"Fine. I'm fine," she wheezed, grinning wide and gasping for air. "I'm. Really, I'm fine."

She looked at him, at the man standing over her, young and handsome, and her clouded eyes seemed to clear. Gazing back at him, one arm curled halfheartedly across her bare chest and her eyes widening impossibly with mounting fear, she rasped, "I'm dead..."

And with that, she burst into a fresh peel of uncontrollable laughter.