purgatory

chapter 8

"Life after death?"

"Mhm."

Taking another drag from his pipe, he smiled to himself, drooping his eyes, he looked toward me with a suspicious smirk.

"This is crazy!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air.

He nods in agreement, "very."

I glowered at him, "how do I get back!"

This is absurd. There is no way I'm in a land of dead people, that are still alive!

"Not yet!" he smiled, pointing a finger at me, "I have to at least give you a tour."

"Tour?"

"Mhm."

Dumping the ashes from his pipe, he grunted, putting it behind him. Clapping his hands together, he turned on his heels, trailing off into the woods in a hurried pace. Panicked, I followed suit. The clouds parted a bit, letting the sun breath for a moment. The trees, young and alive seemed to drink in the wind, rustling ever so often. Peace. No rumbling cars, no factories. Just nature, at its finest.

"Any questions?" he asked.

"Plenty." I sounded, amazed as i looked around the trees.

"Mhm?"

"So what is purgatory? I mean, exactly?"

He looked over his shoulder at me, before huffing in amusement. He wore plain, faded, jeans, and a white top. But no shoes, his heels and toes cracked and white; calloused.

"After a person dies, the end up here. In purgatory. And they continue to live, just like they did when they were alive." he explained, trucking through the trunks of maples and pine.

"So everyone whose ever died-"

"Winds up here." he finished.

"What about-"

"The bad people?"

I nodded.

"They live in dark purgatory. As demons." he said flatly, the tone of voice changing.

"Dark purgatory?"

"Mhm."

Confused, i inched closer behind him.

"Purgatory is divided. Light and dark. Or you could say its "Heaven and Hell." The bad people wind up in dark purgatory, changed into monsters as they die. But they cannot travel to light purgatory, and we cannot travel to dark."

"Hm."

"Mhm."

He stopped, turning to me with a smile. Pressing his finger to his lips, his eyes turned toward a little cleared spot in between a few trees.

"Watch." he said quietly.

Inching a bit closer to him, I gripped his shirt between my fingers. Amused, he gently lapsed my hand away from his body, holding my palm between his course knuckles. A quiet rumbling sound ruptured in the clearing, before a tall willow tree erupted from the soil, spreading its limps, weeping towards the crust of dirt below. I jumped back, startled.

He let out a hearty laugh, raising his hands to the sky. Bits of dirt dropped to the ground, falling into my hair. He whirled around, a grin on his face.

"Every tree. Every creature. Every plant, that dies. Comes here."

~

"Your sister is Ruby?" he asked, perplexed as we walked down a paved road, its only inhabitants me and him.