Chapter 2 - The News
Louis shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the pain, the feeling of his skin burning, melting but that pain didn’t come, the excruciating agony never came and he opened one eye to see what was happening around him. He wasn’t under his bike anymore, he wasn’t in pain, he wasn’t on fire. But he could see the two bikes caught in fire one across the other, but he wasn’t there anymore. He wasn’t trapped, he wasn’t dying.
“You’re already dead,” a voice rose above the noise, startling him.
Louis turned around immediately, tearing his gaze off of the accident just to find a girl, a bit younger than him, bare feet and wearing white clothes. She had light brown hair braided at her right in a loose way, her face was free of makeup and she looked fresh, like she just had a shower. She didn’t wear her hair in those crazy, combed ways. She didn’t wear those colourful skirts, she didn’t have any artificial thing on top of her. She was the most natural girl he had ever seen, so natural that it wasn’t normal.
“Who are you?” He asked, furrowing his eyebrow, trying to understand what a girl like her would be doing there, at that time of the night.
“I’m Jane,” she replied with a polite smile. “I came here to take you to the Next Dimension. Now come with me, Louis,” she continued ever so calmly.
“Wait. What next dimension? There just was an accident. I was there. How can I be here? I thought I was gonna die,” he rambled and she smiled sadly at him.
“You did die, Louis. That’s why I’m here. Look over there,” Jane pointed out and he looked left to see Chains, looking around confused until a man appeared next to him, also dressed in white, and talked to him. Louis didn’t hear what he said to Chains, but the biker nodded and took his hand. The man in white lead Chains away from the bike and little by little they started to fade together.
“What was that?!” Louis asked, shocked and a bit scared. “They just disappeared.”
“That was Neo, another carrier. He took Chains to the next dimension where he’ll be told where he can go next.”
Louis stared at Jane, confused, not following what she was saying. What was the next dimension? What was all that?
“I don’t get it,” he blurted out, overwhelmed, until he remembered his family and the feeling made him fall to his knees. “Emily, Mum! What— if I’m dead, what will happen to them? Am I really dead? I don’t feel dead. How does feeling dead feel?” He was freaking out and Jane kneelt next to him, her hand on his shoulder.
“They’ll be fine, Louis. But now you need to come with me,” she insisted and he felt the need to go with her, to take her hand and let her lead him, but the urge in his body to go to his house and check on his family was stronger.
“How can I go with you to wherever you’re saying you’ll take me when my family will stay here alone? Who will take care of them? They need me,” he protested, frustrated and so worried at the same time.
“There’s nothing else you can do, Louis. You are dead. Your body is there, under that bike, caught in the flames. You’re not supposed to stay in this dimension anymore,” she insisted and he shook his head.
“Let me… let me at least check on them one last time. Please,” he begged and Jane smiled at him. She couldn’t say no to a request like that and she couldn’t force him to go with her either.
“Okay, let’s go.”
So she took him to his house but it wasn’t night, it was morning and Louis couldn’t understand how that was possible. He looked confused at Jane and she smiled again, warmly, inspiring trust. “We carriers don’t stick to temporal lines,” she explained and he frowned.
“What is a carrier?” Louis asked. He had never heard of that and his mother was a religious woman.
“I’m not allowed to give you much information about how all this works, but a carrier is basically someone who collects souls when they die and leads them to the Next Dimension, where they are somehow judged to know to which realm they can go. There are three realms.”
“Heaven, hell and limbo?” Louis asked and Jane laughed, she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t a mocking laughter, just an amused one.
“Kind of. There’s the Realm of the Blessed, the Realm of the Doomed and the Realm of Lost Souls. In the first two the souls wait until their next life. We carriers only take the souls to the Next Dimension, the place where it’s decided to which realm the soul is going.”
Louis nodded, trying to understand all what she was telling him, trying to connect it to the things he already knew but still, there were so many questions, things he wanted to know; but he wasn’t sure if he could process all the information. His mind wasn’t working as usual and he couldn’t really focus on a single thought. He had problems focusing on what Jane was actually telling him. Plus, she had said she couldn’t share much information.
He then remembered why he was there: to check on his family. So he hurried inside the house but before he could open the door not only him but Jane as well were inside the house, just to find Louis’ mother pacing from one side to the other, a worried expression painted on her face. She looked like she hadn’t slept at all in the whole night.
Louis' worry grew and he tried to grab his mother and promise her things would be fine, but Jane stopped him.
“She can’t see you and you shouldn’t try to touch her. Living people don’t react well to the souls’ touch,” she explained and Louis gulped. He wasn’t a living person, he was just a soul.
Next Louis heard little steps and when he looked at his right, he saw Emily walking, still a bit sleepy, towards her mother. Helena collected herself immediately and hurried to take Emily in her arms.
“Sweet angel! How are you? Did you sleep well?” Helena asked and Louis gulped again. He could hear the worry in his mother’s voice and he could imagine why. It was morning and he hadn’t come home. At least, not his body.
“Mummy, where’s Louis? He wasn’t in his bed,” Emily asked and Louis felt a stab in his chest, like the iron bar was buried in his body all over again.
Helena’s face fell and Louis could see her fighting to keep the façade, but she was failing.
“He was really busy and… he’s not home right now, but I’m sure he’ll come to check on you in no time,” Helena promised and Louis’ heart twisted. He was there, checking on them both, but they couldn’t see him.
As if Jane could feel his angst she placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, trying to give some comfort. It worked, but it wasn’t enough.
In that very moment the bell rang and Louis jumped, startled. Emily’s eye shot wide open, excited. Helena put the little girl on the floor and hurried to the door, her expression hopeful and Louis groaned. He would never ring the bell, he had keys and his mother knew that. It couldn’t be him, yet she still hoped for her son to be at the door.
Louis’ heart broke all over again.
Emily walked behind her mother, expecting to see her older brother, as well, ready to hug him and complain because he hadn’t come back home early again. But at the door there wasn’t Louis, there was a man that scared poor Emily. A strong built man, with tattoos and a face that could scare even the bravest man. Louis recognised his friend Scott immediately and knowing that he was at the door could only mean bad news.
“Mrs Tomlinson?” He asked, his voice as deep as usual. Emily was hiding behind Helena’s skirt and Louis’ mother looked a bit scared as well, but she didn’t show that. She nodded and Scott looked around until he saw Emily hiding. He tried to smile but Emily hid even more. “I’m Scott Schmidt. I was friends with your son Louis.”
“Did something happen?” She asked, completely ignoring the fact that Scott had used the past tense.
For a moment Louis couldn’t look at the scene taking place at the door of what once was his house. He knew already why Scott was there and although he was thankful, he wasn’t prepared to see the moment his mother was told of his death. And even less to see Emily finding out her big brother was dead.
“I’m afraid so,” Scott replied, his face showing sorrow and pity. Louis looked into his eyes and saw that he was really sorry, not only for the news he brought, but because it also affected him. After all, Scott loved Louis as his own son. “I want you to know that Louis was a great boy, he was like a son to me.”
Helena finally picked on the use of past tense and she covered her mouth with one hand while the other grabbed Emily, making sure she was there. Louis saw his mother shaking, waiting for the moment Scott would tell her what happened.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am, but there was an accident.” Helen took a sharp breath and Louis stepped closer, Jane was still holding him, though. “Louis was taking part in a race to get some extra money. He only wanted to help, you need to know that. It was all the other biker’s fault. Your son did everything right.”
“Tell me what happened to my son. Is he okay?” Louis’ mother asked but he could hear in her voice that she already knew what had happened. And he could see in Scott expression that he didn’t want to do that, he didn’t want to break an already broken family, but he had to.
“I’m really sorry, ma’am. But Louis… Louis didn’t make it. He died,” the biker finally let the bomb drop and Helena stumbled backwards, her body shaking violently.
“Oh my God, no. Please, no,” she started and Scott tried to hold her, but before he could touch Helena. Emily came out from behind her mother’s skirt.
“My Louis… died?” She asked, her voice trembling and only then both adults realised the little girl was still there and had heard them talking. “Louis?” She called then and her mother was horrified. “Louis?!” She called louder and when Helena tried to grab her in her arms, Emily pulled away. “No, Louis. Louis. Louis!” She screamed before she burst out crying.
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The Carrier is a sad story, I'm sorr, but you asked for this. Also, it doesn't have romance in it. It's all about Louis.
Dedication to @Cheeky_Kitty. I'm really glad that you always like my chapters.
At the sidebar a picture of Jane. On the previous chapter I added one of Emily.
Bel, xx
NEXT UPDATE: Sunday