When You Die

Chapter Five

6:15 PM, layer 352, Apartment 6-b, Cattail apartments, April 20th, 2019

Bill Herdel entered his apartment, set down his keys, poured himself some granola, and put on the first episode of the second season of Downton Abbey.

I'm so happy that's over with. He thought with an annoyed sigh. He watched and ate for a while, when suddenly, he heard a muffled noise from the closet. He got up and opened the closet. They were still shivering on the floor, next to the brooms. Weak. He thought disdainfully. "Get up!" He snarled. They stood up obediently. "Maybe if I feed you, you'll stop whining." He said, spitting out the last word. He untied their gags, and took out a dagger to cut the zip ties that bound their wrists free.

They gasped for fresh air, relieved. "Thank you!" One of the two women panted. Their captor struck her across the face. "You will speak to the minimum, and when you do speak, address me with manners!" They nodded fearfully. "The only reason I brought you two here was so that you wouldn't blab!" He finished angrily. "But you, on the other hand," he started, directing his attention to the girl. "You, are important to me. You as well will follow my orders." She didn't make a noise. She just glared fiercely at him.

He walked into his kitchen, looking for something suitable for them to eat. He was glad his plan had worked out so far. He had captured them at the end of the day before, when the girl's memory still hadn't been returned to what it was before the crash, and she was still boiling with anger. All he needed to do now was to keep angering her.

He got them each a clementine and walked over to his captives, who were whispering worriedly in his direction. As he approached them, the whispers ceased and shrunk back in fear. "This should be enough to make you shut up." Bill said grumpily. "I'm putting you back in the closet now." And he did as he said.

When he was done, he walked over to his bag and rummaged through it, looking for something. His heart started beating faster and faster as he couldn't find what he was looking for, and he started frantically throwing his belongings everywhere. He finally found what he was looking for in the bottom corner of the bag. It was a letter in which it's yellowing pages had been worn thin from being handled so much. He had acquired this letter from the Void.

The Void was a space of items lost in time, and on the first anniversary of your death, you would be allowed to claim up to three items. The moment Bill Herdel had entered the Void, he had felt a small, ornate box somehow calling to him, and when he took it home, he had found the Letter burrowed deep in a secret compartment hidden in the back. It had never left his sight since.

He had always wondered where the letter had come from. It was his prized possession and he cherished it more than anything else he owned. In an elegant, looping script it stated;

Dear whomever is in possession of this Letter,

It is my duty to inform you on the matter of the death of the 53rd Death, and subjects related to it, but before I start, I would like to tell you that by reading the remainder of this, you will from now on be the beholder of incredible knowledge. Do remember; with knowledge comes responsibility, and therefore do not take this lightly. This Letter came to you for a reason, and the decisions of the Letter have affected history greatly in the past, so you must follow the will of the Letter, no matter how ridiculous.

As I was saying, the 53rd Death befell his Second Death by awaking the power of a girl of six months, Ada Mata Collins. Now, let me explain; once a person with awakened power performs an act using his or her power on a person with 'sleeping' power, the power of the person will wake. This so happened on that night. The levels of power may vary greatly, depending on the person, but Ms. Collins was the strongest in history. Whatever happens, you must follow the Letter's instincts.

P.S. When you have completed the will of the letter, please sign your name with the pen in the box.

Trust me, you will know when you're done.

Sincerely, GMP

And below that, there were several names scrawled:

Piper Smith 

 Penelope Bridgeclear

Mary-Lou Penderwick 

 Collette DuBois

Marion Burbank

Daisy Morgan Allie Carter

Bill Herdel ran his hands through his hair distractedly. He didn't know who GMP was, but once his plan succeeded, that was his next order of business.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

6:42 PM, Rebirth wing, BODA central hospital, April 23, 2019

As soon as she saw the empty room, Emma Mulberry raced back to her desk and called security. When they came, she told them what happened: "I was just coming to finish the operation, but all three of them were gone!" The officers nodded. "All three of them? Please clarify, ma'am." Emma was quick to respond, "Lara Flanagan, and Kristi Johnson..." She trailed off, a look of recognition on her face. "I'll be right back, officers, stay here!" She yelled back at them, running down the hallway. They just looked at each other and shrugged.

Emma ran back to her desk, and looked back to where she had left off in her address book.

There it was, that name that had made her feel like she was missing something, but now it made complete sense.

You thought you were so clever. She thought with a grin. She ran back to where the police officers, her heart pounding in her chest. "Officers! Officers! I think I found our kidnapper!"