Most Ardently

by Sheena Austin et al.

  “No? I mean, hello. All I have had time for was waking up and eating pie.”

  “Well, however big or small sins you have done, or haven’t done, you are always welcome to this church. Tell me, are you religious?”

  “I am part of the church, yes.”

  “That is not what I asked, Charity,” the priest started to clean up the altar again. “Do you believe, is what I would like to know. Do you believe in anything?”

  “I...” Charity thought for a moment and her confidence dropped. Before, when she was alive, she would have replied with ‘yes, of course I am’ but now she was dead and Heaven or Hell had not opened up its gates for her. Thinking more she realized that maybe she didn’t believe at all. Slowly, she sat down on the step leading to the wooden altar.

  “I know that feeling, you know. I too realized that my faith did not follow me to this place. I had to start believing in something entirely else to survive here. Myself. Good deeds for the sake of good deeds. Kindness.”

  “I belonged to the church.”

  “I believe you did.”

  “Why are we here?”

  “Hell if I know.” The priest's exclamation made Charity look at him with a frown and almost scolded him for that. He laughed at her seriousness. “You do see that there is no image of god, not a cross?”

  Charity looked at the space behind the altar and saw nothing but area cleaned of rubble and a big mirror sitting there. “What’s the mirror there for?”

  “Self-reflection.”

  “...huh?”

  “You go there,” the priest whose name Charity had not caught on, took her hand and led him to the mirror. “And you look at yourself hard and long. Your sins, your transgressions, the things you are good at... and find something to believe in. Find something worth living for. Find a way within you to help others selflessly and eventually you will be free.” He left her to stand there and walked somewhere into the shadows.

  Charity did not notice him leave. Her own reflection had mesmerized her. The shimmering light made her look almost like she was still alive. Slowly she reached to her hair and started undoing the hair-do, one pin at the time. She let them fall on the surrounding ground until her hair let go of its shape despite layers of hairspray. The volume of her hair hid the bruising well as she brushed through it with lazy movements like a child pretending to be in a beauty pageant. A clump of her hair stuck to her fingers. Charity squinted and looked at her hand’s reflection. She tugged gently but the hair would not let go. Then she tugged harder but as she pulled, she could feel something rip. She pulled the hand in front of her saw that something hang from the other end of the tangled curls.

  Charity stared at the small piece of her scalp in horror before screaming in panic and throwing the hair away from her. It smacked on the mirror and let out a wet streak to the shining surface.

  Prudence, who had been looking at her from the shadows and giving her time to adjust, now ran to her in worry. “Shhh... shh...” she tried to comfort Charity and held her against her chest. “I know... I know...”

  Charity tried to cry but her tear ducts seemed to be unable to work.

  “It happens. It will be alright,” Prudence continued and gently led Charity towards the place she had been in but not before she had caught the loose hair from the mirror and stuffed into her dress pocket. “Let’s go help some people and maybe it will all grow back, shall we?”

  Charity nodded darkly and allowed Prudence to push her along down a long set of stairs into catacombs that looked remotely like a hotel. Each room had rough stone walls and someone on a bed, looking miserable. Their frail bones were nearly dust.

  “These are the elderly. No one but them knows how old they are and we do not really ask. I come here to sweep and to talk to them when few others do but now is Christmas and often people enjoy visiting here now. How about you choose any of the rooms and just sit there for a while? Maybe good things will happen.”

  Charity walked to the first room without a visitor. She saw a tall skeleton that seemed to shed a serious amount of bone dust by just laying there covered by a thin blanket.

  “Um. Hello.”

  The skeleton did not reply but turned its head to look at her a little.

  “My name is Charity, do you mind if I come and sit here for a while?”

  No reply but it kept staring at her.

  “Okay, well. I will sit right here.” She positioned herself on the small stool. “How are you?”

  Silence.

  Charity could not fathom how Prudence could stand doing that every day, or even once a year. She hated monologuing.

  “I’m new here... You probably aren’t. Who knows... But you.” The empty sockets seemed to dim, and the skull turned away. “Oh, I am sorry. Please don’t be mad at me. I am not good at this. I am rubbish at this. I don’t usually... talk. I sit and look pretty.”

  The skeleton turned its face at her and opened its jaw more ajar.

  “No hard feelings?”

  It shook its head.

  Charity smiled to it a little, maybe it was not going as bad as she thought. “So what should we talk about? Fashion? Politics, even though I know little of that... weather? Perhaps... the world of the Living?”

  The skeleton nodded eagerly.

  “Land of the Living? Okay. We have big cities now. Lots of people, lots of pollution... but also great inventions like the car which is like a horseless carriage, and-” Charity kept talking for a long time until Prudence came back to her and told her it was time to go. Charity smiled to the skeleton that had taken a cozy position on the bed, leaning to its other arm, and just listened to her ramblings about mundane things. It grabbed her hand for a moment as she got up and patted it gently like saying ‘thank you’.

  It could have also been ‘you are horrible storyteller’ but Prudence did not translate the gesture or the few clicks the skeleton did with its jaw to communicate before collapsing to the bed again.

  “You did great,” Prudence whispered to her as they hurried up the stairs. “Let us see if you will do as well when we go get Nefera from her M.A. meeting.”

  “M.A.?”

  “Mummies Anonymous.”

  NEFERA WAS IN A HEATED conversation with a mummy that had nothing but a loincloth on and a lot of parts showing that no-one probably wanted to see in their life. He was hollow, that was for sure, and in Nefera’s opinion, so were his arguments about curses and using magic to free the dead to the world so they could take it over and govern it like ancient Egypt. He was convinced that using the Old Gods, they could for sure be better kings and queens to rule everything than whatever was happening there now. Nefera argued that it was not possible as she had already tried it multiple times and almost turned to dust trying it. She was a firm believer that magic was useful, yes, but here it had to be for the betterment of others, not building another damn pyramid to have boring dinner parties at.

  Charity and Prudence did not understand what they said but the way Nefera’s eyes were shining from the slit in her bandages like they were alive, and how the man of a mummy was almost rotting in front of their eyes, it was safe to say Nefera was on the right there. They waved at Nefera from the side of the grand burial chamber and helped to end the argument that echoed through the half-buried pyramid. Prudence had noticed that it was spitting new with all the paintings intact but kept her mouth shut about how those things that grew from the sand sometimes. She did not want to upset Charity any more.

  “How was the meeting?” Prudence asked kindly from Nefera when they were returning. Pushing through the conjured aesthetic was punishing in dresses like hers but she kept smiling.

  “Loads of dung.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I will make them change their mind.”

  “You mean, help them?”

  Charity remained silent as she had to take off her wedding pumps and hold them in her hands while counting her toes on every step. One of them, a pinkie toe, had already droppe
d off on the way there when she had cursed at a strange nun that seemed to have a problem with her.

  “Of course... help.” Nefera looked dark.

  “You regained some of your skin there, I see.”

  That cheered her up. “Thank you, Pru.” She stopped at the end of the sandpit and looked at Charity. “Do you need help?”

  “I am well, thank you,” Charity pushed herself off the sand and tried to put her shoes back on dignifying way. It almost worked. “Where now?”

  “I believe Em is shopping with Atenea who is caroling so we could either head home or go see what they are up to. Perhaps one of those things could be your thing as well?”

  THEY COULD HEAR THE chanting carols before they saw Atenea and all the children she had gathered around her. They were strange but also catchy tunes to Charity’s ears and she was not the only one enjoying them. A crowd had gathered around them. Many of the dead were swaying side to side, some in togas, and some in rags they had found from the multiple thrift stores littering the city. Nefera had disappeared into one of them with an excuse that she really had to buy something urgently.

  Charity had wanted to ask her what did she use as currency around there but hadn’t got time to do that before Prudence pulled her towards the caroling.

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” Prudence whispered to Charity’s ear and squeezed her hand tighter. “Atenea grew back her vocal cords and a single lung when she realized that she still loved to sing and bring joy to people around her. Now she sings on every Saturnalia, and gains back some of her beauty.”

  “It sounds... yes. Beautiful,” Charity agreed and wondered could she do that.

  “Do you sing?”

  A dreadful memory of many failed karaoke nights and only mediocre performances flashed before her eyes. “I’m not a very good singer.”

  “It is all about the heart and dedication.”

  Em seemed to rush to prove that point. She joined the singers and showed among them like pee in the snow; a bright and provocative reminder of good times that maybe should have not been. She sang like a crow with throat ache but only a couple people in the crowd minded and gathered themselves to leave.

  Prudence looked at Charity who could not hide her honest first reaction to the singing and hid a laugh behind her hand. She looked terrified. Em’s singing often had that effect.

  Em herself did not have a care in the world. She did not care that not a single word she spewed out was correct. Her courage and joy carried her above all the angelic voices.

  “Watch closely,” Prudence whispered to Charity’s ear.

  They huddled closer to the growing crowd that felt more lively as Em shared her uncanny talent of bringing joy. They moved more in almost like a dance.

  Then, Charity saw it.

  Em’s hand around Atenea’s neck seemed less droopy with every verse. The skin turned from sickening green to orange tan. Her hair seemed to glow and the spot that had turned bold earlier sported a fresh set of strands. She had closed her eyes to shriek a high note that, for a moment, was no longer struggling to push out her rotting pipes.

  The crowd cheered and joined the song no-one knew words to.

  Some just hummed or snapped their boney jaws, others made up fun shanties that almost fit the tune. To Charity’s surprise Prudence joined with an old song she had learned as a child and it somehow only brought more joy into the crowd.

  Charity stared at Prudence’s blushed face and closed eyes as she sang just loud enough for close by people to hear and join in the song even she knew.

  Atenea looked at the crowd that sang like one heart and smiled her half-smile. She noticed her friends in the crowd and pointed them at Em who was grinning at her the self-made lyrics. Her excitement was immediate.

  The crowd parted like the red sea when Em grabbed onto Atenea and leaped onto Prudence and Charity who, for her own surprise, did not shy away from the hug. “Did you see me?” she smiled wildly with lips that still looked chewed on but more alive. “Did you see me sing?”

  Her dropping off from the carolers killed the mutual song, and the crowd dispersed from the around the four.

  “We saw you, Em,” Prudence said. “Well done. You brought everyone joy today.” She pointed at the crowd that all seemed more intact as they limped to their daily doings. Some of them hummed Em’s lyrics as they went.

  “You could learn the lyrics for next time though,” Atenea winked her only eye at Em and petted her soft hair with her skeletal one. “But you did a good job nevertheless.” She sighed a little when Em hugged her half skeletal body that had not fleshed out even a little. Atenea tried not to let it discourage her and propped her chin up. “Where is Nefera?”

  “She went shopping for things,” Prudence replied.

  “Let’s go find her!” Em immediately suggested and already headed to the shops.

  “I believe she went to the Bazar’s direction.”

  Em did not miss a beat as she turned around and grabbed her friends with her to go to the other direction. “What are you waiting for then? Let’s go shopping!”

  THE BAZAR WAS OVERWHELMING to Charity’s still working senses. From the second they stepped into its twisting and turning structure that snaked its way in and out of dozens of buildings at once, she was dumbfounded. Prudence had to gently close her gaping mouth as they ventured deeper into the chaotic realm.

  Everywhere around them were items from the beginning of human existence to the last week. Bone spears next to Brittany Spears CD’s, ancient roman pottery piled on top of those free t-shirts you would get from conventions but never use, even Aztec carpets laid next to heaps of iPhone chargers. Everything and anything Charity had ever experienced blew up into a chaotic passage lined with small shops and messy stands that traded all you could ever think of.

  Em was running about and buying things to fill a patched up duffle bag she had received free when buying 10 scrunchies.

  Prudence helped Charity to stay on her feet when they passed skeletal crows in their many cages, “Are you feeling faint?”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “Would you need to sit down for a moment?”

  Charity shook her head.

  “You may voice it if you feel uncomfortable. We can step out of the Bazaar any time.” Prudence patted her hand.

  Atenea kept peeking into every single shop to see if Nefera was in any of them. Charity noticed how she idly touched items as she scouted the way ahead. She watched her pet a piece of white cloth with gentleness.

  “Where does all this stuff come from?”

  “Oh, did I not tell you?” Prudence pulled her attention from pretty silverware hanging from threads in the ceiling.

  Charity shook her head.

  “This is where all the lost things go,” Prudence said and pointed everything around them. “All that gets lost in the Land of The Living eventually comes here when the person who owned those things, dies. It is a strange phenomenon but a welcome one. Here we can buy all the things we need and want. Some want a bit too much.” She squinted at a man in a polo shirt who had rows and rows of golden necklaces around his shriveled throat.

  “I meant to ask, how do you pay for things?”

  “You can trade things for other things.”

  “So, barter?”

  Prudence smiled and nodded. “Yes. A service, an item the seller needs, or even a bone of your body.”

  Charity looked at her with horror.

  “I know, it is ghastly but you will get used to it.”

  “To selling body parts? I doubt it.”

  Prudence patted her hand and led her into a shop that advertised “the finest curses and counter curses” on a big poster on a collapsed wall next to it. Instantly Charity saw more dried up body parts and strangely stored insects than she cared to know ever have been in the Land of the Living. Someone had once owned all those bowls of tarantulas and then lost them...

  Nefera broke Charity’s train of thought by tugging gently on her arm.
“I would not touch those if I were you.”

  “I was not going to-” Charity pulled away her hand, puzzled why it had reached for a small crystal ball that seemed to swirl...

  Nefera pulled her away and placed her next to Prudence who also seemed to be very interested in the surrounding items. “You two, I suggest that you stay outside for a moment. I will be with you in a second.”

  They both nodded and pulled Em away from a colorful scarf that seemed to have a full intention to strangle her more dead than she already was.

  Atenea sat on a barrel outside and watched them stagger out. “Again?” she asked but all of them were too embarrassed to reply to her. She just sighed and tapped Em’s shoulder so she would not go searching for more wonders.

  Nefera came out with a small bag that chinked as she walked at them. She was re-wrapping her wrist bandages when she noticed them and came to them swiftly.

  “Did you get what you came for?” Prudence asked.

  “Yes. Can we go now?”

  “But-I haven’t found all the decorations yet!” Em exclaimed and tried to hide the duffle bag behind her back. It was tearing apart at the seams.

  “It looks like to me like you found many kinds of bargains already,” Prudence said. “How about you sort that amount and we will come here again tomorrow?”

  Em was about to complain but something in Prudence’s face made her change her mind. “Alrighty... Tomorrow then.”

  Prudence linked herself with Nefera to lead the way and whisper something Charity did not hear so she asked Em about her treasures, and how the zombie had gained them.

  “So, what did you buy?”

  “A thing or two...” Em curled her finger around her hair that seemed a lot shorter than before.

  “How did you pay for all that?”

  Em pointed at her shortened hair and rolled her eyes with a smile. “Handy dandy currency right here, now that I have it.” She looked at Charity’s long flowing locks. “You could buy many things with your own too.”