Contractor: Chapter - 9A Chapter by Outdated AccountPerhaps... not the most interesting chapter.I felt there
should have been more of a reaction but Hope just took the contract back,
signed it herself and put it in her purse. There were no rays of light, no
cosmic alignment, no sudden realization of inner peace, no nothing. I was still
just Albert William Carroll, amateur writer. The only difference was that now I
was an employee of Death, and probably wasn’t dying any time soon. I looked
around the room but it looked the same too. Hope and Amy looked completely
normal as well, like a serious decision hadn’t just been made. “Now what? You
guys leave and I just start writing again?” I asked, completely confused. “Of course not,”
Hope laughed lightly. “You move in to Dad’s den with us, all of his… employees
are there, so I figure you should probably be there too. It’s not contractually
implicit, but I think it’ll help you.” “Den?” I
immediately pictured a hole in the ground, but something told me they had
slightly better living conditions. “You want me to live in a den at your, what, you guys probably
have some massive mansion or something.” I was confused. “It’s just what
we call the place where a contractor and those under their employ stay, ours is
just a house. We have a lot of funny terms for things like that, it starts out
confusing but you get used to it.” “That’s it then?
That’s my life?” “It’s what you
wanted right?” Amy laughed, her laugh was more sarcastic. “It’s really not that
different from the life of a real author, only here, your publisher doesn’t own your soul, and you probably
won’t fall into self-destructive habits since, you know, you’re still as good
as dead.” "Ha
ha." I grumbled dryly. "So where is this place?" "Well... it
isn't… exactly." "What's
that supposed to mean? It isn't exactly what?" "It doesn't
exactly exist is what she means." Amy chimed in. "It’s like..." "Like
this." Hope grabbed my shoulder and I was instantly somewhere else. The room we had
appeared in was a well-furnished Victorian style lounge. Everything looked
expensive, and if there was dust it probably would've looked expensive too.
Normally when estimating an object’s value I compare it to the object next to
it, but everything looked expensive,
so everything probably was. "Be right
back." Hope disappeared for a second and reappeared almost immediately
after with Amy by her side. It made sense that the vanishing act was a
contractor only thing. "So what do
you think?" Hope gestured to the decor. "It
looks... expensive.” It took me a moment before I realized something. “It looks
real, too. So how does it not exist?” “You are no
longer in the living world.” I walked over to a window and pulled back the
curtain. There was a large pine forest growing around the house, at least in
the direction I could see. “Looks like the
real world.” “The spirit
world is in the real world,” Hope said walking over to the window. “Just on the
other side of what people see… the dead side. The only living things on this
side are contractors, their affiliates, and stranded souls. Stranded souls
don’t really count as living though.” “Where’s
everyone else then?” “It’s hard to
say, contractors don’t like to share where their dens are. I know when we find
another den, we raid it. Strictly business of course.” I doubted it, though it
was probably best not to voice that opinion. “So where do I
stay?” I asked, backing away from the window. “There's really
only one door per room, you put your hand on the doorknob and it opens to where
you want to go.” Hope explained. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was only
one door in the room. She put her own hand on the doorknob to demonstrate. “For
instance, the library.” She opened the door to a dark room that exuded the odor
of old paper and dust. I could barely see a bookshelf not too far in. She
closed the door and the smell was instantly gone. “Go ahead.” She motioned me
over to the door. “I just put my
hand on the handle and think: my room?” I felt stupid saying it, it sounded
like a pretty simple system. “That’s what I
just said isn’t it?” Hope laughed. I put my hand on
the doorknob, the memory of leaving Death’s office before came to my mind. I
didn’t want to go there, so I tried to think of my room back at the apartment.
The doorknob felt warmer for a second and then the door creaked open. It looked
like my old room, except the computer was gone and where my bed used to be
there was a big bookshelf with two books on the middle shelf. There was a note
sticking out from in between them. “Looks like Dad
let you keep the typewriter and copies of your books.” Hope walked over to the
note and read it aloud. “I look forward
to the day that you fill this entire shelf. Until then, you can start with
these two.” I picked the books up. Seeing my name on the spine made me
excited, something I hadn’t felt in a while. Chess Piece and Dear Death
by A.W. Carroll. “Nice place.”
Amy commented from the doorway. "We'll let
you get situated then." Hope walked out practically dragging Amy behind
her. With the door closed I could see the corner that had been hidden behind
it. In the apartment that particular patch of wall had been bare, but here
there was a mirror on the wall. It was the same old and jagged looking piece of
glass that had been hanging in the room Death had put me in the first time. It
still didn't show my reflection, just the same dangling rose floating in a
black abyss. The door opened
behind me as I was staring into it. I couldn’t really feel it hit me in the
back, but I did move forward a bit. "Al?"
Amy closed the door behind her as she walked in. "I'd say I was sorry but
it didn't really hurt, did it?" She was right, it didn't hurt at all. "What's
up?" I checked around but I couldn't see Hope. "You're here
alone?" "I wanted
to explain some things." I had been waiting for this. "Like why I’ve
done some of the stuff I've done..." "Like
kissing me?" "Yeah,
don't take this the wrong way, but I had to do that. Hope was getting
suspicious that I was doing something with you behind her back. I needed to
make her think that it was something innocent... or at least mundane." "Why are
you helping me out so much? My mother, advice, the contract, lying to Hope for
me, enduring her sick punishments for me. Why?" "Death
wants something from you. He doesn't just pick up poor kids souls from off the
street. Hope’s probably aware of this on some level as well, but I don't think
she realizes that it's a big deal. I'm helping you because I'm worried
something is going on." "How is
Death wanting something dangerous?" "Think
about it, someone as powerful as him wants something and he's going about it in
a roundabout way, isn't that just a bit suspicious?" "I suppose
that makes sense, but if he can't kill you why are you worried?" I thought
it through before she could answer. "Unless he wants something that could
kill you?" "Not that
he's particularly interested in killing me specifically, but if he gets any
more power it's possible he could kill anyone he wants on a whim." "What could
I have that could possibly do that though?" "I thought
it would be some spiritual property, something you could have inherited without
knowing. Which is why I wanted you to be more careful with your contract, but
he didn't seem all that phased by your alteration so much as he was upset that
you tricked Hope." Amy started to circle the room, looking at random
objects. "I wanted to check your room just in case, but it doesn't look
like that much has changed." "Yeah other
than the bookshelf, typewriter, and mirror it’s pretty much the same." "Mirror?"
Amy looked around until she locked on to the ugly shard of glass. She stared
into it for a few seconds and laughed lightly. "What is
it?" I was a little concerned. "It’s just
a trick mirror, it doesn't reflect anything. They're fairly common, people used
to contract for “truth showing” mirrors a lot back in the day. I think even
Death got one. It’s probably been passed down a few generations for you to have
inherited it though." "So I'm
safe?" "I won't
say yes, but it's possible. Unlikely, but possible. Just don't give him
anything he asks for right away." She walked over to the door. "Thank you.
I still don't think you're telling me everything, but thank you." "Don't
thank me yet, not if you know I'm hiding something." She opened the door
and walked out. It may have
passed a cursory inspection from Amy, but if she wasn’t seeing what I was seeing,
something fishy was going on with the mirror. I took the mirror off the wall,
careful not to cut my hands on the jagged edges, and put it under a pile of
papers on my desk. I would need a better hiding spot, but that would do. No
such thing as being too careful.
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1 Review Added on December 27, 2015 Last Updated on October 30, 2016 Tags: macabre, novel, full length, serial, death, the grim reaper, grim reaper, business, contract, contracts, contract law, deal, deal with the devil, supernatural, paranormal, fiction, adventure, etc. Author
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