Episode 4

I froze when I heard his name.

Jake.

My Jake.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I wonder what Jake sees in you! You are such a despicable person. You don't even wait to listen to what I have to say!"

"Well, what do you want to say?"

She scoffed. "Now I won't tell you because you've been nothing but plain mean to me."

"Well, what do you expect me to do? It's not everyday I see a ghost."

"I'm not a ghost! I'm an angel."

"Keep telling yourself that."

Her mouth dropped in an 'O'. "I'm telling you I'm an angel, sent here to help you."

"Right. I believe you. Are you dead?"

"Yeah."

"But you're here. So that means you're a ghost."

"That's what you stupid humans call us. But I'm not a ghost. I'm an angel. See my wings?"

"So what? You're still a ghost to me."

She sighed as if giving up. "Whatever. I don't think you're worth my time. You know what, I'm not going to help you. Here I was, about to give you an opportunity of a lifetime, a second chance to make your life better and you're here shooing me off and hitting me with your bag."

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. Now please tell me why you're here? And what were you saying about Jake?"

"You know Jake, right?"

"How do you know? Have we met before?"

"No, it's actually my first time talking to you."

"Then do you know Jake?"

"Yes, of course. We died almost at the same time so we were enrolled into our angel lessons in heaven together."

I shook my head. What did I just hear? It made absolutely no sense.

"What are you talking about?"

She sighed heavily. "It's complicated and if I'm going to help you then I need to tell you everything related to what happens after one dies, you know, the afterlife and such."

"You mean to tell me that people live on after they die? As ghosts?"

She looked mad at me again. "Utter that word again in reference to what I am and I'll make sure you experience what ghosts really are."

I raised my hands up in surrender. "Okay, Okay. I'm sorry."

"Kid, who are you talking to?" An old man I just realised was passing by, asked me.

I stared at him confusedly and looked at Vanessa to make sure she was there.

"Don't you see this woman?" I asked him.

He squinted his glasses covered eyes at Vanessa and shook his head. "Are you alright, kid?"

"Of course I'm alright. But don't you see her?" I asked him again, pointing my finger at Vanessa.

"There's no one there," he said.

"Why can't he see you?" I asked Vanessa and she just laughed in response.

When I looked back again, the old man was hurrying away from me.

"Hey, wait!" I called after him but he just looked back at me and increased his pace.

"Great. Now he thinks I'm mad."

Vanessa chuckled next to me.

"How about we go somewhere with less people so that I don't come off as a mental patient."

"Sure."

I nodded. "I don't want to go somewhere too secluded though. You're still a gho-angel, I mean, and I don't know if I can trust you. Honestly, I still can't believe I'm talking to someone like you."

It really was absurd. I never thought one day I would communicate with a ghost. And yes I'm calling her a ghost. Good thing she can't read my mind.

"Says who? You don't know what I'm capable of."

I froze. No way. She can't hear my thoughts.

"Yes, I can."

"H-how?"

"Well, a human's thoughts are weak electromagnetic waves, which angels pick up on. A human's thoughts can manifest anything and everything they desire but that's off topic. We have this special ability to hear any human's thoughts when we concentrate on them. This ability is gifted to all angels to help them make humans happy. So all the good things happening in your life is most probably because of angels."

"Wow. Really? But why would you guys do that for us? Why not just do nothing and still be an angel?"

"That's no fun. To survive in the afterlife, we have to have angelic points. This can only be done when we make humans happy. That's why there are little things that make humans happy and rarely a big miracle happens that results in a human's happiness. The bigger the magnitude of happiness of that person, the more we get angelic points. There are some angels though who do nothing and laze around all day. Those are stripped of their status and their wings are taken away. They don't have any title so basically they are useless. Even as a human, I excelled in everything so of course I would want to excel in being a good angel as well."

"That's a lot to take in. I would've never imagined there's a system like that in the afterlife."

"Yeah, so I recently found out that your happiness lies in Jake's return."

I looked down. The mention of him immediately brought tears to my eyes. Whenever I think of him, I wanted to do nothing but cry and blame myself for his death.

"There is no way a person can be brought back from the dead." I said, my heart breaking with each word I spoke.

"Sure there is. I can give you that chance."

"I'm not stupid. You might be an angel but I know that you can't grant me my wish. You can't reverse time. The world won't go three years back just for my happiness. And if it can, then why aren't so many people back from the dead? Why aren't you back from the dead?"

"Well, that's because I can't make it happen on my own. I can't bring myself back from the dead. Some other angel who's actually willing to grant that wish for someone who cared about me can do it. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anyone who cares about me."

"Do you mind if I ask you how you um...died?"

"I was orphaned young. My parents were killed by a hitchhiker. They didn't know that he would end up killing them. My parents had ran away and married as their parents were against them being together. I was an only child and had no clue about who my relatives might be. They were searched and I was sent to live with them. But they treated me badly and then I got into trouble with a boy gang in high school and they...killed me. They used to bully me."

"Oh, Vanessa. I-I'm sorry. Did they end up in jail?"

"No, they didn't. They had connections and bribed the cops."

"That's so wrong. I'm really sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. It was three years ago."

"So you mean to say that when people die, they become angels. Is Jake an angel too now?"

"Yeah, he is."

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