The Story of Kairi Part 2

Three days. That's how long it took for me to die. I saw it coming. And though no one else would admit it, they saw it coming too.

I had followed the physician's orders exactly: change the poultices every hour and continue to get plenty of rest. But each day I had only gotten worse. When I woke in a coughing fit on the third day and nearly blacked out from the pain, I knew I had reached my end.

There had been signs that I wasn't going to get better for a while now. The doctor had announced he would no longer be checker up on me, that he had other patients to attend to. He hadn't said it, but I knew his other patients were ones he could save. I didn't make that list.

My family had been careful to stay out of my room at all costs. Only my papà visited, and even he kept his distance, never stepping more than one foot into my bedroom. Though he did his best to hide it from me, I could hear him crying at night through the walls. I missed human touch and compassion. What did it feel like to not be miserable?

The black sores on my arms had spread to the rest of my body, and I had developed swollen lumps in my armpits the size of chicken eggs. I knew that I looked terrible and was grateful that I didn't have a mirror in my bedroom. I knew that if I saw myself, I'd probably feint in terror, and yet the situation was so dire that Marco wasn't even taunting me for the way I looked.

Death could not come soon enough. I should have been alarmed at the thought of dying, but I just couldn't muster up the energy to care. Anything to end this constant agony. How could life be so cruel?

I'm not sure when the exact moment of my death was. The details were hazy thanks to all the pain. I couldn't say whether I was awake or asleep, or whether I was surrounded by loved ones or alone. But I do remember the moment I realized I was dead.

The pain vanished. I wanted to weep from relief, but a second later I realized that I was engulfed in darkness. I was cold, frighteningly cold. The darkness swallowed me. So this was it. Death was truly an eternity of darkness. I guess I wasted all that time in church for nothing.

Everything suddenly changed. I was still surrounded by darkness, but now it felt tangent, like I was floating through liquid. Without warning, I found myself standing alone in the middle of a thick, dark fog. I stared at my new surroundings in shock. What was going on? Where had this come from?

"Hello, Novella," a deep voice drawled.

I screamed and hurriedly turned my head in all directions, trying to find the source of the low voice. At first, I didn't see anything, but when I search again, I noticed a pair of glowing red eyes staring at me through the fog. I cautiously peered closer. Since when did people have red eyes?

The speaker stepped forward, and I stepped back. My heart raced in fear. None of this was normal. Where was I? And who was this startlingly pale little boy standing in front of me? "I understand how confused you must be," the small child said, his voice unusually deep for someone his age. He lifted his chin, his inky black hair falling away from his face. "Allow me to explain and give you a proper greeting. Welcome to the Land of the Dead. I am Death."

I tried to form words, but nothing came out of my mouth. Death? Like the Death? The grim reaper who went around collecting souls of the damned could not be talking to me right now. He was a myth, not a real person.

"I trust you know that you are dead. If not, now you do. You're death was the result of a little experiment of one of my brother's and mine. We're quite proud of what we've done and have decided to keep you around as a reminder of our achievement." Death paused for a moment to let his words sink in. He could pause for a year, and I still wouldn't understand what he had just said. I was a trophy to him? "There are others like you who I will introduce to you shortly. But first, I thought I would show you your new home." He appraised me with fascinated eyes.

I shifted uncomfortably under his pleased gaze. "Why me?" The words slipped through my lips without thought. I wasn't even sure what I was asking. Luckily, Death apparently did.

"Don't even begin to think you did something to deserve your death. We simply picked someone at random to be the victim of our new disease. Personally, I think it's our best one yet. The symptoms we created are marvelous. It kills quicker than we expected it to however. My reapers will have their hands full for the next few years." Death waved his hand dismissively. "Enough about our plague. Let me take you to a few reapers and returners of mine. They will get you settled into your new life." He abruptly spun on his heal and walked away.

I didn't want to follow him, but something told me that if I didn't, he'd find a way to make me come along. I had a million questions I wanted to ask. Death's introduction was short and made me more confused than satisfied. But the thought of meeting other people like me intrigued me. Maybe they would be able to answer my questions.

Death and I walked in silence for only a few minutes. He led me to a new area where the fog wasn't so intense, and I could actually see farther than five feet in front of me. Three people were waiting for us when we got there. They all appeared to be different ages, but everyone had the same short, jet black hair, glowing red eyes, and blindingly white skin. How did they tell each other apart? They all wore their hair in different styles, but surely that wasn't enough to know who was who.

A girl, around my own age, glanced up as Death and I walked over. She spoke to the boy next to her in a language I didn't understand, and then stood to greet Death with a small curtsy, adjusting her glasses as she rose. "Hello, sir. Can we help you?"

"Colette, meet Novella. She is new and needs someone to show her around. I'll charge your list to someone else for the week so you can take care of her. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

I jumped as a shadow shot up out of the ground, creating an oval portal that Death disappeared into. Colette chuckled at my response. "Welcome to the dead life newbie. You'll get used to it soon enough. What's your name?"

I hesitated. Was this girl hard of hearing? Death just told her my name. "My name's Novella."

She laughed again. Why was everything so funny to this girl? Was she pazza? "No, I mean your new name. I'm assuming Death didn't tell you that you're going to need a new identity. You can't be Novella when Novella's supposed to be dead. So, I'll ask again. What's your name? Think carefully, you only get to choose once."

I recalled all the names I had ever thought were pretty. What was the name of the sorceress in the book I was reading? Hester? I inwardly winced. Um, no. As much I enjoyed that book and that character, I did not want to go by Hester for the rest of my life. Or death? Was this permanent?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. My list of questions only grew longer. Figure out a new identity first, get answers to everything else later. I thought about the other characters in the book. There was a queen named Malina. Eh, it was okay. It still didn't feel right. What about the princess who stole the prince's heart away from the witch? Her name had been Kairi. Hmm... That sounded perfect.

"Kairi. My name is Kairi." I smiled at my new identity.

Colette nodded her approval. "Nice to meet you, Kairi. I'm Colette. These are my friends Eve and Hugh." She gestured to the other two people with us. They paused their conversation and threw my half-hearted waves before returning to their chat. What a great welcome comity.

I crossed my arms and looked back at Colette, ready to bombard her with questions. She picked up what was about to happen and stopped me before I could even open my mouth. "I know you're probably confused and have a lot of questions, but let me give you a quick inaugural speech before you ask anything. First, I know you want to, but you cannot go home. A lot of us didn't get the chance to say goodbye to our loved ones before we died, but unfortunately there's nothing we can do. I wouldn't even suggest going to your home country for at least one hundred years. Time flies quickly when you're dead though."

The gravity of her words hit me. I didn't even think about seeing my family until now. I couldn't see them? My initial shock and confusion was starting to fade and the heavy emotions slowly set in. I squeezed my eyes shut to hold back the tears. I'd never get to help my papà in his shop again. I even felt a sharp pang at the thought of never fighting with Marco again, or being scolded by Sarah for something trivial.

I felt a soft hand on my shoulder and reluctantly opened my eyes. Colette was offering me an empathetic grin. "I know it's hard. Trust me, it gets better. You might be able to see them again when they die."

I wiped away the few tears that had fallen. "How long have you been dead?"

"About one thousand years," Colette responded with ease.

I nearly choked on my own saliva. "One thousand years? That's insane!"

Colette shrugged. "Technically I'm one thousand and seventy-three years old. I've met others like us who are much older though. It's not that impressive." She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. The rest was pulled back into a low ponytail. "So are you a Reaper or a Returner?"

"What?" It was like she was speaking a foreign language to me.

"Are you here because you chose to be, or are you a part of Death's collection?" She tilted her head at me. I was grateful for her patience with my lack of knowledge.

"Uh, Death's collection?" I guessed. "He said I was the result of an experiment between him and one of his brothers. I died from this new disease that's going around."

"So you're a Returner then. That's better than being a Reaper I suppose. You'll still get summoned to do Death's bidding every once in a while, but you won't have a daily list to fulfil." Seeing my confused expression, Colette went on. "I'm a Reaper. I chose this position. When I died, Death gave me a choice: eternal death or eternal living death. Obviously, I went with the living death option. Each day my list fills up with the names of people who are going to die. I need to be there when they do to collect their souls and carry them to the final resting place." She pulled out a blank piece of paper. "It's empty now because I'm done for the day, and Death said he would give me the rest of the week of to show you the ropes. It's not so bad." She shrugged and put her empty list away. "Being dead has its advantages."

"Like what?" I eyed her with renewed interest. The idea that there were perks to this new life intrigued me. What did I have in store for me?

Colette grinned like that was her favourite question. "I'll show you soon enough. I like you, Kairi. I have a feeling we're going to be good friends. The dead always stick together. No matter what. We're all we have."

A/N - Another Kairi prequel chapter. I'll try to get back to Dead Debts for next week. College has been tough this year and it's hard to feel inspired to write. Anyway, as always, don't forget to review!