CHAPTER 1 : BLANK BACK
(It is certain that spirits have no bodily shape, and yet ... They will hasten to our aid with incredible swiftness, winging their way to us with the speed of lightening.)
From the moment he regained consiousness he wondered.
"Huhh ! ... As I expected, can't go back to sleep.
Remember, yes is coming now, I think I remember now, no ... I don't remember, so much frustration, it must be those secrets. Many of you think that a secret can be kept long enough to prevent trouble. Yes, I said that, secrets, no matter which way I look at it, those are the reasons I can't sleep right now. What else I said. Everyone is able to keep secrets, and eventually the more secrets you have, the harder it gets to keep them. At some point the most important secrets becomes those who change the fate of the world. (coughing) I said that too.
Those were the words that I said to my subordinates, and so many of them were determined to die with those secrets ... So I said fools, don't make me laugh, really? Do you think that every person who says that really dies without revealing those secrets? (laughing)
It just remind me of the promise that I did long ago, Oh how come I can remember that?! I regret that very moment, may be that's why I can't forget it.( Tell me and I will keep it to the grave) I said so, what a fool of me, and I wasn't kidding, really, I think I actually die, or I think I did 'cause this feels like a grave ... For real! yes I remember my last words, still takes me back in time. What am I talking here? ... but if I did die than I kept them, isn't that so, I think. Well ... Why am I talking to myself again? I look like weirdo when I do this, I shouldn't be talking to myself ... but lets just assumed I'm death. (Long silent)
Now even dead ... I feel as if someone had wake me up somehow, I'm inside something with little space.
What is going on now? What is this ... a sound? no way, is way too soon for that ... At this very moment someone is trying to open my grave, but this can't be a grave, a grave can be more, I don't know may be it's a grave after all, lets see what happens
... Can I be alive? ... Can I be really alive? ... Should I scream? No ... I am suppose to be death, well I'm assuming I'm death because it really feels like it, but ... I can't take it anymore ... Wait WHO'S THERE?"
The grave suddenly was open and the light was so intense that his mind went blank.
Fifty nine seconds later.
"Franco twenty four, Amanda twenty five, Manolo twenty six ...Wait! what is this dude doing here? he's in another list ... Someone call the organizer of list one to ten and tell him someone made a mistake, I can't stand this guy under my feet ... Who made the mistake?" People were able to see in the dark, that was a gift some living wish, but it was for the death. "I brought him sir." someone shouted from the back of the crowd.
"call me by my name." replied proudly.
"I'm sorry Mr. Awaken."
"Then I'll ask again. What is this dude doing under my feet?" he was getting inpatient for some answers.
"Sir when I opened his grave he fainted." all the people from the back of the large room started laughing.
"What's your name young man? You must be new doing this job." he saw the boy and realized that it was a teenager who was approaching towards him.
"My name is Aitor and I brought him here because the organizer from list five to ten doesn't have experience on how to deal with fainted souls." Everyone started to murmur as they saw the young man on the floor waking up.
"Huhhh where ... am I? Am I alive?" everyone saw the excitement on his face hoping to heard a "Yes." but none of those faces were familiar. The only thing that he saw familiar from his daily life was the t-shirts that everyone was wearing. Many marathon t-shirts.
"See now he's awake ... Now you do the rest and explain to him while I do my job." said Mr. Awaken while Aitor stood in front of him sadly confused because he did not know how to explain himself.
"My name is Aitor and I'm your counselor, but first I need to know your name in order to clarify my job." Aitor looked at him in the eyes and knew that even though he was recently awake, he was very confident to cooperate.
"My name is Frost ..." everyone was curious by the colour of his t-shrit and the number on it. Mr. Awaken pointed at the door and Aitor asked Frost to follow him and they both walked out. Frost looked back and saw the people who were crowded in a line, they all looked sad somehow because they wanted to follow Aitor which was strange, but they were not allowed.
"You said you were going to tell me what's going on ... What's this a marathon for? 'cause those people there-" he was interrupted.
"You are dead ... You were awakened by me because you kept secrets that changed the fate of the world, whether it was a situation or a dramatic event, in many cases it provoked dead and chaos, you are now an awaken soul that deserves punishment ... But you are not the only soul that deserves punishment, this marathon is only for souls that die with secrets that could had save lives, and the number of secrets are printed in a t-shirt. Judging by the number on your t-shirt, you are not so bad after all." Frost looked at his t-shirt and saw the number five.
"We are finally here ..." they both entered in a small cottage place where people were in a line and the colour of their t-shirts were green, everyone had numbers from one to ten.
"This is our team ... He is Murie, she is Reina, and me, Aitor." Frost looked carefully at Murie who had the number two, Murie was an skinny and super tall man, then he looked at Reina, a little girl about seven years old.
"Aren't we suppose to go to that line there?" murmured Frost.
"This is our line ... We're only four." replied Murie.
"What! ... Why?" Frost wasn't use to the idea of being dead. Aitor was impatient because he knew that Frost needed to know what was going on, and there was not time for too many details. But somehow he trusted Frost at letting him improvise a long the way and find out for himself.
"Those people there have another number on the back. It represents the number of lies they told in order to protect their secrets ... There's only four of us out of hundreds of people, we are the ones who have a blank back, that's how we called it ... Listen, usually there's an investigation to find out why the person awaken doesn't have a number on the back, because it's unusual." Aitor was trying to be as clear as possible.
"What? I did not understand a word of what you just said." Murie walked up to him.
"I'll tell you ... I die just a few seconds after knowing a devastating true. I got hit by a car before anyone even notice me ... Here is Reina, she is a girl who has suffer a lot and she was used to see others suffer badly, unfortunately there's bad people everywhere, she was at the wrong place at the wrong time, so before she was interrogated by a cop, her enemies cut her tongue when she was just a kid ... From that day on she could not reveal anything ... And now she's going to be punished for something she could not change. THAT'S WHY THERE HAS TO BE AN INVESTIGATION."
"That's enough Murie, I think he get it, right?" Frost looked at Reina who had the number three on her small t-shirt, then he looked at Aitor who had other t-shirt without numbers.
"What is your story? How come you are a counselor?"
"Alright, I though you wanted to know why we are here, but if you are so concern, then I'll tell you ... I'm not here because I kept quit, I'm here because I said something I should had kept. I did not changed the fate of the world, but ... I'm here because some random counselor made a mistake at awaking me, I was suppose to be sleeping, and once you are awake from the dead, you'll not go back to your own grave again, I'm here 'cause someone made a mistake and somehow I had to take his place ... Now that you know, tell us what happen to you. Did you die too soon? Or did you avoided society? Or did you lose your tongue as well?" Murie and Reina laughed.
An old man appeared between Reina and murie as they laughed and approached to Aitor out of nowhere, he stood behind Frost in such a sudden that it almost felt dangerous. The old man looked at each one individually, then he spoke.
"I'll tell you ... he got around it. It's call Persuade. Telling something but actually using other words, body language, or telling a story without revealing detail ... Just as expected, he was good at it, he didn't need to lie if he knew how to change the topic. Isn't that right Frost?" the old man smiled at him, then Frost nodded sadly because he knew that he was right, the others felt betrayed because they for once though that they had finally found a new friend, a new buddy, a new member of their small family where they took care of each other because they felt proud of being special, being different, pure, the ... chosen ones.
The old man took the initiative of leadership. "Let's get this marathon started ... Shall we." Frost carefully looked at Murie, Reina and even Aitor like statues without looking at the old man, it was admirable respect, but more than that, it was fear.
To be continued...