Soul Cry

Chapter 3: Just Like Alice

There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger.

- Charles Dickens

The first thing Kate saw was the blue carpet. Her see-through feet hovering inches above the shaggy rug as they manifested into what looked like a small apartment. Her head was spinning.

"Uhh, is it possible for a dead person to get sick? I think I'm gonna be sick" Kate put her head between her legs like they show you on those airplane safety videos and took deep breaths. Finn chuckled beside her.

"Don't worry you'll get used it. It took me a few tries." He flashed a crooked grin.

His smile had an endearing quality to it. No, Kate! As soon as the thought popped into her head she banished it. She was not about to become friends with her killer.

The old lady was already up and about, cooing to her grandbabies. The tenacity of a grandparents love. Kate smiled, watching Lilly wrap her spirit arms around a toddler playing with cars on the floor. Giving feathered kisses as she murmured sweet comforts in his ear. The boy's father, popping his head out of the kitchen briefly to scold him for putting one of the cars in his mouth, before returning to his cooking.

A little baby girl sat in her high chair in the dining room staring straight at Finn stretching out his arms and wings.

"Can she see us?" Kate leaned over whispering to him. Finn mimicked her, leaning in to meet her gaze, his leafy green eyes inches from her face.

"Why is a dead girl whispering?"

Kate huffed pulling away. He was teasing her. He chuckled amused at his own games and chose to answer her properly this time. "The younger the child the stronger their connection to the other dimensions, it's possible she could see something."

"Other dimensions? There's more! How many more?" Kate prodded. She waited, but Finn kept his mouth shut; turning to watch the old lady fawning over her grandchildren instead.

Clearly, there was a lot Kate didn't know and she had a feeling some of it she didn't want to.

"Okay, I think it's about time to go," Finn finally spoke feeling he had given a respectful amount of time for goodbyes. He moved to grab Mrs. Thompson's hand.

"I'm not going!" She swatted his hand away.

"I need to be with my grandkids! I want to stay with my grandkids!" she protested, digging her heels in like an old mule.

"Ohh for the love of god!" Kate threw her ghost hands up, before realizing her blasphemy.

"Sorry," she mumbled a half-hearted apology turning her attention to stare at a little angel statue in the families show cabinet to drown out their bickering.

"I can't force you to come with me but if you stay you could wander here for quite a while before someone else picks you up. Please, Mrs. Thompson, it's not safe for you to be here by yourself. Come with me." She could hear the impatience in his voice as the old lady refused to listen.

There was something written on the base of the statue. 'Guardian Angels live above us, to guide and love us.' Kate snorted, Well that's a load of bull. At least for this particular angel.

The angel statue started to rattle in its case. Kate blinked unsure if it was an illusion. The other figurines started clinking together the whole case shaking now. Pictures ratted on the walls. An earthquake? Kate looked at the children who continued to play unaffected, the father still stirring his sauce in the kitchen humming a tune. What is this?