The Wandering Spirit | Underworld Office

Memories You'd Rather Forget

River was sitting atop a building, looking into the horizon where the moon stood. It had been three months since her untimely death, almost two months since her funeral, and three weeks since she started working at the Underworld Office.

Everything still felt... unreal to her. She didn't know why she deserved this fate. There was so much she's missing and will miss in the future.

On top of that, now she had to work in order to move on the the world beyond! Even in death, she couldn't get a break!

She sighed, burying her face in her hands. It felt so exhausting despite the fact that she physically should be unable to experience that feeling. Mental stressors are still a thing as a ghost, she guessed.

"Wallowing in your own self-pity isn't exactly the best use of your time." a monotone voice called out from behind her.

"Leave me alone, Boss." she muttered loud enough for him to hear, refusing to look at him. "I haven't seen anyone getting nightmares, alright?"

"I wasn't asking you to work, I was trying to get you out of your own head." replied Boss.

"And why do you care? I lost everything I had and I still can't get over it! It's been three months now and it's still as painful as it was at the time!" she ranted, standing up to face the other ghost.

"Delving deep into negativity doesn't make it any less painful." he curtly said.

"Nothing will make this any less painful..." River said quietly, not intending Boss to hear.

"Time does. Time heals everything, eventually. Even our pains and sorrows." he got closer to her. "And in order for that to happen, we must also try and heal ourselves in the process. Time alone cannot take away all those feelings, we must be a part of it too."

"Heh... your 500 years of being dead taught you that?" she rhetorically asked.

"When I died, I left behind loving parents, an annoying sister, a nation that needed protection, and a pregnant wife." Boss started. "I couldn't see my own child because I was a monster at the time. By the time I managed to regain my consciousness, my family was gone and the dynasty I served had long ended.

"It took years for me to process everything. Years of me getting stuck in my own train of thoughts about what could've been. What if I had been a father? What if I didn't serve in the war to spend time with my loved ones? Scenarios that could've been reality but were just moments in time I never got to live.

"Eventually, I came to the realization that I was stuck here. I was stuck here and I won't be able to see them again until I cleanse my sins. So I started the Underworld Office, a way for ghosts to move on to the other world faster. I have been slowly inching to that goal ever since." he finished his monologue.

River remained silent. She didn't mean to have Boss reveal to her his entire life story in a nutshell. All she did was to poorly attempt to bring some light into the conversation.

"I'm sorry for your losses." she awkwardly said.

"No need to be, the point I was trying to make was that you'll have to take action eventually. You can let your mind process everything for how long it wants but remember that the world around you changes so fast. That's why you mustn't waste so much time with those sets of actions for too long. The time you waste could've been the time you spent doing something productive." Boss explained.

"That is why I need you to wake up."

---

River awoke with a start, still stunned by experiencing a dream of her own after so long. Being a ghost, she didn't have the capabilities to sleep so having dreams was impossible.