The Carrier

Chapter 2 - The News

Chapter 2 - The News

Louis shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the pain, the feeling of his skin burning, melting but that pain didn’t come, the excruciating agony never came and he opened one eye to see what was happening around him. He wasn’t under his bike anymore, he wasn’t in pain, he wasn’t on fire. But he could see the two bikes caught in fire one across the other, but he wasn’t there anymore. He wasn’t trapped, he wasn’t dying.

“You’re already dead,” a voice rose above the noise, startling him.

Louis turned around immediately, tearing his gaze off of the accident just to find a girl, a bit younger than him, bare feet and wearing white clothes. She had light brown hair braided at her right in a loose way, her face was free of makeup and she looked fresh, like she just had a shower. She didn’t wear her hair in those crazy, combed ways. She didn’t wear those colourful skirts, she didn’t have any artificial thing on top of her. She was the most natural girl he had ever seen, so natural that it wasn’t normal.

“Who are you?” He asked, furrowing his eyebrow, trying to understand what a girl like her would be doing there, at that time of the night.

“I’m Jane,” she replied with a polite smile. “I came here to take you to the Next Dimension. Now come with me, Louis,” she continued ever so calmly.

“Wait. What next dimension? There just was an accident. I was there. How can I be here? I thought I was gonna die,” he rambled and she smiled sadly at him.

“You did die, Louis. That’s why I’m here. Look over there,” Jane pointed out and he looked left to see Chains, looking around confused until a man appeared next to him, also dressed in white, and talked to him. Louis didn’t hear what he said to Chains, but the biker nodded and took his hand. The man in white lead Chains away from the bike and little by little they started to fade together.

“What was that?!” Louis asked, shocked and a bit scared. “They just disappeared.”

“That was Neo, another carrier. He took Chains to the next dimension where he’ll be told where he can go next.”

Louis stared at Jane, confused, not following what she was saying. What was the next dimension? What was all that?

“I don’t get it,” he blurted out, overwhelmed, until he remembered his family and the feeling made him fall to his knees. “Emily, Mum! What— if I’m dead, what will happen to them? Am I really dead? I don’t feel dead. How does feeling dead feel?” He was freaking out and Jane kneelt next to him, her hand on his shoulder.

“They’ll be fine, Louis. But now you need to come with me,” she insisted and he felt the need to go with her, to take her hand and let her lead him, but the urge in his body to go to his house and check on his family was stronger.

“How can I go with you to wherever you’re saying you’ll take me when my family will stay here alone? Who will take care of them? They need me,” he protested, frustrated and so worried at the same time.

“There’s nothing else you can do, Louis. You are dead. Your body is there, under that bike, caught in the flames. You’re not supposed to stay in this dimension anymore,” she insisted and he shook his head.

“Let me… let me at least check on them one last time. Please,” he begged and Jane smiled at him. She couldn’t say no to a request like that and she couldn’t force him to go with her either.

“Okay, let’s go.”

So she took him to his house but it wasn’t night, it was morning and Louis couldn’t understand how that was possible. He looked confused at Jane and she smiled again, warmly, inspiring trust. “We carriers don’t stick to temporal lines,” she explained and he frowned.