Perdition Street by Leona O'Neill

Author:Leona O'Neill
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781958228609
Publisher: Quill & Crow Publishing House

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Atlas opened his office door to discover it was standing room only. Many more souls had arrived in his absence. He saw a few senior citizens that he presumed were from the church Varie had just told him about. There were a few well-dressed individuals he thought might be from the pub brawl and a few from the cinema. He saw a lady wearing a Pashmina that was definitely from the bistro they had just left. Caliber was standing on his desk, trying to calm everyone down. Atlas stood for a moment in the doorway, watching the dead man tell everyone everything was going to be fine, that Atlas would sort everything out, that if they needed anything—whatever dead people could possibly need—he would sort it out.

He was going to miss him when he crossed over, he thought, as he tied a tea towel tightly around his arm to stop the bleeding from Varie’s attack.

Caliber saw Atlas at the door and jumped down from the desk. “There he is,” he said, smiling, his grin failing as he took in the sight of him, bleeding. “He’s back.”

The corpses turned to Atlas, and all started talking at once, hitting him with a flurry of questions. “What’s going on? Why am I here? Am I dead? I can’t be dead; I’m only twenty-four! Why can’t my family hear me? Why am I so cold? Who are all these people? I was only at Mass, and now I’m here; what’s going on? I only went out for lunch, and my friend attacked me. Why have some of these people got holes in their heads? I want to be alive again; can I be alive again?”

Atlas rubbed his eyes. He literally couldn’t take this anymore. He was unable to process a single word. He still needed food, and he needed sleep.

Caliber noticed his distress. “Right. Everyone, back off!” he shouted. “Atlas needs to rest. Everyone out! Out onto the stairs, the other office, anywhere. Atlas needs peace and quiet and time to think. Out! Out! Out!”

He was so glad for Caliber, at that moment, that he patted him affectionately on the arm. “I need to sleep, Caliber,” he said wearily. “I need someone to watch over me. Mr. Smith seems intent on taking me out; even the doctor at the hospital was working for him. Varie almost stabbed me just now.”

“What? Jeez,” said Caliber .22. “Listen, you can tell me about it later. Get some shut-eye, and I'll stand guard. I’ll get the other members of our deceased community out on watch. You sleep.”

Atlas half-walked, half-stumbled over to the sofa, and collapsed into its softness. Within seconds, he was asleep. Caliber closed the door gently behind him and instructed the corpses to man the stairs and shout at the top of their voices if they sensed danger.

Atlas awoke to Caliber gently shaking his arm. “Atlas,” he whispered. “Your secretary is here in the front office. I thought you might want to wake up now. It’s 7:00 pm.

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