Chapter 1
If I didn't know that I am already going to Hell, I would be praying to anyone that would listen. The thought wasn't just a fleeing thought, but it was a fact. I realized just then that I am, and always have been, alone. Never had a friend, never had a family (that was there and alive), and I had to learn everything on my own. I had to learn how to do my job.
My job is to try and help as many people as I can. I get a "call", and when this happens, I have to go and help whoever it said to help. This is not the easiest thing to do, especially when that person is across the world from you. I have a 24-hour deadline and in that time period, I have to find the person, get to them, and help/save them. Most of the people are nearly dead, or they are in so much trouble that they can't help themselves and are about to die. There are a very few who are in a good condition (health wise) and are in what I call "regular trouble". "Regular trouble" is trouble such as bankrupt, or they are in trouble with the police (like a speeding ticket or pulled over for some other small thing).
I had gotten the "call", and when I arrived at the location of the next person, I heard, "GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! STOP TRYING TO RUN AWAY! I'LL KILL YOU QUICKER IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN ON THE DAMN GROUND!" yelled an angry drunk, holding a shotgun. I jumped into some brush behind the drunk. "Why do I have to get on the ground?" asked the guy that the drunk was yelling at. "BECAUSE I SAYS SO!" was what the drunken man kept repeating. I had had enough of the threats and the way that he was waving the gun around. Just as the drunk was stepping forward, I grabbed his foot, tripping him. He fell on his gun, and what I had hoped, he accidentally pulled the trigger. I saw the man's back become a giant hole, and the other man fell to his knees, crying and thanking God that he was still alive.
I slowly backed away from the scene that had just happened (because of me), and I felt good that I had helped out another person. The only drawback to my gift/curse is that I cannot miss a single one. If I miss a "call", then I get a headache, stomach ache, and I get something nobody should ever have to deal with. I have only ever actually ignored one of them, and that was because I was with my last family member, and when the 24 hours was over, my best relative friend was dead and I was in so much pain I couldn't move. The "call" only happens about once a week, but sometimes the effects of all that has happened hasn't worn off in that time period, and I'm not at my best.
Why can't they take care of themselves? Why can't they just all grow a pair, and learn to care for themselves? Instead, I have to come and take care of them and their petty problems, but nobody ever cares to help me with MY problems. The problems I always am talking about are the problems that I will face when I am dead. Whenever I die, which I hope isn't too soon, I will not be able to go to Heaven. I have to go to Hell, or I have to come back and continue what I do. The problem is that when I die, since I already have twice, then I will have more pain and more suffering to endure when I return to this wretched body.
The only thing I get to look forward to is my little kitten, named Fluffy, that I keep in my two bedroom apartment. I don't have a job because when I get the "call", I sometimes am away from my town for about a week. That's why I love my kitten. It was a gift from my father, who died shortly after he gave it to me. My kitten isn't a regular kitten that you feed cat food or that you have to keep in a stable environment or it will freak out. My kitten actually has helped me on more than one "call", and the reason is that it may be only about 3 inches long and can fit in my pocket, but it can change its size and appearance.
The one "call" that I will never forget was a guy in Kenya, trapped in a cave with no water and was about to die from dehydration, and there were wolves around, trying to get to him. I had flown over immediately because something told me that I had less than 12 hours to save him. I flew into Kenya on my rented plane, and I found the cave my person was in. There were about 15 wolves around the edge of the cave, and I could hear the man's breathing starting to get lower and softer. I brought my kitten up to my face and I whispered what I needed it to do for me. It looked at me, turned around, and in a split second, Fluffy changed from a little kitten to a giant mammoth. Fluffy ran over to the edge of the cave and started fighting the wolves. I was able to get the man out of the cave and take him to the hospital a few miles away.
Ever since then, I have taken my Fluffy everywhere with me. I haven't gone on another "call" without him being right there beside me, or well, in my pocket. I also found out that Fluffy doesn't actually breathe. This freaked me out when I first found out, but I then was glad that I didn't have to worry where I put him because he would be fine.
I was traveling back to my apartment when I got another "call". Oh crap, I never get a "call" right after another one. This must be either an important one, this is someone's idea of a joke, or I'm getting the call to my death.
Chapter 2
I have been alone throughout my entire life, even my second one. This is where I first started, and this is where I will probably end my life, again. We are in the Grand Canyon, except this isn't actually the Grand Canyon. I am in an alternate dimension that only those that have died or get the "call" can see or get in to. I am not the only one in this world that has the curse of the "call", but according to my friend Philip who also had the curse I had it more frequently and more strongly than he did.
Philip was my best friend that wasn't actually related to me. He had died 19 times, and was on his last life. He had gotten very dangerous "calls", but also his inexperience caused him to die. He was about 1 year older than me, yet he was behind me on the "call" strength. As a person gets older and becomes more mature and stronger, their "calls" become more dangerous and they become more painful. If you die though while on a "call", then your "call" strength is reset. I have only died twice, so my "call" strength was stronger than Philip's. I looked up to Philip, and he looked up to me, except in different ways.
"Why the hell does this always have to happen to me?" I kept asking myself. All I wanted to do was to see where I was born, and now, I'm probably going to be killed by the love of my hate. My arch-enemy. The person I despise the most in this world, besides myself. Bob.
"Hello, Terrance."
"Hello, Ugly Bob."
"Still mad that I am better than you? Are you still mad that I have killed more than you have helped? We have fought more than once, and I have always beaten you because you are weak and spineless. You could do so much better, fight for the right side. It's so much easier to just kill the people, one little snap or one little push and, oh, they are gone and you are…..oh, that's right, you have been good so long you have pain when you don't help them. I get pleasure from killing them. I feel GOOD when I kill the weaklings, or help to kill them. I even feel good when I just watch the people be killed, it's pure emotional and physical bliss."
This is why I help the people, besides for my own reasons. If they don't help them, you slowly get over the pain of not helping them, and they start becoming evil and self-loving. I chose to help, not kill. I gave up more than anyone else, so I could help people. Ugly Bob hasn't given up anything. He doesn't respond to most of his calls, so he hasn't had to sacrifice anything in his life. He has a family that has always had enough money for anything they wanted and he is "happy". Apparently, if you fight for the evil side then you have a good life and if you fight for the good side, then the only rewards are that you don't immediately burn in Hell, you get to appeal and try to come back. Ugly Bob has never died before, that I know of, so he doesn't know what he is in for.
"Have you thought about what's going to happen to you when you die, Bob? Have you thought about how hot Hell is? How you are going to burn and always be in pure torture, always wishing that you were FOR THE RIGHT SIDE?" I asked, trying to plead with him and warn him.
"You really believe that I am going to burn? That I don't have a plan? You probably don't know, Terrance that I have died more times than you have. All I have to do is ride back on someone coming back for 'the good side', which is not a very hard thing to do."
How does this evil bastard do that? How can he do such a feat? "H-how did you accomplish that so many times?" I asked quickly.
"I have been a very informed man, Terry. I have found out things from shaolin monks and others like us, on how to come back from the dead. I am not the only one who is getting pure bliss out of letting my 'people' die every time I get the 'call'."
This was not new information to me, but it still hurt to think about all the people who have died because of evil peoples' own selfish greed and blissful needs. I have never willingly let someone die, and I never will. I know my place on this earth. I have only one thing that might save me from this situation, but it'll be a close one.
"What about your wife? She has not led the safest of lives, has she? She has more than one 'call' a week now, and I know I am not the only one to get her 'calls' since she is so frequently in danger. What if her 'call' goes to someone like you? What if they go to her when she is in trouble, and they watch her suffer and die? Or what if it's your kids? Next time I get any of their 'calls', I could just sit and watch them all die. We both know that even if you kill me I will be back and be just a little weaker. Maybe I will be too weak to save her. Maybe I will remember this day, and I will just turn and walk away from her death." I know that this got to him, at least momentarily. Then, with his nonchalant attitude, he said, "What makes you think that I haven't thought of all this?"
Uh-oh. He has made a deal with the devil; I can see it within his eyes. I recall someone mentioning one time about being able to make a deal with the devil, but he told me it would cost them a part of their soul.
"You are a smart guy, you can guess what I did but not what I did it for. My deal with the devil was that I could be warned within 48 hours of my wife or kids' deaths, and I could prevent it. I only had to give him half of my soul, a small price to pay for a guarantee that assholes like you don't let my wife/kids be killed for your own personal revenge towards me," said Ugly Bob, with a ghastly smile that slowly grew as he told me this. This is why I hate this guy. He willingly gave half of his damn soul to the DEVIL. That's messed up.
"Your wife and children will die one day, Bob. They are going to face death and won't come back. Why make your eternal life pure torture? Without part of your soul, the "call" will hurt you even more, and that bliss that you get will only be pain. Bob, from one nice to guy to a douchebag, don't let him keep your soul. Win it back, or just exchange it back," I pleaded with him. I learned early on in my first life that even though we protect them from death, we should never sacrifice any personal things, such as our soul, for normal humans. WE will live forever, or until we reach our life count. They won't/can't.
"You haven't figured it out yet? You haven't pieced it together, have you? Do you know who my wife is?" he said this with an evil grin that would put the Cheshire cat to shame.
"Who is your wife?"
"Why, Terry, she is the great Cleopatra! When I first died and came back, I saw her in Hell, and I grabbed her and brought her back with me to Earth."
Well f%*# a duck! He brought back the most well-known of our people, one of the first! So, that must mean….. "How many kids do you have, Bob?"
"Why, I have eight kids and triplets on the way. Yes, they all will have the "call" ability, but they will also have the ability to IGNORE IT!" Well, the world is doomed when them brats hit puberty.