. What is Pollanka doing out?”

My sister asked curiously as she moved aside so Pollanka would be able to pass by on her exploration of the house.

“She was too active for her own good, and she was staring at me with her baby chinchilla eyes from her cage. It was too much for me, it really touched me so I decided to be her savior and let her out for a good morning’s walk.”

“I need coffee to process all those words” Claudia grumbled.

My sister is addicted to caffeine. She has been ever since she left for college. She had problems staying awake well in to the wee hours of the morning. Alfonso always joked that she was blessed, or cursed however you look at it, with the syndrome of good sleep. So she learned that she had to consume infinite cups of coffee to stay up during exams, and then she had to take coffee to stay awake and alert the next morning after a sleepless night. As with vicious cycles, one thing leads to the other, and now, she addicted to it.

She smiled and left Nyla back into her afternoon reruns. Walking into the kitchen is where Claudia found Dixie, smoking her noon ciggie with a cup of coffee in one hand and the other hand busy dialing her cell phone.

“Who are you calling on Saturday?”

Dixie is a workaholic. She works at the LA Times as an art critic; she dedicates her life to going to Gallerias, reading books, and writing. Essentially, Dixie is working her dream job and it is everything she ever wanted. Except for one thing - the fact that she stresses all the time. I tell you, any one would take one look at her and they would swear that she works at Wall Street.

“Some problems with tomorrow’s column. The writer doesn’t agree with my critic. He is new to this”
Dixie smiled bitterly, and then she went back to her call, leaving Claudia alone for her morning’s coffee. Putting her long dark brown hair behind her ears she drank her coffee slowly as she reached for Dixie’s ciggies . I wish she would leave that habit off limits. But she won’t listen to anyone, and the fact that Dixie smokes, and Rosalie smokes, well, it doesn’t help a lot.

“The last one Mini Cooper, you think that I don’t count them, but I do!”

Claudia laughed at her friend’s comment. Dixie can be quite aggressive sometimes, but I’m almost sure she is a sweetheart. Buried deep somewhere behind that ballerina like body, green aggressive eyes, flaming red hair and her extremely pale skin resides a sweet girl. I know this to be true because I spy on her all the time. Yes, I know that some male hearts are breaking right now.

“Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter, little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here.”

Claudia sang as she heard the song coming from Nyla’s stereo. Nyla loved The Beatles, loved everything about them and their British heritage. Claudia and Nyla had this nasty habit that involved giving Dixie a hard time and joking about the English. But it wasn’t just Dixie that fell prey to their antics, whenever Rosalie was home she was also a target. The difference between Rosalie and Dixie is Rosalie has a tendency to either laugh along with Nyla and Claudia or she fights back with just as bad jokes. Whenever Violet was involved in the shenanigans, Rosalie brought out her big arsenal and made wise cracks about Johnny Cash. Dixie, on the other hand, just got mad and rolled her eyes leaving them alone cackling to themselves. But Nyla and Claudia loved her, eye rolling and all, so they just ignored her lack of tolerance for joking around.

“Here comes the sun, do do do do, Here comes the sun,” Nyla sang back.

“And I say, it’s all right”

They sang together, and it is apparent that Violet isn’t as deep of a sleeper as I had originally thought. Nyla and Clau’s serenading was enough to not only wake Violet, but to uge her come forward and join the rest of the girls. Violet’s hair was messy; in fact she would be the perfect model for a bed head ad. Her Madonna t-shirt was all wrinkled, and her cute pink pj pants with little stars looked just as shabby.

“Please, please never leave your jobs, never ever.”

She took a deep breath, and left for the kitchen, looking after her cup of coffee. Violet found Dixie smoking and she murmured something about sickness and illness and dead and smoke, all babbling behind her sleepy voice.

“You know, we have to work tonight, so *chop* *chop* wake up!”

“I am awake! Man, when did I move to a crazy house?”

Violet uttered, her voice dripping with frustration. She has always been a nervous chick, always making a big thing out of nothing. The good thing about that is even great things get made into a bigger deal than what they are. At least she treats the good and the bad the same, equal treatment is the way to go with Violet. She has been the same since we first met her, and being the daughter of my dad’s only sister, we were able to see her quite often. In fact, almost every summer Violet would come and visit us for a month or two; and when I died, she was the one who ran to my sister. I’m very grateful for that, but sometimes she gets to be a bitch.



Claudia, there's no one
Quite like you girl
Don't you got something better
To worry 'bout
Except Rock & Roll*

*Claudia by Martina Sorbara (Gotta love her music! I might add: I adore her music)

That was such a cute chapter, I loved their singing. I love where this is going Andie, keep it up! I can't wait for more. I still can't believe I'm dead lol.

:heartbeat: Pat

I really love that you're narrating this whole thing from Antigone's POV, it gives such a different perpective on things. And I love the girls that you've introduced so far - that could be one VERY crazy house indeed!! lol *hugs* Great chap! :)

:love:

Oh yes, Jess' right, that could be one veeery crazy house!
Man, if only a week ago someone told me that I would have giggled over a story narrated by someone dead, I would have called them clinically insane. But, check out on me, I'm doing it!

Now, once again and once for all, it shows you know us scaringly well. I mean, besides the little hint about my character being a workaholic - me, Miss Lazybum... but maybe you're not so wrong, after all I tend to be quite frustrated if i can't do what I want, so yes, I COULD be if i carried ut the job of my life.

Some things really made me giggle: the writing on Claudia's T-shirt, she and Nyla singing to the Beatles (nasty torture in the morning, I SO hate people singing to he radio, sowwy), Dixie counting up her lent cigars (coz I do!) and finally, Violet's comment about the karaoke:

LOL! Go, Vi!

Yes, I love rommies too. :P

It is weird to laugh along with a story thats being narated by some one dead but i think that gives it alittle more... i dunno something is there though. It's very creative and original. And i love the hectic house its entertaining. Keep up the great work, i look forward to reading more.

Ciao
~Claire

That was a brilliant chapter. :laugh: I liked it and it was very funny, a big turn from the last chapter. I cant wait for more and update very soon! :yes:
:love:
~Kit-Kat~