(Name Still Pending...) - Prologue

Since there's been no ATP chapters over the weekend due to my short rest, despite the fact you all pledged, I thought why not post something. This is a prologue - one that's still heavily subject to change - for a new story I'm working on, and any feedback would genuinely be heavily appreciated. Thanks guys. Here we go!

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“’Let’s go skydiving’, she said.”

Amongst an endless expanse of darkness and sparkling stars, Joshua Pierson drifted. Contrary to what little he knew about space, the void was pleasantly warm, and he didn’t seem hindered by a need to breathe. That was death for you, he assumed.

He tightened his crossed arms, crumpling the chest of his metaphysical dress shirt, “’it’ll be fun’, she said.”

“Was it?”

Josh glanced over, finding a woman floating cross-legged alongside him.

“Huh?”

“Was it fun?” she reiterated.

Josh didn’t respond. He just stared.

Her platinum hair billowed to the lack of gravity, and her pale skin seemed positively radiant in the errant starlight. He hadn’t noticed her arrival, nor did he recognise her, but did it really matter at this point? He was dead. Gone. Kablamo. It’s not like she can murder me… a failed parachute did that for her…

Eventually, he tore his eyes from her unnaturally gorgeous face and continued to gaze out to the galaxy they seemed to be drifting by. The sight was utterly breathtaking, yet he grumbled, “skydiving? I died, dude. My parachute gave me the middle finger. A sandpaper dildo would have been more fun.”

She quirked a brow, her jaw resting upon a closed fist. Her voice carried a hint of boredom intermixed with pity, “you do understand that there is a backup parachute, correct?”

“…There’s a what?”

“A backup parachute. You are to use it when the main one fails, I believe.”

…Why the fuck am I only finding this out now? Josh breathed in slowly and released it, letting it hiss past his clenched teeth. Whatever his skydiving instructor’s name was, he really hoped he was blamed for his death and sued until all he had was his fucking underwear.

“Huh. Well, I fucked up royally.”

“That you did, Joshua.”

His brows furrowed and he threw her a look. He… hadn’t mentioned his name to her before, had he? Josh felt slightly unnerved, and if her presence wasn’t all that much of a concern before, it was now, “how... do you know my name?”

“I govern death and the afterlife; if someone dies, I will know everything regarding it.”

That… kind of explained it, if he assumed that personal information about those that had died was a part of ‘everything’, “so… you’re what then? Death?”

Her tongue, a sickly shade of pink, flicked out and moistened her lips, “I prefer Grim Reaper, but you may call me whatever you please.”

“I mean… if that’s what you prefer, can I just call you G? Grim Reaper’s kind of a mouthful,” seeing a lack of any sort of reaction from the woman whatsoever, he assumed that was a ‘yes’ and continued, “so how’s this meant to go? Do I go to Heaven or Valhalla or something? Which religion are we talking here?”

G gave him a blank stare, “what you call it matters little. Regardless, Heaven is full, and Hell was dispelled several millennia ago, shortly after the death of its ruler. Thus, your soul has nowhere to rest.”

Josh blinked slowly, “…are you shitting me? What do you mean ‘Heaven is full’?”

“Mortals have been behaving rather well these past few centuries.”

Josh spread his arms out viciously, gesturing to everything and nothing simultaneously, “what mortals are you talking about!? Earth’s full of shitheads!”

G didn’t even flinch, “Earth isn’t the only world that exists amongst the Multiverse. Although, I do agree. Your planet… hasn’t produced the most saveable of souls.”

So aliens do exist? Wish I knew that while I was alive. He sighed, letting the weightlessness of space drag him along on his aimless journey. Absentmindedly, he wondered if Amanda was doing ok. His girlfriend had been the one that had convinced him to go skydiving in the first place, so he was afraid that she’d blame herself.

Which, in a way, he thought was funny. Every time something had happened between them or to her, Josh had always blamed himself. And now that he was dead, his demise having torn their three-year relationship into pieces, he couldn’t help but do it again. Even if he’d shifted the majority of it onto their instructor.

“Alright, let’s say Heaven is full, what happens to me now?”

G twisted her neck with closed eyes, rewarding the silence of the void with a series of satisfying cracks. Her attention then fell back on Josh. As he met her gaze, he noticed her irises were a magnificent swirl of gold and ivory. They seemed to gleam in the starlight, “I don’t do this often - for reasons I’d rather not disclose - but reincarnation is just about your only option.”

Josh felt a flare of… disappointment within his gut. It was just like in those shitty, overdone Isekai novels he had used to read until he realised they were literally all the same shit with their own braindead gimmick, “…as in ‘transported to another world’ kind of reincarnation?”

She nodded, ‘if you give or take a few unrealistic expectations, then sure. You should also retain most, if not all of your memories as well. It’s either that or the eternal extinguishment of your soul. Your choice.”

Josh blinked.

“Reincarnation all the fucking way,” he paused for a moment. A pang of sorrow hit him in the gut, “oh… and…”

The Grim Reaper favoured him with a curious glance, “Yes?”

Josh swallowed, “would… would it be possible for me to see someone before I go? Someone back on Earth?”

What he thought was a sigh escaped the woman’s lips, but it was too quiet for him to be certain. She shook her head slowly, “I am afraid not, or at least, not in the way I believe you are thinking. You canreturn, but it is a one-way process. You would be damned to wander the planet as a ghost until the end of time, long after your loved ones have turned to dust.”

He resisted the urge to gulp. That sounded… harrowing, “can I at least know how she’s doing? Her name’s Amanda Calicko, if that helps.”

A silence followed and the Reaper’s rich eyes flashed with a dark light for a brief moment. Her general look of boredom seemed to shift slightly to one of melancholy, “she is struggling. As far as I am aware, her last few nights have been spent sobbing by her lonesome. Your name has been muttered by her several times.”

Josh felt a seed of guilt join the pang of sorrow in his gut, and his now non-existent heart tightened. He felt sick. The urge to cry washed up against his conscience but he resisted it, “…let’s just get this over with then…”

“As you wish,” her hand rose up and her fingers pressed together. She favoured him with a small smile, the first he’d seen since she’d appeared, “I hope you find peace in your new life, Joshua. Enjoy the land of the living to its fullest.”

Then, without commenting further, a snap resounded, and the starry void was consumed by white. What sounded like the shatter of glass and a woman’s scream followed.

**

Josh’s eyes snapped open. Darkness had replaced the light, and idly, he felt a mixture of sticky fluids clinging to his face. Something seemed to rustle below his face, and quickly, a rancid smell invaded his nostrils. Above him, his legs flailed aimlessly, a chilled breeze caressing his bits. A chitter resounded beneath him, reminding him of the raccoons back home.

…I’m… naked in a garbage can, aren’t I?

Then something bit his cheek and he screamed. Far in the distance, another scream, a feminine one, joined his own.