Judges

Prologue

I have seen countless deaths. I've stood by hospital beds as people breathed their last. I have watched quietly as someone starved, and I have witnessed suicide. I have seen people's reactions as well. Seen smiles of pleasure, gasps, tears, and I have been to deaths where I was the only witness. I quietly watched someone die of old age the day JFK was shot, and I cried, just once, over a girl who was left to die in a hit and run.

I am a judge.

I suppose I should explain who I am, what judges are.

I died in 1908, at age fifteen, and I met the qualifications. I died young; I was fair-minded and had a bit above average intelligence. I died three years after my mother contracted tuberculosis, and when I died someone immediately explained how important I was, and what I should do. Could do. And what was in it for me.

Judges go back down, after death, and judge the living. Everyone gets judged at least once or twice in their life. We watch your actions, words, and see where you should go in the afterlife. Not that we know too much about it. In exchange, we get to come down to earth and see it, which is worth a lot since judges are people who died young, without much of a chance to see the world. We are fair to you, and we can't know your thoughts. We let you have that privacy.