Nameless Ghoul

Black Light Guides You

Itzal’s brain suddenly came back online and the events of the last day slammed into him with what felt like physical force.

“Here we go,” said Chloe as he held his head in his hands.

“What the fuck?” Itzal breathed.

“Okay, here's the condensed version. I’m Chloe, as it looks like you’ve already remembered. I work here now. Welcome to the Veil,” she said with a sarcastic smile. “I process the souls before they move on to wherever it is they’re going. Call it a soul sorting office. You’re dead, by the way. I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.”

He stared at her openmouthed, his brain trying to catch up. Did he even have a brain now? Could souls have a brain? He looked down at his hands. They looked the same as always and he turned them palm up and checked his wrists. They were scarred anyway from the repeated cuts he’d received over the years, but there was a new, neat, almost healed slice up each one. He looked over at Chloe, who was watching him silently. His eyes dropped to her neck and he saw the silvery line of a scar across it; the scar that he had made with the blade Santos had given him. He felt himself trembling and he swallowed bile as he heard her sigh.

“Look, I don’t know what kind of sick joker paired me up with processing you, but let’s get this over with so we can both move on with our afterlives.”

“I’m so sorry,” Itzal whispered.

“I don’t need your apology. I know you had no choice. But I’ve been pissed at you all these years. I forgive you, okay? Does that make you feel better?”

“No," he stated simply as he raised his gaze to hers.

She sighed again and rolled her eyes.

“Well, that’s your cross to bear then, not mine, I suppose. So, as we’ve established, this is the Veil. You have a choice now, to a certain extent. You can choose to go on to the next place, but I can’t tell you where that will be. That’s not my decision, the higher ups decide that. Depending on your soul and the black marks on it, that place could be nice or it could be nasty. Don’t even ask me about it, as that’s well above my pay grade. Or, you can choose oblivion. Your soul will dissolve into nothing and you will cease to exist. Not everyone gets to choose that, so I guess you must have some redeeming qualities as far as they’re concerned.”

That last option sounded oh so tempting to him. But then he thought about Sunshine and the thought of never being able to see her again, even in the afterlife, made his heart ache.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it but if you have questions, just call out to me and I’ll appear. I won’t be far away. You’ve got a few hours to decide.”

Itzal blinked and she was gone.

He looked around and shivered. He had contemplated what came after death before, but it was still a shock to the system now that it was actually happening. Adding Chloe into the mix was the cherry on top. He was so tired and tempted to call her back right now and choose oblivion. But then his mind brought up that last, blurry image of Sunshine and with it, her last words to him.

He had to keep going and stay here long enough for them to call him back, at least.

Itzal spent the next few hours sitting in quiet contemplation, thinking about how much his life had turned around in the last few weeks. All the events of his existence had lined up to bring him to the Ghost Project concert that night. That was the turning point, and he was grateful to Santos for that much. He realised Santos must be here somewhere too and he imagined the preacher raging and snarling and cursing him, which made him smile.

What seemed like hours later, Chloe appeared in front of him. The strange mist swirled around her ankles. He stood up and stretched out his aching muscles.

“So, are we good? Do you know what you want to do?” she asked.

Itzal frowned. What was that sound? He looked around, but all he saw was the endless grey of the Veil. Chloe gave him a questioning look.

“Do you hear that?” he asked her.

“Hear what?” she answered, confused.

It sounded like whispering at first, but as the sounds grew louder, he recognised the rhythm of a ritual chant. He looked at Chloe, whose face registered surprise.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. They won't like this one bit," she said.

Itzal’s vision went wonky again and he screamed as his soul shattered into black smoke and he was sent swirling through the vortex of black light towards Earth.