Chapter 2. THE INTRODUCTORY MEETING

"Whoa! Finally!"

Robby exclaimed as we walked inside a hall. "Meetings hall" was written on a tag attached to the entrance. The theatre was vast, crowded with people sitting on the edges muttering amongst themselves. A wooden dining table was set in the middle of the room with plates and bowls. Lorna was at the front table with a few other older people. After she saw us, she smiled and beckoned us to go where she was.

"There are seats reserved for you guys, right where Derek is," Lorna said.

"Thank you, Lorna," Robby said and continued walking. I followed him, and we took our seats.

"There are a lot of people in here," I spoke.

"Yes....a lot of people have died in the years," Derek said.

"And they are continuing to die day to day," Robby added.

"Um.... what..." I was about to ask something when a mid-aged interrupted me continuously but carefully slammed his fork on the side of his wine glass to everyone's attention.

"Good evening, Family." He spoke after slightly clearing his raspy throat. Everyone in the room responded to his greetings, which I excluded. I was still far from having acclimated to this bizarre location.

"I'm happy to see you here. As you all know, it's the end of another week, and so is time for our weekly introduction. "Martin, the mid-aged man said. His voice boomed throughout the room.

"What day is today?" I whispered to Robby.

"Sunday, it's Sunday, you dumb boy. Don't you know what the last day of the week is?" Robby asked. He kept his eyes glued on Martin even after confirming that specific day was a Sunday. "We are not supposed to talk during meetings. So shut up." Derek said and passed a harsh glance at me.

I shifted my attention back to Martin, who was still speaking. He introduced himself as the chairman.

"This week, we have two important arrivals. Let's applaud our newbies as they stand up." Martin roared, and thunderous claps filled the hall.

"C'mon! Stand up Chase boy. You are the newest newbie." Robby said. The other newbie was already standing. He was a young lad who was roughly twenty years.

"C'mon, guys, to the front," Lorna spoke, still seated.

Once we were at the front of the hall, Lorna stood up and smiled at us. I faked a smile.

"Hello to our new members. Welcome to our world. This here, everyone here will be your new family." She said. " You both should be very glad that you are here because not everyone wakes up here after they die. Now that you are here, it means you are special." Lorna continued speaking.

"I would like you to introduce yourselves. Lorna said and stepped aside.

"Hi. I am Malachi." The guy said. He made a solid first impression by creating an assertive introduction portraying him as fearless.

"Hi, Malachi." Everyone said from their seats.

"Hi. I'm Chase." I introduced myself, and everyone said, "Hi, Chase."

"It's good to introduce yourselves to everyone here finally. I hope you know that you are here because you recently died." Lorna said, and we both nodded our heads.

"Great. You can now tell us how you died. I mean, what's the last thing you recall? "Lorna asked while still smiling. She must be fond of smiling aimlessly, I thought.

"Okay," Malachi spoke first.

"Well, the last thing I remember is that I was at a party at Pete's. Pete and I had been friends since college, but he started hating me when his ex, Zoe, chose me over him. We barely talked since then, but on his birthday, he invited me. He stated we needed to clear the air between us. Later, when most of the party attendees were intoxicated, he gave me some more beer. To my final swallow, the glass fell off my hands, and my body lost equilibrium and dropped to the floor with thunder.

"Goodbye, Malachi. Zoe will always be mine." That was the last thing I heard Pete whisper to me. I later woke up in this beautiful place. "That is all I can remember," Malachi added.

"Huh! Beautiful place? How the hell does he think this place is beautiful? My mind lingered as I tried to fathom and decipher the beauty he was talking of.

"I'm sorry, Malachi, but at least you are now here. You will live better here than you could have lived on the other side." Lorna said, tapping Malachi's shoulder.

"Chase. It's your turn." Lorna said.

"Um.....I guess I was in an accident. I...was hit." I stammered through my statement. I had vivid memories of being hit by another vehicle.

"I later woke up in a hospital with my mom sitting next to me. She was saying a prayer. "I chuckled lightly, then wore my sad face.

"It was like God didn't answer my mom's prayers 'cause...i...I had a seizure and a few seconds later my body went still and I found myself here...completely naked and healed." I explained.

"That's so sad, Chase, but you should not regret ending up here. Side B is the best place to be. You will never get any seizures here. You are safe here.' Lorna consoled me. I wasn't sure whether her words were to be believed or not.

"Um....you can go back to your seats," Lorna said, and Malachi and I went to sit.

"Time to feast," Martin said, and everyone stood up and dragged their seats to the dining table. It was a self-service feast. Robby and Derek served on their plates. It was impossible to ignore the intoxicating aromas emanating from the cuisine, although nothing looked as unusual as it did. "C'mon, Chase boy, serve yourself some food," Robby said and bit a spoonful.

"I'll serve him." Derek volunteered. He took a plate in his hands, served me all dishes, and then passed the whole plate to me.

I passed my eyes on the plate and felt disgusted. Everything on the plate looked weird.

"What are these foods?" I asked.

"Um... this is woodworms. This is grasshoppers, green carbs from some herb plant and cassava." Derek explained.

"Shit! I'm not hungry." I said and pushed my plate away.

"C'mon!" Robby spoke and pushed the plate back to me. "You have to eat. You don't want Lorna or those elderly people to see you not eating." He added.

"If Lorna catches you not eating, she will make sure you eat everything here until you can't take any more. And you will have to drink her sweat instead of snake soup." Derek added with a sarcastic laugh.

"Go ahead and eat, Chase boy," Robby said.

I reached for my spoon, fetched some grasshoppers, and moved it towards my mouth. I tried to bite but couldn't, so I placed it back.

"Newbie, c'mon eat up. Don't act like your mama will come and feed you pizza." A woman said from across the table.

"Don't mention my mother," I warned angrily. Someone playing with my mom's name was the last thing I needed to hear.

"Okay, pretty boy." The woman said.

"Just don't mind her. She's a bully." Derek said.

"Shut up, D." The woman said and showed a middle finger to Derek.

I ignored the rude woman and continued playing with my food.

"Hey Chase Brown, can you just eat up already," Lorna shouted from the next table, startling me.

I bit a half spoonful and shoved it inside my mouth. The woodworms were disgusting. They were so silky that they dropped my throat before I chewed them.

****

After about twenty minutes, Lorna stood up. She lifted a mug from her table and began speaking.

"It's now a great time to start our rituals. The soup is ready." She said and chuckled lightly.

"What rituals, Robby?" I asked nervously.

"The snake soup I told you," Robby responded. My thoughts were interrupted by Lorna calling my name. She was asking Malachi and me to the front.

We walked towards her.

"Well, now I will let Peter perform the ritual. Peter was among the first people to land on this side and so he's well versed with this ritual." Lorna said and placed the mug.

"The floor is yours, Peter," Lorna said and took her seat.

"Hello, Chase and Malachi." A man spoke from the other side of Lorna's table. I guessed his name to be Peter.

"I'm Peter." He said briefly and walked closer to us. This reaffirmed my guess. He then reached for a slaughter knife on the table, and without warning, he cut his left wrist and drained blood inside the mug. Peter then turned to us with the knife still in his hands.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked curiously.

"Give me your hand," Peter commanded. I hesitated, putting on a questioning glance. Peter ignored my face and grabbed my hand, and slit the wrist. He squeezed it and drained my blood into the mug. He did the same to Malachi. Lorna offered us some white bandages to tie to our wrists.

"Hand over the soup," Peter spoke, and Lorna passed on another big mug to him. Peter emptied the blood into the mug that had soup and continued stirring.

"As it is written by our founders that, whoever lands to our world must be born again in the snake soup and the blood of a founder I commit this drink to unite us with our new members," Peter spoke.

"I pray that you accept Chase Brown and Malachi Phillips to our new family," Peter spoke. Once he was done, he sipped from the mug.

"C'mon boys, take a sip. Do not be afraid." Peter said, handing over the mug to Malachi. Tension was written all over Malachi's face. His hands were shaking.

"You have nothing to lose. Remember you are already dead. Nothing big can happen." Lorna said. That was supposed to make us fearless but instead freaked me out.

"Drink it now," Peter said, and Malachi took his sip. He then handed it over to me. My hands were shaking, and the mug almost slipped out of my hands.

"C'mon Chase," Lorna spoke. I closed my eyes and moved the mug to my lips. I tried sipping it, but my lips were trembling. I opened my eyes.

"I can't do it," I said and extended the mug to Peter.

"You have to do it. It's a ritual that everyone who comes here must do." Peter said.

"I'm not doing it," I said, placed the mug on the table, and started walking outside. The guards didn't take long to reach me and force me back to the front.

"Do it the easy way or we are going to have to do it the hard way," Peter said furiously.

"Okay. I'll take it." I said nonchalantly and sipped the soup. It was disgusting and bitter. I almost sputtered it out, but Peter gave me a glare that meant I had to swallow it.

"Whoa! Wasn't that hard." Lorna spoke.

"You are now part of this family fully. Welcome to Side B," Peter said and smirked. I could tell he was happy to welcome us to the family and so was everyone.

"The meeting is over. You are all free to go to your houses after you drink your soups." Peter said, and everyone took their glasses and started sipping their soups.

"To the family," Lorna said, lifting her glass.

"To family." Everyone said, cheering.