Inside the building, the actual setting seemed familiar. Grey, spongy material covered the ground, and little linty bits stuck to the girl's toes. She wiggled them uncomfortably, trying to get used to the itchy substance. The ever-present glow still remained, but it was now accompanied by the dim flicker of fluorescent overhead lights.
How can bright be dim? Odd again.
Accompanying the lighting an the squishy floors were small, squarish cubicles covered in a thin layer of worn grey felt. The outsides had musty beige couches and shoddy end tables, and the odd artificial tree here or there were the only actual color in the whole place. Little clear vinyl stands propped up brochures and booklets, most of which portrayed sepia images of old couples holding hands on a shoreline, and twirly-letter titles like "Passing on: How to let go" and "Is reincarnation right for me?". Her fingers itched to pick up one, to explore the odd texture and feel of the glossy paper, but remembering Rice's warning she tried as hard as she could not to touch anything.
She continued to follow the shorter boy, until her stopped at a chipped brown door.
He knocked, and stepped back.
"Come in."
The door swung open, and they stepped into a small white office. For the most part, it was the same as the rest of the building. There room was mostly occupied by a large green-grey filing cabinet, entirely covering the expanse of the farthest wall. Behind a large wooden desk, seated upon a black swivel chair, was The Boss.
"She's here." Rice stated, and the figure behind the desk looked up from a pile of paperwork.
She set down her ballpoint pen with a click, and sat up straight.
"Good. You may leave."
Rice nodded respectfully and exited the room.
The pale girl was sad to see him go; now she was alone again.
Well, not exactly alone. she reminded herself, eyeing the woman in front of her.
But he was a friend.
Focusing once again on the woman, she realized that she was being inspected.
With a critical eye, she did the same.
The woman in front of her looked to be around middle-age, and wore a pair of clear-rimmed silver glasses. Shoulder-length brown hair was pulled back in a tight bun, making her face look strained. She had a thin body, although not painfully so, and wore a grey tweed suit jacket and a matching suit. A tiny silver chain necklace hung just above the top button of her white blouse, and looking closer the girl realized that it was adorned with the silver-wrought shape of an intricately forged moth, wings spread as if preparing to fly away at the slightest movement. Overall, the lady was not the intimidating symbol of power that the girl had originally expected.
She looks… busy. She decided.
"Please, sit."
Bringing herself back to the present, she saw that the woman was gesturing to a black steel-framed chair in front of her.
She sat down obediently, waiting for the woman to say something.
The woman continued to watch her, and she shifted under the gaze.
Her eyes are grey. Are mine grey? I liked Rice's better. So blue…
"Well, who were you?" The woman suddenly asked.
"Oh…"
"Do you know?" She cut in, not waiting for a response.
"No…"
"I see."
The lady looked down again, shuffling the papers on her desk.
"Well, I suppose we can put you in 'Amnesiac'." she stated, handing her a paper that was littered with indecipherably tiny words, crawling across the page like sugar-ants.
"Or 'Brain-dead'…" She tossed another paper.
"'Comatose', 'Delusional', 'Erratic', 'Fevered', 'Hung-over'… but then of course there's 'Mentally ill'…" For each word, the pile in her hands steadily grew.
"Um.. Excuse me?"
The woman arched an eyebrow questioningly, clutching a file titled 'Undefined cause of death'.
"But… are you God? My thinking is telling me that he should be here."
The lady dropped the file and sighed.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not God. I just run things around here, m'kay, hon? Thousands of people die every day. Dou you think they're just gonna drop in and clean up after themselves? No," She answered herself before the girl could even open her mouth, "Because they're confused. Most of them don't know where they are, and a lot of them don't want to think they're dead. They come here screaming and crying, begging to go back, and they don't even want to listen to reason. I have to organize therapy groups, acceptance ceremonies, confessionals, resting places, spiritual guidance, the list goes on and on."
"But… this is heaven, right? Why do they have to be organized?"
The lady snorted, sitting back in her chair.
"Classification confidentiality, sweetie. No confirmations. 'Fraid I can't tell you that. Even if it is, Heaven doesn't do it's own paperwork."
"Now,"
She walked up to the filing cabinet and opened one of the drawers.
"I'm in a bit of a rush. Lots of dearly departed to sort. Do you have any preferences? Limbo? Asgarth? Halla? Rebirth?"
She shuffled some files.
"Soul energy re-consumption?"
What?
"Um, actually…" she started.
"Actually what?"
"Actually, I was hoping… I was hoping to ask if you could help me remember my life, first. See, I think I'm supposed to remember that."
"Oh."
The lady's mood dampened somewhat.
"Well, there is a number of alternative options to that."
She shut her cabinet, and moved to open a drawer in her desk.
"We have complete memory wipe, so you can forget you wanted to remember, we have reincarnation, so it won't matter, we have…"
"No, thank you." she interrupted, overwhelmed by the unceasing flow of information.
"I would like to remember,"
"I see."
No, you don't. she wanted to yell at her, No you don't.
"Is there anything… Else… that you would settle for?" the woman tried.
"No." she stated. "I need this."
The woman gave her an uncertain look.
"Well, if you're sure that's what you want to do…"
"I am." she stated.
"…Then this is what we can do…."
…...
Don't kill me for the cliffhanger! I'm sorry again for stretching this out, I honestly thought I would have some action by now. I've reviewed some of my work though, and I'm POSITIVE that everything'll be flowing smoothly by chapter 5. (Chapter 4's gonna be real short.) PLEASE REVIEW!
Oh, and Minny? Thank you very much. : ) you have no idea how much that means to me. I'll be sure to do my best keeping up to your expectations.
Unnamed reviewer… thank you again. I'm glad I have consistant readers like you. If you like super-long series, try the 'Rohan pride chronicles'. It's on this site, and it's so far made up of 5 parts. Each part is longer than an actual tolkein novel. I think you'd like it, even though it doesn't even get into the LOTR thing until chapter 62 in book 1. Up 'till then, it's about a rohan girl who is kidnapped and forced to work in mordor for seven years before being sent to… never mind, just check it out. :D
REVIEW!