The Gateway to the Afterlife

Part 1

Josephine was walking down the historic shopping district of Suttons Bay, Michigan, looking at nothing in particular. As she walked, she waved at a few patrons of the shops and stopping to help an older lady who had dropped her bags.

Josephine was a witch, but not any witch like the rest of her coven. On her 17th birthday, she was given her title for the coven. Every witch in the coven was given a special title, in which they focus on the keep the coven safe. The title given to Josephine was not one that was given out lightly and very rarely given to a recently orphaned girl without the guidance of a motherly figure as her mother had just passed away. Her title was the Gateway to the Afterlife. A title she had never wished to get. It was painful, it was sad, and it was the hardest job to do. 

As Gateway to the Afterlife, Josephine helps humans who have been killed by beings of the supernatural to crossover. When a mortal is killed by the supernatural, their spirits are resurrected as a being of the line they were killed by. You see, before a mortal becomes a being of the supernatural, they have to understand what happened and what will happen to them because they will all remember past lives.

Just a little over a week ago, Josephine helped a man that was killed by a werewolf understand what happened and what would be happening. When helping spirits crossover, the process can take just minutes or it can take days. Josephine is required to take as long as needed.

Josephine spent a little over three months in the role before helping her first spirit and it was a mess. Over the next seven years, Josephine has gotten better about the crossovers. She has learned to ask a couple questions before starting the speech about the supernatural.

Strolling past a café, Josephine turned into the ice cream shop. Stepping into the shop, she made eye contact with the worker behind the bar, Joshua. Joshua may just be a human, but he was her best friend. Without a word spoken, Joshua started to make a triple-scoop waffle cone with two mint chocolate scoops and one strawberry scoop.

"Bad day in the spirit world?" Joshua asked, as Josephine pulled out her card to pay.

"No, just a boring day in the real world. I haven't seen anyone new out there. I can feel one trying to break through, but they haven't yet." Josephine answered.

There were spirits that refused to crossover and instead just lingered. Most of the time, the spirits eventually crossover and sometimes they turn into angry spirits. Part of her title was to watch these spirits to warn the coven of one becoming an angry spirit. 

"Are we on for the movie night and binging all the food we don't need?" Joshua asked, wiping the counter down.

"Hmmm." Josephine responded, enjoying her ice cream.

Later that day, down by the docks, the spirit showed itself to Josephine. A reflection on the water, alerted Josephine of her arrival. Josephine sighed quietly, just looking at the spirit she could tell this was going to be a long journey.

"Follow me, please." Josephine said quietly so she wouldn't attract the attention of the local fisherman offloading the day's catch.