Life is Death's Business: Prologue

this is as stated the prologue to a novel im am planning out, so at least try to enjoy it lol.

Section I, sub-section G. Subject name: Ingot, Gerald. Time of death: seventeen thirty, suicide:  slit wrists.

            James looked up from the file,

“His death was scheduled for seventeen thirty, so I'm guessing you tried to talk him out of it?” He chuckled and tossed the file to the side. Chris turned to face him, coffee in hand.

“You can’t go trying to save everyone. Yeah, stop a suicide every once in a while, hurry along a murder if you need too but in the end, if it’s scheduled to happen then it’s happening.” Chris shrugged and took a sip from his mug.

“You’re a difficult kid to crack, took me a hundred years give or take to even get you to smile but anyway, change of subject. Some exciting news came through for us this morning, our application finally got accepted.” James grinned as he said this and even Chris’ face seemed to light up.

“We’ll get called for a ‘special’ training session before the end of the week and if we can prove ourselves, we’ll finally get to work directly under the Director. We’ll be working exclusively for Death.”

           

            Chris woke up the next morning when he fell to the floor with a thump. He made a groaning noise and made straight for the shower. He had a hangover that would fell a bull mammoth and right now he considered a cold shower to be the way forward. Clothes check, coffee check, on time…got to run. He charged through the door and jumped the banister landing two floors down, effortlessly and launched straight through the lobby doors. Couldn’t be late today of all days. He and James had received a page the night before requesting their appearance at this training session. James of course had insisted on celebrating. Last thing Chris could remember was James surrounded by women and his head thrown back and a bottle of gin balanced on his teeth. Chris was hoping he’d be in just as much pain. He managed to slip into the building just in time; swiping his ID chip across a sensor in the lobby elevator, it sealed shut and began its descent.

 The building they worked in was essentially a skyscraper except it extended downward through the earth’s crust. Some of the employees joked about calling it a hell scraper and some thought that the joke was a little too close to reality for comfort. Given the nature of the business, the way in which this building was constructed was perfect. They collected the souls of the recently deceased, filed them and shipped them to where they belonged, whether it’s heaven, hell, limbo or reincarnation. Chris hated reincarnations, so much paperwork.

Chris arrived on his floor 46 stories down and went straight to the

 Break-room; to where the coffee is kept. He went in and noticed straight away a heap in the far corner of the room. He flicked on the lights, the heap gave a yelp and began moving.

“Turn it off” a rough voice called out. Chris recognised the voice and walked over to the far counter ignoring the plea.

“I’m begging you to turn it off” the heap called again. Chris pulled two small pans from the cupboard under the counter and stood over the heap.

“One” Chris whispered…

“Two” slightly loader now…

“Oh God it’s you” the heap breathed.

“Three!” Chris shouted and crashed the pans together. James launched from the heap as if a thousand volts of electricity grasped his head.

“You have no mercy, you heartless b*****d!” Chris couldn’t help but laugh.

James was cradling his head now and searching for something, anything to soothe the pain. Chris brewed up some coffee and they both leaned on the counter, James taking a couple of paracetamol.

“So we celebrated a little too hard, you think?” Chris gave a brash nod and sipped from his mug.

“At least we’re finally there man, finally getting our chance to shine.” Chris gave him a strange look for that before pulling out a new mug and filling it with coffee.

“Who’s that for?” James quizzed him.

“For Angus. Thought I’d go find out what to expect from this thing.” Chris picked up the second mug and made a move for the door. As he opened it, he turned back to James,

“You wait here and rest your little head, princess.” Chris had to move quickly as a handful of sugar packets flew his way.

            The elevator ride up to the 31^st floor only lasted long enough for a couple of sips Chris stepped out into a world of steel. The walls were made of steel plates and there was a loud echo of clanks as he made his way to the door on the other side. Hanging next to the door was a little aluminium sign embossed with the words “sorry for inconvenience, under repair”. Opening the door he was back into an office complex with a receptionist and a sealed door on the opposite side of the room.

“Heya darling! How you feeling this morning?” Molly was super efficient and had mild OCD. That’s what made her such a good receptionist.

“Nothing I can’t blame on James. So… who’s in?” Molly’s’ eyes flickered briefly to her screen returning immediately to Chris.

“Only Tom and Richard, those idiots are trying to repeal your promotion”. Chris gave her a wink and headed to the door.

            Angus was standing grim faced and arms folded as if he’d sooner murder a man than say hello. Chris handed him the spare mug and leant on the wall next to him. Angus took a few sips of coffee before speaking a single word. He raised his hand slowly and balled it into a fist; Chris raised his in return and bumped them together.

“The wonder twins are in, they’re having a hissy fit about you guys getting a promotion they believe they are entitled to. The worst that will happen is that they are thrown into the training session with you but, if that happens, then I have no doubt in my mind that you guys will have no trouble sorting them out.” Chris smiled at him, clapped his hand on Angus’ shoulder and leaned back against the wall and listened in.

            An hour later Richard and Tom were still in the boardroom arguing about the promotion. Chris took the mug off Angus and gave a little salute.

“You off already?” Chris just raised a thumb above his head and carried on back to the elevator. As he reached the large metal chamber again, James appeared from the lift and was making his way across to Chris.

“What’ve you been doing man, thought you’d been caught out or something” James’ voice echoed round the large hollow room. From behind them they heard a door slamming and heavy footsteps heading their way. The wonder twins would be in a foul mood. They had earned the nick name for two easy reasons: first of all, they were twins; and secondly, they told the most wonderful stories of their non-existent exploits, taking on great throngs of soldiers or demons or stopping all sorts of man-made disasters. Their foul mood would be unleashed on Chris and James being as they where the cause. They pressed themselves up against the wall behind the double doors just as they where kicked open. Richard and Tom stormed through and hit the call on the elevator. Chris and James where both hunched over holding their faces… doors can hurt. The elevator arrived and the twins stepped in, punching each other in the arm as the doors closed. Chris and James straightened up; James pinched the bridge of his nose,

“I think I’m bleeding.” He let go for a second and nothing came out. Chris shook his head with a smile and pushed him on ahead of him.

“Technically we aren’t alive. We stopped bleeding a long time ago” They both laughed and headed to the elevator themselves. They hit the button for their floor. There was enough time for another coffee before the training session they but, as the doors closed, Chris had a strange feeling and was dragged from the lift as the doors sealed. He could feel some sort of tether all around him, pulling him toward the boardroom once again as Angus just stood and opened the door.

            Chris was left standing at the edge of an enormous table surrounded by chairs. He pulled out the nearest one and sat himself at the table. There was a chill that ran up his spine and seemed to fill the room. A shadow appeared on the wall opposite him… not a shadow, it was too dark… it was devoid of colour and it was growing. It began to take the form of a torn and tattered robe; reaching to a height of 10 ft. Chris was looking all around the room now. Dust and little fragments began to rise and converge at a central point in the hood of the robe. When there was enough there, it began to piece together a skull, worn and chipped and then it settled. It stared into Chris’ eyes and green flames erupted from the eye sockets. This was the Director. This was, Death.

Author's Note

just some good honest views