Death's Feather

Chapter 1: A New Chance

The line for judgment was too damn long.

Ignacio had been waiting for what it seemed like a lifetime since his death. A lifetime he didn't had, and would never have now.
You see, it all started in Guatemala. In a small supermarket called "Abarrotes Pepe" in the beautiful city of Cobán.
He'd been walking in circles in front of the store, trying to gather the courage he needed to enter with a gun. But it took him about twenty minutes before he opened the door.
The bell rang and the owner turned pale when Ignacio walked in with his face covered in a black hoodie.
Ignacio pointed the gun at him and shouted, ignoring the guilt boiling in his chest:

"¡This is a robbery! ¡Everyone stay down!"

The owner didn't listened and disappeared under the counter looking for something. Ignacio moved quickly but the man was already holding up a shotgun and pointing it at him. Ignacio froze, feeling the sharp bites of fear run through his back. The owner seemed even more scared, clenching the weapon between his trembling hands.
If Ignacio sneezed the wrong way, that'd be it. Not to mention there were others in the store behind him, easy targets. And even though he knew how dangerous this was going to be before he walked in, he never intended for anyone to get hurt. Not really.
So he wasn't going to let that happen.
He cleared his throat.

"Look man, I just..."

The owner's hands trembled suddenly and Ignacio smelled the gunpowder before hearing the shotgun.
It wasn't like in the movies, where you see everything in slow motion. But faster, louder, and more vicious.
Like a lightning strike. Every sense in Ignacio's body ignited like a spark. The gunpowder made his eyes water and his nose itch. The sound drilled through his ears and then, all of a sudden, he felt every millisecond passing when the bullet went through his forehead. And even though it felt like an eternity, it also felt like the memory of a moment. And then, lights out.

"So that's how it happened to me."

The guy behind him in judgement line nodded very slowly. Ignacio ended his story with a shrug and added:

"Do you think this is the kind of Underworld where you need a silver coin to go to the Good Side?" He added air quotes for the last words.

The other guy frowned.

"From what I'm hearing, you ain't going to the Good Side, man." He mimicked the air quotes.

Ignacio laughed carelessly.

"We'll see about that."

The other guy frowned again and scratched his head.

"Were you like, in a gang? Or a cartel?"

Ignacio rolled his eyes. He was just wondering when that type of question would come.

"Why? Because I'm Latino? Typical of you gringos..."

"I'm Canadian."

The line moved forward and suddenly it was Ignacio's turn. He completely forgot about the other guy like he'd never been there; when the white door appeared in front of him.
He was about to be judged, and even though he feigned confidence earlier about the Good Side...now he wasn't so sure.

It's not like the Underworld came with an instruction pamphlet.
No, he'd have to figure out what to do, or who to talk to quickly. Before his judgment was set in stone.
He opened the door.

Three men rose up from high seats behind a bench. They wore white curly wigs, dressed in immaculate white robes.
Ignacio smiled at them nervously and sat at the lonely chair in the middle of a circle of light.

Aside from the unsettling resemblance of a Court House in the middle of the Underworld, Ignacio did noticed the few things that just didn't work with the anodyne appearance from the real world.
First, the three men looked like zombies trying too hard to pass as humans. They moved rigidly and had their eyes wide open, which made Ignacio's eye twitch.
Second, the whole room had large windows looking at... nothing. Just a dense white fog that twirled and danced with parsimony. Not to mention the black bats that hung from the white ceiling like dirty spots.
And lastly, the smell. It was like being trapped inside a fish bowl full of old and stagnant water. It was
nauseating and strong.
He wondered how bad his sentence would be affected if he puked on those immaculate white robes.