"Hello my name is Zayn. I will be your guide to a new life." The man sounded bored out of his mind.
"I'm-"
"Kathy White. Trust me, I know." He sounded sarcastic.
"Ok." I muttered.
"It seems you have recently become incapacitated. So, pretty much, your dead. Congratulations. You no longer have to submit to societies standards." He pulled me up off my feet. I brushed off my white dress. He watched me closely.
"Wait, Zayn, you have-"
"Wings. Because I too, am dead. Now, follow me. We need to decide where you will go." He dragged me down winding and twisting hallways into a beautiful room full of pale colors and shimmering figures. My light, glowing finger was pricked, and golden fluid seeped out. It was sucked up into a tube, which was taken to a beeping machine. I looked at the screen. People gathered around it, gasping at the result.
*SUICIDE. OVERDOSE. CLIFF. SPLASH. DEATH. MOTHER. FATHER. LOVELESS. LONELY. NO ONE THERE TO SAVE ME.*
I stared at the faces turning to me. That machine had summed up my last thoughts, and broadcast ed them for everyone. I raised my hand.
"Where am I?" Giggling was heard. More like, a nice, pleasant, breeze that tickled my nose with whispers of voices, as if, no one was fully there. A mere whisper of who they used to be.
"Cloud of the dead." Zayn shot me a glare.
"Oh." I hung my head, covering my arms out of habit. I glanced at my body. I was perfect. No scars, flaws, or anything. I was perfectly shaped and proportioned. I was almost to good to be true.
"Why did you kill yourself." His question was more of a command. I shrugged lightly.
"I just..." I gestured to the screen.
"Ok, then. Here." He seemed to walk, but, float. Just a hair off the floor. Over to yet another huge machine.
"Sit." He pointed to a chair. I followed orders and sat. Buzzing and whirring filled my ears, scarring the crud out of me.
*NO RESPONSE*
The machine boomed. Zayn gave me a look, like, 'Why do you have nine heads?'.
"Can you like, help? I'm so confused. I thought after you died you just kinda... stopped." He nodded.
"I know what you thought. I read your stories." I blushed. "Pretty good. Intriguing. Well, you don't just stop, you either carry on in here, Cloud of the Dead, go to hell, or go back to earth."
"How is it determined?"
"Its hard to explain." He answered flatly. The machine started squealing loudly, scarring both me and Zayn.
*GUARDIAN* It screamed. Zayn looked at me with longing.
"What does that mean?"
"You're just full of questions aren't you! It means you get to go back to earth and walk with the living again." He sounded bitter.
"But, I don't want to."
"Trust me. If I could switch with you, I would. I have so much more to live for, or, rather, go back and walk with." He snapped.
"What?" I asked. I just needed something to talk about, all this 'Your'e dead, now go back and suffer' stuff was making me nauseous.
"My fiance. Perry. Love of my life. I crashed a car, and died, while she lived. She's so sad and alone." HE sat down on the table, looking at the floor.
"I'm so sorry." I fidgeted in the chair.
"It was years ago." He stood back up and had me follow him to a desk. "Now, you're a guardian, which means you can follow people and make sure they are safe and blessed. Easy enough right?"
"Sure."
"Good. More information will be sent down to you later. You will not look even remotely the same, your name will be changed a bit, and you will live forever." I nodded. "If you want to come back to the Cloud of the Dead, you can, but for a minimum of ten days, then, it-" He made it look like he was flushing a toilet. "Back down to earth."
"I think I can do that. Maybe. If its a do your best and don't try too hard job."
"Oh, it is."
"Cool." I seemed so much happier now that I was dead.
"I have a request."
"Shoot."
"Watch over my Perry."