1 The Gate of Regrets
Liam float in the air while looking at her own body.
She cringed.
How ugly and old she had become!
"Liam Drelavine: July 02, 2018, 6:05 pm, at LD square garden, expired her 0001xx lifetime within 96 years." A child's voice said behind her.
Liam tore away her gaze from her old body and looked at the source of the voice.
Two beautiful children stared back at her. They both had the same silver hair, but the other has it shorter. They had the same height- about four, the same blue eyes, and the same babyface. They also had the same look: bored.
The child with long hair was the one who spoke.
The other child with shorter hair was holding a notebook.
They looked so adorable!
Being a granny made her love children.
She loved pampering her nieces and grandchildren ( her brother's grandchildren ).
She wanted to pinch their pale cheeks and cuddled them both.
Then her eyes shined.
"Are you angels?"
The children looked at each other. The child who looked like a girl spoke.
"Mortals called us that. But we're not."
"Oh. Then, what are you?" Liam was curious.
"Inggots.[1]" Both of them said.
Then they started to walk in the air. Liam was following behind.
Liam felt very refresh. She got rid of her old body. The pain in her joints was gone, and her constant migraine was gone too.
She was so excited that she will live a new life again.
Feeling enthusiastic, she chatted with the two.
"Hey, inggots. Do you have names?" Both children shook their heads as a no.
"I will call you Jack and Jill then. Are you twins?" They shook their heads again.
"Siblings?" *shook heads*
"Cousins? Relatives?" The children looked at her, annoyed. But they still shook their heads.
"If you're not related, how come you looked like so much?"
"King Yama [2] created us. All inggots has the same looks." Jack said.
The two inggots did not bother to entertain every question of hers after that.
After a short walk through the clouds, Liam saw a long golden bridge. In that bridge, many souls like her- a puff of white smoke and little Jack and Jills' were crossing.
"Waaaa...what's the other side of the bridge?" Liam asked, still amazed.
Feeling that Liam was asking seriously, Jack answered.
"The Underworld."
Liam quirked her left brow.
"It should be Aboveworld." She muttered.
The three started to cross the bridge.
The moment they reached the bridge, many souls and inggots looked at them weirdly.
All the souls led by the two cold and expressionless inggots were lonely, sad, reluctant to cross the bridge, and gloomy.
On the other hand, the three looked different to them. The two inggots looked not so bored anymore but with an aggrieved expression. They really want to shut up the soul they were guiding.
Liam, who was oblivious that she was gathering attention, continued to bicker excitingly there and then.
"What...I wonder what this bridge was made of! Is it really pure gold?"
"Look! Jill! The clouds here were not smoke after all. I can touch it! It's like cotton!"
"Hellooooo...I wonder if those birds can see me? Or hear me? What do you think, Jack?"
"Hi, there! Did you die today too? Are you from China? Asia? Or in Europe? Hahaha, I can't tell what race you are from. After all, we all look like smokes."
"Jack, why these people don't want to talk? Can we hear each other? Oh! Maybe he does not understand English? And speak in native tongue only?"
Liam looked like she was a tourist. Taking in the view, she felt superb! Even though she voyaged worldwide before she passed on, it couldn't measure up to what she saw today.
The two inggots with her just ignored her.
Finally, they reached the end of the bridge.
At this side, many tables were aligned. The tables were occupied by what seems looked like an inggot but looked different from Jack and Jill. The ones on the table were all old. But still have the same silver hair. In the tables, the stock of papers appeared from time to time. Besides the disappearing and appearing papers, a bowl with a soup was there.
Souls were lead there and waiting for something.
Behind the tables, three giant gates stood. Each entrance was labeled. The left one was made of gold, and above it was the words written: Reincarnation.
The right gate was made of black stone with the title above: Punishment.
The middle one was made of silver, with words written above: Regrets.
Liam saw one of the old inggots in the table called someone, and one puff of smoke-soul came. Then after a talk from the inggot, it drank the soup and went to the left gate.
The same process was repeated. Many went to the left gate, but more souls went to the right gate.
Liam was waiting for someone to went to the middle. However, no one was admitted to go there.
Little Jack passed the notebook to the other inggots who stood nearby the table.
Then Jill turned to Liam,
"Ms. Liam of 0001xxx lifetime, please wait for a moment. The inggots on the table will call your name and will tell you where you will go next."
"Jill, what are those gates for?"
Jill did not answer. Since she guided this strange soul, she knew not to talk longer to her.
"Jill, Jill, Jiiiiillll, Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a little Liam, Jack left us, and Jill ignored the pitiful Li--amm la~la ~la~la---"
"There are places that you deserved to go." Jill gritted her teeth. She could not stomach this strange soul! For the first time since she was doing this job, she had never met a soul like her. So annoying! All the souls she met were all solemn, quiet, nervous, lonely, and reluctant. But they were all obedient. But this soul...
"Oh..can you pleeease elaborate~~" Liam pleaded with a sing-song tone.
Jill looked she wanted to kill this puff of smoke in front of her!
"If you are good and NOT ANNOYING, SO NOISY, AND DID NOT ASK RANDOM QUESTIONS to inggots, you can go to the first gate: Reincarnation. You can have a new life again after drinking soup from the old Meng [2]. If you did bad things in your past lifetime, then you are bound to go to the right gate: Punishment. Souls suffered there, and after they pay their sins, they can go to the right gate and reincarnate. The middle one is for the souls who have the deepest regret in their hearts, which branded to their souls, making them not qualified for reincarnation. They won't drink old Meng's soup. They were sent to the gate of regrets to solve their own issues. If they succeed and the deepest regrets they have vanished from their souls, they can go to the gate of reincarnation then."
"Oh..." Liam finds this attractive. She wandered which gate she would send from.
But she was 99.9% confident that she would enter the gate of reincarnation. She was very excited to have a new life.
After a long wait, it was finally Liam's turn.
"Liam Drelavine."
"En.[3]"
A pile of paper appeared. Old Meng read it. Her brow was suddenly furrowed, then she raised an eyebrow.
Liam suddenly became nervous.
Did I do something terrible in the past?
She recalled everything she could remember. There were some fights with her brother, but it was only minor, and they quickly forgive each other because she loved her brother so much.
She was a responsible child.
She did not bully others. She did not have many friends, but she goes along with her classmates and workers.
She strives hard and achieved her goals through honest means. As real as she could. But not when she was in High school when she accidentally saw the answer key on her teacher's table. And it was not her fault that her memory was good to memorize more than half of the answer key. Though she got a perfect score, most of it was because of her studying.
She knew she was not a saint, but she was not that evil either.
What could possibly be wrong? I will not be sent to the gate of punishment, am I?
Liam was getting more scared as minutes passed by.
Old Meng! Hurry up and finish reading! I'm dying of nervousness!
It was good that Liam did not have her body right now. If she has it, she would have farted.
After a long torment of waiting, old Meng finished reading. She called out Liam again.
"Liam Drelavine. Proceed to the middle gate."
Liam let out a sigh of relief. She was about to enter the left gate when Old Meng stopped her.
"You are not qualified to be reincarnated right now. You have to solve your deepest regrets that were seeped into your soul. Please go to the middle." Old meng said, pointing at the middle gate.
Liam stared at her and processed her words slowly.
After loading, her brain processed it, then reject it and processed it again. It went on and on for a minute.
When her brain had no choice but to acknowledge the information, it transported the info to every part of her neurons. It made her body freeze for a moment. Every cell of her rejected that information she had heard!
Gate of reincarnation?!
Are you monkey** kidding me!
(A/N: Way if Liam's cursing.)
Deepest regrets that seeped into my soul?!
Are they really referring to me?!
Unfortunately, she was not given a chance to voice out her thoughts.
Shocked from the assessment given to her, Liam was thrown to the Gate of Regrets by little Jack and Jill.
******
[1] King Yama - king of underworld /dead
[2] Inggots - king Yama's creation. The one who lead and guide the dead where to go
[3] Old Meng - a Chinese character from their belief which gives soup (to forget/ erase past life memories) to the souls who will undergo reincarnation.
[4] En- yes
Source: Me :)
