"Oh! You're awake! Hi!" A high-pitched voice exclaimed, causing Jade to wince and shut her eyes in response. She didn't recognize who was talking to her, nor where she even was. Actually, Jade couldn't really remember anything right now. Everything felt blank inside her mind.
"My name is Cat!" The voice chirped again, still at the same volume. Jade willed herself to open her eyes and scowled. There was a girl crouching over her, smiling. Her hair was a fiery red, and her brown eyes were gleaming. Jade again tried her best to remember her, but she was still lost.
Keeping her guard up, Jade snapped, "Where am I?" She tried sitting up, but found she couldn't despite nothing restraining her. To make things even more bizarre, Cat and she were not standing on anything. It was as if the two were floating in a void.
Cat uncomfortably looked at Jade struggling to stand and sat up straighter, clearing her throat a little. She then said, "You won't be able to get up until I allow it. I am an Angel of Death."
If the void did not scare her, Cat's reponse did. Immediately, Jade started frantically yelling and trying to move away from the girl. Cat worriedly looked down at Jade. She had been trained by one of the oldest Angels and he had said most people tend to panic, but she didn't picture it like this. Honestly, she had hoped someone would have assisted her on her first charge, but there were so many deaths, it wasn't allowed.
Placing a hand on Jade's shoulder, she sent a feeling of calmness to the girl. In a few mere seconds, the goth had stopped screaming and looked up at Cat. She didn't question what Cat had done, and Cat hoped she didn't connect the dots. As an Angel, it was Cat's job to make sure her charges were delivered to their next destination safely, but she still felt bad for manipulating how Jade felt.
Slowly, Jade asked, "So, I'm dead?"
Cat nodded and said, "Yes. You probably don't remember a lot right now, but that's normal!" Jade internally rolled her eyes at the tone Cat was using. She felt like the redhead was announcing she had just won the lottery.
"How did I die then?" Jade questioned. A part of her felt like she wasn't ready for the answer.
Cat shifted around, still looking uncomfortable, then replied, "You were walking down the street and someone put a gun to your head and asked for your wallet. You refused, and they shot you and ran."
A chill ran through Jade, but she kept her face emotionless. Not bothering to go on, she said, "Care to explain this place to me?"
Cat gestured with her hands and replied, "This is the In Between, the stage between life on Earth and the levels above it. Most people think your Angel greets you as soon as you die, but you actually get a little time where you're completely nonexistent. Actually, most people tend to think there is only one Angel of Death, but that would just take forever. People would be nonexistent for years and years!"
"How long was I nonexistent then?" Jade asked, growing annoyed. Too much information was being given to her. Jade always believed when she died, that would be it. No eternal paradise, no reincarnation, and certainly no redhead being in charge of her.
"Hm, I'm not for sure. Probably not very long. There is an Angel of Death shortage right now, but you're my first charge, so you probably weren't nonexistent for very long! Isn't it cool?" Cat squealed, putting another hand on Jade's shoulder. Jade wished she could be as happy as Cat.
"Oh, yes. My first time being dead, and your first time leading someone to who knows where," Jade sarcastically said, rolling her eyes. Despite knowing the girl for only a few minutes, she felt safe. She doubted anything bad could come from Cat.
"Yeah! That's the cool part!" Cat happily said. Jade struggled to get up again.
"Now that we're acquainted, can you let me stand?"
"Yeah, of course!" Cat said, snapping her fingers. "Sorry about that. They used to let people stand automatically, but then they would run through the void and it really took too much time from the Angels."
"That's...interesting," Jade said. Her legs felt numb and heavy to use, so she had no idea how some people ran.
"Alright, now that you know you are, uh, dead, I can go over more rules!" Cat exclaimed, still stumbling over the topic of death.
"And what would that be?" Jade questioned, running a hand through her hair. She caught a glimpse of dark blue in her black hair and was reminded of the last streak she put in it.
"I have to ask you what you want to do. I know you didn't really believe in anything while you were on Earth," Cat said, looking at Jade. She couldn't help but notice how blue her eyes looked.
"What?" Jade questioned, shocked. She did not expect Cat to tell her she could pick what would happen to her. She believed nothing would happen, and she didn't want anything to happen.
"You know. Some people want to try the Heaven and Hell coin toss, others want to be reborn and try Earth again. You can do anything you want," Cat said, smiling. When she had died and woke up in the void, her Angel did not explain things very well to her. He was snarky, and seemed to be in a hurry. Panicking, she told her Angel to place her where he felt best, and she ended up in the Afterlife.
The Afterlife was similar to Earth life, except it was almost perfect. Everyone was young and always seemed to have what they wanted. Cat still wasn't sure how it worked, but she was told people will similar beliefs went to the same Afterlifes, proving there were more on the level. She didn't mind it much, though.
"Give me more options," Jade said, curious of what there was, even if she already knew her answer. Happy to oblige, Cat carefully went over all the options, even the option to remain nonexistent forever. She was happy with her life in the Afterlife, but she wanted to make sure Jade knew all of her options. Secretly, Cat hoped she would pick the Afterlife. Since Jade was her charge, she would be in Cat's Afterlife as it is a rule to not speak to others from different Afterlifes. Cat had been dead for a few years, but she still hadn't really met anyone. Sure, everyone was friendly, but she never had anyone to talk to most of the time.
"I want to be nonexistent," Jade replied, shrugging. She had already known what she wanted from the start. She tried to not notice Cat's split-second disappointed glance. As quickly as it appeared, though, it was replaced by a smile.
"Okay! Let's get to it then!" Cat laughed, grabbing Jade's hand. She didn't know if it was because she had felt so alone for so long or if she really did like Jade, but she felt an instant urge to hold the goth's hand. Jade raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it.
"Get to what? Are there steps?" The teenager asked.
"I have to walk you there. I suppose I could just send you into the nonexistence, but the other Angels say the walks are tradition."
"Walking on a void is tradition?" Jade questioned in disbelief. Cat nodded sadly, then looked up.
"It doesn't have to be a void. I can change it to look like whatever we want it to be," Cat suggested, ignoring the fact the Angels advised to not change the In Between scenery.
Jade thought for a few seconds, then said, "I don't care, surprise me. I won't remember it, anyway." Cat's heart hurt again.
Closing her eyes, Cat envisioned what she wanted to show Jade first. Since becoming dead, the perky redhead had seen many beautiful places, including what space would seem like. She imagined comets flying beside them with stars surrounding the two. The Sun was far in the distance with other planets. When she opened them, she saw Jade's smile.
"I can't believe you can do things like this," Jade said in awe, looking all around. Cat led her by the hand and giggled.
"Yeah, when I became an Angel I got a lot of cool powers. I like to turn invisible, but I don't think I should do that right now since we're in this fake space and I don't want you to be scared," Cat replied, squeezing Jade's hand.
"What made you want to become an Angel of Death? You don't really fit the image I had."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat asked, shocked. She didn't think Jade would try to hurt her feelings.
"Nothing, Cat! I just mean the Angel of Death seems so dark and you seem the complete opposite," Jade quickly said, not expecting Cat to take offense.
"Oh!" Cat laughed. "I was passing my apartment building's announcement board and I saw a poster advertising to help people cross over and I had this really bad experience crossing over and I felt like I could help people. So, I did the training, which was super long, by the way, and here I am." Seeing Jade look concerned, Cat then said, "It wasn't that bad. I just mean my Angel was really mean and didn't tell me a lot."
Jade nodded then and felt bad for Cat. She was so sweet, and she couldn't imagine how scared she probably was waking up in the In Between. She was scared herself waking up in a sea of black, and finding out she was dead didn't make it much better.
"You did a great job with me, Cat. I think you're cut out for this," Jade smiled. She wasn't very kind to most people when she was alive, but something about Cat made her want to be.
The two were silent for a bit until Jade asked, "What was your life like before you died?" She noticed Cat's hand tense up and saw the girl closed her eyes. Cat was taken back by Jade's question, but she wanted her to see her old, suburban neighborhood. She pictured her two-story home she shared with her parents and brother and the car they drove. She fabricated people to look like her best friends and painted images of different homes and buildings, including her old high school. Granted, she made everything look a tad nicer, but she wanted Jade to enjoy it. Plus, she herself was happy to have an excuse to see her old world, even if it was fake.
She opened her eyes once more and laughed at the goth, who she could tell was impressed with her surroundings.
"You really lived a nice life, Cat, look at this stuff! I can't believe you could see the Hollywood sign from your house! I always wanted to go there for acting, but I ended up in New York."
"That isn't a bad alternative. My brother went to New York once, but now he's banned. He is so weird!" Cat laughed. Jade glanced over at her, deciding not to question why her brother was banned.
"Are those your friends?" Jade questioned. She liked how they were speaking about everything as if they weren't dead.
"Yeah! That's Robbie, Tori, Beck, and Andre! Robbie is holding his puppet Rex, but Rex doesn't like to be called a puppet. He's kind of mean," Cat said, her voice lowering to a whisper as if someone would hear them.
"Hm," Jade pondered. "There's something about Tori I don't like."
Shocked, Cat looked and said, "That's funny, everyone likes Tori!" Changing the subject, she then added, "What were your friends like? I know it probably seems like I know everything, but I really only know the stuff pertaining to death."
Shrugging, Jade answered, "I wasn't really close to anyone. My friends were interested in drugs and drinking, so I did that when I wasn't writing scripts. My father hated the idea of me acting, and my mother went along with anything he said. I did things just to make them mad, like getting tattoos and piercings."
"Oh," Cat quietly said, saddened Jade's life didn't sound that happy.
"It's fine, Cat. It doesn't really matter now, does it?" Jade said.
"I guess not," Cat said, closing her eyes again. The walk of the In Between was almost over, and Cat wanted to make the last place she let Jade see really special. When she was alive, Cat liked to walk along the beach at night. It was stereotypical of California, but she didn't mind. She did her best thinking along the shore, and she wanted to share it with Jade.
"This is beautiful, Cat," Jade said. She had never been to the ocean before, and she was in love with what Cat created.
"I used to go to the beach almost every week. I had so much to think about it, and listening to the waves was really soothing."
Jade nodded and held Cat's hand a little tighter. She was feeling a little apprehensive of being sent into nonexistent, but the girl made her feel safe. Jade was still trying to ignore the fact of how sad Cat looked.
"It is really soothing. For being dead, I've never felt so calm."
Again, the two teenagers feel silent. Jade wished the two could go on walking along the shore forever. She squeezed Cat's hand then and felt something overcome her. Maybe she wanted to believe in the nonexistence when she was alive because she didn't have anyone who made her want to believe in something after life. Now, she had just met someone who was actually caring for her.
"Cat," Jade said, stopping walking. Cat looked at her in surprise.
"What's wrong, Jade?"
Finding it hard to form words, Jade was speechless at first. Was she really going to give up the peace of the nonexistent for someone she had just met? She didn't even know what would happen with Cat and her if she chose the Afterlife, but something was telling her to try.
"I don't want to be nonexistent anymore," Jade hurriedly said, hoping the girl understood her. Thankfully, she did.
"What do you want to do, Jade?" Cat questioned, silently wishing it was the Afterlife. When Jade announced her answer, Cat practically tackled her in a hug. The touch was foreign to Jade, but she didn't hate it. Carefully, she put her arms around the Angel.
"That is so awesome! I can't wait! Listen, I'll tell you everything you need to know!" Cat said, speaking a mile a minute. Jade could barely keep up with everything Cat was saying.
"I haven't led anyone to the Afterlife, which you probably know since you're my first charge. But, that means you get to be my first! You're really becoming my first a lot, isn't that funny?" Cat said, laughing. Jade's lips tugged into a smile.
"Yeah, yeah. I guess it's up to you to make it worth not throwing myself into nonexistence," Jade said, trying to crack another joke.
Seriously, Cat nodded. "I promise. I don't want you to leave."
Then, the redhead released Jade's hand and used it to create a glowing green door. Once it was there, she clutched the goth's again and said, "This is the door to the Admissions Office of the Afterlife. I can take you there, but then someone else will take care of you. I still have charges to take care of, but I'll find you once I finish my duties."
"How will you do that?" Jade asked, although she didn't doubt Cat could find her again.
"Sensing others is also a power of mine. All I have to do is think of you and I'll know. Kind of creepy, but it's there," Cat replied, smiling. Jade nodded.
Cat put her hand on the door handle, and Jade felt a little frightened of what would be beyond it. Looking back, Cat saw the fear on the taller girl's face. Without thinking, she crashed her lips onto Jade's. When she pulled back, she said, "I've never kissed a girl before."
A little stunned, Jade said, "Neither have I."
"Oh! Another first! I guess we really will have a lot of those!" Cat replied, her eyes gleaming like they did when Jade first saw her. Cat gripped her hand as she finally opened the door, and Jade shut her eyes. No one had made her want to live while she was alive, but she had finally met someone who made her want to be, ironically, dead. That, she decided, was enough.