Chapter 8

Jeremy seemed very confident in his steps, continuing to hold her hand gently. “So tell me Ms. Angela, how is it that you end up in this horrid place called The Abyss?” He held his hand out as they approached a tree branch; he knew where everything was in this place.

Angela didn’t want to answer right away. Jeremy sensed her dismay but waited quietly continuing to walk forward with her. “I ran into the forest; It was the middle of January….or was it December, it was cold, there was snow on the ground, the trees were packed so tight that there was really one path that I could run down, I slipped and twisted my ankle, I was so distraught that I just laid there, and when people finally came looking for me and were close enough for me to yell at them, I was too cold to yell, so I waited tried to warm myself and hoped that someone would pass by looking for me soon, I tried to stay awake by humming to myself, the dark of the forest was frightening, I kept hearing rustling sounds, it kept me awake. Then I saw that the forest was starting to brighten, and then I closed my eyes, I woke up here.” Jeremy nodded hearing her tone change from almost mystified to filled with sorrow. It was already happening.

Soon the two arrived upon a small clearing in the woods, the sun beat down on the green grass, the sounds of the river close by sang gently in the distance, in the center of this place sat a small fire ring, and two logs a few places on them rubbed smooth. Angela stopped and took a sharp breath, awing at the magnificent place. Jeremy smiled when he heard her reaction. “You should be here at night; I have heard that it is beautiful.” Soon the sun started to set and Jeremy gathered wood for a fire.

“So Jeremy, you mentioned earlier that this place was called Abyss, why is that?” She was sitting on the ground her back against one of the logs, she leaned forward watching Jeremy sitting across from her.

Jeremy smiled. “The Abyss,” He corrected her. “The Abyss is the place between heaven and earth, the lost souls that have passed on Earth come here, to find their purpose so they may pass to heaven, but if they do not find their purpose with in a certain amount of time then they become part of The Abyss,” His tone changed when he spoke about becoming part of The Abyss Angela’s face screwed up in puzzlement.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Yes, if you become part of The Abyss you are stuck here forever, your form changes, you become part of the scenery,” He lifted his hands gesturing around him. “Each tree, each blade of grass, even the logs we sit on, they were once souls too, like yours, and a little later, like mine.”

Angela looked around her. “But that isn’t fair, what if your purpose involves someone that hadn’t been born yet when you died?”

Jeremy smiled. “Then your time is extended out, far longer then the others at least until the other person dies, then your time quickens until the time runs out, your transformation completes, if you find your purpose you go to heaven, or depending on how you were on earth even hell.” He seemed to be looking at the flames as he waited for Angela’s reply.

“Who made it that way? Was it always like this?”

Jeremy shook his head. “No, it wasn’t like this a long time ago, God set this place to be like a second chance for people like us; people who died too young so that we had a chance to start over, so that we could live right were we left off. So we could fulfill our purposes, and then be emitted into the gates of heaven with out feeling like we missed out on anything in life, some of the firsts even had families. That was back when the people who died were good, before the earth was corrupt and God had to spend more time watching over his creation. More and more bad people were killed, didn’t matter if they were killed by the death sentence of the governments, or if they were robbed and killed in the process or were shot down because they were serial killers and murders, they all came here, this place became like a second Earth to God, he was busy trying to make sure that Earth didn’t blow itself up, so he place a ruler angel over The Abyss; the ruler he placed was a good angel once, he had good intentions to make sure everyone here remained safe. Soon his mind was corrupt with the dealings of this place, when it became as overpopulated at the Earth itself he spread his abilities far out to the very edges of The Abyss and cast a curse on this place setting a time limit on us demanding that we set our purpose in motion before the end of three years or we would become part of The Abyss, something went horribly wrong, the people started transform into a part of the scenery far earlier than they were suppose to, some turning into trees right away, other changing and molding together to become a building, its horrible.”

Angela let the news sink down into her mind for a second. “How does it work, the transformation?” She studied Jeremy’s look as he narrowed his eyes, furrowing his brow slightly.

“First you start to forget things, like your mother’s name, the smell of the pipe your father smoked, the simple things, things that would fade away with time anyway, your still able to call the memory back but it takes a while, then you loose bigger things like who you married, what school you went to, who your friends were, how old you were when you died, and then you forget that this isn’t even Earth, you go about your days as if you didn’t even die.” His voice was growing bitter. “while your forgetting you physically change, I started turning bright red apparently, growing horns and a tail, others start to grow vines out of their head instead of hair, their skin darkens and becomes like bark, others get colder and colder their skin growing coarse and a grayish color, the curves of their bodies becoming harder, more ridged, turning into a block of stone, so many things change depending what you are turning into, your limbs become stiff until you can no longer move, you become stationary, soon after that your feet mold to the ground, your face becomes invisible to the naked eye, and your transformation is complete, the only thing that remains is the ability to see, that always remains. You have already started to forget.”

Angela looked defensively at him. “No I haven’t!”

Jeremy looked in her direction. “Yes you have, you couldn’t remember if you died in January or December. Its already started, and you died today, from this day you have three years to find your purpose, and I will do anything to make sure that you don’t end up becoming part of the scenery, even if it makes me part of the scenery instead.” Angela nodded, everything was starting to sink in, she only had a limited amount of time, or she would end up a lifeless object that might have people walking on it all the time, and to see their gross shoes all the time.

“This is wrong Jeremy, what will I do if I can’t find my purpose?” Jeremy didn’t reply but walked over to her, sitting next to her and reached for her hand gently. Squeezing it reassure her.

“You will find it I promise.”