lim·bo-intermediate state or condition.
“What do you mean Billy disappeared?”
“Well, it's as I said sir, we were all sitting in his living room, discussing different ways we could sneak past the gates to heaven when out of nowhere, Billy began to shine. Everyone in the room was startled, believe me, sir, and Billy, poor old Billy, was terrified. But anyway sir, after that he began to disappear slowly right in front of our eyes. It was very fascinating, not being something that one would see in their everyday limbo experience, can you imagine sir? A glowing, disappearing man right in front of you, but then again seeing as we’re all dead one would think that anything is possible-”
“Williams!” He jumped. “To the point.”
“Ah yes, sir, excuse me after he shone and disappeared, we all wondered where he went, so after a lot of brainstorming, we concluded that he’d been revived- courtesy of Lola, that imaginative being. We paid a little visit to the living land, ‘earth’ as we used to call it, and found him sitting on the couch of his old home. Looked around and found everything back to how it was before we were all taken. He couldn’t see us, figured it was due to him being alive, but oh poor Billy, he’s alone in that horrible land, I mean can you imagine sir? Everyone on the planet is dead but you’ve been brought back to life!”
“Williams!!” He jumped once again. “I understand, now get out of my office.”
“Yes sir, and sorry sir you know I tend to get carried away very easily-”
“Out!¨
“And out this room, I go,”
With the silence replacing his voice I was finally able to think. A dead man was brought to life. It couldn’t have been by the power of someone back on earth for no one roamed that land anymore. Well, now Billy did, which was a problem that should be taken to the higher-ups. Someone must know why this happened. Has it happened before? Or was Billy the first one to experience it? Will there be more cases like this? I needed to talk to Him.
Just as I was about to make a call though, Williams stormed into my office.
“Sir! There have been two more reports of spirits vanishing into thin air. They were described in the same way I explained to you what happened to Billy.”
“Oh good lord give me strength.”
“What do you want me to do sir? This is a very intriguing situation and I fail to understand how I should handle something as-”
“Try to calm yourself and the people that saw this happen, and keep it off the media. I have to pay Him a visit.”
Once in His office, I was given an explanation that threw me off. He said “Don’t worry about what’s happening. After all the recorded attempts to get past the gates of heaven, I decided that I’d give people a second chance. See if they’d take it.”
It seemed like a nice idea, something that possibly many people wanted, but what of the ones that didn’t?
Life was a scary thing. One that I didn’t know if I’d be willing to relive. All the worries, responsibilities, pain, and sorrow that came with each passing day.
On the way back to my office I decided to see if there was stir in the population. The cases of people being brought back to life were spreading. I told Williams to do one thing and he couldn’t even do that. He probably told the reporters himself knowing how loose his mouth is. They also brought up more cases and many of the headlines were similar, all highlighting one common theme. The people disappearing had been previously caught trying to sneak into heaven. I was glad that I hadn’t tried to do that, or at least not that I could remember. Having been in this Spirit World for several centuries my memory was distorted and not reliable.
I called for a meeting. With many high officials in the room, we could come up with a solution. But their first question killed my hope.
“So do tell us, sir, how do you plan to fix this.”
“Mr. McPurry, I called a meeting for a reason.” McPurry was a big being, very intimidating at first glance, stingy, quick-witted, but all of that was a disguise. I could tell he was scared.
Loucar beside me chuckled. “If you’re not capable of coming up with a solution then how do you expect us to do it? You’re the director for Casper's sake.” Loucar was small in comparison, however shorter beings were more dangerous, more vicious.
“Yeah well you’re the assistant director Loucar so leave Sir alone,” said Ms. Choco. A beautiful being. One you would expect to see as soon as you step into heaven. Why she was here no one knew, but it wasn’t our place to ask.
“What if we just tell them what’s happening?” Said Betty, Billy’s wife. The poor woman must’ve been shocked. She was very righteous and had originally been in heaven. She decided to roam here for Billy, now that he was gone she must’ve been lost.
“What do you think we are? Some sort of Liberal news channel? We invented fake news for a reason, Betty.” Said McPurry.
“Alright everyone please, let’s try to be productive for once,” I said.
“If I may say, I think that I have a way to appease the stir.” Said Ms. Choco
“Well do share,” I said.
“We could spread a rumor. The spirits being revived are chosen ones for a special trial and there is a bigger reward awaiting them. It’s close enough to the truth without revealing too much.”
“That is not a half-bad idea. However, what should we do about the already existing rumor that the people glowing are the ones that tried to sneak past the gates of heaven?” Loucar asked.
“We could always make up a story about a few spirits that didn’t try it and still were ‘chosen.’” I said.
“I still don’t believe-” McPurry was cut off. His body shone as he was being lifted from his seat.
Like Williams had said, it was a very fascinating view, of that there was no doubt. None of the people present moved to aid him, it wasn’t in our nature to try and save others.
“HELP M-” and he was gone.
We were all in shock not having expected the very problem we were discussing to present itself right in front of our eyes.
“So even high officials are subject to this phenomenon.” Betty let out a laugh.
“Meeting dismissed.” I stood and stormed out of the room.
I went back to my office, threw myself on my chair, and rubbed my hands on my face. I was scared, what would become of me if I were to be revived as well? People would see me as a joke. My position would be shunned. Any further thoughts were interrupted as Williams barged into my office.
“What do you need?”
“Sir! I am sorry to interrupt you while you look so deep in thought, however, I found it necessary that you know of something.”
“And that being?”
“Well, sir you see...”
“What’s wrong Williams? It’s uncharacteristic of you to be out of words to say.”
“It’s the topic that throws me off, sir. To put it simply something happened with your wife...“
“Spit it out for goodness sake.”
“Your wife’s been revived, sir!”
I paused.“I’ll leave you be sir.”
It began to get late and so I stood, gathered my things, and headed home.
I traveled the empty streets, it was uncommon for them to be so desolate, but thinking back to everything that happened, it made sense that people would be scared and hiding. To be frank, I wished I could hide as well. I fear life for the very feeling that had been haunting me the whole day. Uncertainty. And yet here I was, standing in the middle of a street, stripped of my family, and certitude. Before I could indulge my pessimistic thoughts much further though, I began to be lifted. So I had tried to sneak in before. How amusing. I let out a chuckle before closing my eyes and letting the light engulf me.
“What do you mean Billy disappeared?”
“Well, it's as I said sir, we were all sitting in his living room, discussing different ways we could sneak past the gates to heaven when out of nowhere, Billy began to shine. Everyone in the room was startled, believe me, sir, and Billy, poor old Billy, was terrified. But anyway sir, after that he began to disappear slowly right in front of our eyes. It was very fascinating, not being something that one would see in their everyday limbo experience, can you imagine sir? A glowing, disappearing man right in front of you, but then again seeing as we’re all dead one would think that anything is possible-”
“Williams!” He jumped. “To the point.”
“Ah yes, sir, excuse me after he shone and disappeared, we all wondered where he went, so after a lot of brainstorming, we concluded that he’d been revived- courtesy of Lola, that imaginative being. We paid a little visit to the living land, ‘earth’ as we used to call it, and found him sitting on the couch of his old home. Looked around and found everything back to how it was before we were all taken. He couldn’t see us, figured it was due to him being alive, but oh poor Billy, he’s alone in that horrible land, I mean can you imagine sir? Everyone on the planet is dead but you’ve been brought back to life!”
“Williams!!” He jumped once again. “I understand, now get out of my office.”
“Yes sir, and sorry sir you know I tend to get carried away very easily-”
“Out!¨
“And out this room, I go,”
With the silence replacing his voice I was finally able to think. A dead man was brought to life. It couldn’t have been by the power of someone back on earth for no one roamed that land anymore. Well, now Billy did, which was a problem that should be taken to the higher-ups. Someone must know why this happened. Has it happened before? Or was Billy the first one to experience it? Will there be more cases like this? I needed to talk to Him.
Just as I was about to make a call though, Williams stormed into my office.
“Sir! There have been two more reports of spirits vanishing into thin air. They were described in the same way I explained to you what happened to Billy.”
“Oh good lord give me strength.”
“What do you want me to do sir? This is a very intriguing situation and I fail to understand how I should handle something as-”
“Try to calm yourself and the people that saw this happen, and keep it off the media. I have to pay Him a visit.”
Once in His office, I was given an explanation that threw me off. He said “Don’t worry about what’s happening. After all the recorded attempts to get past the gates of heaven, I decided that I’d give people a second chance. See if they’d take it.”
It seemed like a nice idea, something that possibly many people wanted, but what of the ones that didn’t?
Life was a scary thing. One that I didn’t know if I’d be willing to relive. All the worries, responsibilities, pain, and sorrow that came with each passing day.
On the way back to my office I decided to see if there was stir in the population. The cases of people being brought back to life were spreading. I told Williams to do one thing and he couldn’t even do that. He probably told the reporters himself knowing how loose his mouth is. They also brought up more cases and many of the headlines were similar, all highlighting one common theme. The people disappearing had been previously caught trying to sneak into heaven. I was glad that I hadn’t tried to do that, or at least not that I could remember. Having been in this Spirit World for several centuries my memory was distorted and not reliable.
I called for a meeting. With many high officials in the room, we could come up with a solution. But their first question killed my hope.
“So do tell us, sir, how do you plan to fix this.”
“Mr. McPurry, I called a meeting for a reason.” McPurry was a big being, very intimidating at first glance, stingy, quick-witted, but all of that was a disguise. I could tell he was scared.
Loucar beside me chuckled. “If you’re not capable of coming up with a solution then how do you expect us to do it? You’re the director for Casper's sake.” Loucar was small in comparison, however shorter beings were more dangerous, more vicious.
“Yeah well you’re the assistant director Loucar so leave Sir alone,” said Ms. Choco. A beautiful being. One you would expect to see as soon as you step into heaven. Why she was here no one knew, but it wasn’t our place to ask.
“What if we just tell them what’s happening?” Said Betty, Billy’s wife. The poor woman must’ve been shocked. She was very righteous and had originally been in heaven. She decided to roam here for Billy, now that he was gone she must’ve been lost.
“What do you think we are? Some sort of Liberal news channel? We invented fake news for a reason, Betty.” Said McPurry.
“Alright everyone please, let’s try to be productive for once,” I said.
“If I may say, I think that I have a way to appease the stir.” Said Ms. Choco
“Well do share,” I said.
“We could spread a rumor. The spirits being revived are chosen ones for a special trial and there is a bigger reward awaiting them. It’s close enough to the truth without revealing too much.”
“That is not a half-bad idea. However, what should we do about the already existing rumor that the people glowing are the ones that tried to sneak past the gates of heaven?” Loucar asked.
“We could always make up a story about a few spirits that didn’t try it and still were ‘chosen.’” I said.
“I still don’t believe-” McPurry was cut off. His body shone as he was being lifted from his seat.
Like Williams had said, it was a very fascinating view, of that there was no doubt. None of the people present moved to aid him, it wasn’t in our nature to try and save others.
“HELP M-” and he was gone.
We were all in shock not having expected the very problem we were discussing to present itself right in front of our eyes.
“So even high officials are subject to this phenomenon.” Betty let out a laugh.
“Meeting dismissed.” I stood and stormed out of the room.
I went back to my office, threw myself on my chair, and rubbed my hands on my face. I was scared, what would become of me if I were to be revived as well? People would see me as a joke. My position would be shunned. Any further thoughts were interrupted as Williams barged into my office.
“What do you need?”
“Sir! I am sorry to interrupt you while you look so deep in thought, however, I found it necessary that you know of something.”
“And that being?”
“Well, sir you see...”
“What’s wrong Williams? It’s uncharacteristic of you to be out of words to say.”
“It’s the topic that throws me off, sir. To put it simply something happened with your wife...“
“Spit it out for goodness sake.”
“Your wife’s been revived, sir!”
I paused.“I’ll leave you be sir.”
It began to get late and so I stood, gathered my things, and headed home.
I traveled the empty streets, it was uncommon for them to be so desolate, but thinking back to everything that happened, it made sense that people would be scared and hiding. To be frank, I wished I could hide as well. I fear life for the very feeling that had been haunting me the whole day. Uncertainty. And yet here I was, standing in the middle of a street, stripped of my family, and certitude. Before I could indulge my pessimistic thoughts much further though, I began to be lifted. So I had tried to sneak in before. How amusing. I let out a chuckle before closing my eyes and letting the light engulf me.