Thursday, December 01, 2005

What happens next - the Dead Rebels Club ?

So blackness again - and this time, when I come out of it, I somehow know that it's done with. Life, that is. Had my chance to escape, and blew it - or he did it for me. Why did it have to be wasps? Everybody knows I hate them and that I'm bound to react the way I did. Especially a certain god down here - can't help thinking he had something - well, more than something actually - to do with it. This idea is kind of supported by the fact that he turns up again just after I come round, saying "so you do know what it is then, buzz, buzz - shame about the sting - never mind, you'll soon get used to it down here" in that stupid voice he used the first time.
I want to knock his stupid head off, ram his teeth down his throat and so on, but something stops me - the knowledge that he's in charge down here and it wouldn't be smart to piss him off too much in case he really does get nasty, because that could mean Tartarus or worse for me.
Looks like I've got to settle down to being a nice happy dead person and prepare myself for a life ( well, not really, but it's the only way I can describe it) of excitement - like waiting to see who's died this week and taking long walks in the fields or doing nothing much, just wandering around like a ghost. Great. I always wanted to do that.
The Bereavement Counsellors have come back too - this time, because there's no chance of a rescue, they seem to be a bit more aggressive - telling me that my first death set rather a bad example and that I've got to sort myself out and really make death my friend this time. Bastards. I still feel the same - cheated and betrayed by people I trusted - and I want to kick and scream and tell them where to go, but, once again, something stops me. Same worry - if I really annoy them, they can make my life hell - and this time I can't get away from them. So I say sorry, that I didn't think I was really dead last time, that's why I behaved like that and can we start again ? Clean slate ? They seem to be really pleased with that answer, tell me it's nice to see I've finally come to terms with my death and give me some more helpful advice about how to join the Elysian club, whihc it would seem, is the most fun you can have round here. Apparently it beats the hell out of mindless wandering, low-pitched moaning and staring into space which is all a lot of dead people get to do. So I ask what the benefits are, and they tell me that you go for long walks, have the chance to look at things and chat about them with other dead people. Can't see the difference myself, but they obviously can, so I won't argue with them about it, just put my name on the list. They leave me with a really helpful book - "One hundred things you didn't know dead people can do".
I read it. The title wasn't quite right - it was more like five things dead people can do, in twenty different ways and places. Oddly enough, mindless wandering, moaning and staring into space were three of the five - although they didn't say that in so many words, but "non-directed perambulation", "vocalisation pitched below the treble register" and "spatially directed visualisation" seem the same to me, just dressed up as things you might like to do. No way do I want to do any of them. Ever.

So now what do I do - I'm really dead and there's no second chance of being rescued.
What am I going to do? I still feel like I'm alive, in the wrong place and all that, but how long can I hold out ?
Just had a thought - maybe I could start a Dead Rebels Club - for people who were really pissed off about being dead and who need to have somewhere to escape the boredom - people who want to disrupt the cosy world of deadness and stir things up a bit. I check up with the rule book I was given ( again) and it doesn't say you can't, just that you can't take the arguments up there or down into the Fields because it would give the wrong impression. Well, maybe I'll play ball, or maybe I won't.
So I decide I'm going to advertise for members for the Club - I need a good few to make it all worth while, and each of them must have a story to tell - I reckon some of these stories will be a bit off, but at least what counts for their heart is in the right place.
Which from my experience means it will have been put back somewhere other than where it came from. As I said earlier, that tends to be what post-mortems do for you. Anyway, once the club is is up and running we'll shake things up a bit down here!!

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