So Much for the Afterglow

They say when you die, you should see a white light. Mine was green.

Instead of taking me up or down, it took me down a narrow alley to a nondescript door. With as much effort as I could muster, I tried to knock, but my non-corporeal body tumbled head first through the door and halfway through the floor beyond until my...i guess it’s not really a body any more, my ectoplasm form stopped.

A little old lady turned a corner near a stack of boxes, and screamed.

I tired to push myself up or out of my current predicament but it felt like swimming through molasses; I was getting nowhere quickly.

“Deary, you gave me a fright. I didn’t expect anyone this evening. I didn’t get a sign you were coming.” She composed herself and grabbed a stick from somewhere I couldn’t see and held it out to me.

I eyed it warily, knowing what had just happened with the door and partial floor. “I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“Just grab hold, don’t worry, it’s enchanted so ones like you can grab hold. The floor there is a bit tricky but it keeps ghosts from just barging in.” She proffered the staff again and I could see ruins etched into the side.

I reached out and closed my ghostly eyes, trying to will myself to grab the stick. I’d seen enough movies and videos to know a ghost has to really want to do something to make it happen. My fingers closed around it and she lifted me out as though I weighed nothing at all. I guess I didn’t, but I guess it was also too late to worry about the diet I had been off and on for the past 5 years.

“Thanks,” I tried to say, but nothing really came out. It almost sounded like wind.

“Oh dear, you are new at this.” She reached out towards me and her hand landed on the ectoplasm that represented my forearm. Under her touch, the plasm didn’t become flesh, but solid enough I looked human, albeit, transparent.

“I assume you’re here for a job. Most of your lot are. Tell me, what color did you see?” She walked back around the corner she’d just come and I followed as best I could. ONce she reached a small office with a worn armchair, she settled herself in.

I once again opened my mouth to say something but she held up a hand and pointed to her head. “I can hear you just fine in here.”

My mind was racing as I wondered where to start but it was like a flood gate opened at her gentle prodding.

“Slow down, slow down, I can tell you’ve got questions. Let’s start from the beginning. Or at least the beginning most people start with, the big question of what happened.”

She reached out and found a semi-full cup of what I could only guess was tea, and took a sip. “The short story is you died, I don’t know how, I can never really tell. But the news usually tells me in a few days if they find your body. You’re still here because you died so quickly, something wasn’t yet done. I’m not saying you have to save a child or tell a loved one you do care. More often than not, it’s something pretty simple. Blue usually means household chore, yellow tends to mean work related, purple seems to be travel. Red would have been downstairs, and white is up. Thus far, those are all I’ve encountered. Ghosts really can’t distinguish shades for me to really nail down specifics.

“I saw green, like grass or the leaves of a tree.” I thought towards her as I tried to reign in my questions and continual flow of thoughts.

“Well that’s a new one.” She set her cup down and rested her head on her hands as though thinking. I’ve had a turquoise, but they were adamant about the turquoise shade, and good thing cause it was a lost turquoise necklace her mother had given her. She was able to find it and they buried her in it. Lovely soul she was. Maybe you’ve lost something?”

I couldn’t remember what I could have lost. At this point, I couldn’t even remember how I died, much less something I had lost before I died. I shrugged and thought, “I’ve probably lost a lot of things in my...life. But I don’t know what would be so important for me to stick around and find.”

“I’m getting too old for you all to come around here and hope I can sort you out. Now, I know it’s not your fault, but someone upstairs or downstairs should figure out I’m not the third party mediator for wayward souls.” The old woman pushed herself back to her feet and paced a few steps.

“Hold out your hands to me, let me see what I can glean from you.” Her eyes shimmered as she held out both hands palms up.”Come on, let’s have ’em.”

I placed mine gently on hers so not to flow through her, but once again my ectoplasm seemed to firm up and hold shape.

She closed her eyes and listened for a few minutes, nodding her head this way and that. A few times I heard her mumble under her breath but I couldn’t quite make out what she was saying. Something about accounting, or balancing.

“Ah ha, you were murdered. Thrown out of a moving car and hit your head.” She smiled as if she’d solved the mystery.

“How does that help me?” I petulantly asked internally.

She wagged a finger in my face, “Because Deary, your unfinished business seems to be your lost job. And I can actually help you with that.”

She moved passed me and through an opening I hadn’t noticed before. I flowed through and met her on the other side.

“Welcome to Villains, Inc.” She waved a hand at a collection of about 6 cubicles. “I hire out help as needed to seek revenge on those who’ve done others wrong. You can call me Mim.”