Nico and the Newly-Deads

 (This story discusses the theme of death and afterlife)

Nico Nakota’s death was a miserable affair. He marks the day, just shy of his twentieth birthday, as the day death marked him. Now, it lingered around him like an odious smell, creeping into the corners of his vision, like a wisp of something you think you see but there was never anything there to begin with. It followed him into his nightmares, tearing his memories apart so the seams don’t match. Though Nico remembers very little from what came before that night, he reflects upon it often and sometimes with fondness as it was his first hint that his life, or death, was destined for something marvelous after all.

But Nico is a fabulist who only lies to himself.

He whistled as he strolled through the barren, arenose land of purgatory, making a display of his clanking office keys to distract himself from the distant echoing screams. Nico’s role in death is very important, one that not many are brave, or stupid, enough to tackle what with the perpetual traveling and the relentless, lingering stench of death. It’s Nico responsibility to chaperone the newly-deads through purgatory so they may pass onto the afterlife. It was repetitive, chaotic at times, and entirely Nico’s fault.

At the end of the dusty trail, Nico’s only colleague loomed in the shallow fog. The glowing embers of his cigarette paced back and forth, a sight that Nico knew meant trouble.

“Good morning, Robert!”

“You’re much too chipper,” Robert wheezed. His shoulders sat in a permanent hunch and the taut pouch of his stomach smoothed the crinkles from his shirt. Around his neck, a worn tie hung in a repurposed bow, speckled with grease from what little hair remained atop Robert’s head. “We got a straggler.”

Nico’s stomach curled into knots and his lip slipped between his teeth.

“A straggler? Are- you sure? That’s impossible!”

“I saw him, Nico. He’s out back.”

“Another beautiful day in purgatory!” Nico grunted. He fiddled with the keys until the familiar office stench of mildew and outdated milk singed his nostril, chased promptly by Robert’s cigarette. “Could you not smoke in here? You know the policy.”

“Kid, we’re already dead. Dammed to an eternity in hell and you’re worried about this?”

Despite his tone, Robert stubbed the cigarette into the carpet and kicked the butt into the smoldering pile beside the door. Light flooded the dim office, bouncing from the damp-spotted walls where the wallpaper peeled off into ribbons.

“A straggler,” Nico whispered, filling his lungs despite their ache. “We’ve never had one before. Not in twelve years, Robert. Is he a beast? With snarling fangs and half a face?”

Robert blinked at him and slumped across his sticky desk.

“He’s a man, Nico. A human man with a full face. One you might like.”

“Pfft. Me? That’s- ridiculous,” Nico mumbled, fixing his tie. “Coffee first? You know, Reaper said we’re getting our own coffee shop.”

“You believe anything that comes out of his mouth."

“Hey, Robert.” Nico paused, a grin worming across his face. “You want regular or de-coffinated. Get it? Like, decaffeinated but coffin. Because… death.”

“Of all the jobs in all the circles of hell and beyond and I get stuck with you,” Robert mused. “You can’t ignore him, Nico.”

“Then why don’t you go out there?”

“You’re employee of the month,” Robert chuckled, pointing to the spread of Nico’s face plastered across the wall.

The coffee grinder cranked loud enough to churn out Robert’s morning indigestion. Nico blinked up at the calendar that mocked him. 

“I should be turning thirty-two tomorrow,” he said, sadly.

“Ah, happy early birthday, kid. You don’t look a day over twenty.”

“You’re a real asshole, Robert. I’m not surprised your wife reversed into you.”

“Ex-wife,” he scoffed, slurping the brown sludge in his mug. He pointed to the pile of trash bags that sat rotting in the corner where a lazy swarm of fly-skeletons buzzed between the folds. “Can you take out the trash on your way out?”

With a guttural grunt, Nico hoisted the bags over his shoulder, shooing away the half-decomposed spider that swung from the tie. The bags were heavier than himself and he thanked the hells that they didn’t burst and cover him with juice again. As he dusted off his trousers, he caught sight of the unfamiliar shape beside the bin, shivering despite the mid-morning heat.

“That shouldn’t be there,” he mumbled. “A straggler. We have a straggler. Don’t panic, Nico. Do not panic. Panicking is the worst thing you can do right now.”

“And yet, you wreak of it,” Robert said, slumping against the door with a fresh cigarette.

“He shouldn’t be here! It’s only-” Nico squinted at the fractured face of his watch. “Eight forty-seven. I’m not so sure he should be here at all. Not today.”

Robert’s eyebrows were etched in confusion.

“Oh, for hell’s sake, Robert. Do you ever read the schedule? We have a failed surgery due at nine, a car crash at ten, and a few old dogs in the afternoon. Reaper didn’t say anything about him.”

“Are you blushing, Nico?”

“Oh, shut it, Robert. We have a real problem here.”

“Call Reaper then. Tell him he made a mistake. You know he has a soft spot for you.”

Nico’s stomach firmed to cement at the thought of correcting Reaper. There wasn’t a chance in hell he’d brave the words.

“He’s freezing,” he said, kneeling beside the unconscious lump. “Help me get him inside.”

With the body propped up in an old office chair, Nico thumbed through the pages of the large, oxhide book that Reaper filled with fresh newly-deads every evening. He traced his fingers across the list of names, mumbling the cause and time of death. But this stranger wasn’t named. This beautiful, lonely stranger.

“What’s the verdict?” Robert said.

“I think he’s been taken before his time.”

Robert begrudgingly guided the scheduled newly-deads across purgatory whilst Nico paced the office, tapping his chin as though it’d summon a thought. The man didn’t shift and groan until lunchtime but when he did, Nico’s breath wilted like petals on a dying flower. He blinked his eyes, striking and vicious, clear of their blur where Nico’s nervous grin was awaiting him. 

“Who the hell are you? What the hell is this place?”

His voice was dark. Like a warm pool, lapping in gentle, lulling waves. Nico wanted to hear more.

“Welcome to purgatory! The big ol’ in-between. Oh, god. Ignore that. Reaper hates it when I make it awkward,” Nico fussed.

“Nice, kid,” Robert whispered behind him.

 The man’s wild eyes darted between them, wading through emotions quicker than Nico could process.

“Okay. You’re both clearly unhinged. How do I get out of here?”

Nico swallowed the dryness in his throat and stepped forward an inch.

“Do you have a name? This would be a lot easier to explain if I had your name. Reaper says it adds a personal touch.”

“Who the hell is Reaper? You sound insane,” the man scoffed.

“Ouch but understandable,” Nico said. “Please, what’s your name?”

“Derek,” he gritted.

“Well, Derek. Um. You- we. This is-.” Nico turned to Robert. “Help.”

“You’re dead, pal,” Robert said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re in purgatory, and it’s our job to guide you to where you should be. We usually get a name and a ticket. Heaven or hell. But you’ve got no record. Maybe Reaper wants him to stay with us, Nico.”

Nico’s face flushed a violet shade of pink that thinned out into blotches along his neck.

“I can’t be dead. I was in the middle of something!” Derek yelled.

“I can see that,” Nico said with a squeak, glancing to where Derek’s stomach sat exposed and torn into thick, angry shreds. “Looks like you were in the middle of being mauled to death by a wolf.”

Derek squinted at him with suspicion.

“We should take him somewhere,” Robert said to Nico. “We don’t get paid extra for stragglers.”

“Back to earth? Yes. Please! Right now.”

“Well, you see, that’s the problem,” Nico mumbled. “We can’t send you back.”

Derek turned to face him with a tight smile.

“And what was your name?”

“Oh, wow. Where are my manners? I’m Nico!”

He stuck a sweaty palm into the space between them though it was harshly ignored as Derek’s fingers curled into shaking fists at his side.

“Okay, Nico. I’m going to give you ten seconds to show me the way out of this place before I rip your throat out.”

“Charming,” Robert scoffed.

Nico retracted his hand.

“Don’t get me wrong, Derek. You’re terrifying. With the angry eyes and the muscles. But you can’t kill me down here. We’re already dead. Super dead. Flat lined. The bucket has officially been kicked.”

Feeling brave, Nico clapped his hand on Derek’s shoulder but immediately pulled it back at the sight of his flared nostrils. Derek shoved his way through the office and forced Robert aside.

“Another denial,” Robert sighed.

“That’s the wrong way!” Nico called, following him out of the office.

“Better than sitting with a pair of lunatics!”

“Hello, are you listening to me? Derek, I wouldn’t do that-”

Before Nico could warn him, Derek sprinted out into the barren wasteland, bouldering through the whipping sand as he chased the skyline. Nico sighed, placed his hands on his hips, and waited.

Pulses of lightning illuminated the darkening sky and threw Derek across the weaves of the desert. He skidded back until he was gasping for breath at Nico’s feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m really dead, aren’t I?”

“Yup.”

An hour later, Derek was calm and miserable. He glared around the office with a sour pinch on his face.

“It’s depressing in here,” he said.

“That’s how Reaper likes it. He is death, after all.”

“I heard you earlier. When I was half-conscious. You said something about it not being my time. Does that mean Reaper made a mistake?”

Nico paled and fixed Derek with a serious look.

“Reaper doesn’t make mistakes.”

“But you said-”

“Reaper doesn’t make mistakes.”

“Everyone makes mistakes. Please. If there’s even a possibility that it’s not my time, I’m begging that you help me.”

A strange pang curled deep in Nico’s stomach. One he was unfamiliar with. He ached for company beyond Robert’s harsh remarks and his afternoon snores. He longed for conversation. Laughter. In time, Derek could give that to Nico. They could be friends.

“Please, Nico.” Derek perched ahead of him. A weary look crossed his face, one Nico had seen a million times, though never quite so broken. “I have a life. Friends. Family. This isn’t right. Please.”

Nico pulled away, his lips rearing into a snarl.

“I had a life too! I had friends and a family, and I wanted to do something with my life other than guide dead people. This is my resting place! This stupid, damp office. Day in, day out. Why should you get a second chance?”

Robert’s mouth slackened; his eyes stretched to their brim in surprise. He watched Nico leave and urged Derek to stay.

“He needs a moment. Twelve years I’ve worked with that kid and not once has he snapped.”

Nico sat cross-legged in the sand, drawing aimless shapes with a fragment of a scorpion skeleton. His memories were aching to unravel but there was no beginning, end, or middle. Just purgatory and an inkling of what Nico once had.

“You know, your suit is a size too big,” Derek mumbled, smirking at the blush that dusted Nico’s cheeks.

“It’s not a whole size too big. It’s my slender waist,” Nico huffed, feigning offense.

“Well, it’s definitely not your bulging muscles.”

“Excuse me! I have perfectly defined muscles. Guiding people to the afterlife is hard work. My foot muscles are insane.”

“Is that your subtle way of telling me you have a foot fetish?”

“Oh my god, Derek. You’re sick.”

Derek’s laughter was a welcomed sound. A moment of relief from the tortured bellows.

“I once had a guy that died from a foot fetish. He choked on a false nail,” Nico gagged.

“At least he died doing what he loved.”

Nico’s chest filled with a warmth that thawed the resentment from his bones.

“I’m going to help you,” he said.

Derek’s face brightened and his eyes sparkled like the stars that Nico counted on the darker nights.

“You will? But why?”

“It was wrong of me to put my sadness onto you. Dying is tough enough. I’ll speak with Reaper tonight. He’s always had a soft spot for me. I’ll beg him if I must. He’s owed me a favor for as long as I’ve been here. I think it’s time to cash it in.”

It was in the cold embrace of Reaper’s dwelling that Nico accepted his fate. A particularly turbulent night wreaked havoc against the small, crooked windows. He studied the rivulets bleeding into one another to avoid Reaper’s stare. Another minute dragged by until Reaper creaked his long, aching bones to scoop Nico into his oversized palm and study him.

“Your aura is heavy tonight,” he said, a tint of sadness in his voice.

“An eternity in hell will do that to a person.” Nico paused. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, you did. But that’s alright. You know I can’t stay mad at you, Nico. Though I do wonder what has you so glum.”

The words suffocated him. Crawled along his throat like restless spiders, only to curl up and die on the heat of his tongue.

“Oh dear,” Reaper said. “It must be something serious if you of all people can’t speak the words.”

“I think you made a mistake.”

“Excuse me?”

“I think you made a mistake!” Nico blurted, his face pale and eyes wide.

“We’ve been through this before, Nico. I don’t make mistakes.”

“Please, Reaper. This isn’t easy for me, but I can’t watch an innocent man suffer. Derek shouldn’t be here. It’s before his time.”

“Before his time!” Reaper scoffed, his skeletal face warping in horror. “I have never taken a human before their time!”

“He wasn’t in the book, Reaper.”

Reaper paced back and forth across the gallows. Debris trickled from the grind of his bones.

“Why are you telling me this, Nico?”

“I think it’s time to call in my favor.”

Reaper stopped.

“You would use that on a stranger?”

“Everyone’s a stranger to me here, Reaper.”

“You understand what this means?”

There was a wobble in Nico’s throat, companied by the itch behind his eyes.

“Yes.”

“You only had one more soul to give me, Nico. Then you were to be free. Heaven awaits you.”

Nico didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

“Very well. I can’t say I’m too distraught. Eternity with you is what I’ve always wanted. He’ll fight his demons like any other but if he succeeds, I’ll send him back to earth.”

Nico dragged his feet across the damp sand to where Derek bounced on the balls of his feet.

“You look different,” Derek said with a frown.

“Really?”

“You look sad. Haunted, almost.”

“This is actually the face of elation.”

“How did it go?”

“You see that hill?” he mumbled, nudging Derek into the direction of the small, sandy mountain. “Well, your inner demons are lurking behind there for you. It’ll be the most exhausting, brutal fight you’ve ever had. Defeat that demon and congratulations, you’ve made it back to earth. Lose, and you’re stuck here forever.”

“But you’ll be stuck here, won’t you? You’ll have to turn around, walk back to that miserable office, and wait for the next newly-dead, right?” Derek said, grimacing.

“You make my life sound really depressing.”

“It kind of is, Nico.”

“Only sometimes. The loneliness doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“You’re lying. I was lying earlier because I was scared. Earth is lonely for me, too,” Derek whispered. “It never stops hurting.”

As they edged closer, a monstrous roar ruptured from beyond the hill. Nico, clearly afraid of what lay waiting, threw his arms around Derek’s waist.

“You can do this, Derek. Most people wouldn’t stand a chance. But you? Pfft, no problem.” His voice was laced with a quiet anger that made Derek want to shred Reaper into tiny, skeletal pieces. “You really need to go but I’ll stay here to see you pass back to Earth safely. So, I’ll be here. Waiting. For you. To win, I mean.”

Nico’s smile betrayed the watery glisten of his eyes. Derek dusted a light kiss to his temple before striding toward the dune, his silhouette warping over the grains. Nico watched it fade over the top of the hill before collapsing into the sand to bury his fingers in frustration. He tried to ignore the screams and the pained groans. He focused on the wet grains stuck to his palms and the sinking heaviness in his stomach. Before the sun settled atop the hill, a nasty howl pierced across the dunes, and a body was thrown through the air. It slammed with force into the ground beside Nico.

Derek was ravaged.

Blood soaked his nose and mouth, pooling into the gaping wound across his chest. His skin was starkly pale against the golden backdrop. Nico hovered his hands above him, terrified to touch.

“Derek? Oh god. No. Wake up! Wake up and fight!” he pleaded, glancing to the horizon where the slither of the sun was close to disappearing. “Derek, please. You don’t have much time.”

As the light dimmed, Nico wrapped his hands around the fabric of Derek’s sodden shirt.

“You idiot! You stupid idiot! What’re you doing?”

Derek’s left eye popped open.

“Did I run out of time?”

“Yes!” Nico cried.

“Cool,” he hummed, stretching his sore muscles. “That means I’m stuck here with you, right?”

“I- well, yes, but- why would you do that?”

“Now we can be lonely together.”