Part 05: An Afterthought
It
had been quite some time since the incident with Raphael, and every now and
again Levi, Alice and Blue would discuss those events, sometimes even being
kind enough to invite LeRose. They would talk of how No One escaped from Astoria,
where his other minions, if Raphael wasn’t the only one, might be and when, if
ever, they would show up once again in the Afterlife. Blue was of the opinion
that No One would focus on the two planes of existence that weren’t filled with
able bodied spirits who knew what to look for now (the Dreamscape and the
living world), but Alice was uneasy all the same. She spent more time after
that out in the living world fighting and tracking down demons to better her
combat skills and from time to time Levi and other Listeners such as Uriel
would accompany her or Laura to track down the missing Afterlife workers. A few
had been found, but many, such as Grimshaw, were still missing.
Levi
worked as peacefully as he could now that he had grown slightly more paranoid
of his own surroundings. He spent more and more of his time time cooped up in
his restaurant, thinking.
On
one particular occasion that Levi found perfectly appropriate to stay in his
favorite booth (third from the front on the left side, it had the best feng
shui), Blue had decided to pop in for a chat. He slid in opposite Levi, beaming
with cheer. Levi said nothing for a while; he only stared at his zodiac
calendar placemat. Blue took the initiative and spoke first.
“You still haven’t
told me who cooks for the restaurant,” He said playfully, resting his arms on
the sturdy table. Levi didn’t respond. Instead, he folded his arms and stroked
his chin. Blue didn’t stop smiling, not even once. “You know, I heard Alice say
she’d be by later. I think there’s someone else looking for you, too.”
Alice’s previously
frequent visits had occurred less and less in the year and a half since the
event, due in part to her increasing trips into the living world. Levi wouldn’t
admit it, but it affected him not having her around and he never enjoyed the
few and far between trips he would take with her into the living world to
search for the still missing employees. Somehow they were always a little
painful, and never fun. He had tried filling the void of her friendship with
his love of the idea of Laura, but after two dates their relationship hadn’t
taken off, but they remained friendlier than they had been before. She, along
with Blue, would stop by the Chinese restaurant to check up on the ever
withdrawing Levi and make sure he got out at least once in a while.
“Are you thinking
about Kristjan?” Blue’s voice cracked through Levi’s thoughts, and he finally
glanced up at the young man.
“Yes. What
happened to him was something that should have been prevented. I didn’t even want
to be involved with any of this.” Levi stopped stroking his chin, leaving his
hands resting on the table, clenching and unclenching them periodically. “I
couldn’t fix him. I wonder if Merrill was really able to stop his pain.”
“I really dig your British accent, you know
that? You should never have hid it,” Blue leaned further in, apparently trying
very hard to invade Levi’s bubble.
“I sort of forgot
it had even existed to begin with. Once you’ve been dead as long as I have, you
start to forget who you were in your past life.” Levi tapped on the table. Blue
had a peculiar look of confusion and disturbance that made his face wrinkle,
creating aged lines of experience his features were too young to have. He may
have been dead, but mentally he was still growing and maturing.
The door to the
restaurant opened and LeRose, the model thin female Reaper with the most
delightfully disturbing ruby hair stepped in. Everything about her demanded the
attention of the boys in the room, from her snarling face to her clothing
choice of Daisy Dukes and a dark tank top. Behind her in the hallway was a
giant black blob with four spindly legs popping out. It was covered with
hundreds of beady green eyes that were looking at everything it could, and
every time one of the eyes would blink it secreted a noxious steam. There were
chains wrapped around it and Charles, tall and thin with nicely parted sandy
hair and clothes equally as nice and appropriate for the workplace, held on to
one of those chains that secured the demon, preventing it from running amok. He
looked bitterly uncomfortable.
“What is that?” Blue asked curiously. Levi could
see the ‘this is so totally awesome’ look on Blue’s face take over.
“Order up! We’ve got
another one for you. Friggin’ Charlie didn’t want to go near the thing like
usual, but at least he’s still a
better partner than Grimshaw. I just wish he’d man the hell up,” LeRose said
with her typical scowl, holding on to another chain that wrapped around the
demon. Levi was convinced her face was frozen that way. He was at least
somewhat thankful that he rarely saw her as she spent much of her time with her
new partner, Charlie, who had recently come to the Afterlife. They were just
similar enough that they got along and when they did bicker, it was over such
petty, trivial things that they often forgot what they had been arguing over
five minutes after they had started.
“Just another face
in the crowd,” Levi said in response to Blue. He stood up and walked towards
the creature that dwarfed him; it strained against the chains to greet the
Listener, every single one of its eyes shifting at once to focus on the man.
Levi allowed the L
noise to wash over him. “If you felt you were justified, then you were. Ignore
what anyone else says. If they deserved to die, then they did, Christopher Dowd.”
The demon exploded
in a flurry of steam that engulfed the room in a flash and just as quickly
evaporated into nothingness, leaving behind a strong looking young man with a
shaved head. He held a wicked grin, and a broken heart was tattooed on his
forehead. He made a lunge at Levi, but LeRose kneed the man in the gut.
“LeRose, always
the delicate flower.” Levi ran his hand through his wavy hair.
“Shove it,” she
said as indelicately as Levi imagined she could.
Levi touched the
cracked heart on the man’s forehead.
“The people you
killed didn’t deserve it. And you don’t deserve reincarnation.” Levi rapped the
knuckle of his index finger on the heart. “Sometimes Listeners have to lie to
get the job done.”
“Little boy Blue,
follow me up to the river. He’s your business now.”
“I’m feeling like he’s
going straight in the river. Later, Levi.” Blue stood up and ran out the door,
shoving past Charles. “Race you there, LeRose!”
“You can take all
the head start you want, you know you’ll get winded after fifty feet!” LeRose
shouted after Blue, taking her sweet time walking out of the restaurant while
dragging along both Charles and the bald man.
Levi sighed heavily,
peering out into the hallways of the Afterlife, gazing at his coworkers as they
passed by. With great effort, he separated himself from his little area, and
set out to see something. Maybe, if
he were lucky, he’d run into Alice.
That was not the
case. Levi had gone quite a ways away from his little nook, wandering ever
closer to the shores of Acheron, the place where the halls shifted into caverns,
following the others who had left his restaurant. He had rarely gone this way;
the last time he had seen the shores was probably fifty years prior, yet he
felt drawn to them.
As he arrived he
noted how not much had changed. Little boats came and went frequently and Levi
waved to the people he recognized, stopping once he found Blue walking into the
water, followed by LeRose and Charles, who held the tattooed man on either
side. He thrashed violently, kicking up a spray of water.
Blue grabbed the
man’s face and began chanting. Levi couldn’t understand the spell, but after a
minute it was drowned out by a haunting scream that everyone ignored. And then
it stopped. It stopped, and slowly the man sank in to the waters, Charles and
LeRose letting go of him so he could be eaten by the river. There was a soft
glow, and then nothing; his soul had become one with Acheron, trapped by the
sins he committed before becoming a demon. Levi would have continued to ponder
the man’s fate had he not heard the word Monday shouted at full force. Levi
looked around.
It was Friday.
Friday? Friday!
Certainly spotting
Friday was the last thing that Levi had expected, but nonetheless he was
surprisingly excited to see the Guardian. He walked briskly towards Friday, who
waved in broad strokes with his arm.
“Monday, my dear,
dear long lost friend!” Friday embraced Levi. “I have news!”
“Good Friday,
Black Friday, what brings you to the Afterlife?” Levi felt his speech shifting
in tone to match at least part of the ridiculousness of Friday’s.
“Well if you’d let
me explain instead of asking silly questions, I told you I have… no, now it’s
gone. Like a bubble. It just popped.
Maybe if bubbles were made of paper they’d last longer?”
Levi laughed. He
wasn’t even irritated, just strangely calm. He felt peaceful. “Well, while you
think, I have some news. Do you remember Raphael?”
“Possibly. About
this high, terrible at games?”
“That’s the one. I
used the L Noise on him, and it turns out Raphael was actually his name. How
did you know?”
Friday cocked his
head. “You can’t lie in Astoria. I thought I—didn’t I say that? Nobody listens.
Frustrating.”
Without being able
to help it, Levi laughed an honest to goodness laugh. Perhaps it was because he
was trying to fill a void he felt he had created for himself, but not much had
made him happy the past few months. Not much at all. But Friday did. His
presence was just what Levi needed; something random to make things less boring
in a safe way.
“Oh, now I
remember. We’ve had a hit on No One!” Friday snapped his finger, pleased with
himself that he could remember his message.
Just like that,
Levi no longer appreciated Friday’s presence. “What?”
“No One found a
body and was invading the Dreamscape, but HR says he was stopped. Funny place
to invade, it’s always changing. It would give me a headache.”
Levi chewed on his
lip, not wanting to let Friday on to the grotesque feeling that was churning in
his gut at the news. He really was wrapped up in all of this, whether he wanted
to be or not. And so he chose his next words carefully. “Well then. The game is
afoot.”
END MONDAY.
See you on Tuesday J
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