The Arbiter - The Raven (Chapter 2)

On a warm day I watched a raven perched on a rusted and dented rail beside the shores. Its beading dull eyes glimmered at me with a curious gaze.The sea hugged the grains of sand and crashed among the rocks and the sun's light  stretched toward the city of Barcelona. The Raven cat walked toward me and to my surprised, the bird flew to my shoulder. Gently,I pet the bird from the head to the wing. Satisfied, the bird flew toward the trees across the beach. I strode onward with a smile on my face. A text notification rung in my ears. I turn on my phone and the text read:

"Te amo hiijo."                                                                                                                                                                                    I love you son

I replied back,"Yo tambien te quiero."                                                                                                                                      I love you too

Bewildered, my father never said that since I was a little boy. A loud shot and a sharp pain struck behind me. My veins yelled in pain inside my body and I felt warm liquid running down my back and chest. Yet,my mouth stayed shut and silent with my tears trickled down my cheeks. I couldn't feel my face hit the cold concrete ground and the pain throb and slowly fade away.

My eyes opened to a white ceiling. There was no sunlight that could have woken me however my memories came back. Fresh tears fogged my eyesight.

I was never coming home

___________________________________________________________________________________

I striped my pajamas I found in my new room to my underwear. I found a long black collar coat, a purple vest with a white long sleeve shirt, black tie and black slacks in my closet. After I was dress, I walked toward the kitchen.

"Did you slept well?"

A human skull wearing a large long black cloak and holding a rusted scythe stared  at me next to a window.

"Yes I did sir."

I open the refrigerator and took out a jug of ice tea.

"May I offer you some?"

"No thank you, but I would like to talk and answer your questions you might have."

I nodded and looked at the clock above the window. 8:00 a.m. Yet its still dark.

"Now, I'm the Grim Reaper as you know I reap the dead to the after life to be judge by God himself. However, the amount of tortured souls of serial killers is overwhelming so I needed someone to put these souls at rest. I unfortunately, would not be able to do this because I only am able to rest the of those who do not have a tortured soul. God however cannot rest those souls because that soul only willingly can rest themselves. You are an tortured soul but to my surprise, you cannot rest until you are satisfied with your life but you cannot do so because you passed away. Because of your knowledge of human psychology, you can reap their souls back to Hell."

"But how do I do that?"

"I or my assistant Vincent brings you a tortured soul and help bring that soul to peace. Now, each souls varies on their treatment. When you see their souls heal, then use the scythe I gave you to reap their souls. First, you push inwards toward you to pull out their healed soul then call Vincent with this phone."

He pulled out a IPhone from his cloak and hand it to me.

"The Arbitrary is the only place that can pick up the internet. Hell and Heaven is greatly outdated in technology so it was an opportunity to have wifi here. Heaven and Hell has no use for it but since you might want to keep up with the human world, I thought it would be nice to give it to you. Oh, I am very sorry I backtracked. Vincent's phone number is on the contact list,call him and he will take care of the rest."

The phone had a black coating and its small enough to have in my pocket.

"I will absorb your soul after placing judgement on one tortured soul,when I see your soul is healed, I'll put you at rest and because of our rules regarding children who have passed, we will sent you to heaven because of your  good deed."

He stood up and his skeletal hands gestured to follow him. He led me toward the direction of the waiting room through a small hallway. He touch a wall next to the waiting room and a door appeared. His hands turned to knob and a soft sound lingered in my ear as the door opened. A small white room with a bed with blue blankets greeted us. A camera hanged on the corner of the room and a toilet sits on the opposite of the bed.

"If your patients start to have violent outburst, send them to this room and it would automatically lock them in but it can only be open by your hands. Monitor their progress in your office."

It was quite strange talking to a walking skeleton without him having vocal cords and a tongue. He was quite calm and kind for a man who collected souls for centuries.  

"May I see your scythe Victor?"

I walked to my office and returned back with my scythe. Despite his faceless expression, I felt he keenly observed the embroidery on the blade to the black snaith.

"Its quite beautiful scythe." He said,"Made by God himself."  

"Did God made your scythe?"

"Yes, but I never knew how he created it for such a long time." He signed. "Now, Vincent will arrive soon to drop off the files of your patient." He waved goodbye and disappeared into black dust.

"Yo."

Vincent appeared in the corner of my eye holding a portfolio.

"That is a tight scythe."

"Umm, thank you Vincent."

"Hey,call me Vince." He handed me the leather portfolio.

"I am the Grim Reaper's assistant. My job is to categorize the souls the Grim man reaps. When you healed a soul, call me and I'll come by to pick up the soul and take it to Hell."

"Have you met the Devil since you traveled there?"

His rosy cheeks went paled like an invisible hand had slapped him. "That asshole is the very existence why the human race is f****ed up." His fist landed a punch on the white wall and the cracks joined hand with other cracks forming around his impact. Sweat poured down his face and his veins popped out of his neck and forehead.

"I'm sorry, I have anger issues toward that asshole." He rub the bruises around his knuckles. "I'll fix it when I can."  

"Its fine Vince and I understand why your angry towards him." Vincent walked toward the waiting room and grabbed a coke from the refrigerator.

"The Devil is not a little red man with horns." He gulp the Coke and wipe his mouth. "He's a pretty boy and because of his influence toward the human race, they worship him as their own God."  The can crush from the anger boiling in his hands. He throw the can in the recycle bin.

"Victor, the Grim Reaper did not tell you this but beware of him, he can influence you to join him but he will never let you leave."

I nodded. "But will I be able to visit Earth again?"

"That I do not know if I am allowed to let you because I don't know if you are going to be here for long."

"I understand." I clench the scythe toward my chest hiding back tears.

"You want to see your family again do you."

The amount of sadness clenched my body and it won't let go. My final words and images of my father will forever haunt me. My heart cried out in pain with the overwhelming agony and rage.

Firm hands wrapped around my shoulders. I breath in his scent of ashes and breath out with my tears landing on his black sweater.

"I may not look like one," He said, "But I am one of God's Angel's and part of my job is to comfort you."

"Did I deserve to be dead?"

Vincent squeeze my shoulders. "You are a child." He explained,"You don't deserve to be dead."

He lifted my head and hold my hands. "Its okay to cry and you are not alone. I want you to be strong and I promise you, the unjust will be put to judgement."

He lifted me up and wiped my tears. I wiped my tear stain glasses from the end of my coat.

"I need to go, but if there is anything you need, call me."

I nodded and Vincent disappeared.