That last word started to rattle Ash out of his dreamlike stupor, visibly enough to show something was clearly wrong. His thoughts wandered back to his apartment, and what was still laying in his bed, slowly turning the sheets a murky black. He shook his head, determined to push past the vision and steer his dream in a better direction.

  “What?” Was the only word that could leave his lips. There were a lot of things he wanted to say, like refusing the claim outright, making arguments for why he wasn’t, asking why a dead person would need a gun, but nothing came to him.

  Only that one word and a blank stare at the person who stunned him.

  “Dead, gone, expired, unalived is popular right now I think” he looked up at Ash, his eyes narrowing a little, “probably at least for a day or two if the reports were right, but you seem pretty lucid still.”

  “What?” is all that came out again.

  “I don’t know how else you want me to put it, I’m not normally the guy who has to break this to people.”

  Not even a “What” comes out this time as Ash just stares back at the boy who was doing an awful job at breaking the news to him.

  “Okay, let’s try starting this over again” the boy extended a hand this time, “I probably should have started with this, but I’m Gray.” Ash accepted the hand without much thought, giving it a shake that he barely processed before Gray continued. “Next I’ll get the big questions out of the way since everyone usually has them.”

  Gray clears his throat.

  “No, I’m not the grim reaper.”

  “No, you’re not in hell.”

  “No, you’re not in heaven.”

  “No, I’m not god, jesus, your favorite angel, a dead relative taking on a different form, or the devil playing a trick on you.”

  “No, I’m not a dream, hallucination, or a gas leak.”

  Gray starts slowly counting on his fingers, lost in thought as if he’s trying to think if that’s it. He balled his fingers back up suddenly as another sentence bubbled to the surface. “It’s kind of like your own personal purgatory, sorry for the intrusion by the way.”

  Ash sighed, closed his eyes, and then took one more deep breath. His eyes opened again as he looked up the stairwell, and then back to Gray standing in front of him. “Alright.”

  “Alright?” Gray repeated back to him, sounding surprised.

  “Yup, alright.” Ash scratched at the side of his head as he still stared up at the stairwell leading to other floors. “I’m pretty sure I’m still dreaming, but if I can’t wake up I might as well play along.” For a few seconds Ash thought about what he’d do when he’d wake up, and then immediately pushed it away in hopes the dream would last a little longer if it stopped being a nightmare. All that was left for him in the morning was another weekday with two more desperate interviews.

  “So if I’ve got it right, I’m dead, and this isn’t the afterlife. Mind filling me in on why it looks exactly like my apartment building?”

  “Hm, that’s a good question, honestly.” Gray walked over to the door that Ash came in from and placed a hand on it.

  “You don’t know?”

  “It’s not that I don’t know,” he turned back to Ash, but looked at anywhere except him, “it’s just that it’s a bit of a complicated answer.” He crossed his arms, looking deep in thought. “Where you die physically has a lot of influence over how places like this take shape, at least most of the time. Sometimes it’s an apartment, a house, a public park, a school,” Gray counted with his fingers as he mentioned each location, “hospitals are always the worst though.” He shivered from a chill that shouldn’t be able to reach him through his coat.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Well look, if I’m dead, the last place I want to be is this dump still. If I’m a ghost or something, can I go haunt somewhere nicer?” Ash felt around his back pocket and pulled the revolver back up, holding it in his hand as he pointed it towards the sky. “Did my gun die too? Is it some kind of ghost gun?” He lazily waved the gun around in the air, barely feeling the weight of it anymore.

  “Hey I’m not an expert or anything,” annoyance colored Gray’s tone, “I’m dead too, you know, and I’ve only been a Diver for two years now.”

  “What? So we’re both ghosts? In a ghost apartment complex?” Ash turned towards the stairs leading down, taking a couple of steps. The word ‘Diver’ stuck out in Ash’s mind, but he didn’t question it, at least for now. “I’m just going to take a look downstairs. If you’re right about it being blocked off maybe you’re not completely full of it.”

  Ash already started down the stairs, and Gray followed after him. “It’s probably better you look at it yourself anyway, maybe there’s a secret button here that I don’t know about.”

  After just a single turn down the stairwell Ash could already see the problem. The stairs stopped short, ending at a tiny concrete room with no windows, doors, or exits of any kind, just smooth white walls. He approached the room with an outstretched hand, making contact with the cool concrete that made his palms almost shiver.

  “Can I phase through this or something?”

  “Take a crack at it,” Gray smiled as he leaned against the stair’s railing.

  Ash figured it was worth a shot so he withdrew his hand and took a step forward with shaky confidence, which resulted in him gently smashing himself unceremoniously against the wall with nothing to show for it. He pushed himself back off of the wall, briefly wondering if it would have worked if he ran straight for the wall instead of weakly pushing into it.

  “Guess that answers that,” Gray gave Ash a small pat on the shoulder, “don’t take it personally, I’m not the kind of ghost that can do that either.”

  Ash turned around, noticing Gray looked like he was holding in a laugh. “So are there ghosts that can? Are there ghost ranks or something?”

  “There are, but I thought I’d confuse you if I brought them up.” He quickly regained his composure. “Normally when someone dies you want to take the info dumps a little slowly, especially if they aren’t very stable.”

  “Telling me I’m dead is taking things slow?” Ash wondered for a second how good he’d be at breaking that kind of news to people.

  “You needed to know eventually,” Gray defended himself, “besides, I got the feeling you could handle it, and I think I was right.” Gray scratched his head for a second, eyes closed as he was deep in thought. “Vandal would be able to explain a lot more, but he’s still up on the roof.”

  Ash knocked on the wall a couple of times with the back of his fist, noting the full bodied sound coming from each tap. “Another dead guy?”

  “The head dead guy,” Gray perked up a little, “at least for Broolhaven. Just don’t be too shocked when you see him since his look is a little…unique.” Gray joined in knocking on the wall, giving it gentle taps at seemingly random places. “Now that I found you up and about, he’ll probably want to know if you’re Diver material.”

  “You mentioned that word before, and don’t take this the wrong way, but,” he looked over Gray’s bulky jacket, trying to see if he could tell what kind of shape he was in underneath it, “you don’t look like much of a swimmer.”

  “Hey, I didn’t invent the terms, all I did was die and get offered a job.”

  “Guess that’s why I failed my last interview, I didn’t shoot myself on the spot when he asked where I saw myself in ten years.” Ash’s back pocket felt a little heavier as he remembered the weight behind him.

  “People still ask that?” Gray leaned his back against the wall after he got bored of tapping on it.

  “I’ve been asked that question six times in the past three months, and right now you’re looking at the honest answer.”

  “Well today’s your lucky day,” Gray gently pushed himself off of the wall, “there’s an interview waiting for you on the roof and that’s the perfect answer to the only question.” Gray took a couple of steps towards him with a smile. “Up for one more interview today?”

  Ash still couldn’t break away from the thought that this was a dream. The setup was nonsensical, the sights were familiar but different, and everything only made sense if he didn’t apply any logic towards it. He couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for himself if he was dreaming about being handed job offers now, especially just for being dead, but he didn’t mind seeing this dream all the way to its conclusion.

  “You know what,” Ash sighed with his eyes closed before looking back at Gray’s smile, “what do I have to lose?”