by Jaxon Reed
Nancy nodded, the decision made. She paused for another second to consider how best to phrase things.
“Marcie, I am dead. This is my resurrected body. I came back in time to the moment after I died so I could track down my killer. But even more important, I came back to make sure that our world’s history is not altered. The United States is supposed to win this war. If I’m not successful, Germany and Japan will win. I can’t let that happen. We can’t let that happen, Marcie. So, I’d appreciate any help you can offer me.”
Marcie rushed over and hugged her. She said, “Of course I’ll help. I still don’t understand how you’re here and not in the morgue, though.”
“I told you. This is my resurrected body. And, you know, time travel.”
“But you just got hurt. You could die . . . again.”
Nancy shook her head. She said, “No, I won’t be dying again. Can’t happen after you’re resurrected.”
She felt her stomach and realized her wounds had healed.
Cait said, “I put leaves from the Tree of Life in your IV.”
Nancy pulled up her hospital gown and peeled off the bandages. She let Marcie look at her belly.
“See? All better. No wounds are fatal for me now. Some just take longer to heal than others.”
She pulled the IV out of her arm and swung her feet to the floor.
“Are my clothes over there? Wait out in the hall and we’ll go.”
“Don’t you need to check out? What will the doctors and nurses say?”
“No, the fact I healed so fast would just confuse them. I’ll get dressed and we’ll leave.”
“I’m confused too, Nancy. You’ve got to tell me everything. Have you been to heaven? What’s it like? Did you meet God? Are you here to stay? How long will you be here? You look different. Have you been on a diet or were you resurrected looking this good? What were you doing while you were dead?”
Marcie paused for breath and Nancy smiled at her. She said, “I’ve actually done quite a bit since I died. I’ve got about 300 years worth of adventures to tell you about. But first, let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 4
Late that afternoon, Nancy sat in Marcie’s apartment drinking a cup of coffee. She had spent the majority of the day trying to help Marcie understand how the afterlife works. But she found it difficult to fully explain life after death to someone who was still alive.
Marcie sipped from her own cup. Due to wartime shortages, the afternoon coffee for two was a major sacrifice. Nancy understood this, and considered ways she could bring Marcie some more coffee to help replace her diminishing stock.
Marcie said, “So, let me get this straight. You’ve actually been alive over three hundred years, even though you just died yesterday?”
Nancy nodded, and placed her cup on the table. She said, “I’ve been on my own timeline. It started right after I died. I went through judgment. I went to heaven. Then I was recruited to help hunt down fae in alternate realities.
“Now I live in a place that’s outside of time and space. Our team can jump in and out of all realities. It’s through the use of extraordinarily advanced technology. Much of it is controlled by computers. Well, one computer, anyway.”
Marcie frowned and said, “A math whiz? Like in accounting departments?”
“No, a counting machine. Like those fancy ones IBM makes.”
“Oh, I see.”
Nancy could tell Marcie did not see. Not really. She said, “It doesn’t matter, don’t worry about the computers. I know it’s a lot to take in. Just remember that our technology is very, very advanced. You’ve seen how it’s jumped by leaps and bounds in the past few years. Think about it. Since the turn of the century, we’ve developed horseless carriages and flying machines.”
Marcie nodded, following the logic.
Nancy continued, “Imagine what it’s going to be like twenty or thirty years from now. Jet airplanes flying faster than the speed of sound. Flights to London will only take a few hours. Color televisions in every house. Satellite communications will let you make phone calls around the world. We’ll even fly men to the moon and back via rockets.”
Marcie’s eyes grew wide. Nancy nodded, emphasizing her point.
“So imagine the technology we will have developed centuries from now. Those counting machines will advance to the point they’ll be able to think for themselves, and offer advice, and look and talk just like us. We’ll be able to travel through time and reality, visit alternate universes, and track down our enemies no matter where they go.
“I’ve been in that advanced environment, that future, for three centuries now. I’ve visited parallel worlds in all points of their existence. I’ve seen Noah building his ark. I’ve met versions of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and other historical figures you’ve never heard of because they haven’t been born yet in this world.
“And everywhere I’ve gone, I have fought men like Felix. Creatures, really, not men. You haven’t seen them in their true form. They seek to destroy and disrupt, to sow chaos and confusion. They are pure evil, and bent on destruction.
“In our world, they are trying to prevent the United States from winning the war. I’m here to stop that and take out the one who murdered me, so he can’t wreak havoc anymore.”
Marcie nodded and took another thoughtful sip. She said, “It’s a lot to take in. But everything you’re saying kind of makes sense. And I guess I have to believe you. I’ve seen your dead body with my own eyes. In fact, your funeral is tomorrow.”
Marcie’s eyes grew big. She said, “Omigosh, Nancy! Rick is coming in for your funeral!”
“Oh. I had forgotten about Rick.”
“Forgotten about Rick? How could you forget about Rick? You two were going to be married!”
“Were we?”
“Yes! He showed me the ring he bought you. He was planning to propose as soon as he got back from Texas.”
Nancy sipped her coffee and smiled. “Sweet, lovable Rick. I haven’t thought about him in years.”
“He’s going to be devastated! I sent him a telegram after I identified your body for the police. He sent me one back and said he’ll be here tomorrow. Oh, Nancy you’ve got to tell him you’re alive!”
Nancy smiled again, but with a touch of sadness in her eyes. She said, “It’s okay, Marcie. Rick will meet a wonderful woman after the war. They’ll get married and have kids and grow old together.”
“You don’t know that! He needs to know you’re alive!”
“I do know it, Marcie. I checked up on him a long time ago. Remember those computers I told you about? Ours keeps track of things on many different worlds. I asked about Rick soon after I arrived at our headquarters, ages ago. The computer tracked him down for me and told me what happened in his life.
“He does just fine without me, Marcie. Yes, I’m sure my death was rough on him. Will be rough. But he’ll get over it and he’ll find someone else after the war.”
“But, you’re here now. You can change things! It doesn’t have to be this way. Just like the outcome of the war can be changed!”
“No, Marcie. I’m dead. In fact, I’m not even supposed to be here. We’re breaking some major rules at the moment. The only reason I’m here is because the bad guys attacked us on our home turf and we have to cheat a little. I was the only one available to go out and put a stop to this.”
“It’s time travel,” Marcie said. “You could have come back any time.”
Nancy shook her head. “No, this fae did not go back in time to disrupt our world until recently.”
“But, you said you died 300 years ago!”
“I did. He went back from the present, his present, which is 300 or so years from now in this world’s timeline. We just found out about it. But my death occurred centuries ago. As far as I’m concerned, this is all the past.”
“I’m so confused.”
“Look, don’t think of me as being alive anymore
, because I’m not. I’m in my afterlife. I’ll live forever, just like this. If I stayed and married Rick, which won’t happen but if I did, then he’d grow old and die and move on to his afterlife while I stayed looking like this. Don’t you see? That’s not right, and it could never happen.
“More important, it didn’t happen. We know he married somebody else and had kids because we’ve already observed it. Our computer has, anyway.”
Nancy sighed and leaned back in her chair. She took another sip of coffee.
She said, “In a way, I guess you could think of me as a ghost. A very real, and physically present ghost who can take names and kick butt. But, for all intents and practical purposes the old me is dead to this world. I won’t be coming back to my old life. When I take care of business here, I’m leaving again. Once the historical aberrations this fae has set in motion are corrected, it’ll be like I was never here.”
Marcie frowned but she nodded and sipped on her coffee. Then she said, “But what about Rick? What do we do? What do we say to him at your funeral?”
“We say nothing. Let him begin the grieving process and get on with his life. He doesn’t need to be a part of this.”
Marcie stayed silent, but Nancy could tell she remained troubled.
Later that night she sprawled out on Marcie’s couch, pulling a quilt over herself while Marcie went off to her bedroom.
Socks jumped up on her, then snuggled down between her arm and the couch and started purring. It almost seemed normal, Nancy thought, just as if she still belonged in this world. Soon, everybody in the flat fell asleep.
The funeral was a small, intimate gathering in Christ’s Church on Park Avenue and 60th. Built a decade ago, the building still looked and felt new. Part of the sensation came from the fact the walls were bare. They remained unfinished thanks to the Great Depression first, then wartime shortages of workers and materials.
A handful of Nancy’s clients and a few other people showed up. Marcie greeted everyone since Nancy didn’t have any family present. Sweet organ notes from “Amazing Grace” filled the sanctuary, reverberating off the bare walls and ceiling.
Nancy came in, invisible, and sat down on the last pew. She smiled sadly as her landlord hugged Marcie and took a seat. With the pastor, the mortician, the organist and Marcie included, about a dozen and a half people attended her funeral.
The door to the sanctuary opened once more and Rick hurried in, running late. Nancy turned to look, and the sight of her old flame caught her breath.
He stood six-foot-one, with thick brown hair and a chiseled face. He cut a dashing figure in his dark suit, carrying a matching fedora in one hand, a leather travel bag in the other. He stood tall, confident and athletic, with a barrel chest and muscular arms. His face looked troubled with grief.
Rick rushed past her pew, and Nancy caught a whiff of him. He had always smelled good, and she had forgotten his scent after all these years. Mentally she asked Cait to store a record so the computer could replicate it for her later. Then a pang of guilt shot through her as she recalled he was destined to marry someone else.
“That is correct,” Cait said, intruding on her thoughts. “He is going to marry a woman named Julia Thompson, who will be a stewardess for Transcontinental and Western Air. They will find themselves aboard several trips together and—”
“Cait, I know that Tiff is usually the one who’s always telling you to shut up. But please, shut up.”
Privately, Nancy felt grateful that Cait had no feelings to hurt. She decided she had been rather harsh with the computer.
She watched as Rick hugged Marcie. They sat down together in the first row while the pastor nodded at the organist, who stopped playing.
The pastor cleared his throat and said, “We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Ms. Nancy Chance . . .”
Rick offered to accompany Marcie to the cemetery afterward. Nobody else was present for her burial except the pastor, the mortician, and two itinerant gravediggers. After a few words and a prayer, the pastor left. The mortician directed the lowering of the casket into the grave. Then he shook hands with Marcie and Rick before leaving as well.
The workers began shoveling dirt on top of the coffin, and Marcie finally turned away. Rick followed her back out to the street. They stopped at the curb and waited for a cab. Rick stared at his feet, his shoulders slumped. Marcie watched him sniffle and wipe away a tear.
“It’s okay, Rick.”
“It’s not okay. I should have been here. I wasn’t.”
“You being here wouldn’t have helped anything.”
“Maybe I could’ve stopped it. Maybe I could’ve helped her. Maybe I could have done something.”
“No. No, you couldn’t. It’s okay, don’t beat yourself up over it.”
His head jerked and he looked at her sharply. He said, “What’s the matter with you? She’s dead. Murdered. Shot in the head. You act like it’s no big deal!”
“Rick, calm down. I’m telling you it’s okay.”
“It is NOT okay! The woman I wanted to marry is dead! I loved her, Marcie!”
He had shifted from grief to anger in a heartbeat, towering over the smaller woman in rage.
Nancy materialized beside him, casting off her invisibility. She said, “Rick, get a grip.”
He jumped straight up, three feet. The blood drained from his face.
“Wh . . . what are you . . . ? How . . . how . . .?”
Nancy turned and hailed a cab. When it stopped Marcie opened the door. Nancy guided Rick by the elbow and pointed inside.
She said, “Hop in and I’ll explain it to you.”
The trio sat in a café eating pie and drinking coffee. The prices were high due to rationing, and it was a splurge. Nancy picked up the tab, Cait making sure that enough period-appropriate change appeared in her purse to cover the bill.
Rick did not touch his pie. He picked up the cup and saucer for his coffee. The trembling in his hands rattled the china together as he stared wide-eyed at Nancy across the table.
He took a shaky sip and said, “So. You were dead. And now you’re back. But only long enough to catch the guy who killed you. Do I have that right?”
“That’s right. I’m in a resurrected state. It works out well this way. I can’t be killed again. You could say I’m in my eternal body.”
“And you’ve been fighting these . . . ‘fae’ . . . for how long?”
“About 300 years. Look Rick, I know this is hard to understand. But when you die, you step out of time. Later, you can come back to different points in time. Think of it as being outside a book. You can pick up again at a different spot.”
Rick took another sip of coffee and said, “Is that what happens after you die? Are ghosts nothing but spirits displaced in time?”
Nancy took a deep breath, then looked at Marcie. She stared back with the same level of curiosity and attention as Rick. Obviously she was interested in the answer, too.
Nancy said, “Okay, look. I’m going to try and explain it to you two. But if you don’t get it, or don’t understand it all, don’t worry. A Jewish wise man once said, ‘Don’t dwell on knowledge that is too great for you.’ So, catch what you can and just accept the rest. Okay?”
They both nodded. Nancy took another deep breath and began.
“There are such things as ghosts, in that our spirits are released when we die. But, there is a gulf between the living and the dead. The dead can’t come back to visit except under special circumstances, usually ones set up by God himself.
“You remember the story about the Witch of Endor in the Bible? King Saul wanted to know what was going to happen in his upcoming battle, and the Prophet Samuel was dead. Saul had the witch fetch Samuel’s spirit so he could talk with him.
“When Samuel’s spirit appeared, the witch cried out in alarm. Why? Because she was used to faking it. Almost all spiritualism is fakery. People can’t summon up ghosts of the dearly departed because there is a supernatural c
hasm between the living and the dead. So the mediums are either lying, or the ‘spirit’ they’re talking to is lying. One way or another, you can’t communicate with your loved ones after they die. That doesn’t stop people from trying to trick you, though. I’ve seen some very convincing efforts.
“Now, in my case, I died. I went through judgment and because I accepted God’s covenant through Jesus while I was alive, I had the privilege of being resurrected. And in my afterlife, I fight the evil creatures known as fae. Members of my team can jump into any world. And there are many, many worlds. And we can jump in at any point in time on those worlds.
“So, that’s how I’ve been around 300 years, while to you two I’ve only recently died.”
She stopped and let the weight of her words sink in.
Rick finished his coffee and set the cup and saucer down. His hands were no longer shaking. He said, “So, you’re here to stop the bad guy, I get that. You can jump in at any time, I accept that. Why didn’t you jump in and stop your murder before it happened?”
Nancy smiled and said, “That’s a trick question. Because it already happened. I died, I went through judgment, I was resurrected, I became a fae killer. My death, my murder, belongs to my past. I don’t want to change it, even if I could.
“Look, I won’t get into things like paradoxes. But if I prevented my murder from taking place, I might not have had the opportunity to become a fae hunter in my afterlife. Then I would not have had the opportunity to go back and prevent my murder. You see? It becomes a perpetual loop.”
She smiled sweetly at Rick’s confused look and said, “Like I said, I don’t want to go into discussing paradoxes. That’s a rabbit hole we should avoid.”
Rick said, “So you . . . don’t want to live anymore? I mean, here. Now.”
Her smile changed to a sad one and she said, “No, Rick. I don’t belong here. I don’t have my first life anymore. I’ve moved on to something far better. Don’t look at me like that.”