Dog Days

Prologue

Welcome to (the black parade) my fic! Hope y'all enjoy your stay here at *mumbles some fancy Italian name* Do leave me comments and votes if you'd like.

This is dedicated to my friends L and Hev. We actually roleplayed most of this out 😂

Onward.

You know, when you die, you kind of like dying peacefully or with a glorious bang, right? You'd like to be remembered for dying in some extremely heroic way, or have your death be painless.

Most would take it like that. Those that fear death do, too, even though they typically wouldn't admit it. It's just how humans think. Greedy and lazy with a touch of selfishness, right?

My death wasn't exactly what you'd call shits and giggles. It wasn't like a canon, booming and loud and victorious. It wasn't quiet and soft like velvet, my soul just leeching out while I was unaware.

No, mine had a gruesome touch to it. Some anxious, trigger happy douchebag came into the store I was at and dragged me out in a smooth movement, cautioning me to keep my yap shut.

He'd needed some sort of release or something because I'd never met the man, nor had I made deals with anyone that could afford a hitman.

I'd been dragged to the back alley, right beside a nice looking Impala. What I remembered of what happened next was a blur, but I recall the pain of my head hitting the bumper, probably leaving blood, and of the bullet going through my heart.

Talk about a bullet for your Valentine, am I right? Hey now, dry humor is my specialty.

I know that I was still alive when the guy fled, and I was still clinging to life when some brown-haired, moose of a man found me and got me an ambulance.

Death finally grabbed me when I was in the hospital. It was a wonder I hadn't died earlier, what with my wounds and all. But no, I the last I saw of Earth was that moose guy, attractive as he was. Pity he had to watch me die.

Opening my eyes, I looked around where I was. This had to be Heaven, what with the white landscape. It was sweet-looking.

"Hello, Gabriel," came a voice from above me.

I tilted my head up to see a man smiling down at me. "Hello," I replied, confused.

He held out his hand, and I used it to help myself stand. I noticed then that I was completely healed. My hand made its way to my heart, where I recalled the hole, but to my slight shock and relief, there was but my shirt and skin, smooth as always.

"Call me Chuck," the man said to me, drawing my attention back to him. "I'm the Man."

I nodded slowly. "Ok, then, Chuck."

He smiled. "You know, you weren't supposed to die today," he said. "Actually, you were due to cross paths with your soulmate."

I frowned. "So I missed out?"

Chuck shook his head. "Samandriel's new. It was bound to happen to somebody." He led me down to a small pool. "See this?"

"Yeah...?"

"I can't send you back to your body at the moment. Well, at all," Chuck mused. "So, you're going back as a dog. All you have to do is get your soulmate to kiss you, and you'll be back as a human. Same body and all, fully restored."

I raised an eyebrow. "And my body suddenly disappearing? Won't that be suspicious?"

Chuck pursed his lips. "No. Your funeral will have already been far done with, so you'll have no problem. People will easily forget, especially since..." He let his sentence hang, knowing that I knew what he was going to say.

I sighed. "That's true." I looked up at him. "So how am I going to know who my soulmate is?"

Chuck waved a hand over the water, letting it ripple into a picture. Hey, that was the moose! I stared down at it with a small smile. How beautifully cliche was that little fact?

"Oh, and since you'll be a dog, and they're prone to easy deaths, you'll keep coming back if you ever do die," Chuck added, scratching his chin. "Sort of a contingency plan."

I bit my lip. My life was about to get difficult. "I kinda feel sorry for him," I said with a tone of humor. "The poor guy might have to kiss a dog."

Chuck laughed. "I guess that's so." He motioned to the pool, now showing a street. "Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I stepped forward, teetering on the edge.

Only a few minutes ago, I'd been dead. Only a few minutes ago, I was a human, living my barely out of college life. And now, I was stepping back in as a dog to try to get my soulmate to kiss me.

Talk about dog days.

Taking in a deep breath, I jumped.

I'm so excited, damn it! Hopefully I'll update this one frequently, but with my crazy life so far, I make no promises.

I also need to make a cover...

If you guys want to make me a cover, I'd really appreciate it. If not, I'll get around to one. Eventually.

Thank you so much for reading!

~Gabe