Karma

Elysium

"Keep telling me that it gets better. Does it ever?"

"Fucking pussy." Max's voice slurred before he took a long drag of his cigarette as he flipped off the radio. He was just waiting for that Shawn Mendes chick to become irrelevant. After all, who wants Shawn Mendes when you could have Max Isaeva?

Max chuckled as he put his cigarette out. His Bugatti Veyron's engine hummed while racing down the empty road. Mac picked up his Hennessy bottle and took a swig. His head was becoming light and stars that weren't in the sky started flashing in his vision.

Max was tired and hungry while racing home. Coming back from yet another party. He was the current and forever "It" guy in Hollywood. The one who got all the babes, had all the money, and all the friends. Winning his first grammy at age 16, shot Max into stardom. Now at age 25, he has over forty awards and seventy-six nominations with over 250 million albums sold worldwide. Max's reputation and popularity are only continuing to climb. Being called the "New King of Pop", easily beating out that wannabe Michael Jackson.

Suddenly, Max's limbs got so heavy that his foot dropped down on the gas pedal. His eyelids shut as his right hand on the steering wheel dropped. The car sharply veered right, flipping as it collided with the ditch. Max slammed into the steering wheel as the car started crushing him. Metal squealed, glass screamed, and bones cracked as the car continued flipping. The car came to a jarring halt when it smashed against a boulder.

Max's world faded from the red, hot pain to a blinding, white light. He couldn't breathe.

The light settled and Max felt numb as he slowing cracked his eyes open. He was sitting in a chair in front of a desk, across the desk sat this beautiful, genderally ambiguous person with a jawline that could cut you just by looking at it. They had long, white hair that fell straight, bright amber eyes, and they were wearing a white leather jacket.

They smiled. Revealing a set of straight, white teeth. "Hello, Mr. Max Isaeva." Their silvery echoed through the office. "You are now officially dead. I'm your designated Celestial Officer, here to assist you. My name is Karma." Max's eyes widened.

Karma's nose scrunched up as they left out a laugh. It sounded sweet and soft. "No, I'm not the literal personification of karma Mr. Isaeva." Suddenly their face got serious as they leaned forward and whispered, "but in your case, I might as well be." Karma leaned back and chirped with their ever-present smile, "This isn't the afterlife Mr. Isaeva. Where you are now is one of the stepping stones to being at 'eternal peace', as you humans say. We'll get to the other steps eventually, but right now. You're at step two-"

"What was step one?" Max implored.

"Step one was dying. No more interruptions Mr. Isaeva." Karma said flippantly as their eyes flashed icy blue before returning to amber. "You were pretty lucky to die unexpectedly so late in the night before most early birds woke up. You could've been like Gordon Downie who went with such a big fuss!" Karma threw their head back and let out a burst of shrill laughter. "Now he's paying for that!"

"I don't understand." Max hesitantly said, trying to wrap his head around everything.

"No interruptions!" Karma snarled as their eyes flashed icy blue once more and stayed there. "But we are getting off track. Here's the deal Mr. Isaeva. When humans die and someone is thinking about them, the dead human becomes their guardian angel of sorts. Don't ask why. That's just how it is. And you Mr. Isaeva, are assigned to watch 768 456 people."

Max was outraged. This wasn't fair. Indignation started to boil and was about to explode when Karma continued calmly.

"Now there are some rules. You can only whisper into a person's ear and influence them. That's it. You don't have to ability to do 'hostile takeovers' or anything like that. Next, you can shield souls. But it's rare. If your soul is in, let's say a car crash," Karma's eyes twinkled, "then you can stop their most severe injuries. But if they jump off a ten-story building. Well, there's no stopping that. You can also slow a person's death. By holding their spirit in their body, not for very long, just long enough to give them a fighting chance." Max didn't see a reason to know that. He'll just leave his souls to their own devices.