Adversity Knocks

Temptation

Waking up to see a woman gazing down at her in a hooded jacket, Joleyne gasped.

Breathe In, Breathe Out.

Telling herself to slowly inhale and exhale, Joleyne relaxed. It felt like ages that her soul was stored away, so she tried to regain full consciousness.

"What are you doing?" She blurted out loud to the stranger in front of her. Joleyne held the collar of her shirt as well in fear of her attacker.

The dusty figure did not reply, and stood still like a soldier. Curious on why the stranger wouldn't answer, Joleyne repeated herself again.

Seeing this incident occur, Junior took the opportunity to speak up before the whole affair would blow up.

In a deep voice, he placed his hands together for Joleyne to be quiet.

PLEASE STOP!

And with that signal, the brunette briefly lost her voice.

"Welcome back Joleyne, thought we'd lost you for a minute. Your soul is still needed here, so we brought you back to life."

Shortly after, he murmured a word of thanks to his boss for answering his prayers.

Pointing to the new woman inside the room, he introduced Elizabeth as the victim who was struck by her convertible.

"Joleyne, I want you to meet Elizabeth MacQuoid, the other dead soul trapped in here. She saved your life as I am not able to literally touch your skin. Thus, I asked Eliza to revive you."

Looking at the hooded women, Junior gazed at Eliza's soul to make sure he called her by the correct nickname.

In turn, the woman swayed her body to and fro; a signal that he was on the right track.

As Eliza no longer had a head, but could understand what was going on, her body was the only form of communication between her and the rest of the damned.

Junior also placed an extra hood to cover her figure. His instincts told him that Joleyne wouldn't be comfortable seeing a headless woman once she woke up. Thus, he magically whisked one from his closet in the Underworld and placed it on Eliza's torso.

- - ><--

"Why won't she answer me? Is Elizabeth deaf?" Joleyne asked once her voice came back.

Junior nodded his head no. He smirked as he explained why there was silence between the two.

"My dear, Eliza had an aneurysm, so her brain was deeply affected. She cannot talk, but like a comatose patient lying in a hospital, she can hear us. You might also realize how Eliza isn't happy with this ordeal and what you did, so ... um ... it is what it is."

Junior wanted to say something more comforting, but remembered how he was being watched. In no way, did he want to get punished by Lucifer again. Therefore, Junior was careful about what he would say next.

"Why? It's not my fault that she had an aneurysm."

Junior chortled.

"I sense that you don't remember that it was your convertible that triggered the tumor growing in her brain. It caused it to tremble inside. The minute you tried to beat that yellow traffic light and accidentally hit her son, since he crossed the street to pick up his ball, caused the whole fatality. A chain reaction! So, my dear, it is technically your fault!"

He swayed his hands upwards to produce an alarming sound, and guilt suddenly entered Joleyne's damaged heart.

Junior felt bad for how he acted, but knew deep down that was how a real grim reaper would attack the scenario.

Feeling remorse, Joleyne walked over to Elizabeth to hug and apologize for everything.

However, Junior blocked her.

"Joleyne, I wouldn't do that if I were you. The damage has been done and you cannot undo it!".

We'll see about that!

Raising an eyebrow, she faced the grim reaper. In disbelief, she couldn't understand why she was hearing this.

Is this guy for real? What can possibly go wrong? G.R. is controlling my life, even if I'm already dead.

"Why not?"

Joleyne tried to pass him, but Junior wouldn't budge.

Getting annoyed by this rubbish, Joleyne decided to crawl in a tiny spot under a table to pass him. She figured that the Grim Reaper couldn't fit in that space even if he dared to catch her.

Seeing this occur, Junior gave up and sighed. Obviously there was no way for him to prevent her from getting the shock of her life.

With his arms folded, he aggressively looked at her.

" Joleyne, I can't stop you from doing what I think you will be attempting, but ..."

Before he could continue on with his sentence, the damage was already done, as Joleyne screamed once she pulled Eliza's hood.

--<>--

"Told you that you should have just let Eliza be."

The Grim Reaper lectured Joleyne for the longest time till she calmed down.

Never did she think a dead person with a decapitated head could figure out what would be happening in front of her body, as Elizabeth slapped Joleyne silly.

I just wanted to hug her, and that's how she'll repay me? HOW RUDE!

To end the fight, Junior decided to put the ladies under a test. Since he was placed in Purgatory to do his job, this petty squabble was elongating his decision.

ENOUGH!

Both women stopped what they were doing and placed their hands by their side.

Happy to know that he got their full attention, Junior continued.

"Now, I have a proposition for both of you ladies. Since both of you were not able to say your proper goodbyes before your death, one of you will have the chance to go back to Earth and meet your family."

Both women were excited to hear about this plan, but it struck that only one of them would get that opportunity.

"But here's the catch, there will be a body change. It will be a lesson for both of you, to find out how life was like to be in the other person's shoes."

He secretly wanted Joleyne to have this role, as the snob needed to know what life was like for a disabled person.

Either way, both souls won't be able to escape his evil wrath as Junior had something more sinister upon his sleeves.