Natalie Emmerson

"What happened? Where am I? why am I so cold?"

From where I was on the floor I could see a window and hear the sound of crashing waves. I had to be imagining lying here. I got up and walked around the room. It was oddly cold, when the room felt like ninety degrees. The pain I had been feeling had finally started to melt away.
I walked right past Boris. He was my nanny, and my parents trusted him with my life. He looked weird, staring out of the window that looked out onto the beach. Boris wasn't breathing and he was cold. When I tried to touch his shoulder,my hand went right through it. Uhm, yeah, it just went right through his shoulder.

I looked down at my hands and then back at Boris. What in the hell? I walked back to the place where I got up from. I was lying there with a gaping hole in my chest. I was dying. Blood had begun to pool around my dying body. I could hear myself gurgling; i saw my last breathe.

I laid back down and willed myself back into my body. I lay there trying to make my body live again, but it just wouldn't work. I was dead. I looked into the left corner and that was when i saw her. She was beautiful. She was dressed in a pure white suit. It glimmered and glowed with a bright light. Her dark hair was loose and fell down her shoulders and back in raven ripples. She smiled and the sun got a little brighter.
"Come on kid. You don't want to see what happens next." she said reaching out her hand.
I didn't want to go. I didnt know what happened to me. Would anyone ever know? What would happed to my family, my friends, my dog? I sighed and took her hand.

"We are going where there is no more pain, nor sadness. It will be better this way." said the strange woman as we walked out the door and into the front yard where i had played so many times as a kid.

"Please, I need to see them again.I have to see if they find out what happened." I said pulling her hand.
She looked at me and then back at the house we had just left. I was not exactly touching the ground. I could feel it but i wasn't actually standing.
After twenty minutes I saw my dad run through the yard and up to the door. He didn't stop, and was closely followed by three police men. I could see the pain on his face as he screamed and flew to my body.

"No NO NOO, oh god please no!! What happened? " wailed my dad.

Two of the officers tried to pick my father up with no success. The third was trying to close the front door. I didnt know when she had got there but my mother was fighting to be let into the house too.

My father was so lost in his grief, he just sat there, cradling my limp body in his now bloody lap. My mom, usually a calm woman, knocked down the policeman at the front door and ran over to my father. She let out a scream. It was a sound that could shatter the heart of any human.

I couldnt take anymore of this scene. My parents were inconsolable. The officers had called in back up to get them out of the house. By then, the woman had scooped me easily into her arms,as if i was a baby. We were rising quickly into the air. HIgher and higher until everything went white.

When the light faded I found myself in a large room. It was white every where and full of people. Some were very old, some were young and some looked like they hadn't even lived. Was this heaven? I thought it would be a lot different , you know like you see on tv, all clouds and angels. This place looked more like a DMV then heaven.
The woman I had came with now stood in front of me holding some kind of tablet. I couldn't be here. I was only nineteen. I had my whole life ahead of me. This sucked,big time. I watched as she pulled her long hair into a messy bun. She put on a pair of frameless glasses, and cleared her throat.

"Sorry you had to see all that. Normally we just bring you straight here but you needed to see that was real. It was bound to happen, sweetie. It was your time. It says it right here. Natalie Emerson, death by gunshot to chest, age nineteen." she said.

"There has to be some mistake. I was starting college next week. Mark was finally going to answer the note I left in his locker on the last day of school. It wasn't time. I have so much to do...What about my dog? " I said trying not to raise my voice.

Some lunatic shoots me in the chest and slits my nanny's throat and all this lady could say was sorry it was my time?! Oh hell no. I wanted to wake up and this all be some sick dream. Why did I have to die when my life was finally starting to get to the point ?! That was it. I had to know what happened. Who could I speak to about this? Someone had to know what was going on and why I was dead before things started to get going.

I looked up at the woman in front of me. She was typing on her tablet, only half listening. I stood up, straightened my shirt, pulled up the waistband on my shorts and spoke
" I demand to see a supervisor! This cant be what happens to me. I demand to know what happened! " i shouted.
That got her attention. She put down the tablet and took the glasses off her button nose.
"Are you sure you want to do this,kid? You get to keep that pretty little figure, and enjoy the afterlife. What is so great about your life? " she said as she squatted down to my eye level.
"This isn't fair. I didn't deserve to die. Neither did Boris. No one deserves to die like that. I want to know why? " i said trying to keep it together.
She touched my chin and my forehead at the same time.

"Ok, but don't say you weren't warned. Sometimes the answers we find should just be left unanswered. Hang tight." she said as she pushed a button I hadn't noticed.

I soon found myself in an office. This place looked like one of those police dramas, only the windows didn't look out onto a normal city.
I saw many buildings and people. Some had wings and were dressed in robes and others were just regular people. I looked back at the office i was in. A desk sat in the middle of the room. there was a bookcase to the right of the desk against the wall. On the left, there was a brown leather couch.

Where was I now? I walked back to the chair I had been sitting in and sat down. There were picture frames, and a state of the art computer on one corner of the desk. Near the pictures was a golden vase, with the most lovely red roses. They looked like they were made with red velvet instead of grown. After twenty more minutes, the door opened. There in the door way was a tall man. He was mahogany brown, with smoke colored eyes. He wore an Armani suit that made him look heavenly. He also had the most wonderful pair of white wings sitting on his back.

He wore his hair cut low and he looked more like a model for one of my Hip Hop magazines instead of the angel he was. He didn't say anything right away. Just walked in and sat down at the desk.
He smiled and his dark eyes lit up.

"So you must be Natalie. I just received your case and yes you are right. This isn't fair. A young kid like you should be enjoying her life right now. Let me review a few things with you. Jenna can be a little boring. she has never visited the living, so she never gets why so many of you want to go back. now lets see here..." said the angel as he typed something on his keyboard.

I just waited. Finally someone agreed with me. So maybe this would be resolved, soon.

"Oh hell. it looks like there was a mistake, Ms Emerson. Someone made a Faustian deal. those things are so messy. I never get why people do these. Its so hard to break one and then I have to be the one to fix it. Then there's all the leg work." said the angel as he picked up the phone off to his left.

"Hey Margie. Yes, this is Angelo, down in Renewals. It looks like we need a reversal. No it was a Faustian deal. Ugh I know right? Can you get Deana? It looks like we are going to have to work together again. I know but this is what she does. "

I sat listening trying not to laugh at the way Angelo spoke on the phone. It reminded me of my father secretary, Marcy. I wasn't sure how to feel as it sank in. I had been right but I never would have imagined this. I knew what a Faustian deal was. A deal made with Satan was a really dumb thing to do. There was always was a price.

I watched Angelo as he chatted with Margie. I thought about the woman who had brought me up here, was this margie? Who knew. Who cared? All I wanted at this point was to find out who would do such a thing to me and Boris and why?

Angelo finally hung up his phone and stood up. He walked around the desk and perched himself on the edge. He was quite attractive to be a heavenly being. He reminded me more of a hip hop model in Vibe magazine instead of an angel. I wondered about Boris. Where was he? Could he possibly be up here too?

I hadn't seen him in the waiting room, then again that was a really huge room. My parents had inherited Boris from one of their parents. He looked like he was in his late fifties as his hair was starting to turn a little gray around the edges. He was a great friend and confidant.

I often wondered if he had a family too. Was there a Mrs. Boris or any little Boris juniors running around? I suddenly got a flash of something. We had been playing outside making sandcastles when I heard his cell phone ring. He walked a little toward the waves so I couldn't hear him. I was about ten then. It was the only time I ever heard him raise his voice.

"No. I wont do that. It is against everything I believe. These are good people, they don't deserve that. You will be sorry if you go through with it, mark my words, Paulina. Nothing good will come of this. " he yelled.

I wasn't supposed to hear that conversation, but I had heard it. I never told anyone what I had heard. Not even Boris. When I focused again on where I was, Angelo was staring at me. He had his arms crossed and a strange look on his face.
"How did you do that? Humans are not able to do things like that." he said.

"Wait, what just happened? Did you see that?" I asked, sitting up suddenly in my chair.

The angel looked at me again. I was confused. If this was only a memory, how could Angelo see it. My head started to hurt.
"Natalie, this is big. I hope she hurries. Deana will flip. This hasn't happened in centuries." said the angel as he took off his blazer.
This time another lady came into the room. She wore a dark red business suit similar to the Armani one Angelo wore. Her hair was ginger colored and it poofed out in small tight curls.
Her skin was cinnamon brown and she had freckles. She had wings too but they weren't white and bird like Angelos. Her wings were red and leathery looking.they kinda looked like bat wings. Deana also had a tail. It was long and ended in a point, almost like the end of an arrow.