again.
“ Y ou’ll be like a member of the SEAL Team Six of Afterlife,” the drab little man said. It was obvious he was trying to push me to this decision. I didn’t think I had much of a choice, no matter how hard he sold it to me. What was my other choice? Oblivion for fifteen thousand years? It wasn’t that hard of a decision to make.
“SEAL team? Like going in and killing bad guys? Do Karma operatives take out bad guys, like kill them? If they do, they’ve been slacking on their jobs, ‘cause I know a lot of assholes that should have been taken out a long time ago.”
“Bad analogy,” he frowned and tapped a finger on his desk.
“How about we stop with the analogies and just shoot straight? I think I can follow along,” I said in a perky tone to soften my criticism.
“Right, okay. So, you get the negative energy thing?” I nodded to keep him moving along. “Well, yes, the living build up negative energy, through their actions, thoughts, and even things they fail to do. At some point in a person’s life, they might come on the radar of Karma. I don’t know how, so don’t ask me.” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth to ask that exact question. “They just do. And that is when a Karma operative is sent in. They have to offset the negative energy by delivering a punishment.”
“I would dish out bad karma?”
“Basically,” he shrugged.
“That sounds kind of cool, actually.” I sat back in the chair, forgetting my earlier panic.
“There’s a lot involved, and Karma is one of the closest divisions to the living world, so you would be manifested as a living person. You can feel pain, be injured, that sort of thing. And they require you to do certain things that you might not like. A lot of hands-on things.” He said it with raised eyebrows, which had me wondering what kind of hands-on things were involved. “They usually choose candidates who don’t have a lot of empathy and tend toward the judgmental spectrum.”
“So the bitches of Afterlife,” I laughed. He winced.
“Everyone has their place.”
“Do they teach you that in processing school?”
“See, you’re made for the job,” he said glibly. He didn’t smile with his joke.
“I guess I am. Where do I sign up?”
“So, you'll do it?" He asked.
I nodded yes.
“I just need you to sign a few documents, contracts, that sort of thing.” He stood up and went to a filing cabinet. He struggled with something and I tried to peer around him to see what he was doing, but he turned around and quenched my curiosity as he revealed a monstrous stack of paperwork.
“A few documents,” I grimaced.
“Well, it is the rest of your known existence, we have to be thorough.” I expected another one of his chuckles, but he stood there, dead pan, staring down at me.
“I have a special pen for you.” He pulled out a fancy looking ballpoint and pushed the first stack toward me. I gulped as I read the first line:
I, Cassandra Mercier, do hereby pledge my soul, and Afterlife existence to Afterlife Corporation for no more, or no less, unless parties involved come to a further agreement (see index 89150984, section Z9) for the total sum of Five million, three hundred eighty-six thousand, two hundred seventy days…
Afterlife Corporation
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
“Just sign, Cassandra, it’s either this, or Limbo, and we both know you don’t want that.”
“Yeah, I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
“So, sign. You’re either in or out, Cassandra.”
I signed.
Chapter 5
Ready to Roll?
Back to present day…
B randon took me by surprise . My own case? He did not just suggest that. I wasn’t ready. There was no way I could be ready.
“You don’t want me shadowing Tiffany anymore?” I asked stupidly because I didn’t want to repeat his statement like some daft chick.
“I don’t think you need to, she said you basically have things down, and your reports are showing intuitive judgment calls. You can’t
“ Y ou’ll be like a member of the SEAL Team Six of Afterlife,” the drab little man said. It was obvious he was trying to push me to this decision. I didn’t think I had much of a choice, no matter how hard he sold it to me. What was my other choice? Oblivion for fifteen thousand years? It wasn’t that hard of a decision to make.
“SEAL team? Like going in and killing bad guys? Do Karma operatives take out bad guys, like kill them? If they do, they’ve been slacking on their jobs, ‘cause I know a lot of assholes that should have been taken out a long time ago.”
“Bad analogy,” he frowned and tapped a finger on his desk.
“How about we stop with the analogies and just shoot straight? I think I can follow along,” I said in a perky tone to soften my criticism.
“Right, okay. So, you get the negative energy thing?” I nodded to keep him moving along. “Well, yes, the living build up negative energy, through their actions, thoughts, and even things they fail to do. At some point in a person’s life, they might come on the radar of Karma. I don’t know how, so don’t ask me.” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth to ask that exact question. “They just do. And that is when a Karma operative is sent in. They have to offset the negative energy by delivering a punishment.”
“I would dish out bad karma?”
“Basically,” he shrugged.
“That sounds kind of cool, actually.” I sat back in the chair, forgetting my earlier panic.
“There’s a lot involved, and Karma is one of the closest divisions to the living world, so you would be manifested as a living person. You can feel pain, be injured, that sort of thing. And they require you to do certain things that you might not like. A lot of hands-on things.” He said it with raised eyebrows, which had me wondering what kind of hands-on things were involved. “They usually choose candidates who don’t have a lot of empathy and tend toward the judgmental spectrum.”
“So the bitches of Afterlife,” I laughed. He winced.
“Everyone has their place.”
“Do they teach you that in processing school?”
“See, you’re made for the job,” he said glibly. He didn’t smile with his joke.
“I guess I am. Where do I sign up?”
“So, you'll do it?" He asked.
I nodded yes.
“I just need you to sign a few documents, contracts, that sort of thing.” He stood up and went to a filing cabinet. He struggled with something and I tried to peer around him to see what he was doing, but he turned around and quenched my curiosity as he revealed a monstrous stack of paperwork.
“A few documents,” I grimaced.
“Well, it is the rest of your known existence, we have to be thorough.” I expected another one of his chuckles, but he stood there, dead pan, staring down at me.
“I have a special pen for you.” He pulled out a fancy looking ballpoint and pushed the first stack toward me. I gulped as I read the first line:
I, Cassandra Mercier, do hereby pledge my soul, and Afterlife existence to Afterlife Corporation for no more, or no less, unless parties involved come to a further agreement (see index 89150984, section Z9) for the total sum of Five million, three hundred eighty-six thousand, two hundred seventy days…
Afterlife Corporation
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
“Just sign, Cassandra, it’s either this, or Limbo, and we both know you don’t want that.”
“Yeah, I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
“So, sign. You’re either in or out, Cassandra.”
I signed.
Chapter 5
Ready to Roll?
Back to present day…
B randon took me by surprise . My own case? He did not just suggest that. I wasn’t ready. There was no way I could be ready.
“You don’t want me shadowing Tiffany anymore?” I asked stupidly because I didn’t want to repeat his statement like some daft chick.
“I don’t think you need to, she said you basically have things down, and your reports are showing intuitive judgment calls. You can’t
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