51 Reasons not to Say Goodbye

4: Angry Souls

As soon as the thought fully sank in, I realized how messed up it was.

How could I be DEAD?!

You can't just DIE!!!

I wasn't planning on dying until I was like, 90! Heck, I was hoping to die some heroic death and make sure people remembered me as a productive human who died doing something useful!

So far at James's place, two people had passed on. Andy had gotten eaten by zombies while saving his group, and Luana had tripped off a roof. I'm not dead. Not dead.

And then the demand comes into my head. Like, some people talk to themselves, but this was different. It was a voice and it was not mine and it was in my head. And if you wanna argue with me, I could kill you too. The voice sounded like words. Just words. Not male, not female, neither young nor old. It was angry, though.

"LUANA VALERIA CHRISHAM!" It bellowed. "THE WHOLE DAMN PLACE IS DENYING YOUR EXISTENCE!" (If there was anything greater than Capitol letters, I would insert them here to fully express the loudness of this voice.) "YOU CAN'T DOUBT YOURSELF NOW!"

And so, instead of doubting myself, I began to feel a bit frightened. This made no sense. Wasn't heaven part of the whole Christian deal? This didn't feel like paradise. And what was this 'voice' doing in my head anyways?

And that's when I made the decision to leave.

......

I hadn't been outside the gates in so long. However, it was fairly easy to climb the wall (ladder rungs had been cemented into the wall in case something happened and we really needed to get out) but I paused at the barbed wire, wondering if I could be hurt.

Cautiously, I scraped my finger across a barb. Nothing happened. I pushed it down harder and came up with a pinprick of blood.

Damn it.

I managed to climb over the barbed wire without getting cut up to bad.

And then I looked down.

I had once watched a video in my dad's version of 'science class' about what the world would look like if humans disappeared. Vines and heavy foliage would cover what once were buildings, and wild animals would supposedly roam what was once a subdivision.

All of that was true, and it had only been three years. There was one thing the video didn't warn me about, but I think I was half expecting something like it to happen.

A man was there.

A man was standing there, looking up at me.

Standing on the ground.

"Well hello there, milady, you seem at a loss for words!" He calls up.

His hair looked like fire. It was flaming orange and stuck up in uneven tufts. He had a dreamy British accent and prominent arm muscles folded against his chest.

"Are you dead too?!" I call back down.

"Very well am, why do you ask?"

"Uh, well... should I get down?"

"Milady, you should have come out HOURS ago. YES YOU DUMB TADPOLE, GET DOWN!"

This was pleasant.

"Uh, how...exactly!?" I shout.

"Just jump! I'll catch you!"

I took a breath in, closed my eyes, and jumped.

I landed with a thud on the leaf-strewn ground.

"Milady...how, may I ask, was I supposed to catch you with my arms crossed?"

I stood up. I wasn't really expecting to be hurt, but I was still glad when I stood up without a broken bone.

"You seem very collected. Fifty One really loves your brain."

That had me taken aback.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, same old same old."

"No I'm-"

"My name is Flavius, I am currently 102 years dead, and I will be your guide for the next part of your existence. That's all you need to know. That, and the unavoidable fact that I happen to be a flaming homosexual."

Well, at least now I wouldn't be distracted by them muscles.

"Uhm," I blinked, "Guide for what? I thought there was a heaven of sorts. Yanno, you go there...once you die?"

"Yes, milady. I will be your guide to your 'heaven' until your brain decides to guide it's self."

A cool breeze blows against my neck.

"Uh, how long will that be...?"

Flavius sighs and starts walking into the mess of trees. "See these woods?"

"Yes." I follow him, curious.

"This tree?" He runs his left hand along the bark of a withered tree.

"I am definitely seeing that."

"Good." Flavius turns to face me.

"Why?"

"Do you think that this tree would be here if I didn't point it out?"

"Yes..."

"Angry souls." He spat.

"What?" I asked.

"All these trees are angry, angry souls."

"Excuse me?"

"Luana. Milady. Believe me. There is a puzzle here, and you just need to figure it out."

"What?" I felt bad for asking him that so many times, but he just wasn't making any sense.

"A puzzle. A very confusing one. And if you can't figure it out, you won't find this upside down world very welcoming."

He turned around to continue marching through the field of angry souls. Me? I went the other way.

I decided to leave this cryptic fellow and went out in search of real answers.