“There is a witness. There is the weapon we found in your home. How do you still deny you didn’t do it?” Creator leaned over onto his desk, resting his elbows.
“I was set up. I hardly ever go down to earth. I’m always here. I deny it because it wasn’t me.” His voice sounded desperate.
“Since you rarely go down there, why were you there to begin with if your job is to hand out the lists?”
Kellin glanced up and turned to look at me then back up front. My heart...my dead heart, felt crushed. “I needed to get away from here for a little while but I did not kill Likkne.”
“Can anyone validate your story?”
“No,” he said, hanging his head low. His hair fell to the sides of his face and covered his eyes from me.
“Then I’m afraid that without anyone to support your statements, I have no choice.” He looked over to the jury of his peers who were sitting behind a curtain where none of us could see them. He nodded then turned his attention back to Kellin. “It’s agreed. You have been found guilty. I will not crush your eternal soul. That would be too forgiving. You will be locked away in solitary confinement for the rest of eternity. For the rest of your afterlife, you will be completely alone with no one.”
Michael walked over and unshackled Kellin. Everyone watched in horror as he was led out of the hall.
The Creator looked us all over. “This has been a very trying few days but it’s back to work today. I’m tired of the violence and the hurt we are inflicting on each other and ourselves. I am about this close,” he pinched his fingers almost together, “to shutting down the program all together and letting you all go to your respective afterlives, wherever that is.” Everyone looked nervously back and forth at each other. “Go to work.” He waved us off.
Kale walked out next to me. “Sorry about that, Dev.”
“Yeah, I’m soooo sure you’re really sorry,” I retorted.
“I really am. So why don’t you and me get together after work today and talk about it?”
I shrugged, “No thanks. I don’t like to be around liars and asshats like you.”
“You’ll warm up to me, I promise that.” He walked off in the opposite direction.
I went to the office that had become my workplace to get back to the reformation of the laws. Once inside, I sat at the desk and didn’t move, just stared off into space.
There was a knocking at the door, “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” I grumbled.
“Dev, I know you’re hurting as much as I am. I want to show you something.” Jackson crossed the room and took my hand, pulling me from my seat.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” He pulled me outside and back towards the portal. We stood silently in line until it was our turn.
When we landed, we were on a small deserted island in the middle of the ocean. “What are we doing here?” I asked him, confused.
“Let it out,” he replied, taking my hands in his.
A lump formed in my throat and I forced it back down. “Let what out?”
“Your anger, your frustration, your hurt, your love...and your tears that couldn’t come out up there.” His voice was soft and encouraging.
He was right. I felt them well up and fill my eyes. Before I knew what was happening, my lips were trembling and the tears were rolling down my face like a waterfall over a cliff. I couldn’t stop them. He held me close and tight. I fell to my knees, wailing. He went down to his with me and never let go.
“Why, Jackson? Why is there so much hurt and pain here? If I weren’t already dead, this would have surely killed me. He was my everything,” I cried into his shoulder.
“Shhh, it’s okay. It may not feel like it right now, but it will be.”
“Thank you for taking me here. I really needed to let it all out. This is complete bullshit. Kellin didn’t kill that guy. I know he didn’t but I don’t know how to prove it.”
“We’ll have to come up with some kind of game plan to figure it out and find the real killer.”
“I know who it is,” I looked him dead in the eyes.
“Who?”
“It was Kale. He set Kellin up but I don’t know how to disprove him.”
“Like I said, we’ll figure something out. Are you feeling better now now that you got to really cry it out?”
I smiled as best as I could, which wasn’t much, “Yeah, it’s like the closure I didn’t get to have. The next time I feel like I need to, I’ll be coming here. For some reason it completely didn’t occur to me that I could come down to let out my real feelings. Why can’t we cry up there but we can here?”
He shrugged, “I’m not sure. It’s some phenomenon that even the Creator has never been able to figure out. It’s nothing he did on his own, just kind of happened.”
“That’s so weird.” I stood from the sand took a deep breath as I inhaled the smell of the sea. I missed being alive. I wanted so badly to remember my life but I knew I never would. The one thing I wanted to remember was Kellin but no one was telling me anything.
“Are you ready to go back?” Jackson put his hand on my shoulder.
I nodded a little, “Sure but I wish I could just stay down here. What were to happen to me if I didn’t go back?”
“He would send Michael after you and give you that judgment you don’t want. You’d end up like...” His voice trailed off.
“I get it, you don’t have to continue.” The portal appeared and zapped us back to the In-Between. I refused to call it home because it wasn’t home. It was a prison and we were its slaves.
We landed back where we came from. “If you need anything, you know where to find me. I’m always around to talk.”
“Thanks, Jackson. I’ll see you around,” I waved goodbye to him and walked slowly to the office. There had to be something I could do to help Kellin.
Instead of going to work, I changed my mind and went on the hunt for Kale. It was his fault. He had to have done it. I walked down all the streets looking for him but couldn't find him so I waited across from his house until he got home. I didn't care how long of a wait it would be because it would be worth it to get justice for Kellin. Kale walked up his steps and went inside. I shot across the pavement and invited myself in.
I knocked three times as I walked in, “Hey, I know you are in here, Kale!” Silence. “Kale! Come here and talk to me now.” I looked around the room but I didn't hear or see any signs that someone was there.
“What are you doing here?” He came out from his room, hair soaking wet.
“Oh crap! You just got out of the shower! I'm so sorry!” I covered my eyes and refused to look.
He laughed, “You use to like looking.”
“Can you just hurry and put some clothes on? It's a little hard to focus with you being naked in front of me.” I sat on the couch and covered my eyes again.
“You sure that's what you want?”
“Absolutely,” I responded.
“If you insist.” I heard the door close and peeked out between my fingers. He was in his bedroom, hopefully getting dressed.
A few minutes later he walked out completely covered. “What do we need to talk about?”
“I know Kellin didn't kill that Collector and you know he didn't kill him either, don't you?”
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily, “Dev, this is a bit over your pay grade, isn't it?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You don't know what's going on and you're not going to.”
I jumped up and grabbed his arm when he turned to walk away. “Did you set him up?”
“Dev, stop before it's too late for you too.”
“So I take that as a yes,” I responded, backing away from him and moving closer to the door. “You just got here. How can you already be involved in some plot to ruin someone’s afterlife like that!?” I yelled at him
“You need to go home and forget this all happened. Forget Kellin
, forget your conspiracy theory shit and just go.”
“You'll pay for this. I'm not going to let Kellin sit there all alone and frozen for eternity. You'll take his place, soon, you bastard.
“Oh I highly doubt that,” he laughed.
I bolted through his door and ran towards Jackson's house. “Jackson, I need to talk to you!” I yelled as I banged on it.
There was some shuffling around inside before he opened the door, his eyes barely staying open. “What's going on?” he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“It was more than Kale that set him up. I don't know what I'm supposed do. He won't tell me any more than that and it leaves so much open to interpretation.”
“So who all do you think are involved?”
“I don't know yet but I will find out. What if Lexie was setup to be killed? What if she knew too much and she was setup so she could never talk about it to anyone?”
“Don't bring her into your messed up crap, Devalynn, I'm not warning you again.” His voice was stern and straight to the point.
I was hurt that he didn't believe me. “I can't believe you. You won't even look into different options and theories on how she could have really died. I thought she meant more to you than that.” I turned and stormed away from his house.
“You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Stop while you're ahead before they come after you!” he hollered after me. I ignored him and he slammed his door shut, making me jump.
Who was I supposed to talk to about it if everyone I was even just somewhat close with wouldn't hear me out? I missed Lexie so much it hurt. I just wanted my friend back and Kellin to be free again.
“Devalynn, Creator wants to see you right now.” One of the collectors was waving me over to him.
“Okay, I'm on my way,” I replied and headed towards the judgment hall. When I got there, he was waiting for me; pacing back and forth. “You wanted to see me?”
He looked up and stopped pacing. “Follow me.” He turned to go through his personal door and I followed as instructed. We made our way towards the tombs and I began getting nervous. “So, I hear you're asking around about what really happened to Lexie and ranting that Kellin is innocent.”
“Yes. After what happened to Kellin, I believe Lexie was put in a position to be killed. I also believe Kellin is innocent. He wouldn't take someone's life.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“What do you mean? Of course I'm sure.”
“He obviously never told you the story of his death.”
“He told me.”
“He is capable of murder. He's done it before. He was a second chancer that I decided to make a Collector. He killed a man for hitting a woman. He told his family and they decided to run and hide him. They were in a car accident in a high-speed chase with the police. His whole family that were riding with him suffered a horrendous and painful death.”
I was stunned. He hadn't told me all of that. “Why did you make him a Collector?”
“I saw something inside him that told me he would do better here.”
“Oh,” I looked away and studied each tomb we passed. “Why are we here?”
“I wanted to be the one to tell you. Lexie was not killed in some organized plot to make her silent. She was viciously attacked by dark spirits. You didn't have to watch her final death...but I did. I want you to know that so you'll stop spreading rumors and getting everyone worked up over nothing.”
“What about Kellin?” I looked him in the eyes and wouldn't take my attention off of him.
“He killed the other Collector. I'm sorry, Devalynn, but the truth can hurt sometimes. We think we know the ones we love but we don't. I think it would be best if you moved on and forgot about everything, don't you?”
“What are you suggesting?” I asked, defensively.
“I think your work with reforming the laws is done and it's time for a memory wipe to get you back in the right direction. You need to focus back on reclaiming the reckless souls that are wreaking havoc down there.”
I shook my head, “No, I don't want to forget everything. Is that what happened to me? Is that why some of the people I've talked to have given the impression they've met me somewhere before?”
“You wanted it. I gave you a choice between your memories or helping the souls and, well, now you know the choice you made.”
I was stunned. Although I had an idea that something had happened, it was just that- a guess. It had become verified.
“If I chose this, then I'm making the decision mine again. I'm not getting a memory wipe. It's not fair to keep losing everything I am to appease you. I will fight until I'm dead or frozen in solitude to show you Kellin did not kill that Collector, just you watch. Oh! And I'm going to finish this project today and announce the changes for everyone so they can FINALLY stop bringing back souls that shouldn't be then I'm going to finish going through the files of souls that Lexie was going through because now I'm shorthanded a helper who happened to be my best friend! I'm sorry if this is not what you want to hear or if this is considered rebelling but I'm not sorry for the reasons I'm doing it and if this damns me to hell or the tombs, quite frankly, I couldn’t care less. So if you're done trying to get me to forget everything, I have work to do!”
His mouth hung slightly ajar as I turned on my heels to walk away. My fists were clenched tight and cutting into my skin. He never said a word to me as I walked away from him. The streets and people were a blur to me as I made my way to the portal. I was going to see that voodoo woman again. She was the one who warned us so she had to be able to tell me some more information that I desperately needed to find out.
Chapter Eleven
“Clotille?” I walked through the door to her little shop. It was eerily quiet. There was no movement. Maybe she was out.
“I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I tried to warn her.” Clotille walked in the door behind me.
She startled me and I jumped. “I really need to talk to you. I wish you could see me, see what I'm feeling right now.”
“I can, in a way. Come sit at the table.” She put some bags down and sashayed over, sitting and waiting for me. I pulled out the chair, sitting across from her.
“Was she set up?”
“You get straight to da point, don't you?”
“I need to know. Please, can you help me?” My voice was pleading and desperate.
“I can but there's a stipulation.”
“What? I'll do anything.”
“Once this is all settled, and you fix everything, I need you to come see me; to do a favor for me.”
“What is it?”
“You'll find out afterwards. Do we have an agreement?”
“Yes, of course.”
She pulled out a book from below the table and flipped it open. She said some chants and the weirdest feeling came over me. My eyesight went away and something like a movie played instead. I watched Lexie trying to reclaim a soul. The dark spirits came up from the shadows behind her. She turned around and one of them stuck their arm into her chest. She fell to her knees screaming. The dark spirit ripped out the light in her chest then the others ripped her apart. If she was able to bleed, it would have been a blood bath. The dark spirit stuffed her light in a container and then they all receded back into the shadows.
The vision ended and my own eyesight came back. I started crying. The only thing I could see was her face when it took her light.
“Did you notice anything about what the spirit did?” Clotille asked me.
“What do you mean? It killed her,” I retorted.
“I wouldn't be too sure about that. Yes, her body fell and was ripped apart but what about her light?”
“It stuffed it into something.” I was curious about where she was going with her observations.
“Don't you think that in order to kill a being, the spirit should be crushed as well? Otherwise, that light is still alive.”
It hit me like a ton of bricks. �
��She's alive.”
Clotille nodded her head, “That would be correct.”
“Can I ask you about something else, too?”
“What's that?” She folded her arms on the table and looked through me at the empty chair she saw.
“A Collector was accused of killing another and I know he's innocent but I don't know how to prove it. Is there anything you can do or show me to help get him out of his frozen jail?”
“Ah, Kellin. I know him well. You are right, he was set up but not by who you think.”
“Who did it!?”
“You sat in his house. He invited you in and told you to leave it alone.”
I tried to think. There were only two places I went. “It had to be one of only two people. Kale or Jackson.” I paused for a minute. “Kale.”
She shook her head. “He was a pawn, someone to move the attention from the real perpetrator.”
“Jackson?” I asked her confused. She nodded her head without speaking. “There's no way he did this.”
“Don't you find yourself wondering why he doesn't want you to talk about Lexie and to just move on?” She sat back in her chair. “If you want to get to the bottom of it, you're best bet is with Jackson. I can't give you all the answers but I can help with some details. Now, remember, when this is done, you need to come see me to uphold your end of the deal.” She stood to her feet and walked towards the back of the shop.
Before disappearing behind the room splitting curtain, she stopped. “Be careful, young one. You have so much power and energy surrounding you and a part of you that I wouldn't be surprised if they came for you soon, too.” She ducked out of the room, leaving me there alone, pondering over what she had said.
I let myself out of her shop and walked down the alley trying to figure out how I could expose Jackson but nothing came to mind. How could he do that to Lexie? She loved him so much and he just let her go, like she didn't even matter to him.
My anger began to inch up below the surface. What kind of powers was she talking about? I wasn't powerful. I was just a dead human floating around space.
“What are you doing here?”
I turned to see Jackson standing behind me. “I should be asking you that,” I glared at him.
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