Page 24

He nods and looks back to his laptop. Aiden has been on desk duty ever since the incident occurred. He has been getting caught up on paperwork, and helping his supervisor with filing. I can feel how much he hates it by the extra grumpiness in his voice and the sag in his shoulders.

I walk out the office, heading towards Joey Gomez’s office. Well, I try to get to his office, but I get lost along the way. There are so many similar hallways. I go to the main lobby and look at the directory on the wall, which, by the way, is a fantastic feature. It’s a touch screen, so I type in his name. Surprisingly, clear instructions of how to reach his office pop up.

When I finally arrive at his office, I see him putting on his suit jacket. I may have caught him as he is on his way out. As he is fixing the cuffs, I knock on the open door.

“Excuse me,” I say hesitantly.

He jumps slightly and lets out a startled laugh. “Dios mío! You scared me,” he exclaims.

Joey turns towards me, and I stare with my mouth slightly open. It’s embarrassing really. I shut it quickly, trying to not add to the embarrassment. Is everyone here attractive? Does becoming a reaper come with a beautification process?

He smiles at me. “Well, hello there, may I help you?” I do a quick glance up and down, and take in his dark curly hair, full beard, and the way his black suit just molds over his firm body so well.

I place my notepad under my arm and hold my hand out towards him. I clear my throat and introduce myself, “Hello, Mr. Gomez, I’m Joyce Parker. I am the lawyer representing Mr. Kim.”

He shakes my hand. “Yes! I heard about you from Aiden. What can I do for you?”

“I need to discuss the events the day before and the day of the incident.”

“I would love to talk with you, but I actually was on my way out to do some collections.” He tilts his head at me invitingly. “Would you like to join?”

Would I like to join him on his journey to collect souls? Hell to the yeah.

I smile and clap my hands. “I would love to!”

Joey rubs his hands together with excitement. “Alrighty then,” he gestures to his shoulder, “put your hand on my shoulder.”

“Why?” I question as I slowly move towards him.

He grins and winks at me. “You’ll see.” When I am close enough to him, I reach up and place my hand on his shoulder.

Similar to the feeling of when Aiden teleported me to Eden and Yirah took me to lunch, everything melts away quickly. I close my eyes, and when I open them, I am blinded by sunlight.

“That always feels so strange,” I say as I take a step away from him. I glance around and see that we are in front of a hospital. It has felt like forever since I’ve been in the real world. In actuality, I died only three days ago.

“You’ll get used to it.” He looks at his phone. “The soul we are collecting is a twenty-year-old woman. Her name is Jessica Wallace. Sadly, she is dying of cancer. A different reaper already assigned her death, so we are here to collect her soul in ten minutes.” That is just so disheartening.

We walk through the front hospital doors. “I saw you look at your phone for the information on the woman. How does that work exactly? How does Eden have cellphone service?” I pause. “Do reapers have a phone plan?”

He chuckles. “I’m not quite sure of the mechanics of how my phone works. Reapers can teleport, but your concern is about the phones?”

“You all really don’t ask the important questions.”

“I ask important questions when I need something,” he says with a wink. I try not to smile but fail. He’s just so damn hot. I cough and continue with my questioning. “How long have you been a reaper?”

“About seven years,” he replies, as he places a hand on my lower back to guide me since I am distracted with writing his replies on my notepad. We pass by doctors and nurses, but no one seems to notice us. Probably because they are busy working.

“And have you always worked for the Collection department?”

“Yes, I have. I enjoy this department a lot, and the work we do.” He stops us outside of a room. I peek in and see that there is only one patient inside. It is a young girl, lying on the hospital bed. An older woman and man stand beside her bed. The older man is holding her hand, and the woman is weeping. I assume they must be her parents.

Joey continues talking. “The Collection department is the core of Eden. Without our department, there wouldn’t be work for the other departments to do. We assign deaths and collect them when it is time. We guide frightened souls to their afterlife. Not everyone is cut out for this job. It’s much harder to get into our department than the others, but it’s a job worth doing.”

It sounds like propaganda to me, but I don’t say that out loud. I jot down what he said and look at my list of questions. I deviate from the list a little, because I want to learn more about Eden. “How does one become a reaper?”

“It’s not as simple as putting in a job application. When someone dies and goes to the Soul Directory department, their good and bad karma are calculated. When there is an equal amount of good and bad, you are assigned as a reaper. You go through training and learn about each department. Then you apply for the department you want to work for, and the department head must personally select you.”

“Which department is in charge of managing the new reapers?”