Paul Kohler - The Borrowed Souls, A Novel

I shook my head in utter confusion. “You know, Hauser… just lead the way. I shouldn’t be surprised about anything that you tell me on how things work in the afterlife.”

“That’s the spirit, my boy.”

Hauser and I walked up to the glass entry doors and stepped through. Once inside the lobby, my initial sense of the building’s demure size was compounded. Straight ahead of the doors we’d just walked through were another pair of glass doors exiting the opposite side of the lobby. To the left was the bank of elevators—correction, the elevator. The building was small enough that only one lift was provided. There were two doors on either side of the elevator, most likely stairwell access points. To the right was yet another pair of glass doors exiting back outside. On each side of the doors were two small offices.

Considering that this was the entry point to the headquarters of the afterlife, I truly expected to see gold-encrusted chandeliers and imported Italian marble floors. Instead, the floor had some kind of 60s-era linoleum finish, and the walls had a wainscoting of faded cream-colored beadboard with a hideous lavender wallpaper above. The light fixtures were simple, clear glass luminaires.

“I like it,” I said. “Not at all pretentious.”

Hauser chuckled as he pressed the call button for the elevator. A moment later a mechanical bell rang as the tarnished brass door opened.

“After you, sport,” Hauser said, motioning me into the lift.

I stepped past him into the elevator and was confronted with the splendor that I had expected in the lobby. The walls were lined with pearl-essence panels, and every exposed screw or fastener appeared to be gold-plated. On the ceiling of the elevator was an extravagant chandelier, with hundreds of crystal prisms reflecting the light magnificently in the compact space. I laughed out loud.

Hauser joined in my laughter. “I tell you, boy, you should see the look on your face.”

As our laughter subsided, the elevator door closed. Hauser and I stood next to each other quietly. On the elevator panel were buttons for every floor from the lobby up to the twentieth floor. There were also two additional buttons: basement one and basement two.

After an uncomfortably long pause, I looked over at Hauser. He stood silently, as if waiting for something to happen.

“So are we going to actually push a button?” I asked.

Hauser held a solitary finger up as he continued to contemplate something. After a few more moments he nodded his head, then reached out and simultaneously pushed the seven and thirteen buttons. As he did so, a scattering of other buttons lit up, but not the seven or the thirteen.

“Is that some kind of a surreptitious access code?” I asked sarcastically.

“The Sentinel is nothing without its obscure security protocols. They change the sequence every so often, and it’s linked to the moon phase and the current month. I was trying to figure out the exact combination. Thankfully, today was an easy one. I’ve had to enter the elevator before when the combination was ten buttons. And you have to press them all at the exact same moment.”

“And what if you get it wrong?” I asked.

Hauser whistled and arched his eyebrow. “Well, I’ve only heard stories…”

Before he could continue, the lighted buttons began to blink out one by one. Twenty-three. Nineteen. Seventeen. Eleven. Five. Three. Two. One.

“Is there any coincidence that including the two buttons you pressed, all of the lighted buttons were prime numbers?” I asked.

“I tell you, Jack. You are one sharp wit. They actually had to draw me a diagram about it all when I first came in here.”

A moment later the elevator door opened, and I suddenly realized that the elevator had not moved an inch the whole time. Surprisingly, though, the lobby was not the same lobby that we had just been in. The decor of this lobby mimicked that of the elevator car.

Hauser stepped out first and I followed. As soon as we were both off the lift, the door closed then vanished. I nearly jumped out of my skin. In its place stood a man with his back toward us. He wore a tan suit and a white fedora.

Hauser cleared his throat.

The man before us turned sharply and the sudden recognition sent chills throughout every point of my body. It was Wilson Oliver.

I released the coin, and was back on the pavilions in Denver. Wilson sat across from me, smiling.

“Why didn’t you tell me that we’ve already been reintroduced?” I asked.

“Well, I wasn’t sure how much memory loss you’d actually suffered. I didn’t want to startle you too much with the state of the situation,” Wilson said, avoiding eye contact.

What is he hiding? I wondered.

Wilson brought his eyes up and met mine. “I see Hauser hasn’t taught you how to control your mind quite yet,” he said.

Shit . “I mean, yeah, not so much. I’ve only just recently been able to hear the occasional thought from someone else, and Hauser is the proverbial blank slate when it comes to his thoughts.”

“Hauser is one of the best at controlling what can be heard from deep within his mind. It’s almost as if he has the ability to… tick off a list of what he’ll allow out and what he keeps private. Personally, I hold everything in and don’t allow a single thought to leak away. It’s easier that way.”

“Then I’m confused. I thought that my training was complete. Is that not so?” I asked.

“I think it best that we reenter your past,” Wilson said, avoiding answering the question. “I think you would do much better learning about the status of things all on your own. What do you say we give the coin another flip?”

I exhaled deeply, feeling my frustration build. My earlier restful senses were quickly being replaced with feelings of disdain. Regardless of my reservations, I picked up the coin and flipped it over.

I was speechless. I stole a quick look at Hauser, who just grinned smugly. I returned my unbelieving gaze toward Wilson.

“Ah, Mr. Duffy,” Wilson said. “It’s great to see you again. Aside from the recent… complications, how has the afterlife been treating you?”

I tried to hide the shock—seeing my first collected soul standing right in front of me, in person, just as he’d looked all those months ago—but I failed miserably. “I, um…”

Wilson and Hauser both laughed at my sudden inability to speak coherently. I knew they weren’t laughing at me, but most likely at the odd situation that we were all in. “Odd indeed,” Wilson said. “And I’d imagine that you are full of questions right about now. As much as I would like to sit down with you and explain everything, we have more pressing matters to attend to.”

I nodded. “Yeah, maybe later?”

“I’m not sure if we have time on this trip, compadre,” said Hauser. “Perhaps if the meeting with the council doesn’t go too long, Wilson here can fill you in briefly.”

“Yes, yes. If this session is as expeditious as I’m hoping, we should have a few moments.” Wilson turned and began to walk down the corridor. “If you would follow me, council is already in session, and they’re waiting for us.”

Oh great. We come up here, wherever this is, and we get thrown right to the wolves.

“Please, Jack. Try your best to silence your thoughts. Once we’re inside the council, it would be best to speak only when you’re spoken to, and really try to focus on the conversation at hand. We don’t necessarily want to let on anything that is… questionable?” Hauser said.

I caught his drift instantly. I forced my recent deviances from my mind, and nodded.