Whispers - 3. Chapter 3: Cin

I really didnt know how I was gonna die. I always pictured myself dying from an uncurable disease, I really didnt believe I was gonna live past 40.

I looked infront of me, I could see myself looking in the eyes of the man responsible for this situation. I looked on as my body hit the pavement, Blood and brain matter exploding out of my skull. I looked at myself, the shadowy man fleeing from the scene. I was dead, 'How could this be?' I thought looking down at the slained body before me. It was me, how could I be looking at myself? I looked around, it was dark, I felt something clutching my chest. It was a hand, I panicked. To the side of me stood a blacked robed person, seeing from the bodytype I could see that it was a lady, in her right hand a cleaver styled scythe. Her gripped loosened from my chest and I fell to the ground. I could see her face, a beautiful woman with dark violet hair, she looked down at me then disappeared.

'Where am I?' I thought looking around. It was as if I was in an alternate state, as if a dark shadow vailed the world.

"Your in the world of the dead Collin." A voice behind me said. I turned, it was a girl in a red and white cocktail dress. "Hello, Im Cin."

"What are you talking about, were is this place?" I said confused, she stood up and walked towards me.

"Why this is Hallowfalls, dont you reconize it? We're infront of the Bank." She said walking over to the corpse on the ground. "This is you, you died a horrible death." She said, I couldny tell if she was being sarcastic or serious but she was definately weird.

I felt a pain in my chest, I looked down and there, through my torn shirt, was a burnt in red hand print. "What the hell is this?"

"It's a mark from the gods, or should I say the reapers. When they pull a soul out of a body they leave a harsh mark behind." She pulled the top of her dress down just enough to show her mark.

"Who are you?" I said, I couldnt believe I was dead but then again I saw my lifeless body before me.

"Like I said my name is Cin."

"Sin?" I said

"Yes Cin with a C. Your in the world of the dead, your dead." She said bluntly. I looked at my hand, I pinched it.

"Ow, if Im dead then why did that hurt?" I said skeptical of the whole situation.

"Pain is mental so you still feel it, in this world you could lose ligaments." I looked at my corpse, a pool of blood puddled around it. "God I was waiting for you to finally kick the bucket!" She said touching my hair, dancing around me like a ballet dancer.

"You knew I was going to die?" I said in shock. "Do all the dead know when people die?"

"Nope, just a few. You see Im an elementalist, I feel the flow of nature and predict when someone will die. I could even sometimes control the elements, but Im not good at it." I looked at her for a second and thought, 'This chick is crazy!' "Thats how I knew you were going to die, didnt you hear my cries?" I remembered the incident in the basement of school.

"That was you!" I said angrily, I could feel my blood pumping.

"Relax, if there was something I could have done to prevent you from dying...I would have probably still let you die." She said. "I would never dream of messing with the Reapers' affairs, when someone is on their list, they essentially have no chance." She walked to a rose bush near the atm and plucked a rose. "Present!" She said handing me the rose.

I looked at it but didnt pay attention. A zest pool of emotions and thoughts took over my head. 'Am I really dead?', 'Whos gonna be there for my dad or brother?' 'What about Fade?!' my head started to get dizzy causing me to fall to the floor.

"Oh My God!" A person ran towards my lifeless body. I stared, they didnt notice either of us. The person imediately called the cops.

"They. Cant. See. Us." I said sobbing into my hand. "I'm really dead!"

"Yes they can not, you are dead and there's no way to be brought back." She said plucking the peddles off the rose. Sirens blazed in the foreground, there were people starting to form a crowd near my body, incohesive chatter mixed with beckoning whispers flooded the community voices. "Maybe we should get out of here, get away from the intensity of the situation." She said laying the last of the rose peddles on my corpse. I for one, couldnt believe this situation let alone want to deal with the consequences of it. She took my hand we headed to the coffee shop.

We looked through the window, Fade was sitting alone in the empty establishment, his face recked with disappointment.

"You really liked that boy, didnt you?" She said watching my eyes as they quickly began to tear up. I tried waving but he didnt notice. I walked away, I saw him look out the window and stand up but I knew it was only to leave. "Its alright Collin, your part of this world now."

"What exactly is this world?" I said as we walked down the shadowy street.

"Like I said, its the world of the dead. Those who have passed who havent fulfilled they're cause in the conjoining worlds of either the living or the dead will be sent here, let say its a limbo if you will. Once you've completed your purpose you will ascend to the new world."

The more I thought about it the more confused I got. "So how to do you complete your purpose?" I said, she looked to the ground.

"It could be as simple as helping a kid on a bicycle cross the street safely, but that must be thepurpose for you in order to ascend. It might even take years till you find that purpose. I've been wondering around this world for years." She stopped. "Wanna get some ice cream?" She said pointing to the ice cream shop across the street.

"What?" I said as she pulled me to the shop. We entered, opening the door like any other person. Cin went up to the lady at the counter.

"Hi, can I have two Vanilla ice cream cones please?!" She said to the lady, I looked at both of them.

"Sure, two cones coming right up." The lady said with a smile.

"How can she see you?" I said looking at the lady then looking back at Cin.

"Remember when I said I was elementalist." She said

"Yeah?"

"Well I can bend the elements around me including the elements of light and sound, there for creating a holographic image and sound of me." She looked pleased with herself.

"Here you go!" The lady said handing Cin the ice cream cones. "That will be 3 dollars please."

Cin reached in her pocket and took out a leaf, it automatically transformed into a five dollar bill. "Here, keep the change!" We walked outside, she handed me a cone and we started walking again.

"How do you do that? How do you control things?" I said curiously.

"Well when your dead the highlighting attribute that you had becomes heightened. For example I was a naturist, I spent my life traveling through the wilderness, my ability to name a single plant in a garden of many only heightened my being, being one with nature." She started licking the dripping parts of her ice cream. "Shoot! Anyways Im sure your attribute will come out sooner or later."

We strolled to the house next to the fire department and hospital, my house. I looked through the window, there I saw my dad, brother and grandma playing with the flour that was left from my dad's cake. I could see there enjoyment as they tossed the white powder on eachother, my grandma coughing and laughing at the same time watching my dad and brother start to get physchical with each other.

"What happens to me know?" I said clutching the window sill and holding onto the memory of my family.

"You start living."