The Kraken's Spire Literary Magazine (Volume 1)

SEE RILEY EVELYN’ flashed like a drugged-up rave dancer. She swallowed
mountains of fear, struggling to catch her breath. She made her way to the
doorway, took one look back at the waiting room, then passed on through. The
door shut. Locks latched themselves. A blue chair sat under a solemn spotlight.
“Sit, please, I insist,” a voice from the dark called out. She did as the voice
asked. “It’s my understanding that you’re here to discuss your next life.”
Riley squinted to see if she could find some semblance of a shape in the
dark. Suddenly a snip was heard, and a small but forceful light was cast down
upon a desk five feet in front of her. A skeletal figure wearing a business suit
with a crooked tie rolled over to the desk from the gathered shadows. An attempt
at a smile was sketched on the skull.
“Name’s Bob. Take my business card.” The skeleton slid a small index card
across the desk. Riley stretched to pick it up.
“Bob Reaperson, Next World Shepherd Connoisseur,” she read aloud. A little
scythe decorated with yellow smiley faces was hand drawn next to the
name. Below the name in place of a phone number was a simple phrase: ‘Dying
is the first step in living!’
“You like what you see? Cool. Let’s get you set up, my friend.” The skeleton
pulled out a thick folder from the top left drawer of his desk. He flipped to the
final page.
“Says here that you died from a dare gone horribly wrong. Now, what did
you—”
“I’m sorry, is your last name really…Reaperson?” Riley interjected.
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