There is a particular ache which one experiences that is unique to past injuries and to the elderly - as if the change of seasons manifests itself as cold daggers stabbing into your bones. An ache that greeted Anna as her eyes began to focus and she heard murmurs around her.
“Greg? Are you here, honey?”
“I’m right under you… you’re crushing my groin.”
“Oh! Have you seen David?”
Anna watched the couple near her gather their bearings as she mentally went over a checklist. Hands, same size and shape. Anna reached up and touched her face, feeling familiar features. She then pinched one of the long thick cylindrical locks of her brown hair that fell past her shoulders, rolling it between her fingers. Still have dreadlocks. I don’t have glasses, and my nails are perfectly manicured. Focusing her attention to the rest of her body, she wiggled her toes and rotated her ankles, working her way up towards her torso and received a pleasant surprise. Hey, I have abs now! Neat. I guess I just got a fitter version of my old body.
By now the couple helped one another up and went in search of David, their son. Anna, deciding now would be a good time to search for her own spouse, stood up and walked around the large group she found herself in. The entire group was in a forest with thick vegetation and absurdly large trees. The trees looked like overgrown kapoks that seemed to pierce the sky. The tree trunks spanned anywhere from 30 to 50 feet wide. The sky was completely blotted out by the canopy of the forest, yet it seemed to be a bright day. Upon closer inspection, Anna noted that the leaves that made up the crowns of the massive kapoks shone brightly and cast a verdant green light upon the forest floor. The longer she stared, the better Anna felt. Well, we were promised a world of magic, and I guess that’s proof that they’ve delivered.
Next, Anna began to scrutinize every other person that she was with, mostly to look for Arn, but also out of curiosity. The people around Anna were quite a mixed bag. Most of them had a glazed look in their eyes just as she did, she assumed, only a few moments ago. The first to begin stirring from their stupor were the humans it seemed: they constituted the majority of the group. Anna paused before the first non-human creature she passed. The humanoid creature had massive biceps, covered with tattoos of roses, and cats. Their hair was auburn-colored, thickly braided, and probably as long as their roughly four-foot frame. If one were to quickly look at their face, and only their face, one might mistake them for human. However, the closer you looked, the more their face began to appear abnormal. Their eyes were too large, their nose too bulbous, and their ears were perfectly round. They, and everyone like them stood out as the only creatures in a stupor that were standing without being awake. So we have dwarves, but I don’t see elves. That, or I am a speciesist and I’m stereotyping both dwarfs and elves before getting to know either.
The group contained a breakdown of thirty humans, twenty maybe-dwarves, eighteen purple-people, thirteen big lizard people, thirteen pointed-headed little people, and nine potential gray-skinned orcs for a total of one hundred three people. After taking a count of everyone, Anna had to admit to herself, Arn was missing, and he wasn’t the only one. Several people had expected to be brought along with the loved ones and were surprised to find out that they weren’t there.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“What the hell is this? I was told my brother would be here!” Exclaimed one of the first maybe-dwarves to wake up. Several others mumbled along in agreement. Anna noticed the couple from earlier and decided to test a theory.
Walking up to them, and giving her best, “Don’t be awkward,” smile, she said, “Hey, I heard you two were looking for someone named David earlier? Any luck?”
The man, Greg, was the one to reply, “Yeah, David is our son, he’s only twelve, and we can’t find him. None of the other kids look like him.”
Anna took another look around the cluster of people, and realized something that the man’s wife realized as well. David’s mother said, “I don’t think those are children honey, I think they're gnomes. I don’t actually see any kids whatsoever.”
“Did the system tell you both that you would all be together? How did you two end up here?” Asked Anna.
“Well,” replied the wife, “to be honest, we don’t really know. We all went to bed last night, and then suddenly, some white sheet told us that we died. I thought that was ridiculous, because how could all three of us have all died at the same time? Except the sheet told us that our house blew up in a gas leak!” At this point, the woman turned on her husband, “I told you that those pilot light stove ranges were a dangerous fad, Gregory. Mary’s husband works for Public Service Gas. He said that if the pilot light went out, then the whole house would fill with gas, and wouldn’tyaknowit? That’s exactly what happened!”
“Helen, darling….”
What? That doesn’t make sense. Gas stoves don’t always have the pilot light on, they’re electronically lit. Based on the look on Greg’s face, Anna’s next question saved him the embarrassment of further digging his grave, “I’m sorry, what year was it when your family, uh, passed?”
“Year? Oh dear, it was 1928. Are you about to tell us that we’ve been dead for much longer?” It seemed that Helen was real quick on the uptake. Anna was sure that she’d like her.
“Well, I’m not sure if that’s necessarily the case. When I died, it was 2018. That doesn’t mean much though. I mean, who’s to say that time works the same in this new dimension. All three of us could have been waiting for a millennia in limbo, or a day. I don’t even know how magic works yet.”
“Magic, what are you talking about? Are you…” Greg started to say.
“We’ve already gone over the gnomes, dear. Magic isn’t a stretch of the imagination. Keep up!” interrupted Helen.
“Did the system not tell you all about magic when it brought you here?” asked Anna.
“System? You said that before, is that the white sheet? All we were told is that if we wanted to stay a family in the afterlife, if we wanted a chance to raise our David, then the sheet, or system, could make it happen.”
“Oh, I guess this sheet, the system, told us something different.” stated Anna, making her mind to open up in order to learn more, “It might help if we try to match up what we know. I can start.” At this point, all humans, maybe-dwarves, and several pointy headed people (who we shall call maybe-gnomes) had broken free from their glazed expressions. Many, listening in on Anna and Helen’s conversation, moved closer to their group, hoping to glean some information themselves. Of course, that was exactly what Anna hoped, if she spoke upon her experience, others would be able to corroborate at least parts of it, or share different experiences and maybe she’d be able to piece together something to explain what the heck was going on. “I’m Anna, by the way. My husband, who was supposed to be here with me, is Arn.”