| View Blog
|
|
|
********
ook so this chapter is quite a bit longer..and better than chapter 2. So here it is: chapter 3... oh and alex's opinions do not reflect me own. She is a different person and therefore different. Thanks.
********
Chapter 3
It wasn’t long before I was over the disbelief and on to noticing that I wasn’t alone in the meadow. It was a very confusing thing because the grass was so tall. At first there was nothing there but the grass waving in the breeze. Then, out of nowhere, a dark, purple, cloud seemed to come over a small spot. After a couple seconds of watching the cloud I could make out a shape of a single person. They were usually curled up in a tiny ball.
It took a couple seconds, but when they woke up they always coughed and tried to get as much air as they could. I thought I did that too, but I couldn’t remember clearly enough.
After a while, they all seemed to have the same pattern as I had. Except that they usually ran away into the woods after they saw they’re wings. It was kind of funny actually, seeing there reactions. One kid - who looked about 9 or 10 - eyes bulged so big I almost thought they were going to pop right out of his head.
I didn’t know where they thought they were going to go, though. I had enough sense to not run into the woods where I would most likely get lost or eaten. If the wings were real and this wasn’t just a chemical reaction of the brain, then imagine what other creatures there might be here.
It was just after sunset - twilight - when I heard the one voice that wasn’t questioning their insanity or screaming. I didn’t see him approach. One minute there was nothing and the next he was there standing a few feet from where I was leaning against a rock.
“Are you Alexandria Mason?”
I nodded my head. It was a habit of mine, really. I couldn’t put down my guard just yet. Even if there wasn’t any reason for it.
“I’m Quinn. Why didn’t you follow the rest?” This time when he spoke I noticed how his voice was soft like he was taking careful measures to not frighten me. This just made me mad. I was no wimp.
“Because I’m not a dumb-ass,” I told him, putting steal into my voice. Making it the complete opposite of his voice.
He blinked. Surprised. It was almost as if he thought I wasn’t going to be pissed that, although I gave it my best efforts, I was still in pain.
He wasn’t as stupid as my first impression had made him; the next time he spoke he used his normal voice.
“Well, thanks for making it easier on me. It’s not very fun chasing people - even if we can fly.” He glanced at my wings - still unfurled because the dimming sun felt good on them - and looked away. The way he did it, though, made me think that he wanted to keep looking at them.
I sighed and heaved myself up from the ground. He had to be here because he wanted something, and I didn’t want to negotiate while he was towering over me. It was a natural instinct, I guess. If someone is taller than you it makes you feel more vulnerable.
“So,” I said, wanting to get to the point, “What exactly are you here for?”
He paused for a moment. Was he trying to figure out how to break the news to me? Yeah, I’m dead. Does it really matter? Death isn’t all that great, anyways.
“Why don’t I explain it while we walk?”
I nodded as he gestured to the less dense part of the forest.
We didn’t float as a lot of superstitions tell you. Our walking was just as it was when we were alive. To some people who actually gave a shit, it might have been disappointing. Not me, though.
“Alexandria.” he began.
“Alex,” I corrected him.
“Alex, the first thing I need you to know is whatever I say next you shouldn’t question, argue or even try to understand. Got that?”
“Uh huh.” I said in my trademark bored tone.
“You’re undead. There are divisions of the undead. All assigned a specific jobs. Our division has the job of taking care of souls until they can move on.”
“So what are we? Angels?”
“Not exactly. Angels get more recognition - a higher status. Though, they usually just sit on there asses all day. No, we’re Grim Reapers.”
This totally back-tracked me. “We’re what?” My voice didn’t shoot up any octaves, though. My levels of surprise really didn’t really amount to much these days.
“Grim Reapers. Some people prefer to call us Angels of Death.”
“So… so we kill people?” Was this fate trying to tell me something? Or did my life - or death - just suck?
He chuckled. Was murdering people funny to the undead? “No, we don’t kill them. All we do is make sure they’re souls get to the right place.” I’m sure I looked blank because he explained further. “Think of it like this. A car stops at a fancy restaurant. The shofer are like the funeral service or coroners: they take the body, bury it in a box, light a few candles and so on. We are like the escorts. We take the passengers - or souls in this case - and escort them into the restaurant - or their final resting place.”
It was all starting to make sense. In a weird, kind of creepy way.
“Then, what is their final resting place?” I asked. When my mom had told me that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy weren’t real, I had just, naturally, assumed that God wasn’t either. I hadn’t really given it much thought. Other than getting really annoying when a religious crack head started saying I was going to hell because I wasn’t ’in touch with our savior’. Boy, was he wrong. I was in a place much worse.
“It’s not for us to know. As for god, it’s as much a mystery as it is for the living.”
It was silent for a while. I was trying to get the little scraps of information together in my brain and make sense of all this. I went over with it in my head again:
I was dead, and this was my afterlife: extracting souls from peoples bodies and helping them move on, or…something like that. Was I doomed to spend the rest of my life - or death - with this duty? Was this who I was now? A dead chick?
“How do we move on?” I asked, hoping desperately that I would one day get experience the feelings that I had experienced in the meadow. That I wouldn’t be stuck with it all my life of not living.
“No one knows. After a while, some Reapers just….disappear.” Well, that was as much help with that as I was expecting. The real question I was after was: how do you disappear? And who knew when I’d get that answer.
I had to distract myself from trying to figure this out. I wasn’t supposed to try to understand any of this. So, instead of thinking about being a Reaper I memorized what Quinn looked like. Maybe it would come in handy one day.
He had to be four inches taller than me, but he looked around the same age - maybe 18 or 19. His dark brown hair went perfectly with his eyes - which were the exact color of jade. Unlike my pale skin his was tan, but not life-guard tan. Just tan.
If I was any normal girl I might have been dazzled by him, but that wasn’t really my style. I didn’t want to get involved in any unnecessary emotions.
Especially them. Guys were monsters. They waited till they hooked you in deep and then - when you were least expecting it - they ripped you apart. Yeah, you could say I have guy problems.
As for me, I was short for my age, but I was stronger than most of boys in my P.E. class. I had black hair that was cut down a couple inches below my shoulders. I remembered had gotten it cut a few days before I ‘committed’ myself. My nails were painted ‘midnight’.
My eyes. Those were the things everybody used to compliment me on. I didn’t see why. They weren’t that special - just dark blue.
My thoughts came back to the present as we approached the city. It was officially called Wakal. Apparently, the first one to name the city was the Lakota Sioux Indians because it meant ‘above’ in Sioux.
Besides the weird Indian name, everything else looked exactly like a modern city. Which did make sense if you really thought about it. They couldn’t have the same city - which was probably a village of Teepees when it started out - still housing the growing population of the dead, but as I looked around more closely I realized that this city was identical to Chicago - skyscrapers n’ all.
“Where exactly are we?” I wondered aloud. He probably figured that I had already saw the sign that revealed the name and meaning of the city, for he said.
“Fifth dimension. That’s why its brighter here. When we are alive we see 1D, 2D and 3D. Here we see 4D, but we can travel through dimensions.” A picture of Star Trek popped in my head.
“Interesting,” Even to me my voice sounded dead. I hated this place, but the worst part was: I couldn’t escape. I couldn’t make it stop.
No. No, I will escape. I have to, my own voice sobbed inside my head. Then, an epiphany set inside my head. What if I don’t? What if I can never run free? No. My voice tremored with the beginning of hysteria, but then in an abrupt, terrifying moment I let control slip. Fiery, searing pain shot through my body. NO! I WILL GET OUT! I WILL GET OUT! I WILL GET OUT! I WILL GET OUT! I screamed. On the physical plane, my whole body locked in place. I couldn’t move - even if I wanted to.
For one blind, blurry moment I thought instinct would take flight and I would bolt. It would be a stupid move, of course, like putting your king in the pathway of the queen. Check mate.
“Alex?” I heard Quinn’s voice, but it sounded wrong - too far away.
I took a painful, deep breath. Get yourself together.
All in a moment, time seemed to unfreeze.
I looked at Quinn who had a Oh-great-we-have-another-crazy look on his face. Well, maybe I was crazy.
“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice coated in something I couldn’t identify. It was probably annoyance. They were all the same. They didn’t even try to care.
“Whatever.” I didn’t even try to give him one of my reassuring fake-smiles. I just continued walking - almost shoving him aside as I passed him.
By now it was almost dark. At least…as dark as this place could ever be, and, as always, I needed a distraction. “Where are we going?” My voice didn’t sound the least bit fascinated. Nevertheless he spoke, and I listened.
“To see the rest of the group. There’s three more. Zoe, Kimi and Philip.” he paused, “but make sure you call him Phil. He doesn’t like it when people use his original name.”
I nodded for his benefit. It wasn’t that I was totally against human interaction, but more as a result of too many people hurting me. It was simple: if there’s more people around you, the greater chance you have of getting backstabbed by one of those people.
I discovered long ago the way to avoid all this. Since you couldn’t completely stay away from everyone the only path you had was to not get close to anyone.
Simple really.
|
|
Posted by xmidnightxwingsx on 2008-07-06 00:52:43 | Rating: | Views: 76
|
| |
|
|
| Blog Comments
|
|
|
|
|
Nice. I like it. :) Two thumbs up!looking forward to more!! :D
|
|
Posted by HardThinker
on 2008-07-06 08:03:04
|
|
|
|
|
write more plz!!!
|
|
Posted by cutipi
on 2008-07-06 11:29:55
|
|
|
|
|
now THAT was a nice long read! i wish every chapter would be as long!! i dont want it to end. and you're right. this is better than the 2nd, which was awesome to begin with!!!
|
|
Posted by Slash
on 2008-07-06 13:38:27
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks! i appreciate the comment
|
|
Posted by xmidnightxwingsx
on 2008-07-06 13:42:34
|
|
|
|
|
|
