Reclaiming Souls (6 page)

“Who's there?” called out a raspy voice. The man came out through a door, shut it, and locked it with a key from around his wrist.

I knocked over a bowl that was next to him. He jumped. “Fucking bastard,” I mumbled.

He looked around until he was satisfied no one was inside. Unlocking the door, he went back downstairs. We followed behind him. When we reached the bottom, I felt a horrible, sinking feeling inside. There was a woman strapped to a chair, the same way I was, and she was bleeding profusely.

“Now, where were we?” he laughed. She couldn't hear him through the blaring music pouring out of the headphones. He grabbed a knife and continued to slice at her. “You make number ten this year. No one ever finds out or expects the lonely old man in the woods.” He flipped her hand over and carved a number ten in the palm of her hand.

“We can't do anything except watch. This is just going to torture you more. If you try to kill him, the Creator is going to be so pissed off and you'll be worse off than you thought you already were.” Jackson put a hand on my shoulder.

“Come on, you don't need to see this,” Lexie gently grabbed my hand.

I bit the inside of my lip, trying to hold back the spew of horrible things I wanted to tell them but they were right. There was nothing I could do. Why did it mean so much for me to see that? Maybe for closure was the best thing I could think of. “Okay, let's go. I've seen enough.”

We held hands as the portal opened and took us away. The woman's screams rang out loud as a parting farewell. We decided to go back up and when the portal dropped us off, I ran for my house; never stopping to look back or slowing down.

Once I was inside, I flung myself on my bed and screamed so loud it made my ears hurt. I screamed until I couldn't anymore and my voice became weak. The sun began to rise and there was a knock on my door. “Go away!”

“Dev, you need to open the door and talk to me,” Kellin spoke in an even, calming voice.

“I don't want to talk to anyone right now, is that okay? Why does everyone feel a need to crowd me!?”

“You are going to blow a gasket if you keep it inside. Come on, Dev, you know you can talk to me about anything.” He turned the door knob and waltzed right in.

“Don't you know how to stay out when someone tells you to?” I flung the blanket over my head.

He sat down beside me, pulled it off of me and threw it on the floor. “I'm not going anywhere.” He leaned down and rolled me over, kissing me hard on my lips. My eyes flung open and I stared at him. His lips felt like heaven against mine. My body relaxed and sank into the bed.

When he pulled away, I was left speechless for a minute before speaking. “Don't ever pull that shit again. You know my feelings are conflicted right now and you're not helping things at all.”

“I know. Maybe I'm just hoping it'll help you decide a little quicker,” he whispered.

“I'm going to reclaim him. Right now so I can get my memory wiped.” I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom to change. I looked in the mirror and almost didn't recognize myself. My face was puffy, my eyes felt hollow and empty. My usual smile was gone. I sighed as I put my hair up. “Are you coming with me this time?” There was no answer. I peeked out of the bathroom and he was gone. “Go figure,” I grumbled.

I walked outside and towards the portal. When I got there, no one was waiting to go down. The portal was frozen shut. I looked around and couldn't find anyone nearby so I headed for the judgment room, thinking maybe there were all there for some reason. I walked in and all the Collectors were sitting in the rows. No one was talking. I searched the crowd for Kellin or Lexie. When I spotted them, they were sitting across the room at the very top. I crossed over and walked up to sit by them. “Hey, what's going on?” I whispered.

“Shh!” Lexie gave me a dirty look.

I sat down by Kellin who leaned over and whispered, “Judgment day for one of the biggest serial killers. We don't know who he is just that he's killed a lot of people. Creator wants us all here for it. Didn't you hear the calling for us?”

I shook my head.

A horn blew loud and obnoxiously. Everyone watched the door as it squeaked open. A man shackled in chains was brought in. His head was down and he shuffled his feet. Slowly, he made his way to the front where the podium was. The large, majestic doors in front of him opened and the Creator himself walked out. Everyone gasped.

“What's going on?” I again whispered.

“He never comes out for these. This must be pretty bad,” Kellin responded.

“Well, yeah, you just said he was a serial killer.” I turned my attention back to the man in shackles below us.

“Cristen Oblevek, you are charged with the murder of over one hundred women. What do you plead?” the Creator boomed.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” laughed the old man.

“Do you really think you can lie to me? You can't even admit the error of your ways? It's taking everything in me to not crush your soul and just make you disappear but that would be too lenient of a punishment. You will go to straight to hell for your crimes. The hounds will tear you to shreds and when they're done, you'll regenerate and they'll do it all over again. The pain you feel will be nothing compared to what you've made all those women feel. I do not pity you but I am sad. Sad that such a promising human blew it away and ruined the lives of others with no remorse.”

For the first time, the man looked up. Jackson, Lexie, Kellin, and I all gasped in horror. The three of them looked at me. It was the man who killed me. I stood up. “Sit down!” Lexie hissed.

I ignored her and continued down the stairs. The Creator looked over at me and watched as I made my way down. “Do you have something to add, Devalynn Rose?”

I didn't speak until I stood behind the man. “You. You took my life from me. You tortured me for days before throwing me, alive, into the ocean.”

Cristen turned his head a little and glanced at me. “You were number nine this year. A bit of a slower pace than what I was used to.”

“Do you want to know where I was going before you took me?”

“Not really.” He turned away.

I walked in front of him. “Too bad, you're going to know. I was going to meet my boyfriend outside of town for my birthday. You took that away from me. You took away me ever having a chance at being happily married, at having children, at having a life. Now I'm here, bringing back souls that were given a second chance. I never got that second chance. I watched you with number ten. I saw you carve into her hand and died a little more as she cried in pain and agony and here you are...you don't give a damn about what you've done to us all! My boyfriend died looking for me!” I paused for a minute.

Everyone was staring at me with hands over their mouths. “I don't hate you anymore. I don't forgive you but I don't hate you. You're about to experience a pain worse than you've ever felt and it's going to last for eternity. I hope you enjoy your own created hell.”

I walked away as fast as I could and bolted outside and then I ran to the stars. I jumped from star to star until I was so far away from everything; the only thing around me was the darkness and the twinkling of stars. I sat on one and stared off into space...literally. I felt a strange liberation at being able to confront him; at knowing it was all over and he was going to serve his punishment outright with no second chances.

“Devalynn?” I turned my head and Kellin was next to me.

“How long have you been here?”

“Almost the whole time. You were so upset and I needed to make sure you were okay so I followed you. Wow, you really wanted to get away didn't you?” he cracked a half smile in my direction.

“Yeah, I couldn't take the stares from everyone after my outburst. Do you think the Creator is mad at me?”

He laughed, “Oh no, he told Cristen that his punishment would be severe and gave him a taste of his own medicine. That last one, number ten, she got away and she's the one who killed him finally. The Creator feels sorrow for you, not anger. He watched you die and he doesn't want you to remember that pain.”

“How do you know that if you followed after me?”

“Once you're here long enough, you'll be able to feel his emotions when he lets you. That's what I felt from him.”

“Oh.” I brought my legs up and wrapped my arms around them. “This sucks. How long do I have to be a Collector? I don't want to do this anymore.”

“Until he's ready to let you go and given how fast you've picked it up and outshined everyone, I don't see it happening anytime soon. Sorry, Dev.”

I growled a little, “Can I request to do something else?”

He laughed, “Like what?”

“I don't know...a desk job like you?” I smiled.

“Trust me; you don't want to do my job. It's so boring. You get to have all the fun.”

“I wouldn't exactly call this fun. It kills me seeing someone cry so hard knowing they messed up and someone is coming for their soul. Some really are mistakes and the Creator won't even allow room for one error. He's not the one down there having to clean up the mess from his choice to let them try and live again.”

“You better watch what you say. He might not like what he's hearing from you,” Kellin warned me.

“I know and right now, I don't care. I'd rather serve out someone's hell than to keep doing this.”

“Keep talking like that and you will be. Come on, let's go back.” He stood and waited for me. We slowly made our way back. It seemed a lot longer to get home than it did to get out there. I'm sure my anger driven fuel is what did it though. We walked through the streets that were finally filled back up. Everyone stopped and stared at us as we walked back to the portal.

“Why are they all staring at me? Jeez, you'd think they'd get over it by now,” I grumbled.

“I'm not sure why they're staring at you, really,” he responded, confused as much as I was.

“Where have you been!?” Lexie waved us down and ran over.

“What's going on?”

“I think you need to come with me.” She took my hand and dragged me away from Kellin who stood in the street just staring at us as we ran off towards the judgment room.

“Okay, so once again, what's going on?”

“He's here, Dev.”

“Who's here?”

“Kale. He's been reclaimed by another because you wouldn't do it.”

Chapter Five

“Devalynn Rose and Kale Evans, come with me, now!” a voice boomed down to us.

Kale spun around and locked eyes with me. Everything around us drifted away and out of sight as he became my focus. I didn't reclaim him. Someone else did. Did that mean I was going to serve his punishment? What was going to happen to him? We didn't speak to each other but he locked his hand with mine and we walked out together to follow the Creator. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat.

“Devalynn, I never had my doubts about you being a Collector. Maybe it was wrong to pair you with you love from your living life, maybe it was wrong to assume you could do the job,” he rubbed his temples with his fingers while he closed his eyes.

“I haven’t been here very long! How could you possibly think I could handle damning him to an eternity of hell!?” I yelled at him.

“Watch how you talk to me. I can still do it,” he glared at me.

“What do you mean still do it? Isn't that what I'm here for? Because I didn't bring him back?” I was slightly perplexed.

“Well, that is what normally happens, but this was my error. I admit that. I wanted you here to decide his fate.”

I was stunned. “Me? You want me to pick what happens to him?”

“Yes. He has a few options. I understand why he did what he did. He saw you up here and you rejected him because you didn't remember him. That's my fault. You shouldn't have been allowed to be there. So here we are. You can give him heaven, purgatory, another chance, or...” he paused.

“Or what!?” I asked anxiously. I took a few steps closer to him.

“He can become a Collector, as well.”

I was stunned into silence. “Dev? What do you want? I won't be upset with anything you pick, please know that.” Kale looked deep into my eyes and it had such a calming effect on me, I melted.

“You don't want to be a Collector. This job sucks, really it does. I couldn't force that upon you as well. I want you to pick. What do you want?”

“I want to be with you. Even if that means having a job I don't want. Even if that means I have to go through the same thing as you. I need you in my afterlife like I needed you in my life.”

“Why don't you just go to heaven and I'll see you when I get up there? It may be awhile to wait, but it would be worth it and you would be so much happier up there.”

“No, I wouldn't. I would go anywhere for you, do anything, and follow you to the ends of the world. I'll be a Collector.”

“It is done.” The Creator took his hand and stretched it out to Kale. A bright light flittered through him and back into the Creator.

Kale looked around. “Is that it? Really? I didn't even feel anything,” he laughed.