We look forward to living our lives to the fullest because we know at the end that we all die. You only live once. That was a phrase that people would take lightly. Some may come to that realization of what that meant once they experience the death of another person. Then that phrase takes on a heavier meaning. That person won’t be coming back. There are no second chances. No one can ever tell you how it really feels. The feeling of losing someone.

Death was what drives us forward whether or not we acknowledge it. We all face an end. What are we supposed to do with our limited lives? How far can we go with the small amount of time given to us? From the biggest of achievements to the smallest of accomplishments, we find fulfillment because of our mortality.

The fear of death moves us all to do something with our lives. I neglected that statement back then. And look where I ended up. Dead. Now I want to live my life at the bare minimum. Whatever it takes to survive and then some. But that was the thing back then. I neglected that rule by not doing anything with my life and even then I still breathe today.

“It’s time you knew about your death.”

Those words made my heart skip a beat. A sweat went down my forehead and stopped at my eyebrow.

I died because supposedly I had neglected myself during the summer and starved myself to death. It wasn’t a suicide or anything close to that. I was just that stupid to think I could survive that long.

“Someone had killed you.”

But apparently, I was wrong.

The whole table we sat went silent. The three of us were in shock. Raphie had a surprised look on her face while Lucy looked down at the table.

I rested my arms on the table and leaned on it. I kept blinking until I looked up in realization.

“Wh-what?”

I felt a ringing noise in my ears. My vision blurred only for a second. I tried to think to myself what could have possibly happened back then. Back when I died. There was no way I had missed something.

I remember clearly being home alone on my computer desk. I mindlessly played video games without worrying about being hydrated or well fed. And then everything went cold.

There was no way I could forget what had happened during that experience. It was after that I took better care of myself. When a person experiences a death of another they have a new perspective on life. In my case, it was my own.

How could a person break in my own place without me knowing it? I was clearly wide awake. Could they have possibly snuck up on me? No, that was impossible. I was so sure that I was home alone that time.

And why? Why would I be targeted to die? It’s not likely to be an accident. If it were, then it’s not funny. I’m talking to you big guy up there. This coincidence crap was getting on my nerves.

Ideas circulated in my head. The more I thought, the greater the headache that formed. It made me angrier. I spoke through my teeth.

“Explain yourself Jibril.”

“It’s like I said, you were murdered.”

“Then does that explain why David was allowed to be revived?” Raphie asked.

“That’s the thing. It’s not your average murder.” Lucy said. “Whatever killed you, wasn’t human. Nor was it mortal.”

My mouth dropped.

“Wait, how could something like that possibly kill me?”

“Not something. Someone. An angel for example.”

Lucy said with a cold face.

“How could you know that?”

Lucy stayed silent.

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“Wait a second,” I said. “You knew?”

Lucy had looked away.

Raphie looked at me with a worried face.

Jibril kept a serious face the whole time.

“You found me after all. So you knew someone had killed me. Who was it?” I asked Lucy.

“I don’t know. I just knew where to find you.”

“What?! That doesn’t explain anything at all!”

“David calm down.”

I couldn’t calm down. My blood was pumping and my hands were balled into fists.

“No, I won’t,” I said calmly. “You three wouldn’t understand what it means to be dead. To be revived afterward and the consequences that followed after that.”

The coldness that engulfed my entire being. My whole existence fading away. And then finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a terrifying experience.

Angels who had lived an eternity had no idea what that felt like. Neither will they ever feel that way. At least so I thought at the time.

“What’s done is done,” Raphie spoke up. “What matters is what we do from here on out.”

“That’s right.”

Jibril laid out the scroll out on the table. It was in writing I couldn’t understand.

“So from now on, I will watch over David. The two of you will continue on your days as normal.”

“What am I supposed to do about it?” I asked.

“You don’t have to do anything. If the killer shows up, then we will stop them for you.”

“Who do you mean by ‘we’.”

No offense to Raphie and Lucy.

“Michelle will visit from time to time. You’ll meet her someday.”

“So how will she make sure that we’re safe from this killer? Can I really trust her with my life?”

“Yes. In fact, she’s patrolling the streets of the city as we speak.”

I sighed.

This was a lot of information to take in. To accept that my death wasn’t on my own accord.

That had changed my world inside out. The past two months had pushed me to be a better person. It was stressful enough to deal with Lucy. Now I had to worry about a killer.

I took a sip from the glass of water that had been sitting on the table the whole time. I stared at the empty table for a while. I’ve been trying to process everything that had occurred. But one thing had been bugging me.

“Does this killer have to do with both of your appearances? I mean, why me of all people?” I asked Raphie and Lucy.

I didn’t want to guilt trip them or anything like that. I just wanted to consider the different possibilities.

“I’m not sure how to answer that.”

Jibril responded maturely.

“How long have you been living here?”

I looked at Raphie.

“I’ve been here for a year,” Raphie responded.

“I’ve been here for half that time,” Lucy said.

“Then if there was some angel that decided to kill me, then they have plenty of time to plan all of this.”

“Even so, they have nothing to gain from this. For now, we will assume that it was a coincidence.”

“You sure about that? I mean, Lucy lived here for a while hasn’t she?”

We all looked at each other as we thought to ourselves.

“Why would they attack some random neighbor then?”

“Do you have any enemies Lucy?”

“Does that really need to be asked?”

“Fair enough.”

“How did you find me then? The killer must have known about you living nearby.”

“I’ve been jumping between this world and the afterlife.”

“Then the ones who knew about your activities must be the killer.”

“The only ones who know that are my sisters. There’s no way they could’ve done in.”

“I barely know you people. Why should I trust any of you?”

“Are you implying that I’m a suspect David?”

Raphie said with a worried face.

“No. I’m just a little worked up. I should be more rational about this. You guys have been looking after me this whole time.”

I stared at Jibril.

“If God Himself knew about this, then he must know who the killer was.”

“What? Do you really think He’s omniscient or something?”

“So you’re saying He’s not.”

Jibril nodded.

“Now we’re back to square one.”

This was going nowhere. Every little detail I could think of raised even more questions. The lack of information made it difficult to figure things out.

What would they have to gain by killing me? There was a chance that they knew Lucy would find me and Raphie would revive me. They went against the rules to bring me back. And yet it turns out that it was something inhuman that killed me. That allowed them to get away with reviving me. There was the possibility that the killer took all of this into account. Or maybe they never expected all of this to happen. Maybe I was meant to be killed randomly. I’m a nobody. There was nothing to gain by killing me. I’m not anybody special.

What was the end game?