Life after Death

Chapter Eighteen

Hezekiah's POV

The Nexus, Hezekiah's house...

Five days of fun in the sun were well spent in Pacifica Vista as Chance was the one to introduce me to life at the resort. From swimming with dolphins and sharks that were gentled as kittens by dawn and sailing Sunfishes at twilight to hanging out with the local residents and even meeting other guests; I enjoyed every single moment that I never had a chance to do back on Earth when I was fit to be tied at summer camps in Europe. Of course, I did make use of the time alone in my room to view the new timeline when necessary (everyone seemed more at ease there- Dad and the twin boys enjoying a Red Sox game, cake and tea for Mom and the girls, a summer vacation on a cruise ship to Australia); but I knew that life was going to be like that for the family that liked to dance through life without a care in the world.

Like Chance said, it's always the ones who liked to waste their lives away that would soon come to ruin. But I knew that my family liked to get away with everything.

And now, it was back to my home as Louis said that he had some intel about Catalina Slade and her backstory that I needed to know. Of course, I made sure to invite Damon, Chance, and even the other girls of the gang to tag along since they too also wanted to know more about the Brazilian bombshell. "The first time I met her, I felt some kind of bad vibes around her," Carolina commented as she and Eva helped me with setting up a meat-and-cheese platter alongside some other tapa-themed snacks in the kitchen. "It was like I was staring into the eyes of some poisonous snake that was trying to act like some snake charmer."

"Yeah," Eva piped up, arranging some pickled olives in a neat pile on a board. "She came into my house long enough to welcome me to her block and warned me to stay away from Chance. And that was around two years ago when I came here."

"Did either of you spend time with her?" I wanted to know.

"Not really," Carolina replied. "I only went shopping for new clothes for her once- and she only got the nice-looking ones while she delegated the ones from the thrift store. Said that she didn't want to outshine me in any way yet accused me of not being attractive enough for any of the guys here. That was enough for me. Since then, I kept my distance from her while being cordial."

"Ditto for me," Eva said. "She invited me to have dinner once and she kept asking me if I was really raped. I never went back since then. We say hi to each other at times since we're next door, but that's it. She's like...foxy yet snakelike all at once. And all because she wants no one to have Chance but herself."

I huffed a sigh as the girls and I carried everything to my living room. "Well, Louis knows that Chance and I were soulmates," I replied. "That being more so since he and I had...well, let's just say that before my vacation in Pacifica Vista was when he and I spent time in his bedroom."

The girls gasped in shock and excitement. "No way!" Eva exclaimed. "Did you two..."

"That we did, but Chance and I are still figuring things out between us," I finished as we set up the snacks. "And I think that Catalina knows about what happened because of a letter I got from her after therapy."

"I heard about that," Eva commented. "Alvin said that he thought he saw Slade at your house while you were gone to see Thorne. So that explains everything. We got to know her story quick and figure out where to go from here."

The front door swung open to reveal Alvin and Damon (both dressed in causal clothes as the former looked as if he was gaining some muscle) as the boys came inside with Chance following suit just as Louis and the archangels appeared. After greeting each other and serving ourselves, Louis came forward with a lone file in hand. "I just got this from God and Lucifer themselves and they were very surprised with what they learned about Miss Slade herself," the gatekeeper intoned. "And it turns out that Catalina Slade isn't her real name at all."