One minute I was in my shower cleaning up getting ready for work as a barista, then next I opened my eyes, found myself at a podium with a million people staring back at me. I was extremely confused and trying to figure out if maybe this was some sort of dream. I even pinched myself, not my proudest moment.

“This is not happening,” I spoke my thoughts into the mic and then realized I had said that out loud and had to take a deep breath and release. I looked down at the podium but found no notes of what he might have been telling these people. There wasn’t a projector with his speech either. I would have to improvise and hope that it would be okay.

The longer I couldn’t come up with anything, the more I stared at them with a blank face looking foolish. I need to come up with something fast, but I was drawing a huge blank. I felt like a panic attack could be coming on, but it seemed as if this new body didn’t experience the anxiety my soul did.

“Let’s talk about the meaning of life, no one really knows what it is,” I finally spoke. I decided to channel what I was going through and feeling right at this moment and that helped me to talk to these people. They seemed to be listening intently and happy with my topic.

“They say take a walk in my shoes, but none of us have ever physically taken a walk in someone else’s shoes besides our own,” I kept the conversation again.

“I have, I wore my moms heels this morning,” a girl from the crowd explained determined to prove me wrong.

“I don’t mean actual shoes, I mean being born as them, waking up as them, going through the years and experiencing their life experiences,” I answered the question.

“Life keeps going, it doesn’t stop. We’re meant to learn, we’re meant to keep going,” I said trying to think of more.

“Sir excuse me,” someone said stepping on stage and interrupting my speech. “This is my class and I don’t know why your talking on my behalf.”

When I looked at them, I realized it was my body but it wasn’t me in that body. It must have been the owner of the body that I was currently on.

It’s strange, I always pictured life after death as a pleasant paradise, where everyone was happy and they had all they could want. It wasn’t like that in the slightest. It wasn’t a bright light like they show in all the movies, it was more like a slide at your favorite playground.

It’s never ending and your thrown through loop after loop. You don’t see the people from the living world, in fact you don’t even remember any of them. Even more strange is everyone here looks the exact same, it’s like looking in a mirror or a hundred mirrors.

There’s no ocean, no sun, no grass and no weather changes at all. Everyone is put into categories and then assigned a daily task. Sometimes it’s to help the newly dead on a tour, or help them find their categories.

All categories share a resident in which they live with many of the same category. One thing is for sure that we all thought was true is we never sleep. We don’t have any need for it, we have an endless supply of energy.

Being a single parent was hard, but I wouldn’t trade Wendy for anything else in the world. She loved with everything she had, she was kind, and she always kept me amused.

“Daddy,” Wendy said grabbing my hand while I was in the kitchen making hot chocolate for us both.

“What Wendy,” I asked her.

“Boo is in my room and he wants the egg to hatch,” she explained leaving me puzzled.

“Who is Boo? Also what egg?”

“Boo lives here too, he lived here before us. The egg in my room, I’m trying to hatch a baby,” she said like it made perfect sense.

“There is no Boo that lives here, just me and you,” I told her simply. “Why are you trying to hatch an egg in your room?”

“No Boo lives here too, he’s clear but looks like us,” she finished. “Because I got it out of the fridge and I want to watch a baby come out of it.”

“Is boo your imaginary friend,” I asked her figuring that made the most sense. “Why would a baby come out of the egg? Those eggs are for breakfast or other meals. Can you put it back in the egg carton in the fridge please?”

“Boo is real!” She stomped her foot. “His bedroom is downstairs. I’m not eating a baby daddy, we have to take care of it like we do Rosie.”

Rosie was her babydoll that I had gotten her for her birthday. It was one of those baby alive toys and she loved it. She changed her diaper, fed, took her for walks in the stroller and slept with her.

“There isn’t a bedroom downstairs, this is the bottom floor sweetie. There is not a baby in the egg, only food so it’s fine to put back in there, you have to be careful not to drop it or it’ll break and make a mess.”

“There was a bedroom downstairs, but after boos mom and dad left, they put tape over it and I won’t break the baby I’m gonna hatch it,” she promised.

“There’s no tape on the floor, and why do you think theirs a baby in the egg?”

“That’s how babies are born daddy! They come out of the egg, boo told me that!”

“Only baby chicks come out of eggs not actual baby’s, they come from their mommy’s tummy’s,” I said realizing I made a fatal mistake.

“I don’t have a mommy so boo said baby’s without mommy’s come from eggs that daddy’s hatch!”

“Your right, I’m sorry sweetheart.” I would explain the truth of it all later, but still had no idea who this Boo was.

I should have left hours ago, but my best friend said she wouldn’t be able to pick me up till later and no one else lived close enough to me. Here I was sitting watching as people arrived off the plane.

I picked up the martini I ordered from the bar and took a big gulp of it swallowing it. I watched as the security directed a old couple to where the exit was. There was a wife, pregnant who was reunited with her army officer husband and they were crying happily in the moment.

Next up was a happy family, both a boy and a girl with Mickey Mouse ears, they must have just got home from a summer vacation. Behind them was two teenagers returning from a trip of Cabo, Mexico.

Then for a moment, there didn’t seem to be any passengers arriving. I waited and wondered how long it would be until more arrived home from their trips and shocked to find the next man arriving had just got back from a business trip with his suitcase in hand and a black Tux.

“Tabitha, you ready to go,” I felt someone tap my shoulder and turned to find a stranger. I got up and walked with them towards a white light and everything started fading. I opened my eyes to find it was a dream and my alarm Clark blaring loudly.

I had recently decided to step out of my reading comfort zone. I found an old western book from an unfamiliar author. I read the synopsis and I could already feel myself pushing it away and not wanting to give it a chance. So summer came and went, So did fall, and winter. Then finally in spring I decided to finally pick it back up again. At first I wasn’t too interested but as I read more it started to really resonate with me.

The main character didn’t want to be part of the western community, she loved the animals and people. She wasn’t a fighter, she liked to make peace if possible. She couldn’t shoot any of the targets not even with a pistol. She liked to wear her hair down, wear dresses and she wanted to be a police officer.

She was going to follow her dream even if her family didn’t like it and she quickly became the black sheep of the family for wanting to do things her way and not following in the family’s footsteps. I started realize how much I saw myself in this character, I wasn’t a cowgirl or shooter. I did relate to walking to the best of my own drum, being a black sheep, and not letting people feelings change what I want to do with my career.

Chelsea

Hi, this letter is weird for me, to write a letter to myself, but your also not my self. I am you, but I live in another universe. In mine we are suffering, the coronavirus runs rampant here, I’m coughing as write this letter and struggling to breathe.

In my universe, Biden did not win the election, Neither did trump, instead a more sinister politician won. His name was Dennis adams and he ceased operation of the vaccine. He outlawed masks, any kind of medicine and hospitals.

Not many of us remain, there are so few of us. I am holed up underground with only my sister and mom. You might be wondering why I am writing to you and what you can do for us?

I know you have doctors, medicine, if you could bring them through to ours, my world might be saved from this ravaging disaster. The way to our world is through the freezer in the grocery store, look behind the shelf with the cookies, touch the wall and it should drag you through to mine.

Please help us, you are our last and only chance. I can only hope this letter makes it’s way to you.

Sincerely

Chelsea (parallel you)

She would never forget that day, the last day with her mother. It was the summer of 2002, Maria was seven, her big sister Josie was ten years old. She had her mittens on, winter coat, snow jumper, and boots on.

Their mother always made sure that they dressed warm, in the winter. It was Indianapolis Indiana, the temperature was ten below, the snow was at least four feet deep on the ground. She and Josie had been so excited to play outside. They made snow angels, made snowman and danced around as the flakes fell from the sky.

Maria, Josie and their mom were having a snowball fight, smiling and giggling. The old blue camaro came out of nowhere and struck their mother. Josie screamed a blood curdling scream and Maria rushed to her mom side with tears bursting from her eyes.

The old man in the camaro looked on in horror at what he had done, he stepped out with the two girls. He dialed 911 and told them everything that had happened.

“I didn’t mean to,” he repeated over and over to the dispatcher.

“Mommy please you have to wake up,” Maria begged her mother.

When the Emts arrived, they tried to resuscitate her, but it was too late and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

At twenty seven, Jordan was the youngest to ever learn the trade. He was fast, intelligent and he never failed a Job. He had only been doing it the last three years, he started out as a bounty hunter, but when he killed his first bounty, he couldn’t collect the money and someone approached him with this expertise instead.

He agreed instantly and learned quickly. Many of his older peers despised how fast he had moved up the ranks and became the Boss favorite. The nicknamed him Goldilocks because of his Golden hair and pretty boy look hoping it would piss him off.

He took it in stride and it did the exact opposite of pissing him off. He didn’t care if they didn’t like him, or that they were jealous of him. He wasn’t here to make friends, he was here to do a job and to do it well.

He was a loner and he worked well on his own, but he was about to be tested. Today the boss assigned him a new project with a partner this time. Her name was Ellen, she was average build, ruby red hair, and dark brown eyes. She seemed about annoyed as he was at the project and he never saw a girl assassin before.

“Excuse me sir, but I don’t mean to be rude. I can’t work with a partner, I do so well because I’m on my own,” Jordan told him politely.

“Your the best I have Jordan and she is also the best we’ve trained. This assignment requires two of you. Your gonna have to figure it out,” the boss said and walked away.

“Don’t get in my way,” Jordan said to her coldly.

“I won’t get in your way if you don’t get in mine,” Ellen told him even colder.

“I’m not looking to rescue a damsel in distress that’s only gonna hold me back. If you can’t hold your own, then I won’t hesitate to leave you to die.”

“You’ll quickly find that I’m no damsel and do well to hold your tongue, or I’ll slice it from your mouth to remind you who’s the better assassin,” she threatened him. “Also we start tomorrow night, 10:39 PM don’t be late!” Before he could say anything else, she left him alone with his thoughts.

All of us were born, with five senses, but in the first week of life, we are sent through the desensitization. It removes us of all of them and we are taught, they are privilege we will earn back when we are older. I spent many years dreaming about what it would be like to feel these senses, it was all I wanted. Every birthday was another year closer to making the dream happened. Today I turned eighteen and today I went through the resensitizer, and when I came out it was not how I expected it to be. First was the sight, the world I believed to be a lush paradise, was actually a barren wasteland and the sun was bright ugly fireball.

Feeling was even worse, I could feel the heat scorching me and the itchy clothes that I had dressed myself in were smothering me. My feet touching the dirty ground made me feel dirty and disgusting.

When I arrived home, I got into the shower right away. The cold water felt like frozen ice cubes stabbing my skin and when a droplet touched my tongue.

The water tasted like poison, and made me nauseas. I got out and wrapped a towel around my body not wanting to put the uncomfortable clothes on that I was wearing earlier. I opened the fridge to try and see if any of this tasted better than poison that had slipped on my tongue. The scent filled my nostrils from the fridge and it was awful. I couldn’t breathe and quickly slammed the door shut and slid down on the ground.

I pulled out my little radio and decided to play some upbeat music that I heard people with the senses had loved so much. Within the first ten seconds I had to shut it off, it was like someone had shoved tiny sharp needles into my eardrum and I thought they might burst. My beautiful dream had actually turned into a nightmare. People had lied when they said it would be the best day of my life. It was the most torturous day. I wanted them to take me of my senses was again as little droplets of tears fell down from my eyes, I could taste putrid sour droplets.

In the kingdom of Angbotean, it was a peaceful land. They had a genuine king and queen, magic was everywhere. Some could fly, some could heal, predict the future, and some were faster than sound or light. For many years the king and queen tried to create an heir and had failed so when the queen finally bore a beautiful son it was a joyous occasion for all the kingdom. He had hair white blonde and piercing blue eyes, he was given the Name Angel. When he was three, his power manifested and he could control the water. They trained him right away and he perfected it in a year. The town was suffering from a drought and he ended it. They believed him to be their savior.

Not long after he perfected his power, the queen bore a second son with jet black hair and the same piercing blue eyes as his brother whom they both shared with their father. He was given the name Ozzy and the the town believed him to be a thing of nightmares. They treated him as such as he grew up mocking him and beating him including the children in school. It only got worse when his power manifested at seven when another child taunted him and his temper flared burning the kid inside out. His father spent several years trying to train him to control it, but to no avail. As a last resort, he put magic bindings on his arms, something they put on prisoners. This worked for a little while, but soon his magic was too strong and it wasn’t enough to keep it at bay. Then his father had to put a magic collar around his neck to completely cease any magic. The townspeople mocked him and called him a dog. They would throw sticks at him and call him a bastard because many refused to believe he was the kings son, even though his mother had always been faithful. At 17 years old and his first day of junior year, the kids had mocked Ozzy as they always had. His temper flared, he hated these kids, his perfect brother and all the kingdom. Without realizing, the collar had failed to work and the school had filled with molten hot lava and burned everyone inside except Ozzy who had escaped. Returning home, he found that his older brother, the towns beloved savior Angel was now the king as their father had a heart attack and took his last breath. His first plan of action was to put a stronger magic collar and cuffs on his younger brother and throw him in the dungeon. “My father failed to protect all of us from this monster, but I will not,” Angel promised the people. “I will execute him.” Their mother struck him. “You can’t do this your father wouldn’t want this and I don’t, he is your brother,” she pleaded. “Your a monster as much as he is, I will have you executed for putting your hands on me in front of the kingdom and the monster you bore,” he warned. He took his sword, unsheathed it and struck his mother’s head clean off. The anger pulsed through Ozzys veins and his magic broke the bindings placed on him. “I hate you all and I hate him even more,” he said looking out to the crowd. He snatched the sword from his brother with their mother’s blood on it. “I will take your hero from you, and you will suffer the way I have,” Ozzy said briefly and shoved the sword straight through his heart and Angel was dead instantly. The town feared that the only leader they were left with was the one of their nightmares.