It's a Wonderful Death - Sarah J. Schmitt Page 0,96
line for the front desk. “This is not happening. We can’t be too late.”
“What is it?” James asks when he catches up. “Do you know where she is?”
We reach the line a moment later. “Look for her. If we don’t find her here, it’s too late.”
“How do you know?” he asks.
I wave his question off. “Just trust me.” I jump, trying to see the faces in the middle of the line, but I don’t see Sandy anywhere.
Everyone takes two steps forward and that’s when I see a high ponytail bob at the front of the line. She steps toward the front desk and the smiling processing angel.
“It’s about time,” I hear the angel say in a sing-song voice. “We’ve been wondering if you would ever give up and move on.”
“James!” I yell. “At the desk. Stop her!”
I hear a commotion behind me and turn just in time to see Lillith and her band of determined angels descend upon me, pulling me away from the line.
But James is faster than they expect and he dodges their grabbing hands and pushing the other souls aside, leaping over the red velvet ropes. I watch in silence as he reaches Sandy, yanking her hand away just as she’s about to accept her life disc.
“Sandy,” he says. But even from this distance I can see that her bright sparkling eyes are devoid of emotion. She’s become one of them.
The ring. It has to be because she gave me the ring. She had nothing left to hold on to.
“Give her the ring!” I yell as Lillith tries to pull me away toward the small room she reserves for the hopeless souls. “Give her the ring.”
And, in one swift move, James drops to his knees and presents Sandy with her engagement ring. Even Lillith stops to see what happens. I guess they don’t get a lot of proposals in the Afterlife.
As he slips the ring on her finger, her eyes clear but the reality of the moment takes a little longer for her to process.
“It’s you,” she says, kneeling down in front of him and touching his face so gently I wonder if she thinks it’s a dream. “You’re really here.”
“I am,” he says before kissing her sweetly on the lips.
She shakes her head in disbelief. “But how?”
“Your little bird,” he says before pulling her close again.
She looks around until her eyes meet mine. I shake Lillith off and walk slowly toward them.
“You did it,” Sandy says, bringing me into their huddle. “I tried to hold on as long as I could, but without the ring to remind me, I kept forgetting why I didn’t want to go when they called me. I guess eventually I gave up.” She looks at James and me. “But you made this happen.”
Her eyes widen and she looks back at me. “Oh no. You’re back. Why are you back so soon?”
“Change your past …” I begin.
“Change your future,” Sandy finishes. “I’m so sorry.”
I nod. “Me too.”
“Well,” Lillith says, walking toward us, “now that this little reunion is over, perhaps we can move along and let the rest of these souls find peace.”
“No arguments here,” Sandy says, taking James’s hand and striding back to the front desk. She takes her life disc and waits for James to collect his. Before they exit the Lobby she looks back at me. “You coming?”
“Yes, RJ,” Lillith says in my ear. “Are you going or are you waiting for someone, too?”
The truth is I have no one to wait for. I have nothing left to fight for. I’m exactly where I should be. But why don’t I want to go on?
“You don’t want to do it, do you?” Lillith says. I shake my head and she continues. “This is why the soul protects the mind, shielding it from what all humans fear.”
“And what’s that?” I whisper.
She laughs. “Why, the unknown, of course.”
“How come I didn’t have this problem last time?”
“If you remember, you did, but you were more concerned about being right. That arrogance pushed you to overcome your fear. Now, there is nothing for you to do but move on and receive your Judgment.” She motions to the angel behind the counter who slides my life disc across to me. “But first, you must review your life. Who knows, maybe you’ll like it better than your last one.”
Time slows to a crawl as I reach out and gingerly pick up the ordinary object. Once it’s in hand, she propels me to the opening of the