6 Welcome, Beth Wilson

Beth walked behind the woman silently, her mind racing for ideas to escape from the place. She had to get out of heaven and run to hell at the first opportunity she got. But until then, she had to lay low, she thought to herself. The number bothered her. What was her name? She couldn't remember it. It was as if someone had wiped out her memory. Everything before her arrival at heaven was gone.

She couldn't remember who she was or why she was even in heaven. The man in the purple robe had told her that she had done one good deed in her lifetime. Was this the punishment for doing that? She wondered. Beth stared at the bracelet on her right hand. The system- that was it! It must have some answers. She had to find the right time and place to try accessing it once again, she thought, hiding her hand inside the folds of her dress once again.

Beth looked around the place, taking her surroundings in. They had been walking for a while now. They passed through the middle of the dirty town to what could only be described as a slum. The place was in a worse state than where she had arrived. Beth cringed her nose in disgust as dirty looking children carrying brooms or sometimes buckets of water sped past her, keeping their heads low as they passed the woman in purple.

A sense of de-ja-vu clung to her body as she kept walking forward. She didn't how, but this place was way too familiar. There was no way that she had been here before, but she had. Why else did she know that when they took the turn to the adjacent street, there would only be isolated rooms facing a boundary wall to its front? A large puddle lay on the stone-paved path in front of the room that was at the end of the lane. For some reason, she knew that the woman was leading her to that exact room.

There was no one in the lane. Just the two of them and silence. She could hear the sounds coming from the adjoining streets faintly. This was perfect! She was going to get a whole lane to herself and nobody will disturb her. Beth thought as a trace of a smile made the corners of her lips rise ever so slightly.

"What are you smiling for?" The woman asked, coldly glancing at her sideways.

Beth immediately wiped the smile away. "It's nothing." She replied curtly.

The woman stopped. Pointing towards the room in front of her, she said, "You will settle down immediately in that room. Report to me once you're done." She paused, retrieving something from the fold of her dress.

Beth's eyes widened in surprise. Was there a pocket in there? She wondered. The woman extended a sheet of paper towards her, the same one on which everything about her was written down. Beth took it from the woman, eager to read whatever information was written on it about her.

"You're giving it back to me?" She asked, looking at the woman doubtfully.

"Make sure to take that with you when you come to the office." The woman said, ignoring her question.

Without another word she walked away, leaving Beth alone in the alley. Beth looked at the sheet in her hand. The number twenty-three was written in bold letters at the top, under her photo. She quickly read through the rest of the details. Her address read: room number twenty-three, lower town.

"Lower town?" She read aloud.

Did that mean that there was an upper town too? Was this the only shabby place? She wondered, looking around. Other than that there was nothing else written on the piece of paper. Beth sighed, disappointed. There was no way that she was going to stay here for long. The first thing that she had to do was find her name and then find a way to get the platform near the gate light up somehow.

Beth stepped into the room that was now hers, sidestepping the puddle. The walls were plain and looked like it was whitewashed ages ago with dirt patches all over it. A small shabby drawer stood on one corner of the room with a folded up futon to its side. The stub of a burned-out candle poked out from the worn-out surface of the drawer. Was this where she was going to live? She thought sadly.

Beth sat down on the curb of the house, staring at the puddle with a heavy heart. Suddenly the bracelet pulsed, sending a jolt of electricity through her veins.

"Ouch!" Beth exclaimed, looking at the cold metallic object in shock.

The bracelet pulsed again, sending another set of shock waves through her. In the blink of an eye, Beth was standing in a sea of darkness. She knew where she was this time. But how did she get the system to work? She wondered.

"Welcome, Beth Wilson." The familiar mechanical voice resounded in her ears.

"Beth Wilson?" She asked, confused. Who is that?

A large screen came alive in front of her, the picture of a woman displayed on it. She had long silver hair and deep green eyes. The screen started moving, or rather the girl did. She looked around in confusion, saying something. But Beth couldn't hear what it was. Nonetheless, the woman seemed quite familiar. If she had to rate the woman on a scale of one to ten, she'd rate her a high nine point five. Who was she? Beth wondered.

The woman suddenly banged on the screen angrily. Beth took a step back, startled. The video paused, a set of details appearing on its side.

NAME: BETH WILSON

AGE: 25

CAUSE OF DEATH: GUNSHOT

NUMBER OF GOOD DEEDS: 1

WEIGHT OF GOOD DEEDS: 0.00001 GD

"Who is the woman?" She asked aloud, staring at the screen curiously.

The figures on the screen changed once again. Her eyes lit up as she read what was written on it.

NAME: BETH WILSON

NUMBER ALLOTTED: 23