Page 9 of To Hell and Back
If the timeline was accurate, last night she would have arrived home to discover her mother and father had been out. Thinking they were either on a date or working late at the film studio, she decided to wait until the morning to surprise them.
In her previous life, she had called them once she had woken up to tell them that she was home. Once she discovered they had flown to Canada for the weekend to scout out a site for their upcoming film project, she told them to stay where they were and enjoy themselves. Of course, they hadn’t listened. Since it was a short flight, they immediately changed their plans to fly back to spend her birthday with her.
But they had never made it home.
She lifted her phone to call them. If she could tell anyone about her death experience, it would be her parents. Not only would they believe her strange story without hesitation, they would also have some pretty creative ideas about how to go about getting her revenge.
She lowered the phone again without placing the call when a foreboding sensation swept through her, telling her that it was a bad idea to contact them. Even if she told them what would happen, their concern for her might make them try to head home anyway. If they didn’t fly, they could rent a car and try to drive. Although they weren’t that far away, it would still be dangerous once the storm hit.
The best thing to do to keep them safe would be to have them stay where they were, so she would have to wait to tell them about her trip to the Hell Realm.
She glanced down at her phone when it pinged with an incoming text. She had already gotten several birthday messages from friends that she hadn’t bothered to look at earlier. Tears stung her eyes when she saw her parents had just sent her a video message, and she eagerly pressed play.
Her mother beamed a smile at her.“Greetings to our darling birthday girl from Vancouver! Hope you are taking a break from studying to have some fun with your friends today.”
“Now that you’re finally legal, be careful heading out to the bars tonight with your friends. Make sure you guys don’t drink and drive,”her dad warned.“Isn’t there a free shuttle that runs from the university to the downtown area of Mystic? If you go bar hopping, just take the shuttle. And make sure someone watches your glass if you leave the table. There are too many assholes in the world. No, just get a new drink if you have to leave it unattended. It’s not worth the risk.”
“Good idea. Oh, and have one of your friends whip you up a hangover potion so you don’t get sick. We miss you and love you. Wish you were here with us! Dad and I have a break in our schedule next weekend, so we thought we would head down to visit you. We can have a belated birthday celebration then. Let us know if that works for you, okay?”
“Love you to Jupiter and beyond, baby! Happy Birthday!”
Her parents each held up one of their hands to form a heart with their fingers, and seeing it made Seneca’s own heart swell with love. She wanted to wrap her arms around them and hug them close, but seeing them happy, healthy, and alive was enough for the moment.
Wiping at the tears spilling down her cheeks like waterfalls, she quickly sent them back a dozen heart emojis, then confirmed they had a date for the following weekend. Even though she was glad they were safe, she couldn’t stop herself from telling them to be careful of the upcoming storm. She added a warning that one of her supernatural friends had told her it was supposed to be stronger than predicted to make sure they listened. When they sent back a text telling her they would make sure to stay at the hotel that evening, she sighed with relief.
One problem settled, now onto the next.
The sound of rain pinging against the windows made her glance outside. While it would continue to rain all afternoon, the worst part of the storm wouldn’t hit until later that night. There was still a lot she needed to do before that. She had to save as many people as she could without altering too many things that might attract the wrong kind of attention.
It was a delicate balance, but at least she didn’t have to do it alone.
Tapping her phone, she called to her best friend and cursed when it kept ringing until it went to voicemail. Knowing Shadow, she was still sleeping. Doing what any stalker bestie would do, she called over and over again until her friend finally answered.
“I swear to fuck there better be a good reason you are waking me up at this hour.”
Seneca felt overwhelmed with joy at the sound of her best friend’s irritated voice. She had missed Shadow, desperately so, and being able to speak to her again felt like she had really come home. She had to clear her throat before she could manage to speak.
“It’s two in the afternoon.”
“I was up late chatting with the fam. You know how it is.”Shadow yawned.“Happy birthday, bestie. You spending the day with your parents?”
“Actually, no. They aren’t home this weekend.”
“Well, that sucks. Don’t worry, we’ll go out and celebrate tonight. Since you are finally legal, I’ll take you to dinner at The Manor, then we can—”
“We won’t have time for that. Listen, something pretty fucked up happened to me and—” Unsure where to begin, she simply blurted out, “So, I died, or I will exactly one year from today. I got sent to the Hell Realm, where apparently all souls go after they die, but instead of being recycled or whatever, some gods I met gave me the chance to be reborn.”
There was a long pause.“Is this a storyline for a new novel? It sounds fucking fascinating and slightly unhinged. I love it.”
“Unfortunately, I’m dead serious. I really died. It actually happened. I went to Hell, but now, I’m back again.”
“I’m coming over.”
“Wait,” Seneca hurried to say. “Let me just give you the abridged version for now. Then, I’m going to need your help with some shit.”
Flopping back down on the bed, she laid out everything that had happened over the last year of her life as concisely as she could, ending with her trip to the Hell Realm and her conversation with the gods.
When she was finished, there was a long pause. Then, Shadow exploded into an excited outburst.
