The Unkillable Girl - [ONC 2024]

4. How many more times?

The door quickly opened, and the old man came rushing in. He was limping painfully, and he had a look of concern on his face.

"What's happening? Is someone hurt..."

He froze when his eyes met Amelia's gaze, then he gave an exasperated sigh.

"You again. Seriously?" he said. "It's not even been an hour. How are you back here already?"

"I, umm... it was an accident."

The old man closed his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. He muttered something under his breath that Amelia couldn't hear.

"I was trying to help," she said. "Like what you sent me back for."

"There is an error that is stopping you from crossing over. You were sent back to try again, nothing else."

"Yeah, but it's given me this great power of not being able to die," said Amelia. "And it's like that expression about power coming with great responsibility."

"But you're the least responsible person I've ever met!" the old man said, with a sudden burst of anger.

He turned his clipboard around and started aggressively pointing at what was written on it.

"Look. Just last month. Your neighbour's dog," he said, violently jabbing at the clipboard with his finger to punctuate his words.

"Oh, yeah, that..." Amelia said, sheepishly. "In my defence, I thought dogs knew how to cross the road."

"I just... urgh," he said, and threw his hands up in frustration. "This is obviously a mistake. I need to talk to someone upstairs."

"Him upstairs, the person in charge? Do you mean God?"

"God? Does this look like heaven?" he asked.

Amelia looked around at where she was. The white walls, the white clothes, the sort of otherworldly feel.

"Err, maybe?" she said, with a shrug.

"No, this is not heaven," he said. "The person upstairs is my supervisor, Aecheon."

"Oh, okay," she said. "Wait, he has a name? I thought you said this place didn't have names."

The old man looked confused for a moment. "What? No, we have names," he said. "It is just the concept of this place that doesn't have a name, other than Limbo."

"Oh, okay. So what's your name then?" Amelia asked. "I've just been calling you 'old man' all the time."

"What do you mean 'old'? I'm not old, I've only just turned five thousand."

"I don't know, five thousand sounds pretty old to me," Amelia muttered.

"Well it's not. Time works differently here," he said. "Anyway, my name is Maegron."

"Okay, noted."

"But enough of this, we are getting sidetracked," he said, turning back to his clipboard. "We still need to address what is happening. You can't keep coming back here."

"But how? I don't know why I keep coming here," said Amelia. "I don't even know what this place is."

"This is the gap. The void between the physical realm and the spiritual realms," said Maegron. "This is where your soul first coalesces on your journey towards the judgement."

"Oh, ummm, yeah. I figured it would be something like that."

Maegron raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Hmmm, yes. Anyway, you are not due to be seen by the judges yet. You are early."

"Early? Me?" Amelia asked, in disbelief. "Wow. It's the first time I've ever been early for anything."

"Yes, it would appear so," said Maegron, as he checked his clipboard again.

"I was even late to my own birth. That's what my mum always says. I had to be induced."

"Err, yes," he said, shaking his head. "But anyway, you are not supposed to be here so soon. This is not your time. You must return to the physical realm again until it is your proper time."

"Hmmm, yeah," said Amelia, while deep in thought. "So does that mean I'm going to keep rebooting until it is my time to die?"

Maegron sighed loudly. "Yes. But you don't have to keep killing yourself, you could try being careful."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Amelia, obviously not listening. "I'm basically immortal until then."

"Urgh, yes, fine. You are basically immortal."

"Cool. Well I guess I'll see you again soon then."

"Fine, I'll send you back now," said Maegron.

Amelia flashed a thumbs up sign as the room faded away and she fell back into the darkness.