THE MOMENT
"Aunt Elsa," Kim rolled her eyes at the young woman. 24-year-old Elsa was there to pick up 9-year-old Kim to spend the day with her. Elsa stood on the doorstep waiting for Kim to finish her thoughts. "I'm your only niece."
"And? Other people have nieces too. But out of all the nieces in the world, you are my favorite." Elsa giggled. "So, I'll ask again. Is my favorite niece ready to go?" Kim nodded, then shook her head. The motion shook a few coffee-brown strands free of the girl's loose ponytail.
"Mom didn't tell me where I was going," she said.
"That's because it's a surprise," Elsa grinned. She looked Kim up and down; then, she nodded at the girl's blue jeans and pink blouse. "You're dressed enough, let's go," Elsa grabbed Kim's hand and led the girl towards her car. But, they didn't reach it.
"What happened?" Kim froze. "Where are we?" Kim blinked on her way to the car. When she opened her eyes the sunny blue sky and cracked sidewalk were gone. She stood in a brilliant white room. A white desk sat in the center of the room with white chairs facing each other on either side of it. All the furniture, floors, and wall glowed with a soft white light.
"This is where I work," Elsa said. Then, she quickly shook her head and corrected herself. "It's my office, but I do most of my work in the field."
"Your office?" Kim asked. She realized that she did not know what her aunt did for a living. Her mom and Elsa were very close and Kim remembered that they had been talking about Elsa getting a new job in the past few months. But the girl had been distracted by other things that day and it didn't cross her mind until just now. Kim looked more carefully around the office and realized there were no doors. And, she still didn't have an answer about how they got there. "What do you do?"
"Well," Elsa gave Kim a nervous smile. "I'm Death," she said. "Your mom told me you had some pretty deep questions and gave me the okay to answer whatever I could." The thought that Elsa might be kidding, or even flat out lying never crossed Kim's mind. Elsa had been there next to her mom for Kim's entire childhood. She trusted her like a second mom and her nervous, sincere tone was enough to convince Kim.
"Did you reap my dad?" Kim's first question was a continuation of what started the conversation between Kim and her mom. Her father passed away when Kim was only four years old. As Kim was growing up she wanted to hold on to those few, vague memories tighter. She started asking her mom about her dad which led to a conversation about life and the universe in general. Kim wasn't angry; but, she breathed a sigh of relief when Elsa shook her head.
"He died before I got the job," Elsa explained.
"Can I see him?" Kim asked. Again, Elsa shook her head.
"Not with the way the universe works," Elsa said. "I could show you his counterpart in another universe. But, even if they were really alike, it still wouldn't be who your dad was."
"There's other universes?" Kim asked with wide eyes. Elsa nodded.
"Technically we're in another universe right now. Even if I was Death when your father passed away, it probably wouldn't have been me that reaped him. There are a ton of us to deal with all the universes out there. The universe you live in is out of my jurisdiction."
"Whooaaa..," Kim's eyes seemed to grow wider with every word.
"Did he go to Heaven? Is that why I can't see him?" Kim asked.
"He didn't go to Heaven," Elsa said. "He didn't go to Hell either," she quickly added when she noticed Kim's face fall.
"So what happened to him?" Kim asked.
"He moved on," Elsa said with a shrug. "You know how I said there are other universes out there with other versions of your dad?" She asked. Kim nodded.
"All those versions of your dad; their soul comes from the same source. You can imagine your dad's soul like water in a bucket. All those other versions are like water drops. When one version dies, the soul gets added back to your dad's bucket. Once the bucket is refilled, the whole soul combines all the experiences of every single water drop into one body. That's what's called a Unique Soul."
"Ooooh. My dad's a Unique Soul?" Kim asked. She was disappointed when Elsa shook her head.
"He's one of the water drops waiting in the bucket. But don't worry, he doesn't notice anything. It's kind of like when I brought you here," Elsa gestured at her office. "First you blinked, and then-," Elsa's sentence was interrupted by Kim blinking again. "-we were somewhere else."
When Kim opened her eyes she found herself sitting in a red booth in an ice cream shop. If it wasn't for the family enjoying their treats at the next table, Kim wouldn't have been able to guess where they were. It was obviously a different place, but the decor was so similar. Everything was white with red accents. 'Sharp Scoops' was written above the menu in red font.
"How do you do that?!" Kim asked. Elsa giggled at her niece and shook her head. Kim blinked again before she could ask Elsa what was so funny. When she opened her eyes she was standing on her own front porch holding a cone of chocolate ice cream. Elsa laughed again.
"It's more fun not telling you."