Wherever Souls Fly - Luke's Story

1 Lost Souls Aid Inc.

"It was cold and completely dark – that was my first perception when I woke up. I was in pain, and I wasn't able to move. For a moment I thought I was alone, but then I noticed there were all kinds of voices – people moaning, others crying, some swearing. I was scared to death, which may sound funny, because that was what I was – dead."

I'm getting goosebumps. I have known Luke for a while now, and I have gotten used to the fact that he is a spirit. Not an evil ghost (although he has some evil skills), not a poltergeist, but a friendly spirit who comes to my rescue when I am in danger. He has helped me and my friends several times since I met him on the tropical island where he showed me who I really am, and of course I am curious to find out who or what he really is.

I have always believed in science, in logic, and in my world there was no place for superstition. If anyone had told me I would meet a ghost, talk to him, and even fuck him, I would have called them a lunatic, because as an enlightened 21st century citizen I was sure ghosts did not exist, and if anyone claimed they had met a ghost, I would have suspected they were drunk, or had taken too many or the wrong pills, or were suffering from some kind of mental illness.

But here I am, taking the opportunity of asking Luke all the questions that have been hauting me for months. I am alone in the house, which is why I dare ask him, and which is probably why he is ready to answer.

"How did you notice that you were dead? I mean, what does it feel like, being dead?"

"Well, Shay, I just told you. It feels cold, and dark, and scary. I didn't realise that I was dead, though, before I got to know the Agent."

"The Agent...?"

"Well, at first I didn't know that he was an agent. I only heard his voice, which was different from all the others, warm, gentle, and not frightening at all. He encouraged me to leave my body behind and take a look around."

"How do you do that – leave your body behind and take a look around?"

"I don't know. I just did it. And that was the moment that I realised I was dead. I saw my body lying in a zinc coffin that was transparent like glass. My hair had been cut, I was completely bald, and there were several scars on my head, body, and limbs. I must have died in an accident, not of Covid like most of the other corpses. There were dozens of coffins in that hall, which had been used to store meat before the pandemic. But then so many people died that crematoriums couldn't burn them all, so the warehouse was used as a storage for corpses waiting to be cremated..."

"...Sorry to interrupt you, Luke. You said that you think you died in an accident. Don't you remember what happened?"

"No, I don't remember anything that happened before I woke up in that bloody coffin. I don't even remember what I looked like when I was alive – the body in the coffin would've been used as a scarecrow at best, and somehow I hoped that I had been a little more handsome when I was alive.

Anyway, the Agent...."

"...I still have no idea what kind of agent you're talking about."

"Oh, right, that may sound a little strange. He is an agent of a company of spirits, "Lost Souls Aid Inc." The company helps living humans to find their true selves. The owner is a spirit like me, but he is much more powerful. You've been to one of our premises, the "Your Choice" shop, but my Agent told me there are shops like that in many cities. In each of these shops there are a few agents who recruit spirits like me. They also guide us as advisors, observe us, and punish us when we break the rules.

Well, when I left my body behind, the Agent was floating next to me above all the coffins, a tall, slim man in his mid-40s with black hair that was greying at the temples. There were a few more figures like us, floating in the huge hall. They all looked kind of opaque, and they were all much older than me..."