“Then where’d you go? If he wasn’t tagged yet, how were you able to follow him?”
“Well I’ve been trying to narrow down where he stays, as you’ve seen from all the news reports and research that I’ve done at my place. So I had a pretty good idea of the region. As we jumped out of the cabin, I was able to follow him a number of jumps before he lost me. Finally, I called off the hunt. It would be just a matter of time before he jumped in the middle of a volcano or something and bye-bye, Hauser. Then I came back and found you lying unconscious on the ground and figured the best bet would be to put you as close to the Sentinel as possible before I went back out after Enoch.”
“That is how I got there, then,” I said. “Just so you know, Wilson and the Sentinel believe that you and Enoch are both dead. With no contact from you, they don’t know what to think. They’ve made some changes, and—”
“Jesus, I wasn’t gone for that long. Just a few days really,” Hauser said, shaking his head.
“Well? What did you expect? Anyway, they’ve made Wilson my new trainer and sent me here to finish Penny’s soul collection,” I said, nodding in her direction on the couch.
“Well I’ll stop by the Sentinel and straighten them out before I go on the hunt. A hunt that was only made possible by you, Jack. We would not have been able to get this far without your help.”
“You mean you’re going to go after him yourself?”
“Yep. I wouldn’t miss this opportunity for the world. That bastard has been a thorn in my side ever since he went AWOL.”
Hauser then looked at Penny resting on the couch not ten feet from us. “And whatever your play is here with Penny, I will back you up. Whatever it takes,” Hauser said as he slyly slipped a glass vial from his pocket and handed it to me.
I held the vial up to the light and, seeing a faint silvery mist inside, knew instantly what it was.
“Use your imagination, kid,” Hauser said, nodding in Penny’s direction. “Now, if you’ll pardon me, I need to go catch me an Enoch.”
I stashed the vile in my inside pocket and nodded. “Thanks for everything, Hauser. You’ve done so much for me in the past six months, and I don’t know how I would’ve made it without you. You really are a good person, and it’s been a real pleasure to have known you,” I said, hugging him again.
“Hey, relax, buddy, I’m coming back. Between me and any number of other Sentinel members, we’ll be able to bag Enoch with ease. Of that I am certain,” Hauser said.
“Just be careful, then,” I said, stepping back into the living room. “Wait, before you go, Hauser, you never told me your last name. What is it?”
Hauser smiled widely. “It’s Teufel. It’s German for the devil. It was agreed upon that I would not use it in the afterlife.”
“Ah, wise choice,” I said.
Hauser winked, then he vanished.
Chapter 19
I stood by for several minutes, wishing I had said more to Hauser before he left. Now, he’d never know really how much he truly meant to me.
I returned to the living room and found Penny staring up at the ceiling, looking lost.
“How are you feeling, champ?” I asked, borrowing a moniker from Hauser’s vocabulary.
She blinked her thoughts away and looked up at me, then smiled. “I’m . . . I’m feeling okay, but I’ve been better,” she said, her voice a little rough.
“I’d imagine so. You nearly died.”
Penny sat up and leaned awkwardly against the back of the couch. “No, there was no almost about it. I did die. I was dead, Jack.”
“Ah, technicalities. At least you’re here now, right?” I said, hoping her suicidal tendencies had passed.
“I suppose, but I would liked to have stayed dead just a little longer.”
Surprised by her answer, I asked, “Why is that? Does that mean that you’re still wanting to give up?”
Penny shrugged. “I—I’m not sure yet. When I was . . . there, I saw my brother. I would’ve liked to talk to him, but there wasn’t enough time. One minute I was walking toward him and he smiled at me. Then a moment later I was pulled away. It was so brief.”
“I don’t know what to say, Penny. I didn’t know what you just described was even possible. I thought that once a soul was collected, it was reincarnated into another living being. What you just described certainly gives me hope,” I said, trying to maintain my composure until my final plan was put into motion.
“Yeah, me neither. At least I was able to see him for a moment, and he looked happy. And that makes me happy.”
“That’s great, Penny,” I said. “But where does that leave you and your situation? Are you still feeling depressed? Are you still contemplating suicide?”
“I don’t know, Jack. I don’t know what to think. With everything that I’ve witnessed since first meeting you, I’m confused more than anything else. Nothing can change the fact that I am alone on this earth. And before you go on telling me that I can make friends, let me just say that being alone is not a terribly bad situation for me. I have been alone for so long, I’ve learned to crave the solitude.”
I raised my eyebrows at that.
“But at the end of the day, I don’t think I’m ready to turn in my soul.”
“Well then, I think today is your lucky day,” I said as I sat next to her on the couch. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my coin and my rosary before setting them both on the couch between us.
Penny sat up and looked down at the two items. “What are those?”
“Those are tools of the trade, so to speak. One can take you into the past, and one can take you into the future.”
Then I removed the glass vial that Hauser had given me and set it on the couch next to the other items. Finally, I removed the two soul boxes and held them in my hands.
“This is everything I have in my possession, Penny. And I want you to have it all.”
“But won’t you need them? You know, for your job and all?”
“That’s the thing, Penny. I want you to have it all because I think you should take my soul so you can continue living in the afterlife.”
Chapter 20
“So you’re just going to quit?” Penny asked.
“Well it’s not like I’ve just right now made this decision. I’ve thought about this for a while now, and as time has gone along, I’ve felt more and more out of place in the afterlife than I ever did in my past life,” I said.
“It’s your life, man. But what makes you think that I’ll be any better at this job than you?”
“The last six months have been the most difficult of my life. It’s hard to explain. I think for starters I miss the personal interaction. I thought I’d be able to get by in the solitude, but in the end, that wasn’t so much the truth. Secondly, I seem to want to save every soul I come across. I wanted to save you well before it was a plan to do so. I did in fact save the two souls right before yours, but Enoch put an end to that. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.”
“And you think by dying you’ll suddenly get to walk and talk with everyone, just like before?” Penny asked.
“Listen, I’m not sure what the right answer is here. I really don’t know what to expect after you take my soul. All I know is that being a collector is not for me.”
“And you think it is for me?”
“From everything you’ve told me, you’d be a perfect fit for this.”
“I don’t know, Jack. I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Penny said, eyeing all of the trinkets sitting between us.
“Well that’s the glory of this. Hauser will no doubt be your trainer, just as he’s been my trainer, and probably the trainer of most of the soul collectors in the last century and a half.”
Penny’s eyes widened. “Damn, how old is he?”
“I don’t recall offhand, but I think he said that he died somewhere around 1810? Don’t quote me on that. I’ll let him tell you about his own life at his own pace.”
“And how about you? How old are you?”
“Me? I’m not that old at all. I was thirty-five when I killed myself, and I’ve only been here in the afterlife for six months, like I said. You see, things are different here. You continue to age, but at an eighth of the pace that the rest of the world does. There’s some strange things that happen with time and how it passes, which I haven’t quite figured out. Maybe that’s the first thing you should talk to Hauser about.”
“Slow down, man. I haven’t agreed to any of this yet, and you are continuing to talk to me like I have.”
“I’m confident that you, being a youthful person, will be able to cope with the demands of being a soul collector much easier than I have.”
“What kind of demands are there?”
“Well, Penny, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it for you. You have to take the souls of people that are dying. The Sentinel, which at some point you will probably meet, will demand that you take each soul that comes into your trust, without question. That is the single most difficult part of this job. That and the loneliness, for me.”
“I think that part I would thrive on,” Penny said.
“You will have some perks as well. Namely, you can travel by thought. You think of a location or a destination and within moments you are there. Quite handy when you really want to get away from it all,” I said jokingly.
“And what about all this stuff?” Penny asked, motioning to the items between us.
“Well, the coin will allow the holder to review parts of their life. For example, if you were to pick up the coin and turn it over in your hand, you could think back to a place or a time and relive that moment. I, as your soul collector, would also live through that moment with you. It also can be used, has been used on me a number of times, to recall past memories that have been forgotten.”
“Wicked.”
“And this,” I said, picking up the rosary, “will allow you to go forward in time, up to twenty-four hours, and witness anticipated events.”
“Anticipated?” Penny asked.
“Yes. Not everything you see in that future will absolutely happen. It is an anticipated future that has a high probability of happening. I don’t think I’m qualified to tell you much more than that, so I’ll leave that up to Hauser to cover in your training.”
Penny nodded, then picked up the vial. “What does this do?” she asked, clearly intrigued by the silvery liquid contents.
“That is something that is quite precious. That is a virgin soul. In the event that you come across a soul that you feel deserves to continue living, once a change is made in their fate, you can use this soul as its replacement.”
“What do you mean ‘virgin’?”
“I know this is a lot of information to take in, and I’m really doing you a favor by telling you this all now. It took me six months to get all of this information myself. That being said, there are old souls and new souls. This is a new one, whereas old souls are reclaimed. That is what our job is, to collect souls. None of us own our souls—we only borrow them.”
“Wow, this is all really freakin’ blowing my mind,” Penny said, staring at the two soul boxes in my hands.
“These are what you collect the souls into. Each soul box has a name, and once you collect the soul, the box vanishes and is replaced with a new one. It’s all kinds of magical, but the intrigue will wear off I’m sure.”
“Wow, this is really a lot of information to take in. How long will I have to decide?”
“Well you’ve already died, so your soul is officially no longer yours. I either have to collect it now or you collect mine. In that event, you will become the new soul collector.”
“And that’s it? I take your soul, then I have the job? No interview or anything?”
I smiled. “Honestly, Penny, I’m not exactly sure how the Sentinel will react to this. When Wilson surrendered his soul in place of my own, my position in the afterlife had already been vetted by the high council, which is just a bunch of guys and gals up someplace making all the life-altering decisions. I’m certain this will blow their minds as soon as you show up for your next collection.”
“So you’re really just throwing me under the bus so you can get out?”
“Not entirely. Being a soul collector is a thankless job, but it really does have to be done. I do get that, but I just don’t think I’m cut out for it. I’m a pretty good judge of character, and I believe that you are.”
Penny and I sat in silence for several minutes. Finally, she reached into my hands and took the two soul boxes. She looked at the box with her name first, then the box with mine.
“Okay. What do I do?” Penny asked, her eyes bright and eager.
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Once you take this on, Hauser and the Sentinel will expect a lot from you.”
“Like you said, I’ve already died, right? What’s my other choice? You take my soul and be rushed off to the great unknown? I think I’d like to give this a try at least,” Penny said. “Besides, if I end up not liking it, I’ll just follow in your footsteps. Who knows. Maybe we’ll see each other again sooner than you think. Yeah, I’m ready.”
“All right. I’m not exactly sure how this works on my end, but once you open a box, if there is a soul present, it will find its way in.”
“And you’re sure?” she asked. “You’re ready to end it all? No going back, right?”
I nodded and took a deep breath. I was more certain about this than I’d been about anything else since I died on that New York bus. Now as I sat next to Penny, my entire fate resting in the palms of her hands, I could only think about Cyndi. Would I see her again? Lord, I certainly hoped so.
“Well, Jack it was nice knowing you, as brief as it was,” she said and opened my soul box. When she turned it toward me, I exhaled uncontrollably. I felt as if I were in the vacuum of space as my last, dying breath was extricated from my body.
As the wisp of smoke exited my mouth, I began to re-experience my entire life in reverse. Images of every person I’d ever met flashed through my mind. No matter their impact on my soul, I recognized each and every one. As the years slipped by, the memories began to move increasingly faster. I re-experienced my parents’ funeral, but before any emotions could come, I witnessed them alive and full of vigor.
Then Cyndi came. I saw her images the most, and it pained me to see those memories fly by so quickly. I was able to see how happy we were together early on. Then our wedding. She was such a beautiful bride. Our courtship lasted mere seconds, while in life we’d dated for several years before even getting engaged. Finally, the day we met. That magical moment where she won my heart thankfully slowed down, even if minutely.
I relived my entire college days in a matter of moments. The late night study sessions, the frat parties, the binge drinking—all without any fanfare.
Then I was back in high school, middle school, elementary, and then preschool. All passing by in the blink of an eye. I watched myself take my first steps as a child, a smile as wide as the world is large.
At the end of my thirty-five yearlong replay, I looked at Penny one last time. Then the lights dimmed, fading out like the flame of a candle.
Epilogue
No sight—no sound—no smell. The darkness that enveloped me was total. I was weightless and free. Then, I noticed something in the distance . . . glowing faintly. The glimmer was small, but it began to build in size, practically imperceptible to the naked eye. Moment by moment, the light intensified and became more pronounced. If it hadn’t been for that strange brilliance, I would have been sure that I no longer existed.
The silence became overpowering when I realized that I could no longer hear my own heartbeat. The pulsing whump-whump in my inner ear was alarmingly silent. The unexpected tranquility was surprisingly disturbing.
This is what it’s like to be dead? I wondered. My mind was still present, but nearly every other one of my senses appeared to be absent. I’d try to reach out and feel something, but t
here was nothing near me to touch. Then again, if I could pick something up, how could I bring it to my mouth to taste? To my nose to smell? I couldn’t feel my hands.
As I continued to focus on the growing light, I waited. I waited for what I’d hoped was some kind of resolution to my life. I’d existed for thirty-five years among the living, and even more time in the afterlife. Now, here I was, at the precipice of something . . . I don’t know, something completely unknown, but entirely anticipated nonetheless. I had hope for only one thing—one particular soul to meet me in the end, and I feared that it would not come. I feared a tremendous disappointment in my uncharted future.
With the radiance ever expanding, I tried to look away. I tried to look down or around, but my vision was fixed. I could only focus on the growing light before me. I had no idea of the completeness of my existence. Did I have a body? Arms, legs? Anything? All I could do was stare forward, unaware of anything else.
Then, finally with the light source large enough to cast shadows, I saw a shape at the center of the expanding intensity. It began as a vertical line emanating from the bottom of the bloom. Slowly, it began to grow as the light itself did. Within moments, the sliver of darkness developed into a somewhat more pronounced shape.
The line began to spread at the base, and thicken as it rose up from the bottom edge. Near the top of its existence, it narrowed again, sharply. The outside edge became more apparent and I could begin to make out the hazy outline of what I’d guess was a person. Still, whatever was causing the shadow was a great deal away.
The Borrowed Souls: A Novel Page 33
