I was just sleeping peacefully, more peacefully than I've ever slept before. It was as if I was not conscience. Then I wake up to find myself lying in a bright, white room. There's a constant beeping and people are yelling things to me and to others. I can't make out a single word. Until a deep male voice says, "come on, Claudia! You're going to make it!" Reality hits me all at once. I'm dying! But, I can't die! Tomorrow night I'm going backstage to a Hanson concert. I can't die until I meet Hanson. I just can't! Sitting up suddenly, the beeping becomes one constant, annoying sound.
I must have come unhooked from the machine. The sounds of crying fill the room and doctors and nurses sigh. I look down to see my unmoving body lying there. I'm dead. Yet, I've never felt better in my life. There's too much confusion for a fifteen-year-old to be dead, I decide jokingly and glumly. Still, through all the confusion, one thing is clear: I'm going to meet Hanson tomorrow night. Dead or alive.

After walking home to get my pass that I had won, I wander around town. Doing this, I find out nobody can see me. I go to satisfy my curiosity. I check on all my friends and family to see how they are taking the news. My mom and dad can't stop crying and my brother and sisters are regretting being cruel to me. The three friends I was to go to the concert with are debating whether or not to got to the concert. After the day drags on, they decide that I'd want them to go. And that is the truth. Cindy decides, "Hey, since she died before she could meet Hanson, and we have passes, let's ask Isaac, Taylor, and Zac to sing at he funeral. She'd love that, if she were alive to see it." She breaks down and cries and everyone else, too.

"Okay, guys," Hanson's stage manager starts, "you only have nineteen girls backstage tonight. One of the winners passed away early this morning." Isaac, Taylor, and Zac look at each other, stunned. "Who was it?" Taylor asks.
"She was fifteen-year-old Claudia Mainz. Her friends and family say this was her first Hanson concert, and that all she wanted was to meet you." The stage manager sighs.
The three young men simultaneously decide to dedicate the concert, or a song, to the fan. It's the least they could do.

After the trio finishes the concert, meets people, and sign autographs, they retire to their dressing room. Hoping they aren't changing yet, I walk through the door. Thankfully, they are just resting in chairs facing away from the door. Thinking they can't hear or see me, I say, "Thanks for dedicating the song to me, guys."
Zac replies casually, "No problem, Claudia." Then he jumps up, pulls a picture from his pocket, and looks back and forth between the picture and me. He stutters, "B-but, y-you d-d-died!"
I'm just as shocked as him. "Y-you can see me! You can hear me! And, uh, yeah, I did die."
Without taking his eyes off me, he says, "Isaac, Taylor. We've got a, a, um a"
"Ghost," I offer.
"A ghost!" he gasps.
They, without looking at their younger brother, sigh, "Zac, stop kidding around. It's not funny after that Claudia died."
"Take a look for yourself," I reply.
Isaac and Taylor jump at the sound of a girl's voice. Taylor takes the picture from Zac's shaking hand and studies it and me. "He's right!" Isaac exclaims.
"I don't look too bad for a dead chick, do I?" I joke. 鼎onsidering I look like I was jerked out of bed. I literally was." I laugh nervously.
"But how?" Taylor spats.
"Through the door. Really." Then I become serious. "Guys, did my friends talk to you about possibly singing at my funeral?"
"He means, how'd you get to be a ghost?" Isaac clarifies.
"Oh." Normally I'd blush. "I guess when I sat up in the ER, I forgot my body. I've always been forgetful. About the funeral?"
"Yeah, we talked to them. That's where Zac got your picture. We said we'd have to see our schedule. How'd you know about that?" Taylor answers.
He's full of questions. But then again, this is his first time to see a ghost. "After I made fun of people I don't like, I checked on my friends and family. I think you should sing. Preferably "With You in Your Dreams."
"How should we now you're really a ghost? How should we know this isn't some sick joke?" Isaac challenges.
Zac chimes in, "If you can prove you're a ghost, we'll sing at the funeral." He folds his arms across his chest.
"Fine," I retort, "but I get to hang out with you until the funeral."
With that, I walk through the walls, walk through furniture, and when Walker comes in, I do everything I can to get him to notice me. He doesn't.
"Dad, we wanna sing at that one girl's funeral in a day or so, "Isaac says, defeated.

The day for the funeral has come. The past two days I hung out with Hanson. I went over my plans and told them the number to call my parents. I watch everyone grieve over me. It's touching to know I was cared about. Finally, Isaac, Taylor, and Zac, all dressed in black, start to sing "With You in Your Dreams." I take my cue to slip into the open casket. While waiting for the right moment of the song, I wiggle my toes, hidden fingers, and tongue in my closed mouth. I'm alive! As the last notes are being sung, quite beautifully I must say, I slowly sit up, yawn, and stretch.
My mom rushes up to me. "Claudia, you're alive!" she exclaims.
"Of course I am," I say innocently. "Why couldn't I be? Who died?"
Everyone tells me the whole story from his or her point of view. I act disappointed for 'missing' the concert. It hurts not telling anyone what really happened, but maybe some day, some far and distant day. As Hanson crosses the graveyard to the limo we arrived in, I run to get a private word them.
Panting, I say, "Thank you, guys. I don't know how I can repay you. Thank you."
"Well, thank you," Isaac states. "It's been interesting for us."
"Hey, if any interviewer ever mentions something to do with me, give them more detail. Just not the ghost stuff." I smile.
"Don't worry, we won't. I mean, you do look better than that bedraggled look you had before. You wouldn't want that described in detail, now would ya?" Taylor laughs and winks. I roll my eyes.
"Just don't die on us again. We might not sing next time," Zac kids.
"But how in the world did you die in the first place?"
"Um, they said I just stopped breathing in my sleep. Then, when I realized I was dying, I sat up suddenly leaving my body. I guess dying and coming back was my destiny!" I say over dramatically.
"Nice. But you reacted fairly to meeting us." Ike ponders the thought.
"I was a ghost! I couldn't very well faint or hyperventilate. Not possible. And I wouldn't dream of doing either." I stick my tongue out.
"We'll be seeing you around. Maybe next concert you can literally be part of the audience. And we'll consider second chance pass." Taylor steps in the limo after Isaac.
I turn to Zac. "You can tell them if you want, but I've been seeing all kinds of ghosts. I could probably talk to them, too."
Zac pats my shoulder and looks down at me. "When we get ghosts of dead fans, we'll send 'em your way. You can say if it's worth it to sing at funerals." He laughs, "We're popular with the living and dead alike!" Zac joins his brothers in the limo and speeds off. I had gotten my last wish.

Epilogue
For years to come, I communicated with ghost, Hanson lovers and haters both. All were not worth having the performance at funerals. Occasionally I'd dream and visit Isaac, Taylor, and Zac wherever they are. I'd have to explain that I wasn't dead, but just dreaming. Ten years later I tried to tell everyone what happened, but they didn't believe me. So I retired to writing books, plus letters that one day everyone would read.