Life after Death: The Afterlife of Hezekiah Chamblee

Chapter Eighteen: The Essence of Soulmates (And Shady Divas)

The next day, I had finished watching another episode of AUTV (this time, I saw my sisters and mother enjoying a day of tea and spa treatments) when Alvin had called me up to a special party that he and Damon were throwing and had some news to share. Of course, I was welcome to the change since I didn't have anything on my schedule for the day and needed a distraction from another depressing day from watching the alternative timeline, so I was currently walking up the path that led to Alvin's single-story Cape-Cod house with a meat-and-cheese platter that I bought from a deli earlier on hand. Once I reached the spacious veranda porch, I rang the doorbell twice.

"Coming," I heard Eva's voice say cheerfully before the door swung open to see the Afro-British young woman greet me, she dressing in a tasteful dark-blue cocktail dress with her hair now in braids. "Hey, Hezekiah. You look good."

I smiled brightly as I stepped into the house, taking in the spacious and open home that the resident in question was living in. I noticed a Jackson Pollock painting hanging over the electric fireplace in the living room while jazz music played from the stereo. "Alvin has some good tastes. I never knew he was so contemporary since he was born in the fifties."

"Let's just say that it was time for a major upgrade," said resident commented from behind me.

I turned around, my jaw dropping low to see Alvin and Damon toghether as the former didn't have the typical Poindexter look that I had seen when we first met. His glasses were more contemporary as he seemed to be a bit buffer and athletic, a far cry from his original skinny frame. He wasn't dressed in his usual geek-chick ensemble, but was in a comfortable pair of jeans and a red Polo shirt that hugged his slightly-athletic frame easily. Damon, of course, had a more-athletic appearance with him wearing cargo shorts that showed off his toned legs and completmented his slender lower body while a form-fitting T-shirt contoured his chest and abs like a glove.

"Wow," I breathed. "You guys are...are- wow!"

"Don't we know it," Alvin said, smiling as his teeth no longer had the braces while his eyes danced underneath the moonlight. "All part of the major upgrade after Damon and I found each other as soulmates." He turned to Damon, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

"Soulmates?" I exclaimed.

"Yep," Carolina said as she, dressed in a flowy sundress, came to join me while Eva took away the meat-and-cheese platter away from me. "You never heard of having soulmates here in the Nexus?"

I shook my head no. "I thought that they originally existed on TV."

Eva rolled her eyes as Chance came inside, him dressed up in shades of blue with a bottle of nonalcoholic wine on hand as he waved hello. "Boy, Hezekiah. You have a lot to learn," she said as she motioned everyone to sit down. "Okay, so soulmates are as real as they can be here in the Nexus while people in heaven don't have one since they don't care much for romance while those in hell...well, let's just say that they don't think about that."

I'll bet.

"Anyway, soulmates are usually those who are destined lovers, even though many come from different eras on Earth. Damon was born in the 1800s while Alvin was from the 1950s, but they've been chosen as soulmates for each other since God himself gave them the bond. And once they found each other, they go from their original states when they die to a more-contemporary form. Hence the ultimate glow-up that Damon and Alvin had, going from Dutch Boy and Urkel to two fitness models instantly. It happens a lot for couples who turn out to be soulmates."

"What about the rest of you?" I asked.

"Eva and I are still waiting to find the right lover, hence us going on dates with the guys," Carolina commented. "We also go out with some of the single ladies since sexuality is unlimited here. I'm still sweet on my skateboarder boyfriend."