En Bref (Short Stories)

Dead Girl Working (Mystery, Urban Fantasy)

Manon's last week at the office was easy-peasy. Francis of Assize, a baby who died aged three weeks, four Jesuses, and, lastly, this Helen of Troy appointment.

With her seniority at the Medium Cybernetics Inc., Manon should have gotten tougher Dinner Dates with the Famous Dead guidings, like the Genghis-Khan four-in-a-row booking. The HR would probably chew the owner's ear off because she was underutilized. Manon toyed with a notion of thanking him, but decided against it. She was just a dead working girl, someone inconsequential. Nobody was dying to talk to her.

Helen of Troy, on the other hand, was one popular dead girl.

So, back to work, Manon, she told herself. Go to Necropolis. Find Helen. Bring her through the portal for the Dinner Date. Easy-peasy!

Necropolis was just like every other city in the Land of the Dead, LOD for short. Half-mist structures sprung overnight. The dead stayed there when they missed the safety of the walls. If they left for the groves afterwards, everything dissolved back into fog. The LOD didn't have hunger, pain or possessions, so the choices were made on a whim.

Today the city felt deserted. All Manon could see was a wall, a temple and a washed-out outline of a house. But just as she spotted Helen on the ramparts, a bathhouse with a colonnade began to materialize.

Helen greeted Manon with an excited shout. "Manon! You are my savior! I was so torn... couldn't decide whom to spend the day with. It is so difficult to be in love with two men, my dear, so difficult!"

"What, only two today? That's new."

Helen gave her a playful pat on the cheek. "Ah, who cares! You are here, and you can take me away, and we can go shopping, have lunch and ah...! We'll shop some more! Is the dinner client very ugly, Manny?"

"Not really," Manon lied. Helen would be past caring anyway the moment she dove into a boutique. That was her paycheck, the endless shopping in the world where the things lasted and held value. The dead, of course, couldn't take anything back to LOD. It all dissolved after passing through the Portal, so Helen had to content herself with leaving the bags at the Medium's office. The staff shipped most of her purchases back for a refund.

Helen rearranged a perfect curl in front of a hand-held mirror and set it aside with a sigh. "Then onward, darling! Let's launch this ship."

Manon led their way to the Portal. The locations were never the same, to avoid the restless souls asking for a free trip. The Guides received the coordinates daily.

She let Helen through, made sure there were no stowaways, dropped Helen off at her Dinner Date, returned to the office and settled in an armchair with a stack of magazines. Easy-peasy!

The cell buzzed, startling her. She picked the gadget up, frowning. This was from Helen's client, Mr. Rivka. Helen's dates normally went overtime, rather than being cut this short.

"Hello! Medium Cybernetics, Manon speaking."

A shrill screech assaulted her ear. "Helen of Troy is dead!"

Stop the presses! We're going to make a splash with this news!

Manon reached for her cool-and-collected voice to calm down the problematic client. "Mr. Rivka, I thought you understood the conditions of the contract. The dead remain dead."

"The contract," whined the voice, "didn't say anything about her dying here and now."

"I'll be right over." Manon tasted bile in the back of her throat. Sickened or not, she couldn't afford inaction. There were plenty of other nameless dead souls after her job.