A Simple Collection

Nick just looked at Matthew and nodded his head.  “Just wait till you are our age, you whippersnapper.”

Jake smiled, “Does that mean you’ll do it?”

“Yes.” Was the exasperated reply from Nick.

Matthew smiled.  Then he looked at the two.  “How did you two meet and become friends?  After all, vampire and Reaper are pretty far apart in fields.”

Jake smiled reminiscing.  Nick answered for the two of them.

“We fell in love with the same woman.” Nick looked over, “let’s get started.

“So tell me again,” Nick said, “who had the brilliant idea of you being a collection agent?”

Matthew took a deep breath and replied, “How hard can it be?  You show up, act all mystical and zap their soul to the next world.  A piece of cake.”

Nick sighed, “If only it were that easy.

“Sometimes a soul just refuses to be collected.  That is problematic. You have to start the collection by a specific time, that will be indicated on your tablet.  That is the easy part.”

Nick handed Matthew a ring. “Put this on.”

Matthew slipped the ring on and felt the ring adjust itself to become a snug fit.  Nick continued, “Point is at the intended target and tap the ring and it should start glowing blue.  That means that you have started the collection.”  

“You will notice that you and the person will seem to no longer be visible to people around you.  Now, you have to have the person you plan on collecting at this point, that is very important. If you miss that deadline,” Nick looked at Matthew, “Well we get you.”

Matthew gave a half-smile. Nick went on, “but, once you have them in the blue, you are good.  You can take your time to talk to them. To comfort them. To convince them to come to you.”

“And if they don’t?”

Nick gave him a stare, “Then you tap the ring again.  You will see it will turn red. That is the forcible extraction.  But be careful, you have to touch them to send their soul on. That is also the most painful collection you will do.  

Not in terms of any sort of real pain for you physically.  Well, not usually. But these you will chase all over the place in order to catch and collect their souls.  Just make sure if that happens, that you try and keep up with them. If they get too far away…”

Matthew burst in, “What happens?”

“Then, they have broken the link with the ring and not only have you lost the soul, if they are too far from their body then, you have a ghost.  They are doomed to haunt the Earth. You with me?”

Matthew looked thoughtful, “So, what happens if I get them to the car?”

Nick smiled, “That is the easy part.  You drive to the drop off location, it is programmed into the GPS in the car, so just look for drop off point and you are good.  They go in and their soul is whisked off to its proper afterlife.”

“Proper afterlife?”

Copyright 2014-2021 Kohl Media Solutions. All Rights Reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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