The Silent Dead

[Chapter 1] I Hate the Whiny Ones

[Chapter 1] I Hate the Whiny Ones

The frail woman sniffed loudly and dabbed at her puffy red eyes with a handkerchief. "I-I know that if s-she were here, s-she wouldn't w-want us to cry for her. S-she would w-want us all to smile." She broke down into sobs and the girl next to me screamed in frustration. Nobody at the small funeral looked at her.

"Mother! That is such a lie! Of course I want them all to cry! What's even the point of being here if people aren't going to cry for me?" The girl whined, shoving her curtain of white-blond hair behind her shoulder, glaring at the woman as she was led back to her seat.

"You asked to be here." I snapped, irritated with the girl. The Whiny Ones were my second to least favorite, right after the Ones With Requests. Which, if you really think about it, this girl was an awful mixture of both.

"Of course I did! It's my funeral, for God's sake. God, it's not even raining. If this is what it's like to die then I refuse to go quietly!" With that, the girl stomped up to the wooden casket and began to poke at her lifeless body. I stalked after her and grabbed her pale wrist.

"Unfortunately for both of us, it doesn't work that way." I spat, gritting my teeth as I noticed some of the funeral-goers beside us shiver slightly.

The girl whirled to face me. "Why are you so mean?" She wailed.

"You're dead, what do you care?" I sighed. The girl scowled at me.

"It's not like a wanted to fall on the stairs and break my neck."

You fell because you were wearing insanely tall heels! I bit back my sarcastic retort and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

The girl huffed and nodded.

I dragged the girl away from her funeral stopped behind a large oak tree. With both arms up in the air, I swept my hands down in opposite directions in one big circle. When my fingers met at the bottom, the air in front of my face sucked in like a waterless whirlpool, swirling around in an array of colors. The Door was open and everything looked to be in order.

Turning to the awestruck girl with a smirk, I yanked her towards the Door and shoved her in unceremoniously. "Have a nice afterlife!" I shouted as she stumbled through and disappeared. As quickly as it had opened, the Door shrank and closed.

"Avery, there was no need for that." A kind voice said from behind me. I made no response, simply turning to face Pilar with a grimace on my face. 

"Then you shouldn't have given her to me. You knew she was a Whiny One With a Request. That's the worst kind of dead person you can think of." 

Pilar frowned. "I wish you wouldn't be so casual when you refer to them as 'dead people'."

"That's what they are, aren't they? They're dead, we're dead, so what's the problem." I shrugged. Pilar simply shook her head, sending dark hair flying.

"Enough of that. Come on, Travis is waiting for you. he has a new assignment for you." I groaned, but followed my friend through the graveyard nevertheless.