"Ugh....."
With her head throbbing, Mary pried open her heavy eyelids. She registered the vast, empty, open space all around her. 'I was with Ms. Fletcher just now.' She mused, confusion etched into her features.
Mary got up despite her aching body, her mind urging her to figure out her current location. She shouted into the sky, if you could call it that. It was an endless stretch of space ending God knows where.
It was then, that her throbbing head worsened, her vision blackened and when she opened her eyes she was standing in front of a merry-go-round, but she saw...herself?
Mary saw herself standing beside the merry-go-round staring at the ground, the sound of the rain dulling the sounds of the boisterous laughter of the kids. The rain washed away the tears streaming down her face, which she was unable to.
'I remember this day.' It was when she was 7 years old, on her birthday. Her parents had taken her to the monthly fair which lasted for a few days, on her birthday.
'This much is enough, I should be happy.' Young Mary kept her thoughts optimistic, choosing fantasy over reality. Alas, all fantasies come to an end.
They took her there and humored her for a while only for them to abandon her near one of the rides. She didn't know what was worse, her parents being oblivious to her birthday or them abandoning her.
All of her memories starting from her childhood, she began seeing them one by one.
Mary was suddenly in the washroom, she was in high school in this one. 4 girls that she couldn't bother to remember were cornered her and dumped a bucket of water all over her.
Then it was her in the library reading a book in one of the secluded corner, her in the arcade winning every single game and the staff having to stop her from playing.
'Huh, guess not all of my childhood was bad.'
Mary in college, after getting her first job as a part-timer at Jerry's, the local diner. Her winning her first mystery-solving competition and so on.
This time Mary was standing in front of a crowd blocking her vision, people were screaming. Some were filming it with their phones, and Mary saw a glimpse of a woman laying limp on the floor, blood was surrounding the body. Mary, for a second, thought she saw Ms. Fletcher crying.
"I must be crazy. Ms. Fletcher isn't crying, is she?" She said to no one in particular. But as strange as it was, Mary was confused staring at the body. She felt sad, immense grief filled her staring at the body, almost as if she was connected to the person.
Mary's vision returned to normal, she wanted to scream, to go back to that woman and help her. But as much she wanted to go back, she knew that her first and foremost priority was to get out of this godforsaken place. Mary walked in a straight path.
"Hello?" She asked tentatively, "Is anybody ther- aaagh!"
Mary screamed as her body got sucked through a large hole underneath her feet which wasn't there before.
***
"Aargh!" Mary screamed in frustration, pulling on her hair. A logical person would, given that instead of getting out of the place that they're stuck in, they get sucked into another place.
"Which asshole is it? Who is playing these tricks one me?! Show yourself you little piece of sh-"
[ Now Ms. Louise, calm down. No need to use such harsh words. ]
A calm and mellow voice resounded all around Mary, it was near her but it was nowhere at the same time. Mary jumped, startled, she internally cursed at the person for scaring her fragile heart.
"How could they scare a person like that, it's as if they want to give me a heart attack by scaring my fragile heart," Mary muttered under her breath.
[ Ah, I apologize for scaring you, but in no way do you have a fragile heart, Ms. Louise. ] The voice that spoke materialized into the figure of a person.
She scoffed, "hey! Who do you think you are? Do you know what privacy is?" Mary pointed her finger at the person accusingly.
The person just smiled and pressed his palm against her forehead and Mary's vision blackened, again.
[ Well this is gonna be hard. ] The person sighed and vanished into thin air.
๐ ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ...
Mary woke up, again, in a large room with only a chair in front of her, sitting on that chair was the same person who had scared the living bejesus out of her moments ago.
[ Ah, I see you're awake Ms. Louise. Would you like some tea? ] The person snapped his fingers and a chair and table with an assortment of pastries and tea was in front of her
Mary couldn't help herself and started to fill her mouth with some macaroons as she sat down. She started assessing the person in front of her to find out whether he was a friend or foe.
The person was black...it's not like Mary was racistโshe had her own problems to even judge a person because of their race, culture or creedโno, the person was literally a mass of black fog in the figure if a person. The person had two voids for eyes and, well if he had a mouth, Mary couldn't be sure because she was busy stuffing her mouth.
[ Ms. Louise, before I introduce myself, do you have any idea where you are? Do you remember your last memory? ] The person ignored her not so dignified way of eating, and that was to put it lightly.
Mary shrugged and swallowed the macaroons before saying;
"Well, I would like to find out where I am too before I'm constantly KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS!!" Mary paused, her accusing gaze meeting the person's guilt-ridden eyes. "But to answer your question, no, I don't have any idea where I am or who in the mother-loving world you are." Mary deadpanned, picking the croissant next and popping it in her mouth.
[ Haah~ I thought so. This is important Ms. Louise, what is the last thing you remember before you were brought here? ] The person asked in a cautious tone.
"Of course I do, I was...." Mary tried to remember where she was before ending up in this place. She faltered for a second before resuming, "I don't understand, why can't I remember?" No matter how hard she tried to remember, she couldn't and could feel a headache coming on. The person hesitated, but said, [ Ms. Louise, I'm sorry to say this, but you're dead. ]
The person said with a serious expression. Mary, on the other hand, failed to maintain a professional expression before bursting into a cacophony of laughter.
"You meanโ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณโI amโ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณโdead!?" She managed to speak in between her discordant laughter. Mary stopped laughing after a few minutes before looking at the person's serious expression.
"Wait, you're serious?" Mary sobered up.
[ I have no reason to lie, Ms. Louise, instead, I think I owe you an apology. ]
"What do you mean you owe me an apology?" A few minutes passed in silence, it was broken.
[ Welcome to the afterlife Ms. Louise, you died. ]
"...."
It was then that the memory of her getting hit by that car saving that little boy. It hurt, everything hurt. Mary couldn't speak, she was in shock and utter disbelief.
[ It was an accident. You weren't supposed to die. I apologize. ] SmokeyโMary was getting rather tired of calling him 'the person'โsaid apologetically. Many emotions crossed her face, but the most unexpected one was acceptance.
"But who are you?" She asked.
Smokey was flabbergasted, justifiably so, who in their right mind, after finding out about their death would stay calm? But if he was, he didn't show it and responded,
[ I am the grim reaper, my job is to harvest souls and compensate them accordingly, be it good or bad. ]
"So, the god of death?" Mary leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand.
[ In essence, yes, I am the god of death. ]
"Wait, you're real? No, more importantly, why do you call yourself the grim reaper and what's with that look, aren't you supposed to look like a skeleton wearing a tattered cloak with a scythe in you're hand, instead you look like this?" Mary said pointing at the black mass in front if her, genuinely confused.
[ Well, you mortals are used to calling me different names. Death, grim reaper, angel of death, harvester of souls, and so on. Personally, I liked grim reaper. ] Death said, rather proudly, as if he was a puppy asking for praise from its master.
[ As for my form, I chose this one so you wouldn't be scared. Should I change it? ] Death asked, even though he didn't have a visible mouth, Mary could feel his eerie smile.
"No thanks, I wouldn't like to have nightmares." Mary rejected politely. "Right, so...what now?" Mary asked.
[ Ah, yes, the question I was waiting for. You're case was an unfortunate one so I have to deal with it myself, otherwise I'm a busy person you see. ]
"What do you mean my case was an unfortunate one?"
[ Well, you weren't supposed to die because it was the boy who was gonna die. I don't get it with you mortals, always interfering, always sticking their foot where it isn't their business by being a Karen. Pity really, now the boy gets to live and I have to compensate you. ]
Mary perked up after hearing the word 'compensate' and she had the perfect idea how death could compensate her.
"I want a new life!" Mary declared enthusiastically, she was tired of her old life and this was the way death could compensate her. It was a winโwin really, she gets to have a second chance and death would be able to compensate her that way.
[ Ok, what kind of life would you like, I can send your soul to another world where you're a rich and famous painter or a singer or any other place that you would like. ] Death accepted rather easily and Mary wanted to ask him why because she had a really good pros and cons list for death if he refused, but she didn't want to risk it, so she said, "I want to be a princess because they dont have to work, they're pretty, powerful and not to forget, rich." Mary was drooling at the thought of being a princess because it was her dream in her previous life to live luxuriously without having a job or a care in the world.
[ Hmm.....a princess, now where should I send your soul for that? ] Death said while in deep thought.
[ Ah, I've got the perfect place for you! ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต would be the perfect place for you, yes, khukhukhu. ] Death said in a creepily, Mary felt chills on her spine .
"Ah no wait, what do you mean by ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, it bettโ"
Alas, before she could finish, Death snapped his fingers once again. This time, no food was brought to her on a table, no sir, this time, her vision blackened for the umpteenth time for today and she could feel herself being sucked into something.
As she was being sucked into the portal, she started to feel drowsy. Mary cursed death because she knew he, the god of death was upto something, but she couldn't do anything about it. She vowed not to believe in the god of death or any other god again for that matter ever again. That, ladies and gentlemen, was the birth of Mary the atheist as she fell into a deep slumber.
***
Mary opened her eyes forcefully, the first thing she saw was a really big chandelier, light flooded into her vision, she blinked, adjusting her vision to the light. That was when she heard it.
"Congratulations your Majesty, it's a girl!"