A Little Bet Between Me & Death

Chapter 1

Did you wonder how death would come for you?

Would it peaceful? Would it hurt? Or was it as violent as mine.

My family always told me that I had a flair for the melodramatic, so it stands to reason that my death would be nothing short of an event.

In my last moments, I stared at the moonless night as I sank effortlessly beneath the unforgiving ocean, the tendrils of blood from the bullet holes drifting like ribbons towards the surface that I'll never reach. The flashes of light and the screams of my family somewhere far above me on the balmy Caribbean seas.

Those icy depths were all I could remember as I was swallowed whole, the crushing pressure squeezing my lungs until the nothingness took over.

And when I opened my eyes once more, a man was holding my hand. We sat together on the beach, side by side. Staring into the most perfect sunrise.

"Hello, Elise. It's good to finally meet you. I have waited a long, long time."

The faint cry of the sea-gulls in my ears and the balmy wind on my face, as his soothing voice washed over my skin. My fingers were entwined with his large, warm hand. 

I yanked it out of his grasp. He only smiled.

The sky was a blue I didn't know could exist. The smell of the ocean and sand was overpowering. The sound of life in the resort behind me seemed to call to me. I heard the laughter and music, and then it was all that I could think about.

Come...come....come...and forget... It told me to let go and go to them. 

I looked at young man who greeted me like a old friend. A young man who looked as if he was a gold-age movie star like the Rudolphos, Grants, and Pecks of a bygone era.

I'd never seen him before. This anachronistically beautiful man in his casual linen wear that fit perfectly with this paradise. He grinned, "I'm Sam. What do you think of this place."

He was striking, his eyes were a deep and disconcerting reddish orange - the color of forest fires. Yet I didn't find that strange, it was as natural as breathing.

"It's perfect." I said, words that flowed out before my brain even knew I answered. It felt as if I was in a dream. Nothing felt real and yet it was overpoweringly vivid. 

I stood up and shook off the sand, looking at the beauty before me. Unrealistically beautiful, unrealistically perfect. The water sapphire in most parts, switching between deep blue to a searing aquamarine only known in the Caribbean.

I was wearing a white dress. The dress I picked out the day before.... 

I frowned. The sounds and the screams. I paused, looking down for the bullet holes that no longer existed. 

"You could be happy here, Elise. Happier than you've ever been in your life." 

I walked towards one of the tables. Every muscle of my body was telling me to go towards the world seemed to be created just for me. People shouted my name and waved. I saw my grandfather's face in the crowd as he gestured me to come over. My heart skip a beat. I felt it in my bones, I belonged here. I belonged here with every fiber of my being. 

This was heaven. And perhaps...perhaps my mom, dad, and siblings are here. 

I tried to take one more step but something stopped me, an invisible barrier. I frowned and looked down at my feet. 

A barrier of white blocked me from entering. 

Sam came forward with a cup, "Hold on, paradise is not that easy to enter." 

I looked at cup. White liquid that gave off a distinctly sweet and spicy smell, the locals called it sky juice. Coconut, gin, and nutmeg. My reflection clearly reflected on its glassy surface.

"What is this?"

He smiled, "Your ticket In. Of course, I will need payment."

"What?" 

"A small one. A token of faith, really. The necklace you wear."

My hand flew to the necklace that had been in the family for ages. It was said that my ancestor had acquired it during the crusades. a small piece of silver with engravings that no one had been able to decipher. A priceless artifact that seemed to have followed me to the afterlife.

Drink...Drink and forget.... The pull was stronger now. I wanted to drink, it smelled so good. And I could  forget. 

But as my fingers touched the cool metal of my necklace,  the images flashed. The fight, the man who smiled at me like I was some sort of prey. My entire family, dead before my eyes. My mother who pushed me out of the way before the bullet tore through her skull.

My eyes flew open before my lips touched the liquid. I pushed it away and yanked backwards, "Wait!"

"Where are they?." I looked at the man and gave him the cup.

He raised and eyebrow, "Who"

I stared at the man with the gold-orange eyes, "My family. I can't see them."

The man shrugged, the smile fading from his face slightly, "Are they really necessary?"

"Yes." I said fiercely, there were so many things that were left unsaid when I died. I can't let them think...I swallowed. 

"I need to know what happened to them. If this is the afterlife why aren't they here?"

Then my eyes lit up, I gripped his arm, "Are they...are they..." The word alive was too big, too hopeful to me.

"Can humans survive all of that?" He asked me, his eyes seemed to taunt me.

My eyes narrowed. He only smiled innocently and shrugged. Turning to face the ocean he spoke once more.

"What makes you think they want to see you, Elise?"

His voice toyed with my name, like a bored cat with a desperate rat.

That question was a knife gutting a fish through the belly. 

"Of course. Where are they." I demanded, anger sizzled in my chest, making me feel more alive than before.

Suddenly, his hand found the nape of my neck and that perfect face was just inches to mine. The cool metal cup touched my lips once more. He did in such a gentle way that I was hypnotized, like a mouse before the eyes of a swaying cobra.

The man gave a crooked grin as he whispered into my ear, his lips seemed to brush over my ear "What's the use? What's happened has already happened. Drink, Elise, and forget your questions. Or you will find that Paradise can turn into hell."