Life After Death

Chapter 27

The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. Then I realized that I was actually getting cold. I actually felt something other than... nothing.

The air around me was dense, and it was hard to breathe. A dull throb radiated through my skull - another amazing discovery: I felt pain. My throat was dry and the ground beneath me - cool cement - was hard and unforgiving. I saw dark splotches in my line of vision. I closed my eyes tightly - I was afraid to see where I was; I had came to and realized that someone, somehow, had brought me away from the pizzeria for lost souls and brought me here - wherever here was.

I didn't sense a window. There was no cool breeze filtering through my hair or against my skin. Overall the air in the room was cold. I hoped that I wasn't in some confined room. Then again, what was the worst thing they could do to me? I'm already dead, I thought.

I stayed still, laying on the floor, and didn't look up once. I remained completely immobile so that whoever was around me thought I was still out of it.

"I know you're awake," a static voice spoke over an intercom.

I decided to still play dead - I was dead, after all.

"She's playing dead," the voice said to someone or something in the background. "She thinks we're dumb. What?... Oh, yeah... Thanks." Whoever was on the other side cleared their throat and spoke again in the same static voice. "You can sit up and get comfy, Meredith Louisa Gray. It's pointless to act dead, deaf, dumb, blind or stupid. Then again, I have a suspicion that you are stupid."

I blinked, and glared at the intercom in the corner of the room.

"Ah, she's awake. Welcome to the Underworld. Sorry we had to bring you here, under the circumstances." The voice said. "I am Alexandru. The one that brought you in there."

I took this opportunity to look around the room. It was empty. And my suspicions were confirmed, there were no windows just one large, one way window, in it I could see my reflection. The room was all stark, grimy walls. It was a health hazard waiting to happen. There was a large iron door next to the one way window.

I felt confined and stuck and cold.

I bit down on my bottom lip, and rose from the hard floor slowly, cautiously, as I examined the room again and again and again.

A hand closed around my mouth. Calloused.

"Its not Roman," the voice said.

That's the last thing I remembered.

"Why did you answer my call instead of Roman?" I asked, surprised to find that I didn't sound as scared as I was.

"The very fact that you know you can call Roman and he'll answer is wrong," Alexandru said. "There are some things you just can't do."

"Where's Roman?"

"Okay, no," Alexandru sounded annoyed. "You're supposed to ask me what you are or are not supposed to."

"Look, Alex -"

"Alexandru. My name's Alexandru."

"Whatever, Alex," I said, rolling my eyes. "I just wanted to say goodbye to the dude, okay? So I see I did something 'wrong' -"

"You didn't do something 'wrong', you did something wrong. Period. No air quotes needed."

"Whatevs. Now, that I know I can't talk to him, can I leave? I have pizza to eat and milkshakes to drink and sleep to catch, so if you don't mind -"

"It seems you not understand the severity of the situation," Alex said.

I paused. I was breathing heavily. The dull throb became unbearable and I groaned, grinding my teeth together; I wanted to focus on anything but that stupid headache waiting to happen.

Headaches was one thing I did NOT miss. Nor was getting cold.

"Okay." I said, sliding down to the floor. I reached up and touched the sensitive spot behind my head. It hurt. "Why can't I leave?" I asked, crossing my legs. "Why am I here? And all that jazz."

I heard Alex sigh. He spoke to someone in the background. I heard, "So I should explain everything?... Very considerate for evil guys... Kill... Obviously.... Okay, thanks Bob." What "evil guys" were named Bob anyway? Alex then diverted his attention to me. "Okay. This is how things work. Humans who committed suicide become Grim Reapers as punishment. Until the day they are forgiven, they are to work hard and continuously observe people's deaths—"

"No shit, Sherlock," I grumbled. "Tell me something I don't know."

Alex cursed, but continued nonetheless. "Grim Reapers must remain neutral between God and humans; they are strictly
forbidden from intervening in or influencing human affairs—and that's where things went south with you and Roman, it's WRONG—Grim Reapers receive a soul retrieval list of those scheduled to die from their higher-ups. The list contains substantial information on the human, including the person's name, parents, birth date, death date, cause of death, and any additional notes. But some Reapers receive their subjects list and their name tattooed to their body, as a precaution, and it disappears once they take care of their charges.

"Their principal job is to check each dying soul's kaleidoscope of memories—its Cinematic Record—one by one, to determine whether they deserve to die or not. For the human who receives the judgment, "this human should die," the Grim Reapers use their Death Scythes to sever his or her memories and souls from his or her bodies, resulting in the human's death. Afterward, they would promptly stamp "Completed" on the individual's file on the list. The human can be removed from the list only when they are judged to have been one "who has potential to be beneficial for this world"—not with standing, the number of humans who have that sort of value is few to none, according to William T. Spears. The Grim Reapers fundamentally work to confirm that the rare possibility of a "valuable" human is not the case each time, and they must do so as indifferently and level-headedly as they can."

I sat up too fast which caused the headache to intensify. "So what you're saying is that Roman did have a say in if I died or not?" I was fuming now. Because if that was the case then he was the reason as to why I was dead. Why I was stuck in this damn place, really.

"It was Destiny. You were meant to die. Roman is a special case. He can see more than just memories. He can see the future of his charges, too." Alex said, pausing for dramatic affect, and then he continued, "Thats why he's so important to both the Underworld and, well, up there."

"I see," I mumbled. "So I wasn't a 'valuable' human then?"

"You don't listen, do you?" Alex grumbled. "Look, little lady, I don't know what the kid saw. But it must have been something hella big if he was willing to risk everything just to protect you in order to move on or whatever you things do."

I gave Alex the finger. Hoping he could see me.

"Just so you know, I'm showing you the finger in return," he said in a harsh voice. "I wish I could go in there and snap that little neck of yours and devour you. You seriously irritate me."

"The feelings mutual," I said. "So what am I doing here? You didn't answer that question."

I felt a chill run down my spine. "You're here," Alexandru said, "to die."