The Borrowed Souls, A Novel

Chapter 1

The giant metropolis growled faintly as I stalked my prey. In a city occupied by millions of people, only one person mattered—the one that was about to die. Noah Clayton’s fate was sealed the moment I received his wooden box, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. I’d been following my mark around for weeks, and I somehow felt the moment of my reward was nearly upon me.

The sun had just gone down and I’d tracked Noah to a rather seedy part of town. The neighborhood was not his normal stomping ground, and I knew of no reason for him to be there. But as I was relatively new to this job, who was I to reason why?

As we walked down Forty-Second, an old neon sign blinked sporadically above the entrance to an alley. ENTER HERE glowed in dark amber, and an arrow pointed into the alley. Noah stopped and looked around. Besides me, whom he couldn’t see even if I’d been standing right in front of him, he was alone. Without hesitation, he walked directly toward the obscure alley and disappeared into the darkness.

As I recalled my last visit to a location such as this, visions of the horrific gang fight flooded my mind. I was certain that now was the time—the time for Noah to die. I slipped my hand into my pocket, touching the wooden box assuredly. Good, I was prepared.

I chased after Noah, entering the alley without delay. When I stepped into the shadows, the stench of rotting flash invaded my nose. Something was dead down there, and I suddenly had an uneasy feeling about everything. I caught up to Noah and fell into stride next to him.

“Hey, buddy, do you know what you’re really doing down here?” I asked. He ignored me.

Noah continued moving forward, slowly, his eyes on a solitary door midway down the alley. His final destination, I assumed. Along the sides of the alley, garbage was scattered around the overflowing dumpsters. I noticed a rat scurry along the edge of the wall, looking for a hiding place. It amazed me that a squalid place like this could exist just moments away from a lively civilization.

My thoughts were interrupted when Noah stepped up to the door and rapped loudly. Bang. Bang. Bang.

After several minutes, the door cracked open slightly and a vertically challenged man peered out from just below the door handle.

“What do you want?” The dwarf asked.

Noah quickly looked up and down the alley before replying. “I’m… looking for… McGuire,” Noah said.

The dwarf looked sternly at Noah, sizing him up before responding. “He’s occupied. Come back later,” he said, then slammed the door.

Noah clenched his fists and tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck in the process. He reached out and banged on the door again.

“Let me in. McGuire is expecting me,” Noah protested.

Besides the faint buzz emanating from the neon sign at the alley entrance, silence enveloped us. As we waited, I questioned whether the dwarf would return at all. I racked my brain for a reason why Noah would be here. Was he involved in something sinister? Before my mind could form an answer, the door opened abruptly. Just inside the standard-sized doorframe stood a behemoth man who looked severely agitated. He ducked through the opening and into the alley.

“My little friend said McGuire is busy,” said the beast of a man.

“My name is… Clayton. My friend Leonard sent me,” Noah said.

The large man’s brow rose considerably at hearing Leonard’s name. He ducked back inside and said something to the dwarf. A second later the little man wobbled down the dingy hallway and disappeared around the corner.

“Stay here,” the beast said as he closed the door.

“Last chance, Noah. Let’s get out of here,” I said, not terribly eager to find out who McGuire was. Strangely, Noah still couldn’t hear me. Perhaps his death was not as imminent as I’d expected.

Suddenly I heard what I thought were footfalls on the pavement behind me. I spun around to see who was there but found no one. When I turned back to face Noah, another man stood on the opposite side of him. He wore a silk blue suit and a matching bowler hat. He stared straight ahead, as if waiting for McGuire as well. I looked at Noah. He didn’t react to the man’s presence.

“Hey,” I said, testing the new man’s ability to see or hear me.

“Hey, yourself,” he said stiffly, and turned in my direction.

I wasn’t expecting a response from the man, but now that I had his attention, my curiosity piqued.

“You can hear me?” I asked.

“You’d be surprised at how many people can see and hear you, that are not about to die,” he said, stepping directly in front of Noah. “I’ve actually been keeping tabs on you, Jack.”

“Keeping tabs on me?” I asked. “Why?”

“Ah, anytime Hauser gets a new recruit, I kind of… pop in to see what all the hubbub’s about. And I have to tell you, I think Hauser’s way off his game lately.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Like I said, I’ve been watching you, and I’m a little surprised at your ineptitude,” he said.

“You don’t even know me, what gives you the right to judge—”

“I’ve seen many a soul collector in my time, and you have to be the worst. Is this really the way you want to handle this collection?” he asked, nodding to Noah, who was oblivious to our conversation.

“I think I’m doing just fine,” I stated firmly.

“So that must be the way Hauser’s telling you to do things these days. If this was my mark, I’d have had this soul collected weeks ago.”

Before I could respond, the behemoth opened the door and motioned for Noah to enter. Noah stepped forward, passing directly through the man in the blue suit. At that moment, I realized that he was not any normal person whatsoever.

“Well it’s a good thing that this isn’t your soul to collect,” I said as I followed Noah through the door. A moment later, beast man shut the door and bolted it behind us. He slipped past us and led us down the corridor to where it veered to the right. As we turned the corner, I noticed several smaller doors spaced evenly along a much longer hallway. The enormity of the man leading us gave him great strides so that Noah and I had to practically run to keep up with him. When we reached the end of the hallway, he stopped and knocked on the last door. Before a response came, a voice echoed from behind me.

“Hey now, don’t you walk away from me. Don’t you know who I am?”

I turned and found the man in blue right on my heels. I looked him square in the face. “No, as a matter of fact I don’t know who you are. I’ve never seen you in my life.”

“Ah, I’m Enoch. Enoch Gant,” he said, lifting his chin into the air slightly. “How is it that nobody’s told you about me?”

“It must have slipped everyone’s mind,” I replied. “So who are you, then? Are you here to help with my training, or are you just another soul collector?”

Enoch blinked slowly and shrugged his shoulders. He stepped past me and right up to Noah’s side. “That’s neither here nor there. What I can tell you is that you’re going about this collection all wrong.”

“Care to enlighten me?” I asked.

“Well, I would’ve ended Noah’s life much sooner than now. You know, move things on a bit faster.”

“Do you mean you would’ve killed him just to get your next soul box sooner?”

“Sometimes, Jack, you have to advance the protocol in order to keep the flow of soul boxes moving. And sometimes that means taking matters into your own hands.”

Shocked, I said, “That doesn’t quite sound like appropriate procedure for a soul collector. And strangely, Hauser has never mentioned anything about it. Neither had Wilson, for that matter.”

“Well, that’s because Wilson and Hauser are a bunch of pansy-ass wimps. Let me tell ya’, I’ve been around for a lot longer than those two yahoos, and if you want to rise to the top, you’ll have to actually take a life every once in a while,” Enoch said calmly.

The sound of the door opening grabbed our attention. Beast man stepped to the side and Noah walked through the door. Enoch and I followed close behind. Once we were inside, the door closed, and the three of us stood in front of a wildly attractive woman wearing a white pencil skirt and platform heels.

“I’m McGuire. Who’s asking?”

McGuire wasn’t a he after all, I thought.

“I… I’m Noah. My friend—”

McGuire cut Noah off as her phone rang. She stepped around the desk and picked up the receiver. “Go,” she said to the caller.

“You know, you can do it right now,” Enoch said.

“Do what? Actually kill Noah right here? You’re crazy. Just leave me alone and let me do my job, at my own pace.”

As I stepped away from Enoch out of utter repulsion, I wished with all my might that Hauser would appear. He was always popping in when he was least expected, and this would be a particularly opportune moment.

“Well, if you’re not man enough to do the job right, I might as well help you out. And trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

Enoch stepped toward Noah and suddenly produced a sawed-off shotgun from his inside his jacket. He raised the barrel of the gun to the back of Noah’s head, pulled back the hammer, and released the trigger. The enormous chamber explosion reverberated in my eardrums and startled me awake.

Chapter 2

“You know, Jack. I think you’re really onto something here. This park bench is much nicer than my own place,” Hauser said as he sat next to me and, flipping through a magazine. “I see you’ve decided not to heed my warning about sleeping,”

“I, uh… what?” I asked, straightening myself up on the bench and tussling my hair to the side. “Well, it’s been a long three weeks. I’ve been following that guy around and he just won’t die. Kinda wears a person out.”

Hauser nodded his head. “You’re preaching to the choir, buddy. I’ve had countless jobs just like your guy.” Hauser closed the magazine and focused his attention on me. “So, you give in to sleep just like that?”

“It’s not like I planned on it. I’ve been following Noah around for nearly every moment that he’s been awake. And most nights, too. I just sit in the corner of his room while he sleeps. You know, in case he dies before he wakes. So I decided to take a break here. As soon as the sun went down and the lights dimmed, it was out of my control.”

“Listen, Jack. You can control it. You need to control it. What was this latest dream about?” Hauser pressed.

“Yeah, this one was a little bit… different.”

“Different how?”

“Well, different from the last couple of dreams,” I confessed.

“Couple of dreams? Jesus, Jack. How often have you been sleeping?”

“No, it’s not like that. This is maybe my third or fourth nap. The first one was more of a nightmare than anything else. It was about Cyndi.”

“And the other ones?”

“Well, they kind of jump around. I am myself in all of the dreams, and Cyndi was there at the beginning. But then the dreams kind of took on a life of their own, drifting around the city, but not exactly. It’s strange. It’s this city but it’s just…”

“It’s different. I’ve heard that. Anything else?”

“With this last one, I was able to speak to somebody in the dream. I was following Noah around, and I tried to talk to him. And it was just like it is here in real life—he couldn’t hear me. Then all of a sudden this other guy walks up and starts talking to me, questioning me about how I do my job and why don’t I speed things up.”

Hauser’s head cocked to the side. “Describe him.”

“Well, he was… middle-aged, maybe? He wore a blue suit and a matching hat. He had no visible hair.”

“He was bald?” Hauser asked.

“From what I could tell. He did have his hat on the whole time.” I paused, trying to remember the dream more clearly. “Strange. I don’t recall seeing any eyebrows or eyelashes on the guy, either. Should I be worried? It’s just some apparition created by my mind, right?”

Hauser shrugged and sat up straight. “Mmm. What else did he say?” His eyes were penetrating, as if staring into my own soul.

“That’s where it got weird. He told me that I needed to hurry up so that I could get to the next soul. He seemed to know everything about what we do. It was as if he was a soul collector himself.”

Hauser nodded his head as his eyes scanned the surrounding park. “Is that it? Did he say anything else?”

“Yeah, he said that sometimes we have to take things into our own hands. Hauser, he wanted me to kill my mark.”

Hauser gasped before standing abruptly.

“Hauser? It was just a dream. Right?” I asked, hoping that it really was nothing more than just my mind playing tricks on me.

Hauser ignored my question and started to pace around my park bench. “Did the man tell you his name?”

“Enoch Gant.”

Hauser stopped pacing and stood directly in front of me. “Listen, Jack. You have to promise me that you will refrain from sleeping until I tell you otherwise. Do you understand me?”

In the short few months that I’d known Hauser, I’d never seen him so riled. Especially over something as innocuous as resting. “Yeah, sure,” I muttered, wondering what was really going on.

“Now, fill me in on your current collection. You say you’ve been with him nonstop?”

“Yeah, pretty much. From what I can tell, Noah is as healthy as an ox. He’s young, married, and has two kids. He has a good job over on Griffin Street, earning enough so that his wife can be a stay-at-home mom,” I said, fully realizing that Noah was living my life, or the life I had wanted with Cyndi. Only better. “Honestly, I think this box is a mistake. There’s nothing remotely wrong with this guy. He’s happy, he’s healthy, and he has no vices to speak of.”

“Come now, Jack. Do I need to draw it out for you?” Hauser asked, returning to the bench next to me.

“I think I know what you’re going to say.”

“Not everybody needs to be old or have some kind of disease in order for them to die. Accident, murder”—Hauser paused—”and, well, suicide. All of those could be a factor here.”

I squinched my eyes tight at hearing his latest rationale.

“Listen, champ. You’re just gonna have to keep with it. Keep following your target. Stay with him, and death will come. I wish there was more I could say to make this easier for you.”

I opened my eyes and nodded, staring straight ahead. “Yeah. Okay.”

Hauser stood. “Anything else before I take off?”

“Now that you mention it, do you mind if I borrow your monocle for a moment? Will that help me see the exact moment Noah dies?”

Hauser smiled. “Well, the monocle isn’t really used in that way. It has a completely other purpose. There are, however, other items that are useful in our profession. But at this moment, you do not have access to any of them. You’ll have to just stick with it. Do it old school. Think of it as paying your dues.” Hauser winked. “You’ll earn your first apparatus soon enough.”

“Other items?” I asked, my interest piqued.

“Not quite yet, compadre. In due time,” Hauser said. “And one more thing. I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with him, getting to know his life, his habits, his family. Just try to keep everything in perspective. Don’t get too close. It’ll just make the collection that much more difficult in the end.”

I shrugged, disappointed at the lack of information. Before I could form another question, Hauser disappeared.

“No, no. It’s okay. I’ll just chat with you later,” I said sarcastically before I jumped back to Noah’s apartment.

Chapter 3

When I popped into the Claytons’ apartment, I landed in their bedroom. Noah and his wife were still fast asleep. The alarm clock on the nightstand shone 5:47 in vivid red numerals.

“Any chance you want to wake up and die?” I asked. Not surprisingly, there was no response.

I made my way to the corner of the bedroom where I’d spent far too many mind-numbingly boring nights, waiting. I leaned back into the intersection of the two walls and slid my back down until my butt was firmly resting on the floor, my legs crossed beneath me, Lotus style. As I settled in for the early morning, I thought back to what Hauser had said. There are other items useful in our profession. I wondered, besides the coin, what else there was that might help me. Wilson must have had something else, something more that he’d earned along the way.

I remembered the rosary and pulled it out. While I fumbled with it, I began to hear stirrings from the bed next to me. Initially ignoring the sounds, I continued my inspection of the beaded crucifix. After a few moments of review, I dismissed its magical potential and thought about what else Wilson might have had. The only other thing he’d had with him was his sunglasses. Panic overwhelmed me at the thought of me haphazardly placing them on the dead man’s face just as an attempt to add humor to the situation. What if that pair of sunglasses allowed me to see something in the future? What if they somehow enhanced the wearer’s perception in some magical way?

“Crap,” I yelled. How could I have been so oblivious to even the most remote possibility? I thought about what Hauser had said, that Wilson’s body might very well remain in the coroner’s freezer until they determined who he was or until somebody claimed him as a long-lost relative twice removed. Knowing good and well that that event would never happen, I wondered just how long an unidentified body would continue to take up space in the city morgue. I made a mental note to ask Hauser about it.

As these thoughts coursed through my mind, I was interrupted by voices from the bed.

“Hey, baby. Are you awake?” asked Ashley, Noah’s wife.

Noah rolled over onto his back, and Ashley slid her body next to his, spooning his side with her feminine curves.

I slipped the rosary back into my breast pocket and focused completely on the couple. Was this the moment? Could Noah be having chest pains? An aneurysm? A fatal bout of halitosis?

Ashley caressed Noah’s chest for a few moments before speaking again. “What do you want to do today?

“Hrmm rmm,” Noah shrugged, not putting any more effort into the morning conversation than was necessary. “You?” he asked.

Ashley’s hand continued to weave in and out of Noah’s chest hairs, inching lower down his abdomen with each pass. “It’s up to you, Babe. You worked hard all week. It’s the weekend, and you deserve a little fun.”

Before Noah could say another word, Ashley’s hand disappeared beneath the bedsheets, causing Noah to moan slightly.

“Are you serious?” I asked. “First I have to wait for you to die, and now you are going to make love to your wife right in front of me?”

Noah didn’t answer my sarcasm but instead leaned into Ashley and kissed her passionately. The kiss only lasted a moment though, as Ashley slid herself beneath the sheets, causing more moaning from Noah.

“Nope. I’m outta here,” I grumbled before disappearing from the bedroom corner.

Having improved on my ability to jump from place to place, I popped into Noah’s living room, just on the other side of their bedroom wall. I wasn’t a stranger to watching the occasional porn video, but that was back when I had the ability to release with Cyndi. Now that I was forever in detached solitude, I didn’t need to get all dressed up with no place to go, so to speak.

As I paced around the apartment, I hoped that their impromptu act of love making would be quick so that I might be able to move on with my job. I was discovering that the more I followed Noah and his family around, the more I liked the guy. He was a good husband, and he was living it right. I knew now what Hauser meant about becoming too attached, and my only hope was that it wasn’t too late.

Moving into the kitchen, I noticed 6:12 a.m. glowing on the microwave’s digital readout. “How long am I going to have to wait?” I asked. To my surprise I heard a whimper from just down the hall. In the otherwise silent house, it sounded like a trapped animal calling out for attention. Quietly, I crept down the hall toward the sound. Just past the powder room I came to a closed door. As I stood just outside, I listened intently at the noise. The whimpering came and went, and even though I’d never been around puppies growing up, I recognized the sound instantly.

After following Noah around for so many weeks, I knew the dog was a new addition. Deciding that it was far too early for anyone else to be awake, I stepped into the room to see the puppy for myself. The room was dark, but the early sunrise cast in just enough light, revealing the compact laundry room.

Closing the door behind me, I turned and looked around for the source of the crying. In just a few moments, I found the crate that the pooch was penned up in. As I leaned in close to the wire-framed cage door, I found two dark eyes looking back at me. They belonged to what looked like a beagle puppy, and strangely, I sensed that the dog could see me.

“Hey, buddy,” I said. “You’re new around here, aren’t you?”

As soon as I muttered those words, the puppy began to bark and yelp. It was clear that he was aware of my presence and he was not happy, either about being locked up or about seeing a strange person just outside his cage.

“Hush, now. It’ll be all right,” I said as I quickly unlatched the cage door, freeing the black-and-brown spotted puppy.

The moment he was out of the cage, he rushed between my legs and began to scratch at the door that led to the rest of the apartment.

“Come here, you little shit,” I hollered, but the dog ignored me. I wondered if I was initially mistaken and he actually couldn’t see me after all.

I stepped back, flipped on the light switch, and fully took in my surroundings. I noticed that the puppy was in fact a beagle. And now that I could see him more clearly, he looked to be maybe a few months old.

“Come here, pup,” I said as I knelt down in the middle of the room. I remained still for several minutes before the he turned and looked in my direction. “Come on,” I said as I patted my leg.

Like a bolt of lightning, the puppy shot forward and tried to jump up and nip at my face, barking and howling the whole while.

“Hush, now. You’re gonna wake the family,” I said, hoping it wasn’t already too late. I grabbed him, shuttled him back into his sleeping crate, and relatched the door. The howling didn’t subside though, and I knew it would only be a matter of moments before someone would come barging in to check on the little guy.

I stood up quickly and leaped for the light switch. No sooner had I done so I heard the floor creak just outside in the hallway. I sprang back from the door just as Katie, Noah’s daughter, burst into the room, followed closely by Tim, Noah’s son.

I wasn’t sure how our bodies would interact in such close quarters, so I froze. After a quick moment, I changed my stance. I didn’t want to cause the two kids to accidentally bump into an invisible being, so I climbed up on the countertop next to the washer. I sat there and watched the kids kneel close to the pet cage, slipping their fingers through the wire-framed door, touching the puppy’s soft fur coat.

“Do you think we should let him out?” Tim asked anxiously.

Katie, being a few years older than Timmy, nodded thoughtfully. “I think we can, but just for a minute. We don’t want to wake Mom and Dad.”

With a flick of the metal latch, the door sprang wide and puppy sprang from the cage once again. Once out, he bolted toward the door. Luckily, Katie was able to kick it shut just seconds before he could make it out of the room.

The puppy stopped and barked a few times, then howled loudly. Being in such a confined space, the echo in the room was grating.

“Hush!” Tim screamed, but the puppy continued to shriek. Katie sat on the floor and began to pet him, from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. Within moments, the puppy’s howling began to subside as he was placated by the attention. Just when I thought it was going to be okay, the puppy looked up at me sitting on the counter and it started all over again. He began his yip-like barks at first, running to the base of the cabinets and trying to jump up, before the full-on howling continued. Thankfully, the kids couldn’t see me. I figured the only way I could possibly calm the ruckus was to remove myself from the situation. I vanished and a moment later popped back into the living room, where I was alone once again.

“Shit,” I mumbled. “That complicates things.” By now the sunrise was nearly complete, and the rays of light that came through the window were strong. I sat down on the faded leather sofa and contemplated my predicament. The noise from the yelping dog down the hall was subsiding, but I knew it would only start up again once they let him out into the rest of the apartment. How was I going to continue to follow Noah around if that little dog raised hell every time I was around?

No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than the bedroom door clicked open and Noah stepped out. He had donned his bathrobe and wore a look of complete displeasure on his face. He headed straight for the laundry room, to the source of the early morning distraction. A moment later Ashley sauntered out and into the kitchen. Within minutes she had begun to make breakfast.

The glorious smell of coffee filled the air, and I had a moment of a craving so uncontrollable that I almost stood up and walked right into the kitchen to pour myself a cup. But like most people in the world, coffee makes me poop, so I forced the desire from my mind. Instead, I tried to figure out what it was about that dog the seemed… off. In the past month or so, hadn’t I been around other animals? Hadn’t they all ignored me like every other person that I’d come into contact with?

As I shuffled through the last four weeks’ activities in my mind, I was slow to notice Noah come back into the living room. He was carrying the puppy and was trailed by his two kids. Before I could react, the dog started to howl almost instantly. It was clear that they were going to take the pup for a walk. Noah stopped in his bedroom first to dress. Unfortunately, he failed to close the door all the way, and the dog nosed his way out, back into the living room.

YELP YELP YELP!

Before I could stand, he was jumping up on my legs, trying to get onto my lap. I looked at the kids, who just stood in the center of the room, watching the dog.

“Kids, don’t let him get on the couch. If we want to keep him, he’s going to have to be trained,” Ashley said, coming into the living room. She walked up to where I was sitting and bent down to pick up the puppy. Before she could get ahold of him, he bolted out of her grasp and began to circle the coffee table, barking and yipping as if playing a game.

Normally I would have found the scene quite comical, but at the moment I needed to think. And to do so I needed some quiet. Noah was in his room, dressing, and the kitchen was relatively open to the rest of the flat. I decided to just jump to another, unoccupied room of the apartment and go from there. Katie’s room was the first to come to mind, and a second later I was standing at the foot of her bed.

“Ah, finally. Peace and quiet,” I said as I sat at on a wooden trunk in the corner of her room.

“Squawk. Peace and quiet,” came a scratchy voice from the adjacent wall. I nearly jumped out of my skin, but I saw no one.

“Hello? Who’s there?” I asked as I moved to the center of the room for a better look. Upon further investigation, I was certain I was alone. There was nobody else in the room but me.

“Hello. Who’s there. Squawk,” came the voice from beneath a sheet on the dresser.

I moved toward the sheet and lifted the edge slightly. As I peeked underneath, I saw a colorful bird perched on a wooden bar at the middle of the birdcage. The bird locked its beady eyes onto mine and bobbed its head a few times before speaking again.

“Who’s there?” it said, stepping sideways along the bar.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked. Was I suddenly doomed to a nearly impossible job?

“Who’s kidding. Squawk!” said the bird, raising his volume several decibels. Before I knew it, Katie came running back into the bedroom and right up to the bird’s cage. She pulled at the sheet before tossing it to the floor.

“Good morning, Baxter,” Katie said.

Baxter continued to bob his feathery head as he twisted it about, scanning the room beyond his wire-wrapped prison.

“Squawk. Morning.”

Then, all of a sudden, the room became much more cramped as the rest of the family came rushing in.

“Hey, is Baxter talking?” asked Timmy.

“Yeah, he started it a few days ago,” Katie said.

“Squawk. Talk.”

Along with the presence of the entire family, the puppy followed. The moment he came in, he bolted right for me. This time, though, I was prepared. I was about to leave the godforsaken house for the morning anyway, and popped out just as the dog got near.

Chapter 4

I reappeared on my park bench. Thankful to be away from the sudden and unexpected madhouse, I leaned back and considered my situation. There was something about what Hauser had said earlier that continued to stay with me. Other items?

I pulled the rosary from my pocket to reexamine it and focused on each bead as I pulled it through my fingers. There had to be something about the chaplet that had helped Wilson along. Perhaps I needed to chant something. But what? Maybe some kind of prayer? I smirked. Perhaps I should have listened to my grandmother’s urging and attended Sunday school after all.

Frustrated, I wound the beads tightly around my fingers until the tips turned white and the crucifix laid positioned toward me. I brought it to my mouth and gently placed my lips upon the cold metal.

“Uh, Father Almighty?” I began, remembering a few words that my grandmother would say when she prayed. “I, uh, believe… in God? Heaven on earth… uh, something about Jesus Christ, his one and only son…”

“You better release the tension there, buddy. You’ll either cut the circulation off in your fingers or break the strand completely.”

I leaped from the bench at the sound of Hauser’s voice. “Jesus, Hauser!”

“No, but I’ve been mistaken for him at least once through my days as a soul collector.”

“You nearly scared the shit right out of me. Can you please give me some kind of warning next time? Seriously.”

“Would you prefer I wear a bell around my neck?” Hauser grinned.

With my heart rate returning to normal, I sat back down next to Hauser. “Well, if you wouldn’t mind, that would be great.”

“Speaking of, try placing the rosary around your neck. That should get you a lot closer to figuring things out than where you were just heading.”

Embarrassed, I fumbled around with the worn beads, avoiding Hauser’s gaze. “Oh, I, uh… was just trying to remember the Apostles’ Creed—”

“No need to explain. It’s like I said earlier, though. Most items are earned, not taken. That was in Wilson’s possession, am I correct?”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer, so I just nodded my head.

“And did he give it to you, or did you take it from his person?”

“The cops were there, and if I didn’t grab it, they would have certainly taken it,” I explained.

“I see.”

“And my penance?” I asked, keeping the religious theme rolling in the conversation. “Am I in trouble with the Sentinel, or whoever, for taking it?”

“No penance, Jack. I’m actually relieved that you took it before they moved his body off. You see, I gave that to him after his thirtieth collected soul.”

“So there is a proverbial golden watch with each milestone.”

“No, it was just that Wilson was… special. His thirtieth soul was more than just a regular milestone,” Hauser said, his voice drifting off as he spoke. “It was more of breakthrough…”

“How so?” I asked.

“It’s… difficult to explain,” Hauser said.

Hauser looked off into the distance as we sat in silence for several minutes. It was quite apparent that there was more to the story.

“So around my neck then?” I asked.

Several moments passed before Hauser’s attention returned to the present. He looked at me, smiled, and nodded. “Yep.”

I unfastened the delicate metal clasp and brought it up to my chest, reattaching it behind my neck.

“Okay, now what?”

“No, no. You’ve got to do some of this work yourself. Like I said, you didn’t rightfully earn this, so…”

“Ah, so there is contrition. Just in the form of limited information.”

“Call it what you will, Jack. If you’re going to make it as long as Wilson did, you’re going to have to learn to think for yourself.”

I nodded, and decided not to push the matter further. It was obvious that Hauser was not in the mood.

“Can you at least tell me what the rosary does?”

Hauser looked at me, his steely gaze lightening up momentarily. “It’ll let you see into the future, but only for twenty-four hours, and it is not specific in nature.”

“Twenty-four hours into the future, but not to any particular event?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Hauser said.

“So all this really does for me is, what? Gives me a day’s head start?”

“Sometimes, Jack, an additional twenty-four hours means a great deal to how you cope with some of these deaths. Some are more gruesome than others, and how we handle each of them is key, emotionally speaking.”

Listening to Hauser’s words brought up another question that blurted from my mouth before I had a chance to stop it. “Is that why Wilson earned this after his thirtieth soul? Was that particular collection emotional for Wilson?”

Hauser bobbed his head slowly. “Something like that.”

Silence enveloped us once again. Perhaps at some point I’d ask Hauser more, but for now I opted to focus at the task at hand. I lifted the crucifix from my chest and brought it to my lips. “Noah Clayton,” I said softly.

Nothing happened.

“Show me Noah,” I said, still holding the crucifix near my mouth.

Again, nothing happened. Hauser tilted his head, giving me a sideways glance. Then he smirked. “Boy, you’re getting it all wrong. If I have to show you everything, you need to follow along with everything I say. Agreed?”

I nodded eagerly. “Agreed.”

“First, posture is everything. You have to be standing for this to work.”

Without hesitation, I stood and faced Hauser directly. “Next?”

“No, you’re not quite right,” Hauser said as he considered my stance. “Hold your head up higher, and straighten your back. Your shoulders are far too slouched for this to work properly.”

I did as Hauser said and thrust my chest out, straightening my shoulders and back in the same motion. “Like this?”

“Yeah, kid, you’re getting there. Now, place your right hand on your hip with your thumb to the back and your forefingers to the front.”

I imagined the position in my mind before following Hauser’s latest direction. “All right.”

“Great. Getting close. Next, lift the crucifix with your left hand but only hold it away from your body with your pinky finger.”

“Like this?” I asked. As ridiculous as I knew I looked, I could almost feel the future ready to surge through my mind, body, and soul.

“Great, kid. You’re really outdoing yourself here. Now, this last step is tricky.” Hauser smiled. “If you don’t get it right, you’re going to have to start all over, and let me tell you, you don’t want to look like a fool two times in a row.”

“Okay, I’m ready. What’s the last step?”

“All right. Standing on your right foot only, lift your left foot into the air and whistle ‘March from the River Kwai.’”

Without objecting, I lifted my leg and began to whistle the tune from the classic movie. With my lips pursed together, I made it through the entire first chorus before I noticed Hauser grinning cheek to cheek.

“What? Am I doing it wrong?”

Before Hauser could answer, he burst out laughing. I stood on my one leg for another few seconds before I concluded that he was having fun at my expense. Realizing at that moment that I’d not seen him laugh out loud since I’d known him, I began to laugh myself.

“Oh, God. Jack, I’m sorry, but that was so worth it. I really needed a good laugh right then.”

As my chuckling subsided, I sat down next to Hauser. “I’m glad I could oblige.”

Hauser continued laughing for a few more moments before he wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at me. “All right, Jack. I’ll let you off the hook. You just have to be near your mark for the rosary to work.”

“That’s it? I just have to have the rosary with me and be near him?” I asked.

“No, you still have to have it around your neck, but just be near him and think of the future. Touching him, or her for that matter, helps, but it’s not necessary.”

“All right, then. I think I can handle that.”

“One more thing, Jack. The rosary can be a curse at times, because of the horrific nature of our job. Sometimes it is really better to experience the death just once. Just think about that.”

I nodded, understanding Hauser’s advice completely.

“Thanks, Hauser. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go give this bird a whirl,” I said as I twirled the rosary around my fingers.

“Knock yourself out, kid. We’ll catch up later,” Hauser said and then vanished. I straighten myself up and vanished a moment later.

Chapter 5

Back in Noah’s apartment, the circus that I’d escaped from earlier had diminished, and the order of the house was much more akin to what I’d experienced over the previous three weeks. Ashley was reading, and the kids were playing in their rooms. Noah was on his computer, studying the screen intently. I scanned the room, looking for the Thing of Evil, a.k.a. the puppy, but he was nowhere in sight. Trusting that he was most likely in with the kids, I figured I’d better make my move quickly, before he noticed me here and began his howling tirade all over.

Stepping up to Noah, I briefly glanced at his computer screen. At first look he appeared to be on some kind of antigovernment website, but upon closer inspection, it looked to be some kind of weapons and ammo information site. Noah was a hunter? Who knew? Surprised at Noah’s choice of hobbies, I shifted my focus to the task at hand. I straightened myself, checking that the rosary was securely suspended around my neck. I took a deep breath, then placed my hand firmly on Noah’s head. The moment my fingers landed upon his tightly cut hair, a warming sensation shot up through my hand and into my body. A momentary instinct to release my grasp crossed my mind, but I held fast. I wanted to do this, needed to see for myself what lay ahead for Noah.

As I stood next to him, my hand melding with his soul, the room started to darken around me. I blinked several times, trying to determine whether it was my own vision faltering or if it was my surroundings changing abruptly. Looking about, I felt as if it were a combination of both, and there was no stopping it. I let it run its course, my hand firmly resting on Noah’s head. Then, suddenly, Noah and I were ripped from the apartment and carried through time and space to what appeared to be an urban battleground.

I began to walk around, trying to discover exactly where we had gone. Unfortunately, nothing looked familiar. We were outside, and Noah wasn’t alone. He was lying on the ground, holding some kind of foreign assault rifle. Well, it was foreign to me at least. He was dressed in army-green fatigues, as was his companion. The two lay behind some form of barricade, staring down the barrel of their weapons.

“Do you see Harvey? He should have made it to the safe zone by now,” Noah said.

“Affirmative. He just entered the facility. Now we wait. We’ll know if the trade was all worth it shortly,” replied Noah’s companion.

“All right. Hold this position while I work my way around their flank. If you see a shot, take it. Even if it means that Harvey is hit, it’ll be collateral damage. We both know that their leader will never go for a fair exchange. If I’m on the other side when all hell breaks loose, I’ll at least have a chance to grab the box in the confusion,” Noah said as he rolled to his side and began a low crawl down the left side of the barricade.

As soon as Noah was out of sight, I tried to make sense of what the hell was happening. I’d have known if Noah was in some reserve division of the military by something around the apartment or by a conversation, but I recalled nothing. Maybe he was involved in some kind of militia, and this is where he’d lose his life. Intrigued, I chased after Noah with no concern for my own concealment.

Once around the side of the barricade, I was surprised to see that Noah had made it halfway down the outer edge of the surrounding field. His spiderlike moves were awe-inspiring. I trotted to catch up to him, and as I did, I could see the safe zone that he’d referred to earlier. It was a relatively small cube-shaped structure about twenty yards from our position. Around the base of the building was a four-foot perimeter marked in yellow paint on the ground. Outside that perimeter there was open ground for at least twenty feet in all directions. There was no sneaking up on the place. There was a single door on the adjacent wall, and it was closed. There were no windows that I could see.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement on the opposite side of the safe house. It appeared to be another soldier dressed in brown camouflage-style clothing. He also wore a helmet and carried a rifle. I moved closer and saw that he wasn’t alone. He was followed by at least three more brown-clothed troops.

“Shit!” I yelled. It was a trap. Had to be. I looked back at Noah, and just as I did, he rose up slightly to get a better view of the central safe house. Unfortunately for him, his low stance prohibited him from seeing the opposing forces working their way directly toward him.

Just then, his companion whistled a soft bird call. Noah nodded and motioned his buddy to move along the opposite side. They were going in. I knew I couldn’t do a thing, so a leaned against a large tree trunk. As I did so, I noticed a green slime coating the entire tree base. I knew it was there and was most likely sticky, but I didn’t move. I was in a future dream of some sort, and it wasn’t real to me.

Refocusing my attention on Noah, I saw he’d moved an additional fifteen feet up the side flank and was about to make a huge mistake. I leaned forward anxiously as he rose up slightly. The enemy soldiers fired the first shot. It flew high and to the right, and Noah returned fire. Several shots perforated the shrubbery on the far side of the safe zone. With his finger off the trigger, he rose once more to see if he had actually hit any of the enemy. But just as his head peeked above his own foliage barricade, a single shot flew right toward him. It landed on its mark, directly in the center of Noah’s forehead. If it hadn’t been for the plastic face shield, Noah’s face would have been completely covered in paintball goo.

Noah stood in protest and a barrage of shots flew in his direction, peppering his body with all shades of paint. Green, yellow, orange. I could hear Noah whimper slightly at the stings as he was decimated by the hits. So much for capturing his soul tomorrow, I thought.

Disappointed with the outcome of my first trip into the future, I decided to return to his apartment. I thought about my hand resting on Noah’s head back in his apartment and envisioned me lifting it slightly. As I did so, I felt like I was being yanked backward, and before I could catch my balance, I blacked out momentarily.

When I came to, I was standing in Noah’s apartment, alone. Noah was no longer at his desk, and the computer screen was now dark. I moved back into the living room and found Ashley fast asleep on the couch. Everyone else was gone, including the dog. I concluded that Noah and the kids must have taken him for a walk in the park. Knowing what the next twenty-four hours had in store, I didn’t feel the need to follow along with Noah’s every move, so I thought of my park bench and vanished.

Chapter 6

I wasn’t terribly surprised to find Hauser sitting on the bench when I appeared. He was reading a book, and by his facial expressions it must have been some gripping tale. I sat quietly next to him, not wanting to interrupt his concentration, but when it appeared that he didn’t even realize that I was back, I cleared my throat. His focus remained on the printed words, but he held up a solitary finger in my direction, asking for a moment. I gave him two.

“And, done!” Hauser declared as he snapped the book shut.

“What are you reading?” I asked.

“This, my friend, is The Origin of Species. Have you heard of it?”

“Um, yeah. I’m sure it was required reading back in college. Darwin, right?”

Hauser turned the book over and nodded. “What do you know? It is Darwin. Fantastically influential, wouldn’t you say?”

I nodded, although it had been many years since I’d actually seen a copy. “Yeah, sure.”

Hauser dropped the book on the bench between us and peered at me questioningly. “So? How’d it go?”

“Well, he’s not going to die in the next twenty-four hours.”

“No, what did you think of the adventure? Quite a ride, huh?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, another new experience, that’s for sure.”

“That’s it? Boy, you’ve just come closer to time travel than any of the living population would believe, and all you can say is, ‘Yeah, sure’?”

“What do you want me to say? That it was a mind-blowing ride and that my life will be forever changed? Well, it was interesting jumping forward like that, but once we got to twenty-four hours ahead, things were just… weird. I could see Noah clearly, but everything else was kind of… kind of blurry. And all I could do was watch. I couldn’t interact or change anything.”

“Didn’t you play around with the time tracking? Tell me you did something,” Hauser said.

“Time what? I just thought it was a twenty-four hour advance glimpse and nothing more. You didn’t mention anything about controls.”

“Oh? It must have slipped my mind. Sorry ‘bout that,” Hauser said, dropping his chin slightly. “So, yeah. You can control a lot of what you see. You can only go forward twenty-four hours from your current time, but you can rewind and experience anything over again that is within the time window. I sometimes think of an hour ahead and then set it to a speed of five times normal. That way, I catch most everything that is happening, but I’m skipping most of the boring, monotonous stuff.”

“Wait, how do I do that?”

“When you start, just think of the time of day and you’re whisked off. Once there, just say or think the commands clearly. Like fast-forward or rewind. You can even pause it and move around a moment frozen in time.”

“Okay, now I understand your excitement. If I’d had that information to begin with, I think I might have stayed there longer.”

“Now you know. I’ll bet your mind will be blown on your next trip.”

I tilted my head from side to side but said nothing.

Hauser noticed, and asked, “What? Is all this boring you somehow? Wow, you’re a hard man to please.”

“No, I think you’re right. It will certainly be an improvement. But why would I want to pause a moment in the future if it’s always going to be just a blurred environment? Any way to clear that up?”

“I know what you’re talking about. The future you are seeing is an estimation of projected occurrences. Even though the information you are experiencing is almost inevitable, sometimes things don’t always occur as planned. So the images you see are a little fuzzy. The closer you get to the current time, the clearer everything will be. That is, unless there is an absolute certainty, you’ll see the blur.”

“So how does that work?” I asked. “Who is it that figures out what the window to the future entails?”

“Not sure. Don’t care. Listen, Jack. The rosary is merely a tool. It’s not a perfect tool, but it’s there to give assistance in situations like this.”

“But don’t you ever wonder? How is it that all of these tools get made? Is there some kind of top-secret R&D division of the afterlife?”

Hauser shrugged, his eyes rolling back momentarily. “All right, Jack. Here’s what I do know. There is somebody in the Sentinel that… creates these gadgets. How he does it is beyond me. I’m no scientist, and I’m not even sure science is what’s used to make them. I’m just happy that we all get a new device every now and then.”

“So you’ve met him? Or her?” I asked.

“Not formally. I was up… there for another matter and he was present. He’s an older gentleman, long gray hair, silver eyes, reminded me of Gandalf”—Hauser chuckled—”and we didn’t even speak. His stare was penetrating, and if it wasn’t for his smile, I would’ve thought he was a curmudgeonly old coot that was the right hand of death.”

I whistled quietly, feeling a little overwhelmed by the man’s description. As I replayed Hauser’s last words in my mind, something stood out.

“Up there?” I asked.

This time, Hauser’s eyes rolled all the way back before he answered. “Okay, champ. Q&A is over. For now. I think you need to be on task and stay near Noah—”

“But he’s not going to die right away, at least not in the next twenty-four hours.”

“Just because you have this new tool doesn’t mean that you can get lazy. You should still be near him and glean as much knowledge from him as possible. You never know when you might need certain information to assist you in his transition.”

“Like what he had for breakfast today? Or how long he was in the bathroom after breakfast?” I asked.

Clearly irritated at my sarcasm, Hauser stood up and shuffled from side to side as he appeared to be in deep contemplation.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I just don’t get all of this.”

“It’s okay, Jack. If you can believe this, when I was being trained, I may have been even more of a pain in the ass about the whole situation than you’re being now.” He stopped pacing and stood directly in front of me. “Take Wilson, for example. He obviously had the rosary with him, but he still was with you for the majority of your day. He knew what you would be going through and was there in your moment of need. Regardless of your outcome, don’t you think that his ability and knowledge of your past twenty-four hours would’ve helped your transition to the other side be more comfortable?”

Strangely, I hadn’t given Wilson a whole lot of consideration over the past few weeks, and now that Hauser pointed out how genuinely dedicated he was, I felt somewhat embarrassed for my attitude.

“I really am sorry, Hauser. I’m on it. I’ll stick with him and see this through.”

“Apology accepted, champ. Just let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you,” Hauser said as he looked at his pocket watch.

“Wait! Before you go, what can you tell me about animals? Noah and his family apparently got a puppy, and he’s able to see me. In fact he appears to have a strong dislike for my presence entirely.”

“Ah, yes. Animals can see and interact with us. In fact, I have a goldfish back… Never mind. Yes, animals are a challenge for us. Perhaps you should get a hold of some dog treats before you head back. Make a friend. A few tender morsels and he’ll certainly adjust his temperament toward you.”

A moment later, Hauser vanished.

I sat for a few moments longer, deciding which pet store I would visit before heading back to Noah’s. Once I had my plan, I vanished.

Chapter 7

“Dad?”

“Yeah, kiddo,” Noah replied.

“I miss Bailey already,” Katie said before taking another lick of her melting ice cream cone.

“I know. I miss him too, but we’ll be able to pick him up from the vet’s office in an hour or so. He’s just getting a… checkup,” Noah said as he took a bite from his own ice cream.

“What’s a checkup?” Katie asked.

“It’s where the animal doctor checks to make sure that Bailey’s health is okay. They give him shots that keep him from getting sick. They’re also going to do a small operation on him… to make sure his insides are okay as well,” Noah said.

Katie listened, holding her ice cream with one hand and deftly gripping a giant red balloon with her other. The balloon and ice cream were an attempt to preoccupy Katie’s attention while her new puppy was getting fixed.

“Do all dogs have to get their insides looked at?” Katie asked.

Noah smiled. “Most of them do, here in the city. It’s just the right thing to do if we want them to have a happy, healthy life.”

Noah led Katie along the outskirts of the park, heading for their apartment. It was a very seasonal afternoon, with the temperature in the mid 80s. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Ahead of them and to the right, several hundred geese foraged in an open field. It wasn’t uncommon to see such a large gaggle at this time a year.

On the far side of the grazing flock, a man played fetch with a mature golden retriever. The man tossed the yellow tennis ball high into the air a dozen yards away. The retriever chased after it, catching the ball midflight before returning it back to his master. Noah and Katie watched with amusement as the game was repeated several times, until the man overthrew the ball slightly and the retriever missed the midair catch. The ball bounced on the ground, launching it toward the grazing flock of geese, and the retriever chased after it. On the second bounce, the ball struck a sprinkler head, launching it directly into the middle of the flock. The retriever barreled forward in chase. Katie began to giggle as the first few birds took flight. Within moments, however, she stopped laughing as the entire gaggle followed suit, rising up into the air and directly toward her and Noah.

The birds continued to rise, and some of them, lower than the others, nearly collided with her balloon. Katie screamed and ducked, dropping her ice cream and releasing the balloon at the same time.

“My balloon!” she yelled.

Noah ducked momentarily but looked up in time to reach out and grab at the string. Unfortunately his timing was a split second too late, and the balloon drifted farther from his reach. The downflow of air caused by the fleeing birds’ wings caused the balloon to remain low. Noah lurched forward, trying to grasp at the fluttering string again, but his timing was off once again. It was clear that he’d get only one more chance at it before it was lost. He took a step off the curb in chase. As his fingers firmly closed on the string, he smiled toward Katie, only to see a look of terror fill her eyes. A second later, a city bus smashed into Noah, launching him several yards through the air. He landed so horrifically, the bus driver averted his eyes as the single red balloon drifted skyward.

“Rewind,” I said, not believing my eyes.

The scene began to play forward again, starting at the moment Katie released the balloon.

“Rewind.”

Life reversed further, and the dog had just burst into the flock of birds.

“Rewind.”

Further back, and the retriever had just caught the ball. I continued to watch the entire scene play out again. The man throwing the ball. The high bounce. The first of the birds taking flight. The rest of the flock following. The balloon being released. Noah chasing after.

“Pause,” I said as the bus was about to ram into Noah. I walked forward and noticed that the driver had been looking into his rearview mirror and not paying attention to the street ahead of him. That, in combination with Noah looking away from the flow of traffic, spelled a horrific outcome. And the worst part was that Katie, a mere ten feet away, had to witness the entire incident.

“Play.”

The bus hit Noah with such force that his body flew forward nearly fifteen feet. He landed headfirst, driving his shoulder awkwardly sideways. His spine snapped over, his body folding backward unnaturally.

The grotesqueness made me cringe, and all I could think about was Katie. She stood at the edge of the curb as the bus driver slammed on his brakes, narrowly hitting the gnarled body of her dead father. She screamed at the top of her lungs but remained on the curb. The morbidly curious pedestrians neared the scene, and several bent over to retch. Within moments the crowd had grown large, and the well-meaning strangers moved forward to assist if they could, walking past Katie. Nobody paid any attention to the crying child as she remained at the edge of the sidewalk.

I let go of the rosary and was brought back to Noah’s apartment. The moment I regained my bearings, I vanished back to my park bench.

Chapter 8

Images of Noah’s body crashing into the pavement continued to replay in my mind, overwhelming me with emotion as I paced around. All I could think was how unfair life really was. I wished that I would’ve listened to Hauser’s warning about not getting too attached. But I knew it was far too late for that. As I circled the park bench once more, I realized that it wasn’t just Noah that I had become attached to but his entire family.

“Shit,” I yelled.

I could feel my cheeks burn, anger fuming deep inside me. Poor Katie would forever live an altered life after witnessing the freak accident.

“But Katie hasn’t witnessed anything yet,” Hauser said, startling me back to the present.

“Sonofabitch,” I exclaimed. “What?”

“I heard your thoughts, and you’re only half right.”

“What? I don’t follow,” I said, sitting down next to Hauser.

“Katie would have challenges coping with witnessing her father’s death. You said… I mean, you thought that she would live an altered life after witnessing what she just did. But it hasn’t happened yet.”

“Semantics. You know what I meant,” I snapped.

Hauser’s eyes narrowed as he nodded slowly. “Suppose you’re right. Want to tell me how it happened? I’m sorry, what is going to happen?

I exhaled and leaned back. “Yeah, sure. I went back to the Claytons’ apartment and jumped forward twenty-four hours. I was right at the edge of my limits, and Noah and Katie were walking by the park. They had just taken the dog in to the vet’s office and Noah was treating Katie to a balloon and ice cream. As they walked along the sidewalk, a flock of birds startled Katie and she let go of her balloon. Noah chased after it, stepping into the street, directly in the path of a city bus.”

Hauser winced at my description. “Well, if it’s any consolation, it sounds like he didn’t suffer. I’m sorry, at least he won’t suffer.”

“Yeah, I suppose. But the part that really got me was seeing the look of fear on Katie’s face. No one should have to witness such a horrific accident so close, let alone one involving a parent.” I leaned forward and rested my face in the palms of my hands. I wanted to undo what I had just seen.

Hauser looked at his watch. “You said you were at the outside limits?” he asked.

I lifted my face and peered at him. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

Hauser stowed his watch and looked about the park. After a moment of silence, he said, “Oh, no reason, really.”

“Jesus, Hauser, why is it that all of these good people die so helplessly? I mean Noah was a good person—”

“You mean is a good person?”

I nodded. “Okay, I get it. You don’t have to continue to point out my tenses,” I said. “He is a good father, a good husband, and he was just plain doing things right. How is it that his life can be taken away so easily while there are bad people that can continue living their bad lives at the same time?”

“So you’re wondering why we don’t have the ability to play God? Is that what you’re asking?” Hauser said.

“Wait, what? No. I don’t want to play God. I just think it’s completely unfair that good people die when they shouldn’t, while bad people continue to live.”

“You want to play God. I get that,” Hauser said.

I thought about his words for a moment. “Well? Is it that bad that I want to make positive changes?”

“No, it’s not. And trust me, you’re not the first one to have these thoughts. Every new collector has had similar reactions on the matter. And that’s where I come in. I’m here to remind you that it’s not our position, our duty, to dictate who lives and who dies. The balance of humanity is much larger than just you and I could ever imagine. Don’t you remember just a few weeks ago when we were in the ghetto?” Hauser asked.

Somehow I knew he would bring up the gang fight. “Yeah, I remember.”

“You see, not all bad people continue to live. There’s a balance, and neither of us have total control over that. Besides, would you want the responsibility of judging who lives and who dies? Forever? For every soul you come into contact with? What if you made the wrong choice? Suppose you let a person live today, and somehow he changes two years, five years down the road? What if suddenly he snaps and becomes a serial killer? Would you blame yourself for letting this person live? Would you be willing to shoulder the burden of all the people that he’d kill?”

“Hey, slow down. I’m not saying I want total control. I’m just… venting, I guess.”

“All right. I’ll back off,” Hauser said. “I just wanted you to see the alternative, is all.”

“Thanks.”

“So was this rosary experience any different than the one you had yesterday?”

I thought for a moment, trying to figure out where Hauser was going with this question. “I’m… not sure. Obviously it was in a different location.”

“Not what I meant. What about the quality of your surroundings? Were they clear or were they still blurry? Like yesterday.”

“Hmm. I guess a little of both. I remember the park was crystal clear, as was the bus. Noah and Katie were obviously clear, but the surrounding crowd was a little foggy,” I said as I continued to replay the incident in my mind. “And I guess the geese were clear and blurry at the same time. Does that make sense?”

Hauser nodded. “Yeah. It was probably something to do with how they flew off into the air. Like I said, I’m not sure how it all works.”

“The terrified look on Katie’s face was the clearest of all,” I said.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up too much,” Hauser said as he stood and faced me. “Just remember, no one is dead yet.” Then he winked and vanished.

Chapter 9

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I wondered. As I sat on the park bench, alone, I pondered Noah’s impending death and its relation to the conversation I’d just had with Hauser. Here I was, a mere six weeks since my own suicide attempt, and I felt more confused and overwhelmed than ever. I’d gone from worrying about my own depression to contemplating playing God. What happened?

Just remember, no one is dead yet. There had to be a reason why Hauser had said that, and what was up with the wink afterward? Did he really just imply that he wanted me to actually attempt to intervene? To actually take on a God role in this particular soul collection? Was it even possible? Or was I reading too much into it?

I sat back and thought. If I could change the outcome, how would I go about it? I couldn’t speak to Noah, to tell him that he needed to stay away from the park. I could only talk to Hauser and… and the animals. “Hey Bailey, do me a favor, would ya’? Bite your master so he can’t walk in the park with Katie.” Yeah, no. I didn’t think that’d work.

What else? There was something else about the questions from Hauser that lingered in my mind. He’d asked about the scenery. The surroundings and whether they were clear or not. Why would any of that matter? That’s when an idea began to form. I remembered another conversation with Hauser, when he’d said that the reason things were blurry or unclear was because those elements of the future were still uncertain. I tried to recall Noah’s death again, but the imagery was already fading, drifting from my memory. I struggled at remembering what was real and what my mind was trying to convince me was real. No, I needed to see it all again. Regretfully, I needed to see Noah die all over.

I sprang from the park bench and vanished.

Chapter 10

Landing in the middle of the Claytons’ apartment, I found the setting very much as I had left it not more than an hour earlier. I moved around the residence until I found Noah, slumped in an easy chair, reading a magazine. Wasting no time, I knelt down next to him and grasped the rosary. I touched his arm and within seconds was whisked away, back into Noah’s future.

When my vision cleared, I stood on the sidewalk next to the park. In front of me, Noah’s body lay awkwardly in the street. There were hordes of people surrounding the accident, but nobody moved. It was like the scene was frozen in time. It became clear to me that this must be the exact moment that Noah would die.

“Rewind. Rewind. Rewind,” I said, wanting to go back far enough to get a feel of the entire incident once again. “Pause.”

Noah and Katie stood in line at an ice cream vendor. The large open field with the gaggle of geese was just to my left. To my right was where Noah’s crumpled body would lay shortly. With the environment frozen in time, I was able to move around and see everything from multiple perspectives. I walked toward Noah’s position, studying everything as I went. As I weaved through the motionless pedestrians, I focused on the clarity of everything around me. Not surprisingly, things were somewhat clearer than they had been in my first review of Noah’s future. I surmised that it was because I was now closer to his death.

When I approached the ice cream cart, the vendor was holding an ice cream cone out to Katie, who had a cheerful smile on her face. I moved around all sides of the scene, looking for something, anything, that I could do to alter Noah’s path. With all the people around me, I saw no way for me to do so.

“Fast-forward. Pause.”

When the scene paused again, Noah and Katie were standing at the edge of the clearing, staring off into the distance. I walked up to where they stood and looked in the direction of their gaze. The man and his dog were still, lifeless, in the large grassy area. The man had just released the ball in the air and the dog had started his sprint in the direction of the throw. At that precise moment, I knew exactly what I needed to do. I ran toward the dog, my excitement building with each step. When I got to where the dog floated inches above the ground, I looked back toward Noah and Katie. Then I looked to where Katie would eventually release her balloon. I estimated that the distance would take them three to five minutes to walk. I knew that it was an exceedingly tight window in which to try to distract the dog long enough for them to pass that part of the park, but I had to make an effort.

“Play.”

The dog in front of me continued charging forward and caught the ball. Without breaking stride, he returned to his master and dropped the tennis ball. Total round trip for the fetch was about sixty seconds. The dog’s master picked up the ball again and tossed it through the air. The retriever missed catching the ball in midair but still continued the chase. The ball bounced high into the air and directly toward the birds. Thirty seconds. As the dog blasted through the outer edge of the flock, birds began to scatter into the air. Fifteen seconds. As the dog reached the tennis ball at the center of the flock, most of the birds were now flying away. Ten seconds. As the dog turned and ran toward his owner, I saw something.

“Pause.”

I ran forward to where the flock had been just moments before. The golden retriever was in full stride back toward his owner, and when I got to his location, I noticed how blurry he and the ball were. I smiled, recalling once again what Hauser had said about the reasoning behind the blur. Sometimes things don’t always occur as planned. That was it. I’d found it. I just had to distract the dog long enough.

“Play.”

The scene continued as the blurry dog ran back toward his master. I turned to watch the birds fly toward Noah and Katie and noticed they continued to fluctuate between obscured blurs and crystal clear. I dismissed the vision as the red balloon began to flow through the air. As Noah took two steps into the street, I released the rosary from my grip.

I was back in Noah’s apartment, kneeling next to his sleeping body. The magazine he had been reading just moments before was now lying across his chest. I stood and walked into the kitchen, looked at the clock on the microwave, and noted the time: 4:43 p.m.

I had about eighteen hours to kill before I put my plan in motion, which gave me plenty of time for a short visit to a sporting goods store and perhaps a brief rest until my next visit to the park.

A moment later I vanished from Noah’s apartment.

Chapter 11

In all my life, I’ve never once stolen anything. I find it amusing that it took me until I was, for all intents and purposes, dead before I took up the knack. Just in the last twenty-four hours, I’d stolen animal treats, a tube of tennis balls, and a much-needed timepiece. All were justified acquisitions, so I didn’t feel terribly bad for my sudden pilfering.

I slid my wrist out and admired the skeletonized face of my new Nixon Automatic. The time was 10:31 in the morning. I was nervous that my plan might not work at all, and I only had this one chance to make a difference. Therefore I had positioned myself in the park just out of sight of where the man would be playing fetch with the golden retriever. As I waited beneath the canopy of a mature elm tree, I popped open the can of fresh tennis balls and quickly brought it up to my nose. I inhaled deeply, enjoying a brief reflection of good times past. A memory from when Cyndi and I were first dating filled my mind. We had taken up tennis and even took a few lessons with a pro from the health club. Neither of us were very good at it, but it was quality time spent together, and that was all that mattered.

Reluctantly I pushed the memory away and focused on the task at hand. I needed to be ready for when the man and his dog first arrived at the park. I poured the first clean tennis ball out into my hand and gave it a tight squeeze. The texture of the ball against my skin gave me confidence somehow. I tossed the ball in the air a few times, catching it on the downfall. I was ready.

My plan was simple. I was going to wait until the dog trotted into view, and then I would throw the ball out from behind my hiding perch in an attempt to get the dog’s attention. With any luck I could distract the dog long enough for Noah and Katie to pass the scene of the accident. It was a brilliant idea.

Five minutes later, I found myself staring out at the golden receiver being walked by his master. I waited until they were within throwing distance before I tossed the ball toward them. As the ball flew through the air, it flickered from a faded existence to a fully solid object. It bounced once, then twice before rolling gently across the dog’s path. As expected, the dog bolted for the ball and scooped it up greedily in his mouth.

“Hey, Duke. What do you have there? That doesn’t belong to you,” said his master.

The dog pranced around, playing coy, and avoiding letting his master take his newfound ball away.

“Give it here. Drop? I’m sure someone will be looking for this,” he said, glancing about the park. After several moments, he caved in. “All right, boy. I guess we can play until the owner comes to claim it.”

Almost as if the dog understood what his master was saying, he quickly dropped the ball at his feet, anticipating the throw. The dog’s wishes were quickly granted as the man picked up the ball and chucked it through the air. The retriever dashed after it, almost catching the ball in midair. After a short bounce, he caught it and quickly returned it to his master.

Wait, I thought. This isn’t what I had planned. In fact, it appeared that I had just given the dog and his owner the very tool that would spell disaster for Noah in less than five minutes’ time. I thought about tossing a few more balls out, but by the time the idea came to me, the dog and his master were several yards past me and were nearing the clearing with the birds.

“Shit!” I yelled.

I bolted from my hiding spot in an attempt to catch up to them. As I neared their position, I could see the silhouette of Noah and Katie walking down the sidewalk. I quickly revised my calculations and knew I had just minutes left to stop the birds from flying off, causing Katie to react.

I was nearly upon the man and his dog when a sudden idea shot through my mind like a freight train. Instead of slowing my pace to throw a new ball, I increased my speed and ran directly toward the geese. It was a huge gamble, but I felt I was correct in the assumption that if dogs could see me, so could a flock of wild birds.

I stole a final glance in the direction of Noah and his daughter. They were still several yards away from where the deadly accident would take place. Satisfied with their position, I dug deep and gave a final drive toward the center of the grazing birds. As I penetrated the outer perimeter of the gaggle, the birds merely parted around me, not flying away as I’d hoped. When my desired outcome didn’t materialize, I stepped up my spectacle. I began to flap my arms wildly, screaming loudly as I continued to barrel through the flock.

“SQUAWK! SQUAWK! CUH-CAH!” I yelled. One by one, the birds began to take flight. I rushed forward with my lunacy and even began to jump up and down as I flapped away.

Within minutes most of the flock had flown off, with just a few stragglers hanging around on the far side of the clearing. I stopped my theatrics and dropped to my knees out of pure exhaustion. As I breathed deeply, I noticed Noah and his daughter quietly pass by the point of his uncertain death. A split second later, the city bus cruised by, the driver no wiser to the tragedy he was meant to be part of. Satisfied, I leaned back onto the grass and basked in my triumph. Within moments, I was startled by the wet tongue of the golden retriever. He assailed me with his kindness, and before his owner got curious about the situation, I thought about my park bench and vanished.

Chapter 12

Still exhausted from my magnificent performance, I collapsed on my park bench and let out a deep sigh. As I thought about the image of Noah and his daughter walking away from his own escapable death, I smiled widely. Within moments of experiencing the deep satisfaction that only hard work and determination can provide, Hauser appeared next to me. Hauser’s sudden arrivals usually gave me a startle, but not this time. No way. I won—nothing was going to kill this high.

“So? How’d it go?” Hauser asked.

“Well, I think I might have a defective box,” I smiled. “When I showed up at the scene of Noah’s impending demise, things didn’t quite play out as they had when I used the rosary.” I looked straight ahead in an attempt to disguise the real truth from Hauser. My only problem: I was not that great at playing poker, and I sucked at bluffing.

“Jack?” Hauser said sternly.

I half smiled as I turned slightly in his direction. “Honest to God, Noah is alive,” I said, holding back the rest of the story.

Hauser sighed deeply and looked away from me. “You know, sport, you’re putting me in a tough position.”

“How so?” I asked, almost certain I knew the reason.

“You went off and changed the course of his life. You played God.” Hauser stared at me. “Tell me, Jack, how are we going to handle this?”

“But, I don’t know—”

“Cut the crap, Jack. I knew the moment we had our last conversation that you were going to find a way.”

I had been so happy just moments before, but now I could feel my cheeks reddening with embarrassment. “You can’t tell me that you blame me for this. Noah is a good man. He has a loving family and—”

“Stop. I already know all that,” Hauser said, holding his hand up to cut me off. After several moments of awkward silence, he continued. “Listen, Jack, I don’t fault you for your reasons. I of all people would never question your moralistic fiber. I am disappointed that you actually followed through with it. And there will be consequences. Trust me, I know firsthand.”

“Wait, you’ve done this before?”

Hauser nodded silently.

“Then what’s the big deal? If you’ve done this, my punishment can’t be too bad. You’re my trainer, after all.”

“My situation was a long time ago. My chastisement was quite severe at the time. Back then, the Sentinel was a lot different. They pulled me away from soul collection for almost a year, and that year was the hardest of my life.”

“What made it so hard?” I asked.

Hauser shrugged. “My discipline is neither here nor there. I do know this: the Sentinel is very set in their ways today, and trust me when I tell you they won’t be too happy to hear about your latest indiscretion.”

Worry spread through my veins. Hauser was making it sound like I’d lose an arm or leg as penitence for my deed.

Hauser chuckled. “No, it’s not going to be that bad.”

“Been reading my thoughts much?”

Hauser winked.

We sat on the park bench and watched the random pedestrians walk up and down the sidewalk. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned into hours. Before I realized it, the sun had gone down. Neither of us said a word. My own mind raced through numerous possible consequences for my actions. Hauser, who knows? He might have been thinking about feeding his goldfish for all I knew.

Hauser finally broke the silence. “It was shortly after my own training. I think it was around 1820, and I… was trying to atone for my past sins. The soul that I was sent to collect was that of a young girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen, I don’t remember. Anyway, her father was killed in the war and her mother took any kind of job around the village that she could get so that she could feed her family. Because she was away so much, the little girl, I’ll call her Alice, was in charge of her two younger sisters while their mother worked.” Hauser paused but remained staring forward. “As you might imagine, back then there were fewer lawmen to keep the peace. With fewer police, the crime rate was a lot higher. I had just been given a device very similar to your rosary that allowed me to foresee the moment of death. Unfortunately, I didn’t have twenty-four hours like you do now. I only had about an hour, maybe two.”

“Why? Why are you telling me this now?” I asked.

“I’ve not told this to anybody, so take that for what it’s worth. I just wanted you to know that you’re not alone. Shall I continue?”

I nodded vehemently.

“When I used the device, I saw Alice and her two sisters being tortured, raped, and then killed. Two men were passing through town and had learned of the three girls being home alone when their mother inadvertently let it slip while working at a local pub.”

“And you…”

“Yes, I saved all three girls that night. And at the same time I filled two boxes with the bad men.”

“But how did you do it? I mean, I had to get creative with animal manipulation to save Noah. How did you save the three girls and kill the rapists at the same time?”

“That, my friend, is information that will never pass these lips. Let me just say that in this afterlife we live in, we have this… ability that even to this day, I don’t know the full potential of.”

I nodded, remembering something that Wilson had said before I took his soul. “Practical magic?” I asked.

“Yep. Wilson told you?”

“Yeah, but only briefly. I had asked him about his mind-reading ability and that’s how he explained it.”

“I’d imagine that you too will be developing that same ability anytime now. Maybe even before you collect your next soul.”

“But what about my punishment? If you were pulled away for a year back then, what’s going to happen to me now?”

“Well, I was… how can I say this? I was a special case.”

“In what way?”

“My previous life was not filled with joys of spring, so to speak. I did some bad things, very bad. And to make up for those atrocities, I tried to save every soul that I could. It wasn’t until those three girls that I finally got caught.”

“Wow. What did you do? You know, before…”

Hauser’s eyes were damp but the tears didn’t fall. “I’d rather not. Not right now. I’ve already told you more than I’ve told anyone else.”

I accepted Hauser’s answer and didn’t press. I already felt fortunate that he shared so much with me so soon after taking Wilson’s position.

“So what do I do now?”

“Well, have you looked at your box since you freed your mark?”

“No. I don’t mean that. What about me and the Sentinel? What are you going to tell them?”

“Don’t worry about that, kid. I’m supposed to discourage your ability to alter reality. That’s why I was so hard on you earlier. Everybody in our profession knows how much they can push the boundaries. I’ll smooth it over with them and it’ll be like nothing happened.”

“I’m speechless, Hauser. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, kid. Now, where is your box?”

I pulled Noah Clayton’s box from my pocket and held it in my hand. At the same time, Hauser pulled a glass vial from his own inside pocket.

“Go ahead and open it up,” Hauser instructed.

I did so, curious as to what Hauser was up to. As I turned the open box toward him, he removed the rubber stopper from the end of the vial, and a very faint wisp of smoke floated out and into the box. The box closed and vanished.

“Don’t I need to cleanse it first?”

“Nope. That was a clean, virgin soul. Hot off the presses, so to speak.”

Curious, I asked, “And where exactly did you get a vial of a brand new soul?”

“Um, where is of no concern. The big guys upstairs know nothing about it, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Mums the word,” I said as a replacement box materialized in my hand.

“That’s strange,” I said as I turned the box over and over. “This box is like the last one. No name.”

“Give it a minute. Sometimes they’re a little slow to catch up.”

Hauser and I sat on the bench, both intently focused on the box.

After what felt like an eternity, Hauser’s eyes narrowed. He looked into my eyes and uttered two words.

“Oh, dear.”