When I Came Back

I was walking down the street stumbling and nearly tripping countless times. My vision was getting a bit blurry, I should probably go visit an eye doctor later.. The thought made me groan. Ever since this morning I felt extremely tired, my energy being wasted from dealing with a rude customer.

“I think I like it better when I was a teenager. I thought the 20’s were the highest point in your life,” I muttered.

But then again, I haven’t done anything notable, or worth a praise in my life. In my 21 years of life, I have missed out on some of the biggest highlights in everyone’s life.

Skipping prom, homecoming, any kinds of formals or dances. I’ve turned down countless party invitations. I’ve never fallen in love or had a boyfriend, I missed the whole four years of the ‘highschool experience,’ as they call it.

The drizzling rain, that started minutes after I left work started pouring. It was wetting my office attire.

I’ll need to set them out to dry tonight.

The thought made me groan. I just graduated from college a couple months ago, but I was still extremely broke. Those movies definitely missed all the problems of being an adult...

I quickened my pace to get to my small apartment. As I reached the building, I stood in the elevator, pressing the ′7′ button and rummaging through my purse looking for my keys.

I fumbled through my purse, my head throbbing. I stood there like an idiot while water dripped from my ruined clothes. I heaved a sigh as the doors slowly closed. The red glow from the elevator keypad dimmed and I heard the soft ‘ding’ as the doors snapped open.

“Hey Kia!” I whipped around to see one of my eccentric neighbors.

“Heeey,” I weakly grinned, a wave of nausea hit me, causing me to lose my balance.

“Woah there, are you okay?” He asked holding me steady.

“Mhhmmm.. I’ll just..” I pointed to my apartment door.

Cedric hesitated, “Alright then..”

I stuck the keys in the doorknob, turning it until I heard the familiar ‘click’. Everything was spinning around me. I dropped my purse, leaving my door open and rushed to the bathroom, flicking the light switch and looking into the mirror. All that I could see were blobs. My body stiffened and panic began to rise. Something was definitely wrong.

“H-h…”

I couldn’t make a full word before I collapsed. I heard the faint voice of Cedric shouting before everything turned dark.

My eyes snapped open, I was in the backseat of a car. Turning to my side, I saw Cedric, focused on driving. He was extremely pale. “Cedric..?”

Cedric didn’t spare a glance at me.

“Uh..Cedric?” I tried again. No response.

“Cedric? CEDRIC!” I shouted, but to no avail.

What the hell?

I sat up, noticing my arms were tinged with a shade of blue, and extremely transparent. In fact, my skin had the same issue. My legs were like my arms, a tint of blue and extremely transparent.

What was going on?

As I placed my hand on the car seat to steady myself, it went through it. I tried sitting on the car seat, but my view was clouded with the grey seat.

Suddenly, the car veered to the right, causing me to scream. My body- well, my second body hit the front seat.

“Fuck,” Cedric hissed, “That jerk of a driver.”

He readjusted his grip on the steering wheel, but not before he used a choice of colorful words at the incident.

I looked at the driver again before my vision started dimming, and soon filled with black.

“Hello? Meaningless soul?”

My eyes fluttered open to a figure covered in all black, hovered above me. I sat up, scanning my surroundings- I was on the floor of my bathroom surrounded by my familiar floral wallpaper. I tried to recall what happened earlier.

I was in the backseat of Cedric’s car, and then I somehow got here?

However, I was still dangerously transparent.

The tiles on my bathroom were visible through my arm. I redirected my attention to the figure.

“Hello..?”

“Finally, Miss Kia Nouvel. I was afraid you were going to take all day.”

Uh, what? “How- wha- who?” I sputtered, my jaw dropping.

“Full sentences please. I didn’t expect you to be so illiterate. Aren’t you 21?”

I froze up, still in shock. How did he know this?

The figure sighed, “Well, I guess it’s time to guide you to the gates-”

“Wait,” I paused, looking at the figure, straight into his black eyes, “Who are you and how did I get here?”

“Illiterate and thickheaded, how wonderful..” The figure sighed, “I’m the Grim Reaper, the lord of death, but I go by Reaper,” He grunted, “As for your transportation, I summoned you here.”

A dozen questions started forming, but I laughed, ignoring them.

“Okay magical Mr. Reaper,” I wheezed.

Did he think I was that dumb?

“You think this is some kind of joke, don’t you?” His eyes narrowed into slits, his icy demeanor sending shivers down my spine.

“Of course not..” I trailed, forcing myself to stop laughing.

“This is why I shouldn’t speak with you humans,” Reaper’s remarked, venom laced in his words. “70 words, a new record. I haven’t spoken that much since 3 decades.”

After a brief silence, Reaper outstretched his hand, summoning a blue flame from his hand, “Well, I can’t say it was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Nouvel, if you’re lucky, I may be able to see you at your trial.”

Reaper muttered unintelligible words and blue flame circled all around me. Soon, the blazing blue filled my vision, and a flash of white lingered. I staggered back, hitting a wall of some sort.

As my vision I cleared, I realized I was still in my bathroom.

“What? Impossible!”

I looked up to see Reaper, disbelief filling his face. “Err, give me a second Miss Nouvel,” he sheepishly said, returning to his muttering. “Let us try this again?”

“Wait a second,” I waved my arms, “What are you trying to do?”

Reaper looked at me and started laughing, “I didn’t expect you to be this dull, Miss Nouvel, you certainly surprise me.”

I stood there, dumbfounded. What the hell was he going on about?

“I’m guiding your soul to the gates of the afterlife, but I have made some sort of error-”

“What are you trying to say? I don’t get it.” I cut him off.

Reaper sighed, “I don’t see how you haven’t connected the dots. But, to answer your question, Kia, you’re dead.”

My jaw dropped to the floor.

“You’re joking, right?”

"Kia, please tell me you’ve at least noticed your appearance.”

I turned away from Reaper, looking at my bathroom mirror, but I couldn’t see myself or him.

Slowly, I connected the dots. My transparent skin, Cedric ignoring me.

Does that mean...?

“Is what you’re saying true?” I glanced at him, my voice barley above a whisper.

He only nodded.

I stared at him in shock, “But, I’m 21! I still have a life to live, things to do, family to greet!”

Reaper cocked his eyebrow and chuckled, “Miss Nouvel, you’ve done nothing quite remarkable in your 21 years of living, and to be frank, it seems like your adult life is boring. You haven’t kept in touch with your family at all after moving, and the only thing you’re doing is work.”

I shot Reaper a glare, but unable to form any words to come to my defense.

Fuck, he was right though.

“Now that you have no more questions, let me try this again.”

The blue flames returned to circle me again, Reaper chanting the same thing he did before.

I wanted to scream, to tell him to stop, but I was powerless.

My mouth was sealed shut, I couldn’t move a muscle.

As he finished the chant, the blinding flash struck again.

At first all I saw were blobs. Once my vision cleared, the familiar floral wallpaper surrounded me.

My eyes darted to Reaper's confused stance.Resting in his palm was a hologram, blinking red.

In big, bold letters, “ERROR” was displayed.

“It seems like we have a problem.”