Randoms

Chapter 2

The city was beautiful. Absolutely stunning.

 The fountains poured pure water, the buildings were made out of the finest and strongest things known to man, and even a few not known to man… And the people. The people were just happy, and it was all they knew. They knew love and compassion, they were pure innocent people.

 “So this is just, a castle in the sky?” I ask the balding man sitting in front of me in a spinning chair. Surrounding us are book shelves, and, obviously, books.

 "No. More like, a kingdom.” He looks at me, smiles, and folds his hands. I don’t like him very much already. He seems sneaky.

If it were my choice, I wouldn’t be here. But as I was pacing the streets, running my fingers along the edges of the ivory walls, Raphael in tow, he told me that I had the people to meet, and exploration to do later on. Disappointed, I followed him into the deeply colored building.

 I frown. “Is this ‘heaven’ thing really the real deal?” I sigh. Sure, I may be in denial a little bit, but really. I was born and raised without much religious culture around, if any at all, so the whole thing seemed a bit farfetched.

 “Of course.” Another smile. “This place, is what you may call heaven. All of us here have passed away at some time- and in the end, come here. This,” He makes a wild gesture. “-is the afterlife.”

 Bit dramatic for me, but to each his own script.

 “Things go smoothly around here,” He stands up and begins to pace around the room. I sneak a peak at the name plate on his desk.

 Nate. I think to myself. Nice name, crappy person.

 “You see, when passing on to the heavens, you are reunited with the one whom is your soulmate, the one that you were destined to have children with. You get your happy ending here, your –ever after of sorts.

 But every once in a while, Bianca, someone like you comes along.”

 He stops pacing to look at me in the eye, to give me an untranslatable look.

 “When one perishes without carrying on the regenerative cycle… Well, it causes a bit of a problem for us, as you can understand.

 So under those rare circumstances, we have a chat, you and I. We talk this through, you understand what you are in this society.”

 “And what might that be?” I retort.

 His jaw clenches and he faces me, staring me down.

 “A Random.”

 I keep silent, although many intense questions penetrate my mind. What was a Random? Why was I one? Why was it such a big deal?

 He speaks up again. “What will happen, Bianca, is that soon enough you will meet another boy, another Random. You two will restore the regenerative cycle, tie up the last unstitched threads.”

 I almost leap out of my seat. “So you mean, I’ll get a chance to live again?”

 He’s hesitant. “Not exactly.”

 “What is that supposed to mean?” I gulp. For once, I wanted a straight answer. Ever since I had gotten here, I’d been answered in riddles, and nothing else.

He shakes his head. “That’s classified.”

I shake mine back. “I don’t like secrets, especially those about myself.” I glare deep into his eyes, watching him flinch back at my steely green eyes. I take another look at the name plate. Nate Shepards, I note. Nice ring to it.