Afterlife: Richard

[k_a_webb]

Written for Surprise Story Week: 21.

Slowly Richard walked towards the spirit. He had done the training and he knew how to do the job, but knowing how to do something and actually being able to do it were two very different things. Thankfully the spirit wasn’t one that had become a poltergeist. Instead it was just someone who hadn’t wanted to leave his family behind when he’d died. It was sad really. All he could do was watch his family without being able to interact in any way with them or any of the other dead. Ghosts couldn’t see other ghosts so it was a very lonely way to exist. Of course that didn’t mean that all the spirits wanted to go to the afterlife, no matter how lonely they were. It didn’t make sense to Richard but that was the way some spirits were.

After another couple of steps he stopped. He’d been watching this particular spirit for the last three weeks to get an idea of how to convince him that the afterlife would be better than wandering round part of the Earth for the rest of his existence. If he didn’t manage to convince the spirit then it was possible that the ghost would become a poltergeist, which was a whole bigger problem. However he wasn’t there to think about possibilities but to convince the spirit of Justin Mead that he should go on.

“Justin,” Richard said softly, not wanting to startle the ghost because that would scare him off. “It’s time you moved on.”

Justin looked up, fear already written all over his face. Sighing Richard shook his head. The job would be a hundred times easier if ghosts could see other ghosts, but unfortunately that wasn’t the way things worked. Death was the only spirit the wandering dead could see. He technically wasn’t actually Death until the old Death gave him the sword of office and then everyone of the wandering dead would be able to see him, rather than just the ones he was permitted to see because he was training to do the job.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” Richard continued. “I’m just here to take you where you’re meant to be.”

“I’m meant to be here,” Justin replied, sounding as though he wasn’t quite sure what he was saying.

The wandering always had an effect and Justin was the only person who could heal himself. Once he got to the afterlife his spirit guide would help him to do that, but even then it could have an effect on any life Justin chose to have. Sometimes it was easy to see a person who had a wandering spirit because they weren’t good at staying in one place. That could then, in turn, lead to the spirit wandering again when they died and then Death would be called on to guide them once again into the afterlife.

“If you come with me you may be able to talk to your family, rather than just watch them.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“There are ways. You may have a psychic in the family or they may visit one in an attempt to talk to you. When that happens you’ll always know.”

“My family don’t believe there’s an afterlife.”

Death was finding that more of the wandering dead had not believed in an afterlife during life than ever before. It was a sign of the times. Before that there had been people who hadn’t wanted to go to Hell. There was always going to be a reason why the dead didn’t move on and with each successive belief system it would change.

“Use the Dream Weavers then. If you want to talk to your family then they’ll weave you into a dream and allow you to visit that way. They may not believe that it happened but it will make you feel better.”

For the first time Justin looked at him, a blooming hope in his eyes. “Really?”

“Yes. That’s their job.”

“I’ll be able to talk to my wife.”

Richard nodded. “I promise. I’ll tell your spirit guide when we get to the afterlife that you want to use the services of a Dream Weaver.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m just doing my job.”

“What do I do?”

“Just follow me. It helps if you put a hand on my shoulder.”

When Richard felt the weight of Justin’s hand, which was something he didn’t think he’d ever get used to feeling, he walked in the direction he’d come from. He visualised a door that would take him straight through to the afterlife, where Justin’s spirit guide would be waiting for them. It had taken him a very long time to get the hang of creating the door so he hoped that he wouldn’t get it wrong while he had someone with him. The door was really quite simple and he felt like it should be more elaborate because he was going to be Death but he wasn’t yet able to hold the visualisation of an elaborate door. When he found himself standing in the room he’d left Death and Justin’s spirit guide he couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief.

“This is Justin,” he said, looking at the spirit guide. “He’d like to use the services of a Dream Weaver as soon as possible.”

The spirit guide, who Richard was having trouble remembering the name of, nodded. “I’ll get that sorted for you, Justin,” she said, sounding relieved.

Death smiled at him because she’d believed that he was ready to gather a spirit, but he had a feeling that she’d picked an easy one for his first proper training exercise. He knew that the next one wouldn’t be anywhere near as easy to convince that the afterlife was where they should be. The spirit guide hadn’t been so sure. After using the same Death for the last however many centuries it was understandable that she’d have trouble with the idea of using someone new. Richard hadn’t been sure that he was ready for it so he’d been feeling the same uncertainty.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Originally posted at dreamwidth.org (and crossposted to livejournal.com) as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.