Chapter 1

In the small town of Harmony, there is a bookshop; the towns’ only bookshop as it were. It is simply titled, “Harmony Books”.  And true to its name, the store has nothing but books. Fiction books, learning books, comic books, cook books, books in different languages, and even a special section of books for those eighteen and older. The shop has every type of book imaginable. And in the very back of the store, where it’s dark and dreary, you will find the poetry section.

And it was on Tuesday the 1st, that if you were to go into “Harmony Books”, and venture deep into the poetry section, you would find something completely and incredibly… ordinary. You would find a teenage girl dressed entirely in black reading a collection of Edgar Allen Poe poems; her pale fingers practically caressing the pages as she turned them. But, on Tuesday the 1st, no one, aside from the girl, was in the poetry section, and no one saw this act of normality.

The girl suddenly looked up from her book, as if something had shocked her. She quickly glanced at the wall clock and swore.

She was late.

She quickly put the book exactly where it had been before, making it look like no one had touched it, and ran out the door, her long black hair trailing behind her. She left the shop and ran down the few blocks that made up the towns’ Main Street. After turning the last corner, she stopped at an intersection and checked her pocket watch. The time was 3:34 P.M.

Phew.

Made it in time, with about a minute to spare.

She leaned against a building, and waited the fifty-something seconds she had left. As the seconds ticked away, she started her usual countdown.

10…9…8…7…

She spotted a bright red sports car coming down the street, and watched.

6…5…4…

The car rode passed her towards the stoplights. They had just turned green.

3…2…1…aaaaannnnnddddd…

SSSCCRRRREEEEECCCHH!

SMASH!!

CRASH!

BOOM!

And finally, a sound that only she could hear, a splintering

CRRAAACKK.

**********************************************

She continued to watch as the engines burst into flames and people started to crowd around. In less than five minutes, the police had arrived and shooed the crowd back. About ten seconds later the paramedics arrived.

The girl stared with a bored expression, looking for the girl she had been sent to escort. It didn’t take long for her to spot them.

The girl was tall and skinny with a magnificent body; her dirty blonde hair went just beneath her shoulder blades and draped over her tanned shoulders. She was probably a few months or maybe a year older than her, but it was still nice to see another female in her age bracket. The girl couldn’t quite remember her name…something starting with an A… Whoever she was, she was certainly showing all the signs: confused expression while running around frantically, waving her arms in front of peoples’ faces, begging to be seen. Soon the panic would be setting in, quickly followed by hysteria. With mild amusement the girl slowly approached the other, and called out a greeting.

“Yo!” The girl didn’t seem to hear her. She tried again, this time louder. “Hey! You!”

Oh Hell, what was her name again? Oh yes, that’s it.

“Amanda!” The teenager spun around and faced her, her sky-blue eyes shining with fear.

“You can see me?”

“Yup.” Amanda walked toward the girl and stared at her anxiously.

“Why can’t they see me? How come whenever I try to talk to them, they ignore me?”

“I think we both know the answer to that.” She looked behind the other girl. The teenager turned around and saw the paramedics dragging a smoldering carcass from the burning vehicle. The corpses’ face had been burned beyond recognition. It was wearing a singed pink shirt with blue-jeans. The few strands of hair that were left were a light blonde. As Amanda turned back to the girl in black, her face seemed to melt with sorrow, as the other girl continued to watch without emotion. She fell to her knees and started sobbing. The other girl sighed and kneeled before her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I‘m…I‘m…”

“Yeah.”

Amanda then proceeded with the usual ramblings. She didn’t want to be dead. It wasn’t fair. She was never going to get married. She was never going to lose her virginity. She’d miss her friends and family (this one brought on a fresh wave of tears). Blah, blah, blah.

It’s not that the other girl didn’t feel for her. Heavens no! She always felt sorry for the newly dead, but after a while, the same speeches got…well…rather annoying, to put it nicely.

When it seemed that Amanda had calmed down enough, she helped her to her feet. She offered her a black handkerchief, which she gladly accepted.

“So, are you…are you…an angel?” She asked between bouts of nose blowing.

“Kind of.” Amanda offered the girl her now snotty handkerchief back. “Keep it.” The other girl nodded in thanks and pocketed the black silk.

“Are you supposed to take me to the Beyond or something?”

“Well, that’s up to you. Do you want me to take you there?” Amanda looked at her, confused.

“I don’t understand. I thought we didn’t have a choice in whether or not we go to Heaven.”

“Most of the time you don’t. But in cases like yours, I’m required to offer you an option. You can come with me or, you can stay here.”

“I still don’t get it.” The “Angel” sighed, and started to walk, motioning for Amanda to follow.

“You mentioned that you’re going to miss your friends and family, correct?”

“Yeah.” The teary-eyed girl mumbled.

“Well, amazingly, you’re not the first person to have this problem.” Amanda shot the “Angel” a dirty look. “So, long ago, The Big Guy upstairs,” She pointed upwards towards the sky. “started offering people a choice. Either go to Heaven, or stay on Earth as a spirit and watch over your loved ones. Personally, I’d go to Heaven. Watching my friends and family mourn over me would be too damn depressing for my tastes. But, that’s just my opinion.” Amanda thought this over for a moment.

“So, what you’re saying is that if I stay here, I can never go to Heaven?”

“Oh, you can go to Heaven. You just have to wait for the next person in your family to die, which could be a while. When someone you want to go to Heaven with dies, you’re allowed to go with them to the Next World.”

“Oh. Okay.” The girl chewed her lower lip in concentration. “Can I think about it for a moment?”

“Sure. Just don’t take too long; I have other people to escort.” Amanda sat on a nearby park bench and pondered while the “Angel” skipped stones in a pond. After five minutes, she told her that she couldn’t decide.

“My father died four years ago, and I’d love to see him again, but I’d feel wrong abandoning my little sister. What should I do?” The “Angel” didn’t turn from what she was doing.

“It’s your decision. I can’t make it for you. But let me tell you something from personal experience.” Amanda glanced at the girl curiously. “Watching the one I love suffer without being there to comfort him is one of the most painful things I’ve ever had to sit through, and I’ve watched little children wither away from cancer.” The newly dead girl went back to her bench and thought some more. Just as the “Angel” was losing its patience, she came to her with her decision.

“I’ll come with you. I can’t bear to watch my little sister cry over me, and I miss my Dad so much…”

“Are you sure you want to come?” The girl in black asked. After a few seconds hesitation, Amanda nodded.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Very well.” The teenager gazed in astonishment as thin black smoke suddenly began to circle around the girls’ back, eventually turning into long dark bones. These bones then turned into nearly see-through wings that seemed to swirl this way and that to their own personal wind. She thought that if she touched them, it would be like touching a light and soft feather.

“Afraid of heights?” The Angel of Death asked.

“No. At least I don’t think so.” Amanda took a cautious step forward. The Angel smirked and held out a hand. As she grasped the hand, entwining the fingers around her own, she immediately felt a sense of weightlessness that she had never felt before. As they hovered, Amanda asked the question that should have been her first.

“What do I call you?”

“Echo. Now hang on.” The Angel’s wings started to flap slowly as she and Amanda started to rise. Then, with a sudden burst of speed the Angel shot up into the air, leaving nothing behind but a faint wisp of smoke.