Lost Angels

The first thing I saw when my eyes opened was a bright blue sky. I was laying on my back outdoors somewhere. I sat up and proceeded to immediately threw up all over a patch of daisies. I groaned, my head pounding. The world seemed to be spinning faster than I remembered, so I couldn't exactly tell where I was, and then, everything focused. I was surrounded by vibrant grass and patches of flowers in every color. This threw me because I had no idea how I'd gotten here and I think I'd remember coming to a meadow this beautiful. I took a deep breath to center myself. I needed to retrace my steps, so I thought back and tried to remember, where had I been before this? Doing this made me realize something that only this situation worse. I didn’t seem to remember my name, who I was, or even where I'd come from. The only thing I vaguely remembered was a blur. It was like it was just at the tip of my fingers, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. A school?

I glanced down at myself to see if that sparked anything. White sandals, a blue sundress, and... Was that bullet wound? Right above the dresses neckline was a star-shaped, circular scar that was a few shades lighter than my skin tone. What did I do that could go and get me shot?

“What the Hell is going on here!” I cried, grabbing my head, closing my eyes tightly, as I trembled with fear.

“Please calm down miss, you’ll scare the mice.” A calm voice said, causing me to turn. A girl stood behind me. She looked to be a few years older, her dress like a slightly more modern version of a pilgrim’s. She wore a hat akin to a witch's, pointed and it sat straight upon her dark amber hair. The thing was, she had only one large brown eye in the middle of her face.

Upon seeing this, I screamed. The girl just stared at me, looking tired, until I stopped, clearly seemed used to this kind of response.

“My name is Clarity. Please call me Claire. Now, if you’ll come right this way.” Claire began walking down a path, which made me notice a large jar, about the size of a backpack, strapped to her back. It was filled with what looked like mist, some of it a deep black and some of it a light gray or white. My brain was telling me not to, but I slowly rose to my feet and slowly followed after Clarity.

“Where am I? What’s my name? Why can’t I remember anything? What’s with the jar? Wh-?” I kept spewing out questions like a broken faucet until the girl sighed and cut me off.

“You’re in purgatory, the place between Heaven and Hell. Your memories, have all have been wiped, except your death.” Claire stated. “If you just think and remember.”

“Wait, I’m dead? What are you talking... about?” I trailed off as it all came back to me. I had been in my fifth period, my Calculus class, when there had been gunshots outside the hall. We all panicked. A man with a large automatic gun kicked down the door and began firing. Most of us made it to safety behind desks. I hadn't been so lucky.

“No. No, no, no, no, no!” I muttered, clutching my head, walking backward, away from Clarity. “This isn’t real! It CANNOT be real!”

“Unfortunately.” Clarity grumbled, clearly irritated, probably with me, but it also seemed like a little more than that. “So, you’re now a lost angel, as we call ourselves around here. Also known as Angeli Perdeti, if you prefer Latin."

"This is a joke, right? Some sort of sick prank?" I burst out as I started to laugh hysterically. "Maybe, it's a dream! Yeah, that's it. I'm just asleep and as soon as I wake up, I'll be home again!" I kept rambling as I laughed, trying to find the logic in this whole situation until Clarity slapped me. Hard.

"Get it together girl. It's hard to deal with, but you're dead. I'm dead. Every creature and person you might meet here? Dead." She looked at me with her one big eye almost sadly. "It's best if you come to terms with it now so you can move on with your afterlife. Now, follow me. We need to get you a holding jar, so you can start collecting." She turned back around and started walking again. This time, I just stood in place, too overwhelmed to even follow her.

"What? Collecting? Are you nuts?" I asked her, throwing my hands up, my voice slowly rising to almost a scream. "This is impossible! None of this can be real! Even if it was, what could I possibly be collecting in this place? TULIPS? PANSIES?" I gestured wildly to the flowers around us. When Claire answered the question, she didn't turn around, stop walking, or even slow her pace. She just answered with a steady voice and an even tone.

"What are we collecting? Forgotten and dark souls, of course. What else?"