A pull from beyond
When he was a living, breathing creature, nobody paid much mind to Fred.
In his 36 years on the planet Earth, he’d attended more than a few parties, mostly invitations from well-meaning co-workers at his accounting firm. A few flirtations here and there, sure, but once he started in on 401Ik) plans or capital gains, eyes glazed over. When he first set his eyes on her at his favorite barbecue joint, all thoughts of finances were tossed aside as quickly as short ribs gnawed to the bone.
She seemed destined to appear here and there in his life: He was quite certain he’d caught a glimpse of her when he was rushing across Kansas City International Airport to pick up his sister and her brood. And he’d spotted his dark-haired beauty at one of his favorite haunts (so to say), the Olathe Memorial Cemetery, drifting from one gravestone to the next, pausing with respect at each.
His passions in life were clearly shared by this Kansas City native, and that would be the rich history of 19th-century Kansas City, and what the city was known for now. Barbecue. On this day she was dining on a platter filled with the very finest — from short ribs to brisket, pickle nestled atop toasted bread.
She grinned up at him, sauce slightly smeared across her chin.
Oddly, she seemed to flicker in and out of his vision. She was there and then, in a blink, she was gone.
Oh, he through in his final moments, gazing at the last bite of a brisket sandwich. What guts it would take to go say hello.
In the end—and it was—he figured it could have been his fault. Call it a passion for burnt ends and short ribs. Call it the curse of genetics. All 307 pounds of Fred felt a sharp pain him his chest, and the next thing he knew he was floating above a crowd at his own funeral. Aside from his parents and his sister, who was chasing after her three small children, few seemed to mourn Fred.
It was mid-October, prime barbecue season, when Fred was pulled from his nirvana.
Stuck between Earth and a place he could only imagine would be bliss, he tried to fit in as a quintessential ghost on a quest to find his brown-eyed, sloppy-faced dream girl. The one he now knew was not of the old world he once plodded through.
He had a few strikes against him. First, he was a bit young to be hanging with some of the famous ghosts in Kansas City. To them he was an upstart, and there’s nothing like being snubbed by a ghost to humble a man. Or whatever he was.
Frankly, if Fred were a jack-o’-lantern, he would have been carved by a child’s hand. Standard features, pleasant but bland look (think triangle eyes, turn the triangle upside down for a note, crooked grin).
This was new territory, and he was ready to finally give that face some character. And find his woman. But how?
Fred found himself standing outside of the Olathe Memorial Cemetery. He wasn’t exactly sure where to begin on his journey to find his breathtaking beauty – if the dead were still allowed to use that term. But he had to start somewhere, and he decided he wasn’t just at this cemetery for no reason. He was supposed to look around. All around Fred were headstones engraved for different people, young and old, and Fred realized for the first time how depressing it was to be in a cemetery. The eeriness of the place was increased by the dark clouds passing in the sky, the steely shadows the trees casted over the tombstones, and the cold chill of the mid-October air, although the cold didn’t seem to bother Fred much - considering he was nothing more than a ghoul. He wandered around aimlessly, looking around at the dates the people died and calculating how old they had been at the time of death. He was considering leaving the place and trying to find some other clue about his mystery girl, when out came an apparition of a little girl from the headstone he was standing in front of. Fred jumped in surprise, and had he still been alive, he would’ve had an accident in his trousers.
“Oops, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” The little girl spoke in a squeaky voice. She looked no older than about 6 years old, and she was wearing a white dress with a dark crimson blood stain covering her mid-section. Her hair was in pigtails with violet bows on each side, and completely black eyes, with no whites to them at all. Fred thought the little girl was slightly unnerving.
“Uh, yes, hi, what’s going on?” Fred asked with a shaky voice. The little girl was scaring him more than she should have.
“Oh, right, I should’ve introduced myself, how rude of me. My name is Sophie, and as you witnessed, I came from out of my grave. I was told to deliver a message to the large man standing over my tombstone. So here I am. And you must be Fred?”
Fred wasn’t sure how this demon child knew his name, but he decided to put the thought aside for now.
“Who sent you here? What do you want from me?”
Sophie looked off to the side, and then looked back at him with those same marble black eyes. “Oh, not to fret, you’ll find out who sent me here soon enough. But as for the message I’m required to deliver to you; in order to find your long haired beauty, you must report to the Clock Tower in Overland Park by sunset tonight, or else it shall be too late. Don’t bother asking for more information, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Good luck!” And as quickly as Sophie appeared, she was gone.
Fred wasn’t sure how to feel about this new information, but one thing was clear: he was supposed to be at the Clock Tower by sundown, or else he had no chance to find his dream women; and he wasn’t about to let that happen. Fred looked up at the sky and he could already see the sun coming down in the West, so Fred estimated he had about 30 minutes to get to the Clock Tower. He wasn’t sure how he would get there, but as he started heading away from the headstones and towards the front gate, he found himself traveling much faster than he should’ve been able to. Once he got out onto the street, trees and cars went by him in a blur. All of his surroundings started morphing together, the scenery going by so fast it seemed as if he was on a freight train. Before Fred could approximate how far he had come, he had arrived at the Clock Tower. Fred looked up into the graying sky and saw it was almost sunset. He thought it would be nice to see some sort of sign that he was at the right place, like a giant billboard with his name on it. But, of course, that wasn’t the case. As Fred wandered around, the temperature in the area was slowly starting to decrease. The sky was getting darker, and the feeling Fred got in his stomach was telling him that something wasn’t right. Hoe could so much have gone wrong in such a short period of time? Not only did he not get to finish the last bite of his brisket sandwich, but he had died AND lost the woman of his dreams. Could things get much worse than this?? Unfortunately for Fred, they definitely could. Fred was attempting to figure out what he was doing here when he heard a rustling noise behind him. When he turned, he saw Sophie standing before him once again. Although her appearance had changed somehow. Her once obsidian black eyes had seemed to have gone back to what they would’ve been before, a color like deep sea green that reminded Fred of the ocean. She looked paler than she did before, and also slightly panicked. Fred didn’t even have time to ask her what was going on when she took a hold of his wrist. “I don’t have time to explain, but we’ve got to get out of here. We’re running out of time.” As if on cue, a strange thick green mist started seeping from the trees. They kept running, looking desperately for any way out of the place, but the mist became so thick it had impaired their vision. They could no longer see where they were going. Fred’s breathing became heavy and labored, and soon he forced himself to stop running. He couldn’t make it out of there if he died of exhaustion first. He was starting to catch his breath when he saw a slim figure emerging from out of the mist. “Hey, do you see…”
He looked at Sophie and saw she was frozen in fear, eyes wide and jaw dropped.
Out from the mist came a woman as lean as a tiger, with dark brown eyes and a posture that showed she was ready to pounce at any moment. She had long hair the color of chocolate, and was wearing a black dress with a scythe sheathed on her hip, which made her look even more lethal. The woman might’ve been dressed differently, and taken on the characteristics of a warrior, but there was no mistaking. Standing before Fred was his dream girl. She looked at Sophie with a glare full of distaste.
“Ah, Sophie. I’ve never liked you much. You’re too caring. Too sympathetic towards my victims. You were never much of a help. Now, why don’t you run along back to your grave and give Freddy and I a little alone time, huh?”
Sophie opened her mouth to protest, but the otherworldly woman snapped her fingers, and a crack opened up in the earth and swallowed Sophie, closing up afterwards without a sign it was even there.
His pretty lady turned on him now, starring daggers at him with her eyes.
“Now, now. Where did we leave off last time?” She smirked.
“Last time? I-uh-“
“Yes, don’t you remember? In the barbeque joint, shortly after you had broken your lovers heart so you could try to go out with me. Little did you know I was not part of your world. You know she killed herself after you left, right? She couldn’t handle the despair. You were greedy, Fred. You wanted the best all for yourself, no matter who you hurt in the process. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. And for that, you must pay. You’ll wander aimlessly in the Fields of Asphodel for all eternity, always remembering your sins. Goodbye, Fred. I’ll see you in Hell.”
“Do I even get your name??” Fred asked. His voice was full with fear. He didn’t mean to cause all the destruction he did.
“You’ve seen me once before, right before your puny life ended. And you are seeing me now, right before your second death. Haven’t you figured it out yet, Freddy? I’m the Grim Reaper. Death, as some like to call me. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to send you right where you belong.”
And with that, she pulled her scythe out of its sheath and it glowed a bright shade of blue. The last thing Fred thought of before Death swung her weapon of destruction at his head was if they had brisket sandwiches in Hell.