Ghosts, Ghouls, and the Inbetweens

Chapter 2: Council

Hedrick woke up, his breathing was heavy and his vision was hazy. He glanced around, the area still blurry. "Was it a dream?"

He asked himself out loud, he smiled a bit. "Oh thank god-"

"Ahem."

Hedrick looked in front of him, his vision was clear now. But he still didn't believe what he was seeing. It seemed impossible.

There were eight... things.

Two pairs of 'legs', two 'arms', two 'eyes', a mouth, and a torso. Hedrick glanced around nervously. "Heh, this is some weird dream. That I'll definitely wake up from any moment now. Any moment."

One of the arms raised an eyebrow (they had eyes and a mouth, which just looked weird). "Are you sure this is a dream?"

"Well um, no offense Mr. Arm man, but unless you're high or dreaming, you don't see floating body parts."

The arm scowled at him. "That's Right Arm to you."

Oh gee, now they had stupid names.

"I'm stilling waiting on waking up."

"Oh baby, you ain't waking up anytime soon."

The mouth started to speak. Unlike the others, they didn't have eyes. They had a southern accent.

"To put it straight, you're dead."

Hedrick shivered a bit. "What?"

"You heard them."

One of the eyes spoke, she had a serious tone of voice.

Hedrick was just confused at this point. "Why should I listen to some fucking body parts anyway?"

Suddenly, what seemed to be a bullet came flying at him. Luckily, he ducked just in time. He cautiously looked back at the group, seeing another arm (Probably named Left Arm). Their hand was in a gun formation. "That's why."

Hedrick frowned. "So... I'm dead?"

He didn't want to believe it. Honestly, he still thought this was some drug induced dream. Maybe someone slipped something into his drink at the party, maybe he was just passed out drunk on Max's couch.

"Yep, sadly." The torso said, they didn't have eyes or a mouth. But they had a very soft voice.

"And, defective."

One of the legs spoke, putting down some papers which seemed to be held up by (no joke) magic. "You were supposed to be a head like figure. Just not with eyes or a mouth. Imagine a blank slate, that's what you were supposed to be."

He had a stern voice, and he had a serious yet hatful expression. "Yet you're a pair of eyes and a mouth. I had high expectations for you."

"Cut the kid some slack, he literally just died." Another leg spoke, their voice was very feminine and had a playful ring to it.

"Well it's not my fault they keep choosing forms different to what we predicted. Do you know how many eye balls and mouths we get a day? Do you?"

"Well he's different-"

"No he's a reject. I say we send him to Earth."

"Lefty..."

"My name is Left Leg and I am your superior. You shall not address me with a stupid nickname like 'Lefty'."

"But-"

"Uh, excuse me. Would you like to maybe tell me what the fuck is going on?" Hedrick blurted out, tired of them talking and honestly just wanting to know what was even happening.

The other leg looked at him. "Oh silly us! We forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Right Leg, second in command."

She glanced at Left Leg, or 'Lefty'. "That's Left Leg, he's the guy in charge here. The arm next to me is Left Arm, she's more of a hard worker type. Right Arm is just like her, but he's more of a 'Hand-on kind of guy', heh, you get it?"

Right Arm rolled his eyes, a groan was heard from him.

"Left Eye and Right Eye are the sarcastic and snarky type. Mouth is talkative and loves attention. Torso is very shy and cowardly, but I guess they just can't see for themselves that there's nothing to be afraid of! Mostly because they don't have eyes."

Torso seemed to blush a little, turning away and mumbling something.

"Thats us, the Godly Eight. Or the Council of Eight, which ever you prefer."

Hedrick raised an eyebrow. "What do you guys... do?"

Right Leg chuckled. "Well sweetie-"

"Isn't it obvious? We run the system here. We deem ghosts worthy of entering the afterlife!" Left Leg snapped. Causing Hedrick to move back a bit, well, float.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't looked down yet. He glanced downwards, and sure enough, there was no body. He screamed.

"Is he just now realizing this?" Left Eye asked.

"Where the fuck is my body?!"

"You're dead! We've said this multiple times!"

"But where did it go?!"

"You've come back in a different form! All ghosts do! You're form is literally just a fucking face!" Left Eye yelled.

Hedrick looked around, hoping to find a mirror. But all he found was the pitch white room. "Um... do any of you have mirrors?"

Right Eye groaned, blinking. Thus making a blue 'mirror' appear. "Thanks."

Hedrick didn't care at this point, he looked in the mirror. Sure enough, there was only two (yellow, ew) eyeballs and a mouth. His iris' were purple. "Holy fuck..."

Torso finally spoke up. "We need to decide i-if you can go to the a-afterlife now..."

"Well it's obvious." Left Leg snarled. "He doesn't match the prediction. He was supposed to be a head but he isn't, he literally has no head. Since he doesn't meet the requirements, he can't go."

"Wait, What?"

"You're going to Earth and that's final. Maybe next time come back as a head. No Head."

Hedrick really wasn't liking this Left Leg guy. But the name No Head had a surprisingly nice ring to it. "But Left Leg, why can't you give him a chance?"

"Right Leg I am doing my assigned job. I suggest you step into line before you get reassigned and replaced."

"Fine, but before I do."

Right Leg floated over to No Head. "I want to give you some power before you leave. Close your eyes, you'll feel stronger once I tell you to open them."

"Must she do this with every reject?" Right Arm asked.

No Head closed his eyes. After a few seconds he was told to open them. He did feel somewhat powerful.

Right Leg smiled. "Have a good time on Earth."

And with that, everything went fuzzy again.

Please let this be some crazy dream. Please.