Living Her Best Afterlife

Complete Story

Living Her Best Afterlife

Prequel to The Afterlife Series

Rachel Carrington

Prologue

Moving souls from one plane to the other wasn't the assignment Stuart had been hoping for when he'd been chosen. But he wasn't asked, and now, he stood in the sorting room as the bells began to toll. Someone had just crossed over the mortal threshold, and, in a few moments, their spirit would ascend to this new level of existence. There'd be confusion and questions, none of which could be answered. And there would eventually be acceptance.

Except, as he peered through the one-way glass, something told him this particular spirit wasn't going to come around to accepting anything soon. From the little he knew about her, she was going to put up a fight.

He sighed. That always made his job harder, but, for the most part, he liked the way things turned out in the end. Problems were solved. Wounds were healed. Hearts were knit back together. Past hurts were forgiven. And love was restored.

That was why he never complained about his job. No, it hadn't been his first choice, but it had its merits. And even though the woman who'd just passed on seemed like she'd be a harder case, he always welcomed the challenge.

"Well, let's get your new life started. Shall we?"

Chapter One

So far, being dead sucked. There wasn't one thing Kathryn liked about it. Even her funeral had been a big bust with her sister's husband, Ralph, getting sloshed beforehand and trying to hit on the funeral director. Then Cousin Anne started asking about the will before the hearse could roll away from the curb.

She shouldn't be surprised. Since her parents had died, there wasn't one member of her family who had even cared enough to visit. Instead, they'd been waiting for her to croak for ten years, hoping they could get their hands on her money. She'd finally done them a favor by crossing over, and she wouldn't miss a one of them. But they'd all be surprised when they discovered she'd left everything to her favorite charity.

But now she didn't know what to do. Was there something she was supposed to do? She'd already spent a lot of time staring at the ceiling, looking for the light everyone at the assisted living facility had talked about. Maybe it was late. Or maybe it just wasn't going to come for her. Well, one thing was for certain; she couldn't hang around Barnard's Funeral Home and Crematory for however long it took the universe to realize it hadn't called her. She had to find a place to go.

She turned toward the open doorway and floated easily toward it with smile of relief. After having arthritis in her hip the last twenty years, she liked the floating thing. And the no pain. That was good, too.

That's it, Kathryn. Keep trying to find the positives.

Well, her life had pretty much sucked as much as being dead so it wasn't like she traded one hellhole for another. There was that. Chalk up another positive thought in the win column.

Once out in the hallway, she aimed toward the double doors that led to the outside of the building and closed her eyes. If she could take a deep breath, she would have. Instead, with all the energy that a ghost could possibly have, she focused on floating through the paneled wood and out into the bright sunshine. And there she was!

"Well, that wasn't so hard. Now, let's see. Where should I go?" A thought sprang to mind, and Kathryn snickered. "I could go back to the home and scare the crud out of Margrett Spencer. She'd always been a thorn in Kathyrn's side, insisting on calling her Katie and demanding that she be served first at every meal like she was a queen in a past life.