The New World: Afterlife

Chapter 18

Jim woke up in a strangely familiar place. His vision was still blurry but he recognized the room he was in for some reason. He didn't know how he got there, last thing he remembered was fighting his insane many-greats uncle in the basement of his home. He was still wearing the same clothes, which was his iconic blue sweater outfit, though they didn't seem to be damaged or bloodstained at all. Jim found his glasses on the nightstand next to the bed he was in and put them on to see that he wasn't in his home, well, the most recent one. It was his old home, the sandtrap flats. Jim laid back down and started thinking "Was it all just one long crazy dream? Was I in a coma or something? What is going on?"
Jim then decided to get out of bed, none of his joints were sore as he stood up again, which was unusual. Though Jim decided to not really question that, he preferred not being sore anyways. He went out into the living room and saw his eldest son, Tim. Tim resembled Jim in a way, had the same fashion sense and his smarts. Only notable differences were that Tim was bald, had no facial hair and wore very short shorts. His sweater was similar to Jim's, though was white in colour instead of blue. Upon seeing him, Jim said "Ah, so I was dreaming. Or maybe I still am."
Tim looked at him and said "If that's what you want to believe."
"Wh-what do you mean by that?" Jim asked out of genuine confusion about whatever was going on. Tim looked at Jim with a confused look too and asked "Are you not aware that you died?"
Jim didn't realize he was in the afterlife, or maybe in a weird pre-death dream his brain was creating in the last few seconds of consciousness. He thought he'd go to a much hotter place if he died. Tim came closer to Jim and told him "You're dead. You're in the afterlife."
Jim was struggling to process that concept. He knew he couldn't die, Grim always revived him or either him or Turg healed his life threatening injuries. But he did die and Grim was unable to get to him in time.
"Maybe you should sit down and process this for a while." Tim suggested as he guided Jim over to the couch. They both sat down on it as Jim tried to rub the back of his neck while he thought about it, but he felt a strange gap and immediately froze. He was able to stick his hand through it. 
"I think someone may have beheaded you." Tim said as Jim realized that's probably what Leehoimen did. No, it was definitely what Leehoimen did, no doubt. Though he questioned how he got sent to the afterlife, either a different Reaper claimed him or Leehoimen somehow sent him personally.
"I think you may be right about that." Jim responded as he was starting to panic a little. He didn't like how his head was essentially floating. He then said "I better not lose my head again."
"Only if you try hard enough." Tim responded. 
"How'd I end up in our old home of all places and with you of all people?" Jim felt inclined to ask Tim. 
"I'm not sure, you just kind of appeared and I just accepted it. I guess it's because I'm your only relative who doesn't hate you or something." Tim tried to explain to Jim as the full realization was beginning to set in. Jim knew this wasn't permanent, he could still come back to life somehow. He needed to if he wanted to see Turg again, well, see him alive. 
"Took you long enough. Centuries have gone by and you never changed your appearance much. Well, except for the fact your head is floating." Tim commented as Jim replied with "Neither have you."
Jim then said "I assume Scarlett and Beejey are here too somewhere." 
"I haven't seen Scarlett since we were teenagers and Beejey lives with his husband." Tim responded as Jim asked "Beejey married Jules?" 
"Here in the afterlife he did, yes. You missed it." Tim answered as Jim then realized he was supposed to get married again before he died. He remembered the last thing he told Turg was to wait for him to come back. Jim started breathing heavier (somehow) out of habit as he continued to think about it. 
"Something else wrong?" Tim asked out of concern. Jim rather angrily answered with "I was supposed to get married in two weeks but that bastard burned our home down and killed me."
"I thought you and Grim were already married." Tim mentioned. 
"We are, but we have another partner. His name is Turg and I met him as a ghost. I gave him a second chance so I could just have a friend and I ended up falling in love with him." Jim began explaining before pausing to just stare at his hands for a few seconds. Tim remained silent to let Jim continue. 
"He saved my life once, well, several times. He gave his own life to bring others back to life. He only seems to see the good in others, except for genuinely terrible people. He's just such a kind and caring being, I don't know what I did to deserve someone like him." Jim continued before then burying his face in his hands. 
"The last thing I told him was to wait for me and that I'd come back for him. He must be wondering why I haven't come back yet. I just hope that bastard Leehoimen didn't find him." Jim finished explaining as Tim put one arm around Jim in attempt to comfort him. Jim thought it was weird for his child to do that along with venting to his child, though Tim had aged further than Jim. 
"That's actually very tragic, you must really love this Turg guy if you speak about him like that." Was Tim's only response, he didn't know what else to say. Jim just appreciated him listening. Tim then added "Usually you just ranted about how you thought people were terrible and how much you hated them, yet you still slept with them for some reason." 
Jim lifted his head out of his hands and laughed a bit while saying "Yeah, I was quite the asshole back then." 
Jim then added "Well, I kind of still am, just less. Turg inspired me to be better."
For the next while Jim continued to tell Tim more about Turg and everything they did until Grim showed up. Upon seeing them, Jim jumped up and immediately went to hug them saying "I'm so glad you're here and okay." 
Jim then let go and asked "You here to bring me back?"
Grim responded with "Uh, actually, about that..."
Jim's sudden enthusiasm quickly faded as Jim asked "What's going on?"
"When Leehoimen killed you he took some things I needed if I wanted to bring you back to life and I can't seem to find them." Grim explained as Tim stood up with them. Grim looked at Tim and said "Oh, hey Tim. Long time no see." 
"Same to you, Grim." Tim responded. 
"What did he take from me?" Jim asked Grim. Grim replied "Oh, just your urn and life essence. Don't know why he only took those, guess your soul was useless to him." 
"Why'd he want it in the first place?" Tim asked, Jim also wanted to know the answer to that question.
"I don't know, ask your other father." Grim answered as Jim also answered with "I don't know either. He claims I am a reincarnation of his brother so maybe he's collecting the urns of them?"
"Didn't Janice mention he wanted to bring back his dead bother?" Grim then asked Jim. Jim did remember that, it only just came back to him though. 
"Yeah, she did." Jim responded as Grim suggested "Maybe that's why he wanted you, because if you're a reincarnate he can use those to bring back previous ones as long as he has their soul..."
Grim then stopped speaking to think about it. They then started speaking quietly "That would explain everything. Everything about you. Why there were six others when I was looking for you. They all looked like you, but they weren't you."
Jim was starting to think that Leehoimen was right about that. He used to think it was bullshit, but it was most likely true. 
"Lemme guess, Leehoimen was right about that." Jim said as Tim asked "About what?"
"He most likely was. Would explain why you've never been able to pass into the afterlife before when you died to that plant and I was mad at you. I can't even remember why I was mad. He must've lifted that curse somehow, which freed all the previous souls." Grim explained as they were beginning to pace around. They then stopped to say "Geez what am I doing wasting time explaining this. I gotta get you back, the household completely fell apart without your presence."
"Lemme guess, someone died in the fire." Jim responded as he crossed his arms. 
"No, you'll see when you get there." Grim told Jim as they grabbed him by his hand. Jim then said "In that case then, I'll see you later, Tim. Probably." 
"I'm not counting on it." Tim said in response as Grim took Jim back to the living realm.