2 I want to retire!

Just the way everyone thought at least once in their life about how they might die, or what happens after they die? I used to ponder on these questions too. I always thought, once I have died I would meet the grim reaper, then I would be taken to be judged. They would have given me a free pass since there was nothing much was there on my good list or bad list. And I would happily go to heaven and have a well-deserved retirement.

I would hit on handsome angels and bask in the sunlight for however many days to come.

It seems death was never what I thought it was. And since I was getting firsthand experience, it doesn't feel nice. It feels like I have lost something very important (Obviously my life and body), but there was no Grim Reaper even though there was supposed to be. Just a High school girl trying to put me in a flask.

Maybe not even Grim reapers want me anymore! This sad thinking crossed my mind. Just this former student of mine trying to stuff me into a flask. The flask itself was nothing special, just a common bright yellow one that one would usually use for bringing hot water or warm soup. There were even cartoon strawberries decorating the outer cover.

The reason I kept resisting was that it gave me a very bad feeling. As if I might not come out once I went in. Maybe she might make me her Genie and make me fulfill 1000 wishes. I didn't want to be imprisoned after death.

"Let me go! I don't want to be your Genie!!!! Give my retirement back to me!!!!" I yelled out as I mustered all my strength to resist being put into the flask.

"What the hell is wrong with you!!! Just get in before you dissipate!!" Ruby yelled back to me while using telepathy.

"Huh?"

I got sucked in.

She closed the lid.

I am her genie now. I wanted a retirement! And handsome agels~~~!!!!!!

Since I couldn't go anywhere anyway, I decided to check out my surroundings.

The flask she put in appeared similar to a room to me from the inside. It was like a cube, trapping me in it. Even though there was no source of light here, I could clearly see(?) everything. It was as if I was not literally seeing things but perceiving it instead through some other sense.

Then for the first time in 5 minutes since I died, I decided to check myself out. Do I look like a zombie now? A white blob? Sexy vampire?

Floor?

There was nothing for me to see. I just saw the floor where I was standing. I was transparent?

"Ms. Pearl?"

I heard Ruby's voice again. She sounded a little different from how she usually speaks.

"Are you going to make me a Genie?" I asked in all seriousness. Since I was already trapped, I may as well make clear of your situation.

"Huh? A Genie?" Ruby was surprised.

Don't tell me I brought something on to myself again! My bad luck in life shouldn't have followed me to death.T_T

"No. You are not worth a high profile contract like that. You are not ever a Lingering Spirit yet. Who would sign a Genie contract with you?"

I could feel the palpable amount of disdain in her voice. Wait, she said Genie contract? Also, I am not worth it.

Ouch! Even in death, I am not respected. Let's hope that those kids won't have a hard time killing me.

"What are you going to do with me?" I had to concentrate. I need to know what situation I am in and also if there's any way for me to go back to my body!

"Nothing bad. You will only benefit from whatever we will do." She sounded impatient. "I permit you to ask 2 questions before we teleport. Make it quick!"

Little brat! I always encouraged them to ask as many questions as they like, but this girl only allowed two questions for me. I couldn't help but notice the unua=sual amount of disdain in her voice.

I took a deep breath(?) to calm myself down. This was an opportunity for me to make myself clear. With much pondering, I finally decided on my two questions.

"Is there still any hope for me to go back?" This was the most important question right now for me. If I can live well, why would I want to die?

"No." Ruby's voice was clear. Her answer was professional and precise. It was as if she had done this several times already. "Your body's dead, and you are not yet capable of going back just like that."

I noticed she said 'Yet'...

"And before you think of any brave ideas, it would take you a few thousand years to be barely capable of that." She answered before I had a chance to ask.

I took a few moments to calm myself down. So I am really dead? Should I be glad, should I be sad?

"What am I?" This was the second question that has been bugging me for a while. I couldn't see myself, so I had to know what I am.

"Well, that's a tricky question," Ruby answered after some thought., "Normally, ordinary people like you without much soul power and spiritual training mostly dissipate back into nature since souls are just a form of energy. If you are a little more powerful, a grim reaper would have come to escort you to the afterlife, but no one came, so I think your soul wavelength should be different from the rest of the humans. But you are a rare case. Maybe you were not a human since the beginning, or you might be a mutated soul? No idea about that! But I do know that you are still a huge blob of energy, but you didn't have any lingering desires or attachments, so you did not become a complete and full-fledged ghost and just remained the huge blob of energy."

"If I want to categorize you, That would be out of my authority, that's something the Main Office will let you know." Ruby seemed to have thought about this question carefully. But still, in the end, she doesn't know what I am.

"Anyway, if I had let you just loiter around outside, you would have started dissipating, and in the end either you would have been assimilated into nature or consumed my some other 'beings'" I could almost see the smug look on her face as she was saying these things.

"Thank you!" I said while gritting my teeth. Even if it was true that she saved my Undead Life, I still hated the fact that she sounded so smug about it.

"So, What next? Where are we going now?" I asked while suppressing my growing annoyance.

"To the Planet's main office." I could feel the space around me shaking

"We are about to teleport. You might feel sick, so please bear with it. I am only responsible for collection and submission, and the rest of the things will be done by other staff." Ruby informed me. I could feel the intensity of the tremors surrounding me increasing as well.

"Okay." was all I could say. Who knew what was she rambling on about.

Soon the shuddering intensified. I felt as if someone put me in a washing machine and spun me at the speed of about 2000 times a second. The feeling was awful. As if someone was turning my gut inside out.

But I felt the surroundings stabilizing soon. "We're here."

I heard Ruby's voice taking me out of my trance. I swear I am not going to do that again. Teleportation is awful.

"Are you feeling okay?" Ruby asked me with a trace amount of concern in her voice. "It's only uncomfortable for the first few times, once you get used to it, it's fine."

She consoled me. She didn't do that when she said that I died, but for a bad experience. This is considered worse than dying?

"I am going to let you out now. We are now inside the Main office building, souls and spirits will not dissipate here. Just hang tight and sta close to me. Okay!" As soon as Ruby said that, I could feel a weird pull coming from all around me. It felt as if these walls were trying to suck me into them. How many bad experiences do I have to go through before I can rest in peace?

Just kill me already! Let me die in the Peace!

Soon I was out. It literally felt as I someone refined me out of those walls the put me together again. How awful.

Once I was outside the flask, I saw what was before me. A girl who looked similar to Ruby, but the only difference was the wild eye color. It was neon blue colored eyes.

"Let's go!" She turned around and started walking in one direction. Only then did I notice the Main Office of this Planet. It was glowing. Everything was either made up of either some expensive-looking stone or some expensive-looking metal.

I followed Ruby silently since she was not giving me much choice either. But one thing I did notice was that it was crowded. The main hall was as big as maybe 2 football grounds were filled with many different looking 'people'.