Shadow Dweller Series Book One Purgatory

               "Anabel Knight." a small woman from the counter called. "Anabel Knight." She said looking around.                 Anabel shook her head, ticking from the clock held her attention for a second before nausea took over, she wanted to fall. Her head felt like something smashed into it. The last thing she remembered was being in her car, and the wipers, those damn wipers Anabel forgot to replace the day before this big rainstorm happened.                 "Anabel Knight, please come up to the counter." The small woman gawked at her, waving a clipboard at her.                 Anabel slowly got to her feet and limped over to the counter. "I'm Anabel; can you tell me where I am?" she tried not looking around since everything seemed to hurt and the room continued to spin.                 "Take this." she handed Anabel the clipboard. "It should have all the reasons you're here and what you have to do to get to the Gate of Redemption." The lady said.                 "The Gate of Redemption? What is that?" Anabel shook her head in confusion; the small woman turned her back to her and continued to ignore her. Anabel turned around, looking around trying to figure out where she was, and what happened. The small room looked like a doctor’s office, but there were pictures of a bright gate and people with wings. Kind of like Angels.                 Sitting down, she looked down at the paperwork. The first page had all her general information, the rest were blank pages. Looking up, a few people sat nearby, they looked almost as confused as she felt. She wanted to get up and ask them if they knew what was going on, and why the nurse thought it was okay to play some sort of prank on them.                 "Anabel Knight, please come to the counter." The small woman hissed at her again.                 Anabel rolled her eyes at the small woman, but she made her way back to the counter, "Is this some kind of joke?" Anabel slammed the clipboard down on the desk.                 "I'm Greta, this is not a joke. You died, your soul is between places," she said looking down at the clipboard. "You have some unresolved issues that you have to go through before you make it home. You are here for reasons that your case manager Michael will explain to you. Now go through those doors, the door on the left at the very end of the hallway, your case manager is waiting."                 "But-" Anabel wanted her to answer the question as to where she was, but the small woman motioned for her to move on.                 "Go now, I cannot answer any more of your questions. The longer you make Michael wait, the longer you wait. Have a nice day." Greta said pointing at the door Anabel had to walk through. “That door.”                 Anabel looked around the room one last time, before limping towards the closed door. Her heart raced as she pushed the door open. Holding her breath, she wasn't sure what to expect. The hallway looked normal, nothing special. As she limped down the hallway, she passed a few doors on her right; there was only one door on the left. Stopping in front of the door, she took a deep breath, she wasn't sure what to expect, and what this was about. She wanted to know this wasn't a dream. Twisting the doorknob, she pushed open the door. A tall man sat behind the desk writing something.                 "Sit," he said in a deep dark voice. The pen never stopped moving on the paper he was writing on.                 Anabel closed the door behind her, her heart in her throat. Her body trembled as she sat down, waiting for him to say something. "I am Michael," he said looking up. “We are here to learn about what you need to do to get your wings, Ms. Knight. Never married, no kids, and killed in a car crash," he said looking down at some papers.                 "Wait, I died in a car crash?" Anabel asked confused, her body began to tremble again. She wanted to run to the window and open it, she was hyperventilating and she didn’t know what to do.                 "Yes, you were on your way home from work it looks like, a drunk driver hit you head-on," he said looking up again. "Now for these unresolved issues you had as a mortal. Hm. You don't have any unfinished business, I'll have to set you up in a room until we figure out why you ended up on my desk, and you didn't go directly to the Gate of Redemption."                 “Again with this Gate thing, what is it?” she said shaking her head at the thought of walking through a gate. "What exactly is the Gate of Redemption?"                 Michael cleared his throat. He didn’t need this today. Squeezing the bridge of his nose, he cleared his throat." It's the place that decides your fate. Hell or Heaven." he said standing up reading something from the stack of paperwork, "you had another 70 years before you were supposed to die. You might be cursed to walk as a ghost for the next 70 years because it was not your time. Where was your angel during your accident?" slamming down his fist, he picked up the phone. "Send in Carlos."                 Anabel wasn't sure what was going on, the more time that went by the less she believed what was going on. She stood up, "look I don't know what is going on here, but I don't think it’s cool. Now please tell me what's going on, why am I here? And exactly, where am I?" she growled at him.                 "You are between worlds, you need to calm down and sit down. Carlos will show you where you can stay until I get this case straightened out," he said pointing at the chair for her to sit down.                 The door opened, Anabel watched as a tall dark-haired man walked in. "Carlos, finally. Please take Ms. Knight to the waiting room; she'll need to check-in at the Soul Hotel." Michael said walking to the door, wanting Carlos to take the girl away before she gave him any more issues.                 Anabel folded her arms, "really the Soul Hotel?" she said rolling her eyes. "Yes take me there, I'd love to see this," she said walking towards the door, Carlos gave her a weird look.                 "Alright, you're the boss," Carlos said sarcastically. “Where’d we get this one Michael?” he said closing the door to Michael’s office.                 Anabel rolled her eyes and followed Carlos down the hallway. "So why are you part of this scheme," she asked.                 Carlos glanced back at the small girl, she was brown-haired with curls, she stood up to his chin, and she looked pretty beat up from the accident. "How do you know it’s a scheme? What if you did die and you are between places? Normally we only get the suicides or the tainted souls here. You seem clean." he smirked.                 "Clean?" she gave him a dirty look. "Look you can play these games all you guys want, but in the end, I'll be the one laughing."                 Carlos stopped at the elevator, pushing the button to go up, he smiled at her. "You're pretty beat up, might have to call the on-call doc to come to look at you."                 "That's another thing, if I was dead, why do I still have all the wounds and cuts and pains?" she said looking down at her torn clothes.                 Carlos shrugged his shoulders; he wore a tight black T-shirt, baggy blue jeans, and black Nike shoes. "That's part of the process, you see if you went straight to the Gate, you would have new clothes that match where you belong, white for Heaven and black for Hell," he said as the doors opened.                 "Oh that's original, come on, you think I'm stupid. Cut the crap where are we?" she said walking into the elevator. Her heart still raced, her body slowly relaxed but she still felt pain. She wanted to take a bath, that would help her clean the cuts and wounds she had from the accident, she couldn’t wait.                 The doors closed, Carlos looked straight ahead, and he didn't carry on the conversation. Anabel was afraid this was real, and her soul was destined to go to hell because she died before she was supposed to. She was also afraid because she left her boyfriend and family behind, and she wasn't entirely sure her body had been found, or if her family knew she was dead.                 The elevator stopped, Carlos was the first one out. He continued to walk down the hallway, not waiting for Anabel. She tried keeping up with him, but the pain from her ankle ached. "Again I ask this, why I feel so much pain if I'm dead?" she whined.                 "Uh, do we have to go over this again? It's simple, you died, and you’re in purgatory. The pain is just your body’s way of dying and letting you know. Don't worry the pain doesn't last much longer. Once you get to the gate, it will stop. You'll probably have to deal with it until then. That goes for your heartbeat and any other mortal-related issues you have." he said over his shoulder.                 "Great, so I get to feel every pain in my body until they get my situation fixed. Is there a possibility they'd send me back as a mortal?" she said trying to catch up.                 "No once you're dead, you're dead," he said walking faster. "Here this is where you check-in, and wait until Michael comes for you," he said pointing to a door. “Go ahead.”                 Anabel stopped in front of the door; she didn’t want to go in alone. She thought Michael wanted Carlos to keep her company until they figure out what happened. "Aren't you coming with me?" she whined.                 "No, I am not allowed to go with you. You are a solo soul; you need to do things by yourself. Getting to Heaven isn't a small test. The first one is 'doing things on your own.'" he said before he excused himself.