New Life: Sequel to Back Home

Chapter 2

It's surreal, coming back to life. The kiss that sealed my fate was the only pleasant part of the experience. It felt like claws were ripping through me as organ systems that have been laying long dormant were suddenly being filled with new blood and life. The restarting of my heart felt like a hammer being driven into my chest with each beat. Every breath seemed to choke me as they struggled to refill my lungs. My head felt like it was going to split from the pain of overstimulation. And then the physical pain began to dull, becoming unimportant against the emotions that began flooding in.

Every emotion a person could feel hit me in quick succession, and almost none of them were relevant to the events happening. Sadness and anger certainly had no place in the festivities. But the joy and elation felt false from how powerful they were. Each emotion felt fake from the amount of strength they held. Every single one gripped me with ferocity, eliciting physical reactions that matched them. Tense shoulders from anxiety clenched fists in rage, tears and weeping from absolute despair, and laughing in pure amusement. It was a whirlwind, catching me off guard and keeping me completely unaware of my surroundings. It was all at once that the emotional parade stopped, settling on pleasant relief.

My cheeks are damp from tears still as I snap back to reality. The faces surrounding me are filled with curiosity and concern. Lydia has a gentle hand on my shoulder, which she's using to carefully massage away the tension built up in the joint. She looks the most concerned out of everyone.

"Betelgeuse," she begins. The name is only a name now, no spectral pull snapping my attention to it with the anticipation of being banished away. "Are you okay?"

A grin breaks across my face, and I wrap my arms around Lydia, picking her up and spinning as I laugh a mad cackle at the elation of finally, finally being free. She laughs with me, though I'm sure she's laughing more from the surprise of the gesture than knowledge of what has caused my joy. I set her down and pepper her temples in kisses.

"I'm great, Babes," I mumble against her hair, my grin never budging, and her laughter never ceasing.

"Well," Juno says, interrupting the barrage of affection being placed on Lydia. "Congratulations, Betelgeuse." She holds out a hand for a handshake. I release my hold on my bride, my wife, and wrap Juno in a hug instead. She protests loudly and aggressively, slamming a fist on my shoulder several times. Her hits land more like a whisper of pain, ghosts are hardly ever able to truly harm the living after all.

"Thank you, Juno. For everything," I say once I release her. She straightens out her jacket and scowls at me, but it doesn't reach her eyes. She looks proud, happy, and slightly melancholic. I think she's going to miss me being a pain in her ass all the time.

She nods in response to the 'thanks.' She summons a thick manila envelope out of thin air and extends it to me. "This is you: Lawrence Betelgeuse 'BJ' Shoggoth. Everything you need to know about what the Netherworld has created for your new life is in this. If you need anything else, you have three help vouchers. Use them wisely."

I take the folder and hold it firmly. It's heavy with stacks upon stacks of papers stuffed inside of it. Easily weeks worth of reading. "I guess you're not completely rid of me then," I joke.

Juno takes a drag of her cigarette. "Never, you always find a way to worm yourself back in. Until then." She exhales the smoke from her mouth and she disappears, the smoke slowly dissipating as her figure vanishes.

The reception has been long going. Wine and champagne were free-flowing, sometimes being drunk straight from the bottle instead of the glasses that seemed to be long abandoned by a few. It's a seemingly endless evening of laughter and dancing and talking: overall having a fantastic evening. It was my kind of party through and through. But I can hear my heart beating in my ears, feel it pounding against my ribs and I need to get out of the festivities and somewhere quiet.