The middle

Chapter 2: the Up

Tall weeping willows encircling along the lake. The trees the greenest of greens and the lake as crystal clear as can be. A long wooden boat with no passengers or driver approached – it seemed to be driving itself. Adore instructed the girls to jump in and they began their official tour of the Up. Every so often they would come across a small path each leading to a new adventure, but the boat didn't stop at them. Lavender was so taken aback by the fact the boat was in fact driving itself and her stunning surrounding she barely even realized when about 10 minutes into the boat ride, the mahogany structure came to a halt in front of one of the small passageways.

As the girls climbed onto the land Adore began to speak. "This path here leads to my house. Here in the Up, every soul lived with their designated angel, so if you are to choose to stay here you would live here with me." The path was long but pleasant, it was surrounded by a range of trees and flowers and looked as if it was straight out of a painting from the French renaissance. When they were about halfway down the path, there was a fork. Coming from the left side of the fork, were two people holding a picnic basket and mat. One was clearly an angel and the other their designated soul. "Adore! Babe, I've missed you, it's been way too long since you've been home,", the angel exclaimed quickly realizing the other 2, "Oh, I didn't see you two there. Hi, I'm Max and this is my designated soul Atticus." A small 'hi' came from Atticus but it was clear by both his voice and body language he wasn't very good with new people. "Hey Atticus, I'm Adore, and these are Lavender and Eroda. Lavender is my designated soul and Eroda is her designated devil." As Adore said that last word a quick look of panic flushed over Max's face as he wondered what a devil was doing in the Up, but the look didn't last long enough for anyone to catch it. Eroda looked at Max and spoke, "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here. Like 'Oh no! A devil in the Up.', but I assure you I'm meant to be here. Lavender over here is an inbetweener – she had an equal amount of good to bad deeds. So, it's up to her to decide where she'd like to spend her afterlife. Anyways we should probably be going we don't want to be here too long as we still need to go to the Down."

They all quickly said their goodbyes and carried on, to where they were going. The remainder of the path felt mystical. Lavender felt as though she was walking through a fairy garden. Similar to Lavender, Eroda was also in shock, the Up was not anywhere near to what she expected it to be. She had heard Adore describe it hundreds, if not thousands, of times before but she never really understood just how different from the Down it would be. Adore soon stopped in front of a ladder that seemed to lead up to the treehouse. Adore informed the girls this was her house and they began to climb the ladder.

As Adore entered her beloved home she saw that not a single thing was out of place. Everything was just as she left it (including the mess of clothes on her bedroom floor and unmade bed). The small wooden structure was comfortable and cozy, covered in all sorts of décor and furniture but all neatly placed across the house. To the right of the door was a small open kitchen that consisted of a fridge, freezer, sink, a singular wooden cabinet, microwave oven, and a small wooden counter. To the left of the main door was a small living room, that has multiple well-filled shelves and drawers surrounding a TV and a couch in front of it. The area was filled with windows to let in the fresh air and on either side of the TV were doors. The left door lead into Adore's bedroom and the right was an empty bedroom. Adore's bedroom was small yet perfectly fit everything she could ever possibly need. Most of Adore's belongings were in some form of earthy tones, with a lot of her shelves covered in small clay objects and little potted plants. Everything there just felt right. In the right corner of Adore's bedroom was a door that led to a conjoint bathroom that had doors leading to both bedrooms. The girls spent about 10 minutes exploring the treehouse and then sat down in the kitchen to quickly have a snack before leaving to return to the boat.

The girls mounted the boat and drove around some more. Along the ride spotted out important places such as her favorite picnic area, some of her friends' houses, and the path to her favorite pond. Along the bay, there were many animals of all sorts, none harmful but all full of life. Lavender's personal favorite thing she saw were the big fluffy cows. The boat didn't stop anywhere other than Adore's house but it moved slow enough for the girls to be able to take in everything they saw. While they were going around, they were quietly chatting about all sorts of things. Eroda and Adore seemed to have a lot to say about the choices Lavender had made throughout her mortal life. They also talked about how Lavender's choice of location affected and Adore's desperation to earn her halo was more than clear. After two hours of roaming the Up, the girls were back at the bay they began on.

"I guess it's my turn now to show you around my world. If you girls hold onto my hands tightly, we can leave for the Down." Eroda said as the girls climbed out of the boat. They once again huddled together and magically appeared in the Down.