7 Grow a tree

"That's me?!" Beth exclaimed excitedly.

Great! It was good to know that she'd look like a hottie when she'd grow out of this ten-year-old's body at whatever point in time. But when would that be?

"Beth Wilson." She tested the name out on her tongue.

It sounded wonderful to say that out loud. Yes. That was her name. She was Beth Wilson, and she was twenty-five years old. She stared at the picture of the woman on the screen in awe. That's what she looked like before she woke up in heaven. She couldn't help but smile at the realization. The system was useful, after all.

Beth cleared her throat. "How do I get out of heaven?" She asked, raising her voice.

The screen in front of her went blank all of a sudden. She was wrapped in darkness once again. It started getting cold slowly. Beth shivered, wrapping her hands around herself. The small white dress that she was wearing didn't do much to shield her from the cold.

"Wrong Command. Try again." The mechanic male voice echoed.

Beth scratched her head awkwardly. "Uhh...How do I go to hell?" She said, paraphrasing her intention to the best of her abilities.

"Wrong command. Try again." The voice echoed once again.

Beth huffed in irritation. "This is such a task!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. Her little fingers wound inside to form a fist the size of an egg.

"Congratulations on getting your first task." The voice boomed as the screen lit up once again.

Beth took a step forward, narrowing her eyes at it.

TASK: GROW A TREE

"Grow a tree?" She read aloud, looking confused. Was the system faulty? Why would it ask her to grow a tree? She wondered. If that was her task, then there should be something that she'd gain from it, she thought, nodding to herself. Beth raised her chin arrogantly. "Why? What do I get in return?" She asked, staring at the screen.

The contents of the screen changed once again.

STEP 1: PROCURE SEED

STEP 2: PLANT SEED

STEP 3: WATER THE PLANT TILL TREE GROWS

FOLLOW ALL THE GIVEN STEPS TO COMPLETE TASK.

She read the contents quickly, her confusion growing.

"Complete two tasks to level up." The mechanical voice boomed.

"Level up?" She asked, her brows scrunching in irritation. "I don't understand." She said, taking another step towards the screen.

"Complete two tasks to level up." The voice echoed once again, repeating the same message.

"Is this broken or something?" Beth asked, looking at the screen curiously. Maybe it was broken. She'd have to fix it before she could get more information out of the system, she thought to herself. Beth raised her hand instinctively, intending to hit it back to normal.

But before her hand touched the screen, it went blank. In the blink of an eye, she was back in her room, sitting at the curb and staring at the bracelet on her wrist with her mouth open.

"Did it just kick me out?" She exclaimed, surprised at the audacity of the system to push her out of it. A sudden thought flashed in her mind. "Wait, if I forgot everything after coming to heaven, how do I still know about operating a system?" She wondered aloud.

It was bizarre how out of all the things that she could remember, this was the only thing she actually did. She seemed to know how systems in general worked. But she didn't know how she came across the information. Maybe the knowledge was part of her life before her death. Or maybe, it was something else.

"Hey," She called out, tapping on the metallic bracelet. "I need some answers."

Nothing. No answers came from it. It was silent as a cold piece of metal should be. Beth wondered how she made it work in the first place. There must be a way to get inside the system once again. But how? She needed more answers if she was going to get out of the place. But the bracelet was simply not cooperating. It was playing dead.

Beth sighed, shaking her head. At least she got something out of the system. She now knew her name.

"Beth Wilson." She murmured, smiling to herself. "That's a nice name."

Beth read through the contents of the paper once again, her heart beating erratically inside her chest. A single piece of paper and a simple dress was all that she owned at this moment. Everything that proved that she meant something in heaven was written on it. She wondered what kind of person she was before the bullets took her life.

The system had displayed that the number of good deeds that she possessed was one. Why hadn't she done more when she was alive? She remembered the girl standing in front of her in the queue at heaven's gate. She couldn't remember her name. But the girl had told that there was a hierarchy in heaven.

If that was so, then it must mean that she was a slave because of the lack of good deeds. If Beth hadn't done that single good deed, then she probably would have ended up in hell. She wondered if that was a mistake or not.

As she sat there staring at the paper in her hand, a cool breeze swept through the narrow alley, gliding through her soft locks of hair. She looked down at her tiny hand and her small feet. The image of the beautiful woman with silvery-blond hair made her feel hopeful. The system remembered her before her body shrunk. It must mean that there would be a way to reverse the process.

She wondered what it meant to be bound as a slave. All she knew was that someone owned her. Who could that be? How did her master look like? Was he also a human once upon a time? Or was he something else? Her mind wandered through endless questions, none of whose answers she had at the moment.

That was when she noticed that the sun was going down and quickly at that. She remembered the cold woman in the purple attire. Her stern voice rang through her head in a warning. Her eyes widened in shock at the realization.

"Oh shit! I'm late!" She exclaimed, getting up from the floor.