Thursday 15 December 2022

LOVE AFTER DEATH.

CHAPTER 3.

I looked out the window and into the street below. From a first glance, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. The street looked normal, the people looked normal, and the traffic was normal. Too normal.

Death walked up from behind and stopped next to me, holding out the glass of water he’d promised me moments before. I took the glass with a grateful nod before downing all the water in one go.

“I hadn’t expected purgatory to look like this,” I admitted after wiping the water from my chin with the back of my hand. The normalcy of it all threw me off and if it had been some foggy wasteland I could have accepted that at least.

But Death just shrugged, “It’s a place where dead people can prove they’re good enough for Heaven or bad enough for Hell. It doesn’t have to look weird.”

I nodded while I contemplated what he’d said, and it did make sense in a way.

“So why am I here? You said I wasn’t supposed to die,” I said while turning my eyes away from the street and back to him. With my full attention on him now he turned to me as well, making me notice for the first time how tall he truly was.

“I have been alive since the beginning of humanity,” he started. “I know when people are supposed to die, and they always die exactly as I predicted.”

I was about to open my mouth to tell him that it didn’t go like that with me but one look from him made me shut up. I still remembered his outburst from a few minutes ago and if I wanted clear answers I needed him to be as calm as possible.

“I don’t guide all the souls to the afterlife, only those who have done truly terrible things, the worst sinners imaginable. The souls with the strength to resist the afterlife and choose to remain on earth to torment the living.” I tried to imagine what a person would have to do for Death to personally come for them but I came up empty.

“I was supposed to drag away someone today, a man to be exact. Yet it was you who died. I don’t know how this could have happened, it never has before,” he said while scratching the stubble on his cheek in thought.

“You have a good soul, Lilly. I give you that. Not entirely pure but good enough to earn yourself a spot in Heaven. Nothing close to the one I should have taken today.”

I wasn’t sure if he just complimented me on my soul but I decided to pretend like he did. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts while his eyes showed the look of someone who wasn’t quite present anymore.

“So where did he go?” I asked, pulling him from his thoughts. His eyes cleared out and focused back on me.

“I don’t know. I cannot see him for he should not be amongst the living. I’ll have to hunt him down, drag him to Hell where he should’ve been.”

He didn’t seem too mad about some evil guy roaming the earth, probably because he wasn’t human in the first place. But he did look intrigued. Like it was some puzzle for him to figure out, a game.

“So what do you need me for, then?”

“I don’t actually need you.”

I blinked blankly at him, thinking I heard him wrong. But I didn’t.

“What?”

He just shrugged and looked out the window again. “You don’t have any skills that could help me.”

I knew I had an ugly temper, and most days I did my best to calm myself so I wouldn’t lash out at other people. Today was not one of those days.

“Then why the fuck am I still here, talking to you?” I half-yelled. If he was so confident about solving this whole thing he could just send me back to earth and deal with it himself.

“Because,” he smiled sweetly at me, angering me even further, “You have something to do with this. So I’ll keep you here until I’ve figured out what to do and then you can go.”

I just stared at him. Who gave this guy permission to just take me? I was this close to pulling a Karen and ask him about his manager when he continued, “So until then, you’re with me. And it pains me to admit that I do feel a little bad for you, so I’ll grant you one hour on earth. Just to prove I’m a compassionate god.”

I ignored the fact this guy just referred to himself as an actual god and focused on the first part. An hour back on earth. But how would I spend it? How would my parents react to seeing me? My visiting would just confuse them, they weren’t spiritual people. I wasn’t either. I feared a visit from me would do them more harm than good and perhaps it was better to let them process my death in peace.

“I--” I started before trailing off. I didn’t quite know how to ask him. “Thank you,” I just offered up with a small gratefully smile. The anger from before had flowed away with his offer and I did appreciate the gesture. Even if the whole situation made me think of him as an insufferable ass.

“Do I have to use the hour right away?”

He shook his head, “Whenever you wish to use it, just tell me. Although I have to admit I had expected you to go back right away.”

I looked down at my feet before somberly answering, “Maybe it’s better if they can move on as soon as possible.”

He didn’t reply to that. He didn’t have to.

I turned my gaze back to the window and together we stood in silence for a while before I asked him, “Is Death your real name?”

The corner of his mouth twitched as if he was close to smiling but stopped himself at the last minute. “Yes.”

“So you don’t have a normal one at all?”

“Should I?”

I shrugged at that. Should he?

“It’s a little weird your name is just Death, is what I’m saying.”

“Well, it is.”

I just nodded and looked away. Why did I even care about his name? He was basically holding me hostage. “Any idea of how to find the guy?”

Death hadn’t told me anything about him, what he’d done or who he was. But if he had to personally come to fetch his soul I don’t think it was anything good.

“We’re going back to the scene of the accident first to see if we can find anything useful,” he said with those golden orbs on me, assessing me.

I knew he was trying to see whether or not I was going to react to going back to the place I died. But I didn’t really care, what’s done is done. The small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth told me that whatever he was trying to see in me, he didn’t find it.

“Put on some normal clothes and we can go.”

I looked down again because I had forgotten how ridiculous I looked. “It’s not my fault all your clothes look as if they were picked out by a toddler,” I told him, frowning.

To his credit, he ignored the insult and just gestured to the general direction of his bedroom. “There are clothes on the bed now.”

I almost asked him how he’d done that without leaving my sight, but I could guess. I just wished I could do cool tricks like that. So I looked at him one more time before turning back to the direction I’d come from.

Since I wasn’t as stressed as I had been before I could finally take the time to take in his apartment. It wasn’t overly big, but it definitely wasn’t small either. It was clear he lived here alone since he only had one bedroom, which was connected to the living room.

The living room was a whole other thing. Because the kitchen wasn’t separated from the living area by a wall it made the room look even bigger. The stylish decoration of the place made me wonder if he picked everything out himself or if he had someone do it for him.

Did he have anyone to do it for him?

Talking to him was strange, it was too easy. It felt as if I were talking to an old friend, except I just met him. I knew nothing about him. He was an asshole, but he was a charming one.

I reached the door and grabbed the handle. Just before turning it I briefly looked back over my shoulder to find him still standing in the same spot, staring at me.

WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE.

CHAPTER 18. “Yes, hold on,” I hastily removed my shirt and put on the pile of our bag and her leggings. “Wait, don’t you want photos first?”...