"Ugh, why him?"
I grumbled as I saw the last 3 episodes of Modern Family, the last season. 'Even at the end, Alex and Haley's character development seems stunted, and Alex seemingly ends up with Alvin… '
'Manny became insufferable, and Luke…well, Luke is Luke.'
"The awkward, manipulative professor that used to be Haley's boyfriend?"
It's like the writers conveniently forget about that and set them up anyway.
"She did have a major crush on the guy when she was at college, but he chose Haley. Maybe it's a curse of the middle child kind of thing where they always received used things from their older siblings."
I sighed and felt terrible for the kid.
"Even Dylan was barely okay in the last season."
Phil said before the 20s is the time for them to make mistakes and get to know themselves. But surely a lovely and intelligent girl like Alex or a 'smart' girl like Haley could end up with someone better.
"Welp. No time to complain. Time to start from the beginning again."
I have been binge-watching it every single day, and have finished the run more than 7 times now.
Maybe it became a comfort show for me because of the family love setting in the show, the one I never had.
*Ring Ring*
The MacGyver bell in my house rang loudly, snapping me out of my stupor. The simple setup was created by myself, and I fixed the bell on my walls before I connected it to the lower floor.
I put my phone back in my pocket as I used my phone to watch shows instead of the plasma tv in my living room. That one was used for games and 'stuff.'
I grabbed my coat before I exited my apartment. I went downstairs and unlocked the door to the apartment directly beneath mine.
"Good Morning, Bella. How's your sleep?" I asked.
The house owner was an old lady in a wheelchair who could only breathe using an oxygen tube up her nose. She only smiled in reply and looked at me with a helpless expression.
The landlord of the 3-story apartment needed some care in her twilight years, so I get to live here cheap as long as I help her with some stuff. After taking care of her needs, we went to make breakfast together.
"Non-non…" The Italian grandmother scolded me as I wanted to put some herbs in her sauce. "Taste. First."
I stopped stirring the sauce in the pot. The smell of the sauce that I was making made my stomach gurgle, and I wanted to have breakfast soon.
"Ciao Bella. You're killing me." I used some Italian wordplay that put a smile on her face. I put a spoonful of the sauce on a spoon and blow it gently before I give her a taste.
She nodded in satisfaction after she got what she wanted. "Good job. You…marry now."
I helplessly showed a wry smile after she said that. "Maybe in the future."
Granny said with some concern, "You've been alone. Long time."
I grabbed her hand gently, "I have you, did I not?"
Bella removed my hand and pinched my cheeks, "Non-non. Don't be alone. I'm gone soon."
The immigrant grandmother couldn't speak a complete sentence after her stroke a few weeks ago. I have been working from home to check up on her since her family is far away.
"Don't say that, Noni. (Grandma) You're going to live till 150. Believe me."
Bella looked at me sadly. Only one person in the world knew me, and that was the grandmother in front of me.
"I forgot the garlic bread. I will stop by the grocery store later." I said, changing the topic.
We had a fun breakfast together before I ran upstairs to do my job as a programmer. Luckily, my status as a senior developer allowed me to work from home as long as I reach my daily target requirement.
I remembered what Noni said while I was typing. I never got a girlfriend, nor did I try to find one. I only got one-night stands with various girls, basking myself in the meaningless pleasures of the flesh. Even that was for only a short while before I stopped.
My 20's were spent with me struggling to survive in this ruthless world as an orphan. Deep down, I don't think I can love someone as I have never received any love. I should talk about that in therapy, but who got the time?
After 3 hours of work to finish the entire requirement of what was supposed to be a 10-hour job, I grabbed my bike key and my helmet.
"Noni. Garlic bread and tomato puree. Anything else?"
"Buy some wine and meat," Noni asked. Then, she hesitatingly asked, "Can you check the post? My son. He will wire some checks at the end of the month."
I widened my eyes at Noni, "You can eat meat now? When did your teeth grow back?"
Noni threw her slippers on my head before I ran away to my scooter parked in front of my house. I never went to the post office to check what she requested.
I knew her son had abandoned her a few years back, but she kept hoping to hear from him. The check was only an excuse for her to ask about her son.
I picked up some oranges and groceries at the grocery store. On my way back, a sudden gust of wind suddenly makes me almost fall from my bike.
"What the hell is that?" I opened my helmet visor and looked at the sky. It was as clear as ever. I scanned the surroundings, and I saw everyone looking at me like I was a clumsy man.
"So… freaking weird," I muttered and restarted my bike engine before I drove home.
And that was it. That is the end of my life in this world.
*Truck Horn blaring. *
The last thing I remember was that a speeding truck with its lights on crashed into my bike. I had an accident on my way home, and after a period of struggle to keep my consciousness intact, my world darkened.
"So, Why the hell did I wake up in a white space?"
…
"Is it platform 9 ¾?" I scanned my surroundings, which looked like a clean train station, before walking toward the train boarding line. There were several people there, all waiting to board the next train to what I assumed was the afterlife.
How long have I waited? The time here was a bit messed up. Suddenly, the train conductor arrived in his blue uniform and a cap to check everyone's tickets.
"Wait. Tickets?" I hurriedly checked my pockets to find out that I was carrying nothing. The conductor moves down the line quickly as he checks everyone's tickets one by one, but I'm becoming more and more anxious as I keep searching for the non-existent ticket.
"Tickets, please." The grim reaper finally arrives at my spot to ask me.
"Um...I seemed to have lost my ticket."
He said sternly, "No ticket, no boarding."
"I know. But I never got a ticket!" I almost teared up.
"No ticket. No BOARDING!" He said and pulled me out of the line. The security guard came to apprehend me. "Wait. Just tell me how I can get a ticket!" I screamed and tried to break free of the security guards holding me by both arms.
The security guard dragged me outside the train station and threw me on the floor.
"Ouch!" I yelled out in pain as my butt hit the cold hard floor.
"Go get tickets. Then, you can board the train."
I looked around on the empty white street with no one about it. "How?" I muttered.
Wandering in the infinite space, I tried hard to find ways to get a ticket for myself. I'd been walking for days, maybe years, or just a few minutes. My mind was groggy, as if I'd fallen into the abyss.
I keep walking to find the ticket booth, someone else, or anything else. Suddenly, I remembered Noni.
"Who is going to take care of her now?"
My mind was so preoccupied with the train ticket that I forgot about the people I'd left behind. "Noni… I'm sorry." I started to sob as I walked aimlessly.
Maybe she is still waiting for me to come back with the garlic bread. However, I am now stuck here with nowhere to go. I keep walking and crying until I lose track of time and who I am. I keep reliving my worst fear of Noni dying in that house alone.
Unknown to me, someone tried to grab my shoulder from behind. But as I keep walking forward, the guy behind me keeps missing his mark. He wanted to call me, but the voice didn't travel in the white space unless you were face-to-face with someone.
The same situation repeated a few times for a few hundred years, or maybe a few hours. As I sobbed while walking, suddenly, the same sudden gust of wind that appeared before my death appeared again, causing me to be pushed backward.
"What the fuc-" I almost cursed the wind. It was the main reason for my death before, and because of it, I had to abandon Noni. But I didn't realize it came to me as a helper this time. Suddenly, my shoulder was grabbed by a hand bigger than mine. I turned back to see a man in a blue uniform huffing his breath heavily as he stopped me.
"Finally. I reached you. Haa haa haa."
I didn't reply to him as my mind still felt groggy and in a haze. He dragged me back to the train station, and we entered his small office by the side of the boarding area. Countless files and papers were stacked neatly on the officer's desk.
"Neddy my boy. It's been hard… for me to reach you." The officer said and sat down on the table. I was invited to sit right in front of him, and he took out a file with my name on it from the stack of files.
"Edward Franzetti, born 1990, son of James Franzetti and Martha Knitting."
He served me tea which I graciously accepted. After drinking it, I can feel my mind getting cleared up.
"Sorry about throwing you outside. That is only for criminals and people without a ticket. But in your case, it's a bit special."
"How?" I asked.
"Your ticket isn't here as it hasn't been issued yet." The officer said with a solemn look on his face. He lights up a cigarette and takes a deep puff. "I haven't seen a case like this in ages. There are a lot of them in the Japanese branch but not here."
"I don't care about the ticket anymore. What happened to Bella? My- My Noni?" I asked anxiously. The officer released his cigarette smoke and started to take out another file.
"Usually, I won't bother to answer if anyone else asks this, but I will let you know about her for a favor between us. Deal?"
"What kind of favor?" I asked, eying the file in his hand.
"I'll tell you about her. You don't tell anyone about you being kicked out of the train station."
"Deal," I replied instantly. The officer smiled and opened the file for Granny.
"Hmm? This is curious." The officer said. He smiled and flashed a look of reminiscence as he read the file. He even changed the way he looked at me. His stern face melted into the genial expression of a village elder.
"What?" I asked.
"It said here your granny died peacefully in her sleep 1 minute before you died."
"WHAT!" I slammed the table and stood up.
"Calm down. Let's see here. With her karma points, she had gotten a first-class ticket to the afterlife long before you came here."
I calmed down a bit, "I see. So, she passed. She… didn't suffer, right?" I asked.
"No." The officer replied curtly and closed granny's file. Telling me about her situation in the mortal world was already career-ending for him, not to mention telling me about granny's situation in the afterlife.
"Now. To deal with you." The officer said. "Unfortunately, as your time hasn't come yet, we couldn't tally your karma points here and have to send you back to the mortal world."
He had a scheming look on his face, but I ignored it as my mind was focused on another matter.
"So… I'll live?" I asked, a bit dissatisfied.
"You know, usually when people are told they can go back, they get excited. But not you, huh." The officer said sarcastically. "Let's see. Yup. Truck again. What did the Japanese people do exactly that the truck culture spread even to another afterlife branch?"
The officer took out a pen and started to scribble at my files.
"I'll remove being crushed by the 14-ton truck and become a roadkill…to swerve your bike and avoid the truck. You will live without remembering what happened here. You also won't feel discombobulated as the afterlife energy will help you settle down in the mortal world for a short grace period."
"Do I have a choice?" I asked.
"None." The officer replied sternly.
"Let's go to your station." The officer said and brought me to the train boarding line. Instead of a white train, a red train was waiting for me there.
"This looks ominous," I said, and as I looked around, I discovered I was the only one there.
"We didn't usually send people back, so I pulled this train from another line to get you home." The officer said. I boarded the train and sat by the window. The officer stood nearby to talk to me.
"As you've stepped foot in both the afterlife and the purgatory, you may find something extra in your life when you get back." The officer said with a smirk.
"You're giving me a system?" I asked teasingly.
"What's a system?" The officer asked, intrigued.
"Nothing. By the way, I never caught your name?"
"Me? I'm…" The train horn bellowed, so I couldn't hear the middle part, but I heard the last part, "…The grim reaper."
…
Omniscient POV.
The train started to move and disappeared from the station. The grim reaper took his last puff of cigarette before he turned back. An armored angel was standing there as he turned.
"Why did you do it?" The female angel asked.
"Do what?" The officer asked innocently.
"You sent him to another world!" The female officer grabbed the man's coat and lifted him up.
The male officer took a deep puff and said, "It was too late for him. He'd spent time in purgatory for almost 10 years. He can't go back, so I send him somewhere else."
"You've violated the afterlife code! Do you know what will happen to you?!"
The officer gently removed the female officer's hand. "I know."
"Not only did you send him to another world, but you also made him reborn there. He won't receive his memory till his body is ready is not an excuse for your action!"
"For my son. I will gladly spend 1000 years in purgatory as long as he can get the life he always wanted. The life… that I fail to give him." The male officer said as he fixed his collars.
The female officer sighed in defeat and escorted the grim reaper to receive his punishment.
"I already had enough trouble when a first-class soul accidentally transmigrated as the wind. Now, this. I am sure I will get demoted after this…." She murmured whisperingly.
She sighed in defeat before she realized something. She glared at the grim male reaper, "Do you have anything to do with that too? With Mrs. Bella reincarnating as the wind?"
The grim male reaper smirked and replied ambiguously, "Who knows."
…
Edward POV.
"Ugh. My head." I muttered as I found myself lying in the streets. However, I found the roads to be unfamiliar from the streets I had my accident before.
"Hey, kid, watch where you are going."
An old man yelled at me from his car.
Suddenly, my head throbbed in pain, and I struggled to collect myself. I staggered a few times, and my sight became dim. It took me a minute to get used to the feelings.
"What the fuck!" I cursed out loud.
The old man was startled, shook his head, and drove off as he noticed I was okay.
"I'm 14?! I am in… California! Seriously?!" I mumbled.
"Nah, Nah, that can't be it." I looked around and found a convex mirror usually put in intersections. I looked at my reflection to see that I was really young again.
"Dude, that was sick." Suddenly a voice called me out from behind. I turned and widened my eyes when I saw the familiar-looking kid on a bike talking to me.
"Your skateboard flew into that tree there after you've done your trick." Luke Dunphy pointed at the tree nearby. I turned in the direction he'd pointed and saw a skateboard with a skull sticker on its bottom hanging in the tree branch.
"You'd inspired me. I will also fly to the sky after this." The 10 years old Luke said excitedly.
I became alarmed and quickly said, "No, Luke. Don't. The accident really hurt. It wasn't sick at all. It was dangerous, and I'd been irresponsible. I probably will never skate again after this."
The boy was stunned by the sudden proclamation. Based on my memory, I was the one who asked him if he wanted to watch a trick before this. For me to backpedal quickly was a bit unexpected for him.
"Luke." I heard a voice calling for Luke from afar. Both of us turned to look at the caller.
A hot blonde 'milf' with scary eyes was calling for Luke from a street over. She shielded her eyes with her hand as the afternoon sun was glaring.
"Whatever," Luke said, losing his interest as I started to nag like his mom. He put his leg on the pedal and started to cycle back to his house.
I stood there frozen for a while with the same thought nagging.
"Am I in the Modern Family… tv series… world?"