Reclaiming Souls (2 page)

“Linda, you know why I’m here, don’t you?” I sat next to her on the bed in the nasty little hotel room as she cried, hugging a pillow to her chest.

Her blonde hair fell over her eyes as she looked down and stared at her feet. “Yes, I know. It was an accident, I swear to you! I didn’t see that little girl!”

That part was the hardest. “You ran...why didn’t you stay to try and help her?”

“I didn’t know what to do. I freaked out and took off,” she sobbed harder.

“Tracy, the little girl, is in Heaven now. She has crossed over to be with the Creator.”

“Oh my God, what have I done?” I could feel in my dead heart she was truly sorry for what she had done, but it wasn’t up to me. If I didn’t reclaim her, I’d have to take her place and serve her punishment…that just wasn’t going to happen.

“It’s time, Linda. I’m sorry,” I whispered; my voice cracking as I pushed my hand through the pillow and into her chest, retrieving her soul as her body collapsed.

“Two down, one to go,” I whispered as I tried to hold my emotions in. I sprinkled her soul in the necklace and sealed it- looking up and the portal appeared, taking me to Alex in Sussex.

“Alex! Stop running!” I yelled as I chased him through the streets. We weaved in and out of the crowds who stared at him and then behind him and saw nothing following after him. They just shook their heads and kept on their way.

“No! I won’t go back to that place! I’m staying here!”

“I’ve had a pretty easy day, why must you ruin it!” I jumped over a bench as he ran through a park.

“I’ll never tell you where the kid is if you don’t stop! My partner will kill him if he doesn’t hear from me!” He stopped running and held his arms out to stop me.

I froze in my tracks, faced with a new situation. He was holding the kid hostage and I was at his mercy. “I don’t play these games, Alex.”

“It’s not a game. It’s me or the kid lives. You can’t have both.” He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket.

“You’re an asshole. My day has gone to complete shit now. This was supposed to be an easy day for me!” I threw my hands up. “Why can’t I catch a break!?”

“I’m going to turn around and walk away and you’re going to go back in the clouds away from me,” he spun on his heels and walked briskly in the opposite direction.

“Oh no you don’t! I’m not letting you get away and I’m not serving your hell,” I muttered under my breath. I decided to pretend I was leaving and try to trick him. “Fine, you win. I’m gone.”

When he turned around and stopped, I was hidden behind some thick bushes. His phone lit up as it rang. Alex looked down and grinned when he answered. “Hey, I’m on my way. Where’s the kid?” A small pause as he listened, looking around to try and find me. “Okay, so we got the money now? Drop him off somewhere. We don’t need him anymore.” He hung up and continued through the park.

Really? He thought I was that stupid to just walk away. I crept up behind him and reached into his heart from behind, jolting him and making his phone fly out of his hand.

“I never lose. You’re going back,” I gritted as I jerked his soul out and carelessly stuffed it into the necklace.

Finally! My day was over and I could go home! I looked up and the portal opened, taking me back to the Creator for the judgment and the end to another day in my new afterlife.

I sat in the audience as Jose, Linda, and Alex had their hearing with the Creator. Each of the men were instantly locked away to rot their eternity out in confinement. Linda, on the other hand, was sent to purgatory while the Creator waited to determine her final fate. I breathed a sigh of relief. Bad things happen to good people, that doesn’t make them a bad person...she just had shitty luck.

The latest deaths rolled in after they were done. One by one they were called up and all were sent to purgatory...except one. My eyes popped open and followed the man as he walked before the podium. His strawberry blonde hair and cool blue eyes...and those lips- how I wanted nothing more than to touch them; to feel them against mine.

“Devalynn...what are you staring at?” Lexie nudged me as she whispered.

“Him,” I nodded my head in his direction, “Why do I feel like I know that guy?”

She shrugged, “There’s no telling. He is kind of cute, though,” she smirked.

The Informer stood at the podium, casting the man’s punishment. “Kale Evans, died at age twenty seven when he fell overboard a boat. What do you think you deserve?”

“I was searching for someone close to me that may have died there. I lived a good life mostly. Please, I beg you for another chance,” he whispered as he hung his head and closed his big, beautiful eyes.

“Kale...it’s like I know that name from somewhere,” I leaned over and whispered to Lexie.

“Maybe you knew one in your life...in the memories that didn’t make it to the afterlife.”

I sighed, “Maybe.”

The Informer looked down at him after talking with the Creator who sat further behind him. “Second chance granted. Be careful. If you upset the balance of nature, a Soul Collector will come for you and you will spend the rest of your eternity alone and confined. Do you understand the terms to this agreement?”

“Yes sir, I do. Thank you so much.” His face lit up and as he turned around to walk back out. He began to walk past me and our eyes locked on each other. For a moment, we connected somehow. His smile went away and his face drained of all color. “Dev? Is that you?”

I froze. My unbeating heart would’ve stopped if it wasn’t already gone forever. My eyes went wide as my stomach filled with a flipping sensation. “I’m sorry but do I know you?”

“Oh my God. I’ve been searching everywhere for you!” He started to approach me but a few guards stepped in front of him, refusing to let him get close to me.

“Searching for me? I’m sorry, you must have me confused with someone else,” I shook my head.

“No, you’re Devalynn Rose from Mount Vernon, Washington. Why don’t you know me? I died searching for you!”

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and shook my head, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know who that girl is and I’m afraid I don’t know you, either. I think it’s a coincidence that we have the same name but I can’t possibly be who you’re looking for.”

The guards led him out of the room. He turned around and we stared at each other again. His face was contorted in pain; his smile was flipped over in a sad frown. I watched him until the doors closed.

“That was totally creepy...just saying,” Lexie leaned over and shook her head.

I forced a smile on my face, “Yeah, totally creepy. I have to go. I’m meeting Kellin for a talk. I’ll see you later. Stop by for breakfast tomorrow before we get out lists.” I jumped up and ran out of the room.

Once outside, I put my hand over my chest and tried to remember him; to remember Kale and his beautiful eyes that devoured my inner being. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried forcing my way back into the depths of my memory...nothing came from it.

I sighed heavily as my arms fell to my sides and it felt like I was carrying stacks of bricks in my hands. Surely he had me mixed up with someone else. I would remember someone that shook my world like that...wouldn’t I?

Chapter Two

“What do you dream of?” Kellin asked me as we walked around some stars and jumped from one to another.

“Life, what I’m missing out on, what my family thinks happens to me, the children I will never have.” I twirled on a star until I was dizzy then sat down and crossed my legs. I watched as Kellin hopped over them until he sat across from me. His grey eyes and short, wavy brown hair were heart melting...just not mine...mine was already gone. “What do you dream of?”

“The wife I never got to meet, the children I’ll never get to hold, walking my daughter down the aisle. You know, the usual,” he shrugged.

“I dream of going back and living again. I don’t remember my death. I know it was horrible though. I remember I showed up here screaming and soaking wet but that’s all I know. I wish all of my memories crossed over so I could just know...you know?” I asked him as I wrapped my arms around my legs.

“I remember how I died- car accident. Mother, brother, and uncle died with me. We all suffered. I wish I could’ve taken their pain away and carried it all myself. See, the way I look at it is, you’re lucky.”

“How am I lucky?” I wrinkled my nose at him.

“You don’t have to relive the pain and suffering every day and every night for eternity like I do. I wish I could have no memories like you.”  His eyes searched mine.

“When you put it like that, yeah, it’s not so bad, I guess. I’m sorry you have to go through that. It must feel more like a nightmare every day,” I whispered.

He shrugged, “It’s not so bad now. I’m getting used to it. They’ve all gone to heaven and are no longer in pain. I was held back to be a helper...but you know that already.”

“We really haven’t talked like this...ever. Never had a deep conversation like this,” I stood and jumped over to where he was sitting and held my hand out for his. He grabbed onto it as he stood to his feet.

“It’s nice to have someone to talk to about it. No one else really understands. They’ve been here too long and have forgotten. Don’t ever let go of the memories you do have Dev,” he squeezed me in a hug.

“I won’t...at least I’ll try my damndest to not, anyways.”

“Why don’t we go have dinner at my house? I’ll cook. You clean.”

“Don’t you find it weird that we eat up here?” I laughed as he held my hand and we jumped from star to star headed back to the edge of the pavement.

“At first...but then I ate some of the food and it was heavenly. No wonder this stuff wasn’t on earth,” he laughed.

“Okay, let’s go eat. I burned up all my energy catching that damn Alex today.”

“Yeah we watched it from up here; nicely done. You’ll catch up on all the little shortcuts and ways around situations like that once you’re here longer.”

“I hope so. He had my anger boiling today.”

We jumped off the last star where the road began and landed on the pavement. “I’m still trying to get use to everything up here. It’s so different. Nothing makes sense. There are roads up here but no cars, silly things like that,” I laughed.

“He wants us to feel at home and comfortable here. This world was created specifically for us so we would never feel like we were slaves to the job, so to speak. Tomorrow it could be different. Everything can change in the blink of an eye, just remember that.”

“I know. I don’t even know how long I’ve been up here but it doesn’t feel like very long at all.”

“You’ve only been here about three or four months and you’ve out-performed all the other Soul Collectors. I’m glad He brought you here with us,” he flashed his teeth in a big smile while still holding my hand.

“Me too,” I responded.

We wandered the streets until we were in front of his house. He held the door open and let me in first. His home was about the same size as mine. It was messier though...I couldn’t imagine being a man.

“Ummm, I might need to clean up the kitchen first,” he said, sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes, “I’ll clean the kitchen, and you prep whatever you’re cooking. Why can’t we have superpowers...like snap our fingers and everything is clean?”

“Because we’re not super beings...we’re still humans...just dead...and we still eat....and teleport with portals...and stuff souls into jewelry. Yeah, doesn’t make much sense when you break it down like that. Oh well! Let’s get dinner going.”

“It would be so amazing if we could have even just one kind of power.”

He came up behind me and slipped a hand around my waist, pulling me towards his chest and whispered; his deliciously sweet breath tickling the tiny hairs on my neck. “You do have a power.”

“What’s that?” I asked, breathlessly.

“You have eyes that can hold any man hostage. Your lips make me want to drop to my knees. With just the quickest glance at you, every man would beg to have you look into their eyes the way you do with me,” he whispered against my neck.

“You have a power too, then,” I replied; intoxicated by his words.

“And what would that be?” he chuckled.

“You can woo any woman with your charm and wit. All you have to do is wink at a woman and bam! Her clothes come off,” I laughed.

“You are quite ridiculous. I would only do that with you.” He kissed my neck.

I cleared my throat as I tried to get the lust that was building to go away. “Okay, let’s get dinner cooking. I’m starving.” I turned around in his embrace and kissed his cheek before ducking out of his arms to try and get myself collected.

I cleaned up the dishes and put them away as he chopped up some foods I had never seen before. I shrugged it off. Nothing here was horrible so why not try it? After I got done setting the table, we went and sat on the porch and watched the sun set on one side of the earth and rise on the other while dinner was cooking.

“This is so beautiful. Looking at earth from here, it’s like looking at perfection but we know it’s not. The Creator gives so many people a second chance and most of them screw it away. Why can’t they enjoy it and do it right? Why do they mess up so much? I’d give anything to go back and have my life again.” I leaned my head on his shoulder as the swing gently swayed back and forth.

“We all have a monster that lives inside of us. When they die the first time, no one knows whose is going to awaken once they cross back over. After they get back down there, something will usually trigger the monster to awaken and we have to fix it. We’re the janitors of the second chancers, basically.”

“Oh. Why didn’t I have a choice to turn this down or take my judgment?” Kellin wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“Because He knew; he knew you would be amazing and one of the best Soul Collectors of all time.”

I sat up and shoved him, “You’re so full of shit,” I laughed, “Let’s go check on dinner before you burn it.”

He laughed heartily as he stood and held the door open for me. Dinner in fact, did not burn, but smelled amazing. I took a deep breath and inhaled the mouthwatering scent. “Everything really is perfect here. I won’t be able to burn food and I was really good at that...hey! I remembered something!” I squealed with excitement.

“For a few months, the memories will come and go and then what’s meant to stay, will and what’s not, well...you won’t remember you lost them.” He fixed me a plate and handed it to me on the couch. We sat and ate in silence. Afterwards, I cleaned up the kitchen for him and we sat on the couch. I laid across his lap and fell asleep.