Suck My Life (Sucking Dead #1) - Andie M. Long Page 0,28

that had come out of his mouth. And the twat made me fall into the television set and bang my head. Next thing I know, I’m here. Dead, but not in Heaven or Hell. Where am I and what’s going to happen to me?”

“You’re in the Home of Wayward Souls because we have to decide whether you need to go to Heaven or Hell.”

Nancy’s eyes went wide. “I need to go to Heaven. Please don’t send me to Hell.”

“Nancy, please keep calm. We just need a plan of action. Firstly, are you repentant about the fact you stabbed your husband to death?”

“I am. I am so sorry I did it.”

“That’s a good start.”

“Because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be dead myself and I’d have been able to watch Iron Man 2 another night.”

Mya looked heavenward.

“They can’t help you,” I whispered, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

“What I’m going to do now,” Mya said, “is put you on a screening of Iron Man 2 in this room and then you and me are going to talk some more when the film has finished, okay?”

“Really? I can watch the film? Oh, thank you.”

“What do I do while she watches it?” Mya asked. “Because I won’t see it, will I?”

“You can join in with her experience. You just can’t independently experience anything here.”

“So I can watch the movie, but not eat her ice-cream?”

“You got it.”

“Are you new?” Nancy asked, “because I want him if you are.”

“I can always just send you straight to Hell,” Mya said, shutting the woman up at once. “Listen, lady, I am the Queen here. I’ve given you ice cream and I’m letting you watch Iron Man. Don’t push your luck. Do you understand?”

“Y- yes.”

Mya asked the room to create the movie experience and Nancy sat on a sofa in front of the screen, but Mya chose not to watch.

“Am I able to look at footage from that evening? See what actually happened?”

I smiled, and she searched my face.

“I’ve had men tell me in the past what they thought they wanted me to hear. I want to see the evidence of that evening and see if it’s as she told me.”

“Just ask for the computer to show you.”

So she did. She opened up the screen and away from Nancy’s knowledge she typed in:

Show me the night Nancy died.

And then she watched.

Nancy put the phone down on her mother, who’d told her she’d fallen on the floor of her home. Nancy had told her mother to ring her brother or an ambulance because she was busy that night.

Glyn did indeed come home early and the computer informed Mya he had been abusive and beat his wife on several occasions. It also showed that on that evening in question, there had been no knitting needle and the steak knife had been under the sofa cushion.

“But if it was pre-meditated, why did she not go straight to Hell?”

“This is what you have to decide, Mya. She put a knife under the sofa. Her husband hit her at times. She’d left her mother after a fall. Is she a good person or a bad one?”

“This job isn’t an easy one, is it?”

“No.”

Mya waited for Nancy to finish watching the film.

“Oh thank you. That was so worth the wait. It really was.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Now though, we need to carry on our interview. I have consulted some video footage and I want to show it to you.”

“Okay.”

Mya typed into the screen and turned it around.

“This is the night when you told your mother to call your brother or an ambulance. Before she could do so, your mum had a stroke and passed away.”

Nancy watched the screen in horror as it played out. “Oh no. No, no, no, no.” She turned to Mya. “What did I do? Oh no.” Her eyes filled with tears. “It was just I didn’t get much in the way of time to myself. I knew I’d get a beating when Glyn got home. I almost always did after he’d been out drinking. I know I should have gone, but she’s lied so many times about falling and just wanted my company, and so… oh my God, what did I do? Mum, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Mya waved the screen.

“I lied. None of that happened. Your brother came and spent the evening with her. You were right, she hadn’t fallen at all. I don’t think you made the right choice, but what you did wasn’t based on