A Chronical of Life and Death

She tumbled out of the other end of the life, into a bright white place. Picking herself up, she yawned, stretched, and looked around, wondering vaguely what she was supposed to do next. He could not remember quite why he was meant to be here. Then again, he could not quite remember who he was, or where here was in the first place, so she decided not to worry about it too much for the moment.
After a while, she realised she was not alone. A little way off, there was a line of other people. They seemed similarly bemused in a benign, un-worried sort of a way, so she decided to go and join them.
'Hello,' she said genially to the person ahead of her, joining the back of the queue.
'Hello,' said the person ahead of her, smiling a little.
'Excuse me, but do you know what we're queuing for?' She asked, at length.
The person ahead of her thought for a while. The line shuffled forward.
'Haven't the foggiest, I'm afraid,' the person said at length.
The person ahead of him seemed faintly worried about this for a moment, but then he shrugged. 'But I suppose it'll all become clear in a moment,' he went on, brightening up.
Christall shrugged too. This seemed reasonable.
Eventually, She got near to the head of the queue.
There was a large benign-looking being there, handing out tickets.
The person ahead of her was given a ticket, looked rather happy, and promptly vanished through a big white door into nothing.
Then it was her turn. He held his hand out for a ticket. The being leant forward as if to give him one, then checked himself.
The being looked her up and down carefully.
''ang on a minute,' the being said slowly, 'What's goin' on ‘ere then?'
'Sorry?' She replied, quite unsure what the problem was.
'Well, there's two of you in there, in't there!' exclaimed the being.
'What?' She replied, confused, 'Is there?'
'Yes!'
'Oh, well, I'm terribly sorry. I don't want to be any trouble, you know.' She really felt quite contrite.
'Most irregular, that, most irregular,' said the being severely, looking rather troubled, 'Gonna throw the whole system out of whack, that is, if I let you through.'
'Oh, well I wouldn't want to be the cause of any problem,' She said, 'Would it be better if I just go back?'
< 11 >
'Ooo, you can't do that!' said the being, sounding scandalised. 'Nah, it's a one-way thing, innit? No going back, mate, sorry.'
'What should I do then?' She asked.
'You'll just ‘ave to wait here, I suppose.'
'Ah,' She said, and moved aside to let the others in the queue past.
After a rather large amount of non-time She had an idea.
'Look, as long as I'm here, is there anything I can do to help?' She asked brightly.
The being considered this thought for a minute.
'Well, the thing is, see, I can't let you any further on, on account of there's somehow more ‘n one of you in there.' The being was speaking slowly, considering each word carefully.
Christall nodded sagely, as if she understood.
'And just out of interest, what is further on?' She asked politely.
'Why, Level Two, of course!' said the being. 'What you've been training for, back there in Level One. Oh, it's a whole new ball game in there, mate, believe me!'
She frowned for a moment. She hadn't considered there had been anything previous to this big white land, but now that she thought about it,she did seem to remember there being something before ... . 'Shoes,' she thought to herself, 'Shoes with a nice gold stripe. I wonder what shoes are?' For some reason, this thought bothered her a little. But she decided to let it go. After all, she had enough to worry about at the moment.
'But I can't go on to Level Two, though?' She asked, just to clear things up.
'No, mate, ‘course you can't!' the being said, 'It'd be an unfair advantage, wouldn't it? With two of you in there, and all!'
'Ah, I see. And I can't go back to Level One, either. So, is there anywhere else I could go where I could be of service?' She asked.
The being considered this.
'We-ell,' it said, slowly, 'I do hear they're rather understaffed back at The Beginning.'
'The Beginning?'
'Yeah, you know, where it all starts? I hear it's a real shocker of a mess down there. It's a bit outside the rules, but if you fancy it, maybe you could go back there and help out. Tidy things up a bit, sort of thing?'
She thought about it for a moment. It seemed reasonable.
< 12 >
'Alright,' She said, nodding, 'If you think it would help.'
'Oh, it'd help alright!' the being said, 'No question there! It'd help everyone! You'd be lending a hand where it's wanted, and well, between you and me, The Beginning's the best bit anyway! So probably good for you too, mate, actually.'
'So we have a deal then?' She asked happily, holding out his hand.
The being considered for a moment, then shook warmly.
'Yes, mate!' the being said, 'We've got ourselves a big deal!'
The being snapped its large fingers. Abruptly, Christall felt the world begin to stream away backwards. Everything became faint.
But before it was lost entirely, the being called out to him.
'Now, remember there's no memory back at The Beginning!' it was saying. 'On account of there being no time! Don't worry, in time it'll all make sense! Oh and here, take this back with you.' The being hurled something at him. He caught it. 'That's the life you rode in on, mate. Might as well find some use for it! I'm sure some Poor Soul will want it ...'
And with that, the voice trailed away and was lost.

Christall stood, surveying her domain with satisfaction. For a moment, she felt a little odd, as if something was slightly out of phase with how things should be. She frowned to herself. She felt slightly ... full. As if he had more substance than she should have. For a moment, she almost fancied she heard a strange - yet strangely familiar -voice echoing in her head. She puzzled at the feeling for a moment, but could not quite grasp it, and so let it go. It faded away like a dream.
Christall looked down. Ah yes. She was holding a life in her hands. How did this one end, she wondered? For some reason, she felt as if this life was important, somehow. It was as if it were tugging on her. She wondered why that might be. What could anyone life contain that would make it more attractive to her than any other life?

She was just about to skim through it in an attempt to find out, when she noticed a client had arrived. She smiled brightly. She did love his job.
Putting the life to one side amid an infinite pile of other lives, she turned to face the Poor Soul.
< 13 >
'So,' She began cheerily, 'What can I do for you?'
'Oh, I'd like a life please,' breathed the Poor Soul.
'Would you, now?' grinned Christall, grabbing a life from the pile, 'Well, this is a most agreeable life, it ends quite spectacularly ...'
'The thing is,' the Poor Soul interrupted him, 'What was that life you were holding when I arrived ... ?'