Shortish Stories

BET- Chapter 1

A/N: I know what your thinking. Finally! Chapter 1! Those 3 prologues were booooring! Well I'm sorry. Chapter 1 isn't real exciting either. Anyway; Story time!!

I feel a strong pull to a man standing in line. This struck me as... odd. We "ghosts" as the living ones would call us, tend to stay away from each other. Sometimes I wonder if this is Asphodel, similar to the way the Greeks described it, and there is a better Black somewhere, like the Elysian Fields.

Anyway, back to the man.

When people first die they have to stand in line. They assume that they are being registered. Little do they know, when they reach the front, all of their memories are erased. They then gain the knowledge of the universe. It's been like this forever. Strangely enough, I don't know how they take the memories.

The legend is that two mortal enemies died together and when their ghosts met, they started a never ending duel. Since they were both already dead, they could never kill the other. That's what started the line. Some of the versions say that they were tricked into drinking liquid that erased their memories, while others say that they are still fighting, banished to a far corner of the Black.

That man. He looked to have died fairly recently. People have been known to stand in line for twenty years or more. I estimated he had been waiting for 8 or 9 years. The line had been really long for a while now.

I walked (floated, really) to the man. When you forget, you lose shape. I myself became a pigeon-gray blob. Your age when you die determines your color. I have never met anyone of my color before, but I look often.

He looked as though he had died in considerable pain. His whole left side was in fragments. His color was developing into a cornflower blue. I estimated he was about mid 30's when he died. The line moved forward, and he was about three thousand people away from the front. I wonder if he would talk to me. I sent It forward.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

I was clearing out the far right corner, behind my mom's car when I heard the door open.

"William? Are you in here?" It was my mom. I stood up, so that she could see me.

"Here mom" I told her. She was holding a plate, but I couldn't see what was on it.

"I brought you a snack," she said, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. I walked around the car to her. "Ta Da! Pineapple!" she exclaimed, while handing me a plate full of chips. I rolled my eyes, then joined in.

"Awww, ew mom! How could you! I hate pineapple!" I dramatically complained, then ruined the illusion by crunching down on a chip.

"Sorry bud, I know you don't want to clean it. I'll play a round of Lego Star Wars with you if you finish it before 3." She said, issuing the challenge.

"Done!" I said, knowing she would play more than one round, even if I didn't finish. I still tried to finish by 3, just for fun.