The Ghost of Tina

Tina had never thought about death before that night. Now she understood why people were afraid of death. Two words: Grim Reaper. She understood how he was the reaper of souls and everything, but did he have to have such a scary appearance?

At first Tina felt nothing. She was dead, which meant her body was shut off. Her senses, nerves, even thoughts didn't work. Then she felt herself move outside of her body. She felt invigorated, which confused her. She opened her eyes and that confused her even more. She didn't have eyes, yet she could blink and see, far better than she ever could. She also didn't have ears, but she could hear everything. She didn't have a brain, yet she could think. It was like her soul was acting off a memory, which she remembered even better.

She looked down at herself and yelped, for she wasn't fully there. She was just a grey imprint of what she used to be. She tried to touch herself only to realise when she did that she could not feel anything. It wasn't that she couldn't touch herself, she could pull and grab and the outlines of what used to be her clothes, but when she did it felt the same as before she grabbed them. She tried with a piece of wood on the floor. When she picked it up it lifted off the floor, but it felt as if it were levitating by itself.

"Your nerves have been shut off, or more accurately, you don't have any. So, anything that required nerves before will not work." Said a voice behind her, she dropped the wood in shock. She felt her form flicker as panic flowed over her. She noticed the cloaked figure in the corner of the room for the first time. She wondered if he had been standing there the entire time.

The figure wore a black cloak that covered most of his body including his face, so she could not see it. The only part of his body she could see was his hands, which were skeletal with gray bones. It made her glad she couldn't see his face. The only way she could tell it was a man was by his deep masculine voice that protruded from under his hood. He also carried a large scythe, which made her scared of him since she was unarmed. His appearance made it clear to her that this was the Grim Reaper from the stories she had heard as a child. In some of the stories she had heard he had a more faded and worn robe, so that you could actually see his skeletal rib cage as well. She was glad that in reality his robe wasn't that frayed.

She tried to get away from the reaper, to realise that she could only float away. Considering how gravity had no effect on her, she would probably never walk on the ground again. It's not like she could feel it if she did. The reaper walked towards her, then switched to floating half-way. It was like the legends said; he was half skeleton half ghost. He could choose to walk or float, she couldn't.

She floated backwards in attempt to get away from him, and he stopped advancing. He probably noticed the fear plastered on her face, because he said, "I'm not going to hurt you, probably couldn't if I tried. Listen, I'm here to help you pass."

Tina stopped backing away, and she finally found her voice, "If I'm...I'm..."

"Dead." The Reaper confirmed.

"Dead." She repeated, letting that sink in. She was dead now, she saw it coming of course, but this is what it's like to be dead. She would never see her parents or Ally again. At least she hoped not for a long time. At least she would be with George, but for some reason George wasn't here. She was alone with the reaper. She continued on, her voice coming out echo-y, like it was being stretched and layered.

"You said I couldn't use anything that needed nerves, but then how come I can think, and move, and talk?" she asked, he shook his head dejectedly,

"It is very complicated how the human soul works," he confessed, "But I will try to answer all your questions the best I can if you come with me." He held out his hand as an offer for her to take it. Tina still had a million questions, like where was her friend George? And would she ever see her family again? But she held them back. She didn't really want to go anywhere near his skeletal hands, but she felt drawn to them, like he was pulling her towards him with his mind. She went over to stand in front of him, and he wasn't much better up close. The Grim reaper opened up a portal below her like a swirling vortex, and it sucked her down below.

She appeared in a large room. The room was so big she couldn't see the end of it. The room was lined with red rock, and filled to every edge with souls. The souls filled the room with artificial light. The souls all glowed different colours each in respect to how they died. All the spirits had glowing white eyes different to the ones in life. They freaked her out how they had no iris's or pupils, but she figured her eyes looked the same way. The reaper had lied to her about answering her questions. He was never around, always off reaping souls.

There were some reapers around though, they acted as security. Apparently, all reapers have control over spirits. Plus, they all have scythes that can free souls from bodies, open portals, and cause ghosts pain. The reapers did have this knowledge to them. They were especially talented at spirit reading to the point where they understood a spirits life better than the spirit themselves, and they were experts on the dead. They would probably answer her questions, if she asked nicely and they were in a good mood, which was almost never.

The dead weren't much help either. They spent most of their time drifting through everyone and moaning. They really couldn't help her with her questions since the dead didn't know much of anything. Probably a drawback of not having a brain to remember with, but slowly the dead tend to forget things. It starts with the little stuff, but souls mostly hang on to important things, like what shaped them into who they are, how they died, and what was important to them around that time.

One day, after searching that place for so long, she found George's spirit. He was bright green, but Tina wasn't sure what that meant. Otherwise, he looked similar, with the same haircut and clothes that he died in, only he was completely green with glowing white eyes.

She had learned earlier that they had been killed by a dragon snake. A truly horrible creature; it prefers sneak attack, in which it injects a paralyzing poison into its prey before draining it of blood. That way the victim can yell for help, luring others to its location (for the only part that remained unparalyzed was the face. However, looking into the eyes of the creature would kill its victim instantly as well, leaving a body for the creature to drain.

The reapers had said that her sacrifice had caused the beings eventual demise, although killing it took many lives. Tina had felt bad about that, but at least it would kill no more. Her death had been worth it.

She was overwhelmed with joy after finding George; she ran over and hugged him. George let out a surprised, "Whoa!" when she hugged him. She backed away embarrassed, if ghosts could blush she probably was. They stared at each other awkwardly for a few minutes before Tina broke the silence and spoke (more like the silence between them, since there was moaning all around them.). "I've looked everywhere for you, I can't believe I've finally found you! I've missed you George." He looked at her confused,

"Do I know you?" he asked, Tina felt hurt, which was hard when you're a ghost. George had to remember her.

"I'm Tina Williams." She said, "Your best friend." George looked surprised, she was also a little surprised herself. She would've thought that she would've forgotten her name by now, at least her last name. Apparently that made her who she was, even if she didn't like it.

"We were friends?" he asked,

"Yes," She confirmed, she couldn't believe he had forgotten.

"I don't remember much about my old life anymore." He confessed, "I've completely forgotten who my friends were." He said hanging his head as if he was ashamed. But he's got to remember me, Tina thought, "Do you still remember the day you died?" she asked him.

George concentrated hard, "I think so..." he said slowly, "I remember...helping my parents because they were struggling with money. Then...I remember now! It was awful. I went upstairs to get something they needed, but out from under my bed came this horrible monster, it bit my ankle and I fell to the floor. I remember not being able to move anything but my face, and I saw that monsters glowing red eyes..." The same eyes she saw before she died, Tina thought, but why didn't they kill him? George continued, "They made me scream, and my parents ran upstairs. They took one look in its eyes and fell down dead. I was forced to watch as he drained my parents of blood and life. He drank me last, I don't know why, maybe because I screamed. As he drank me, I saw a girl come up the stairs and..." his eyes widened, "That girl was you! You were the last face I saw before I died! I remember not liking that, I didn't want you to die either, so I warned you to go with the last bit of my energy. Then it was dark for a long time, and someone came to take me here." He finished, he looked her over again, "Well, you're dead, so I don't think what I did worked."

Tina felt sad for George. He was forgotten even after death, he had to wait extra long for someone to come and reap him, leaving him trapped in his body. Plus, he had learned that his last act to save someone had been a fail, meanwhile hers had been a success. She leaned forward and kissed him, which was probably very inappropriate considering he didn't know her, and it left him very stunned. She didn't care though, she never had the guts to admit her feelings to anyone in her life, even herself, and now that it was too late for them she might as well.

"Well, I'm here with you now, that doesn't seem so bad." She confessed. George still looked shocked, but he was smiling. "Gosh, I can't believe we were really friends. All this time down here, whenever I looked at that memory I had always assumed you were just a random girl who came to see what was going on."

That knocked her confidence hard. She wasn't sure why that was the comment that did it. George had already confessed to her that he had forgotten who she was. Now he had said it again, no big deal. Except he was talking about his day of death. It was usually the last thing people remember. If he didn't know who she was on that day then he didn't know her at all anymore. She was a complete stranger. Their friendship never mattered; his feelings for her never existed.

She felt so sad she could cry, except for the fact that ghosts couldn't cry. So instead she floated away at top speed wailing at the top of her lungs. George tried to chase her, but she got lost in the crowd of ghosts, who actually stopped moaning for a second because of how loud she was wailing. Afterwards, they just moaned louder to block her out.

She floated so fast and far, and she didn't stop until she reached the edge. She would've kept going, but the security reapers stopped her. She tried to get past them but they kept on blocking her. It eventually got to the point that they threatened to use their blades on her. So she stood in front of them and moaned with sadness. She didn't want to stand in front of them, but she didn't want to go back in the crowd of ghosts either. It would remind her of George.

The reapers stared at her (or at least she assumed so because she couldn't see their eyes), before one said to her, "You are upset that your old friend doesn't remember you." She nodded in agreement. The reaper sighed, before continuing with, "It is the way things are child," she winced at the word child, reminding her she would always be this young, "The dead are meant to forget. You may have died too young to understand." But she did understand. She understood more than she did in life. When she died she knew about nerves in her body, and old legends that she never remembered. She learned about the ways of the dead.

"It is our job to free spirits from their bodies, but spirits are not meant to exist outside of bodies you see, so we bring them here." She wasn't sure why they were telling her this; it wasn't making her feel any better. Probably to help her understand, but still it didn't help.

"Slowly, without their minds to aid them, they begin to forget. They forget everything from their lives. Most spirits tend to remember things that formed them, important events in their lives and such, and anything to do with their deaths, because it is their most recent memory."

"Then they slowly forget that too, until they can't remember anything from their mortal lives."

"Not even how they died?" She asked, they shook their heads harmoniously.

"The last thing they forget is their spirit memories, the memories they made as a spirit. Then they are a clean slate. Their appearance compacts, since they no longer have an identity. They become glowing orbs of light, which shoot up to the surface to give life to newborn human life."

"So they are reborn." The figures shook their heads. She looked at the ceiling cautiously, and asked, "What would happen if we left?"

The hoods said nothing at first, and Tina wished to read their expression under those cloaks. "Nothing." They said, "You would be left at a standstill."

"No longer fading"

"Living in the world above without a body, which is against the laws of nature, So naturally of course we'd have to stop that from happening, and bring them back if they left. Souls have to be reborn."

"I understand, thank-you." Tina said as she floated back inside the crowd of ghosts. She knew the reapers had some flaws in their system. Spirits snuck out every night to see the world above, and returned in the morning. She had never gone because she had no reason to. To see her mother and father again, or Ally, that would've been too painful. Now it was too painful to stay. George didn't remember her, and she had forgotten her parent's names and faces. She didn't even remember what her parents were like. Were they nice or mean? Loving or strict? She wasn't sure.

She had to go to the world above. She wasn't planning on coming back. First she'd see her parents, then maybe Ally, then maybe she'd travel the world. She wasn't sure. She did know she needed a reminder of what her parents were like.

She looked toward the stone ceiling; a feeling of dread came upon her. What if the world has changed? What if she didn't like what she saw? Well at least it would be seeing something different for a change, She thought positive. She had to leave. She looked back at the ceiling. Glowing orbs raced towards the top, breaking through towards the surface. As they went, some spirits flew next to them, blending in with the glow to avoid being spotted by reapers.

She saw a ghost of an old man next to her staring off into space, not moaning or moving, then his form compacted itself into an orb of light. As it shot out of the room Tina followed it, she and the orb were both grey so they blended perfectly. She was a little scared when she reached the top, but then she remembered that she was a ghost and burst right through. She broke out of the ground on the other side.

The orb of light floated away and she had a feeling it was invisible like her. She turned visible and searched for her parents' house. She finally made it to the house she vaguely remembered and her memory came rushing back. She remembered all her times in the house and everything she knew about it. Her parents' faces still didn't come to mind. She floated through the front hall and into the foyer. The lights in the house were dark. Her parents must've been asleep, or out. No matter, she would wait for them. No matter how long it took.