When the three of them left the elevator on the 151th floor, Vincent was almost puking his intestines out, that is, if he had some intestines, for the huge amount of information he had just received. Still, innocent to what was yet to come, the trio simply walked on a large room, full of people walking around, mostly employees, due to all of them being dresses mostly the same and with IDs, and chatting, and a door, a glass, dark glass door with dark glass windows, that showed a city in the distance; some people greeted both Alexander and Megumi as they walked by, and they waved back, Vincent, still very much nauseous, dreaded in his introvert self.
Vincent, Megumi and Alexander walked to the dark glass doors, that opened into a brightly and almiost blindly white scenario, as if Vincent had just looked directly into the light, he felt his eyes burning, even though he was mostly sure his eyes shouldn't be able to burn anymore, since he had died. It was so bright that he groanded in pain and stopped walking, right in front of the door.
" Why is this place so bright? " Vincent asked, covering his eyes with his hand;
" I don't really know, it was like that when I came " Megumi said, idly, with sunglasses on, Vincent didn't ven know she had those with her all this time;
Vincent simply did an unhappy sound as his eyes adjusted to the light and the three of them just started to walk through, what Vincent could now see, the city, from what looked like a huge balcony-like floor.
" Is this White City? " He asked, even thought the answer seemed quite obvious;
" yeah, is is. But we are in the hight part, a huge flooring that connects us to the highest part of the city " Alexander answered, not minding the sillyness of Vincent's questioning;
" The New District " Megumi said, looking at her phone, once again, totally not giving any attention to both Alexander and Vincent;
' How many districts are on this city? ' Vincent thought, looking at the tall skycrapers that cut throught that collection of white, now leaned against the railing. The city was quite beautiful, it had a large avenue for pedestrians, with some metro exits emerging from underground and tall buildings surrounding it and forming a very open space while technological and modern. Vincent was mesmerized, almost breathless, even though he had lived in a big city ever since he was in college, it was unlike anything else.
" I am starving! Alex, I'm going to grab some food " Megumi declared, in the middle of nothing, and started walking away;
" Good idea, I haven't eaten in ages. " Alexander said, smiling that toothpaste comercial smile, and giggle; " Are you coming, pal? " he said, leaning foward to speak to Vincent, with the hand heavy on this one's shoulder;
" uh! yeah, yeah... Where are we going? " Vincent said, confused, shuttering, as he turned to the other two, now standing fully;
" There is a nice shop down to the next block" Said Megumi, pointing to the other side, behind the building, through a long passenger avenue;
" Oh! A New shop? is it? I need to try, Meg " Alexander said, as he walked to Megumi smiling and giggling as he agreed with her;
He started to walk away with Megumi, almost as if they had forgotten about Vincent, but stopped and looked at him, with the sun glowing exacly on his face in a way to make his hazel eyes even more Hazel, and smiling, he reached his hand to Vincent, like an advertisement model, and said, in the most perfect tone:
" Hey, Vince, Come with us " Alexander, sun-bathed by an unknown sun, with the tone more than perfect, was speaking;
Fueled by envy, or hypnosis, Vincent found himnself walkiing towards Alexander and a Megumi, who were alredy making their way to this mysterious shop. According to Megumi, a friend of her friend's boyfried went to this shop and a whole someone-tells-someone-who-tells-other-someone later megumi knew and wanted to try the place.
" And Linda told me that Genevive's boyfriend told Tom that they serve a good portion at a reasonable price " Megumi said, gossiping, as she guided the trio through some crowded and modern looking streets with a bunch of employees, from various places as it seemed;
" Genevive ? You mean that ginger from your department? Is she dating? " Alexander asked, totally unrelated to the whole food topic, and seemed to be very judgemental of the poor woman, as he laughed after his words;
" Yeah, she's even getting married, I totes don't know how she could, maybe her fiancé is blind " Megumi added, meanly, giggling as she squeezed her eyes to Alexander;
" What's wrong with the woman? " Vincent asked, a bit too loudly to be considered Thinking Loudly;
" Vince, don't get us wrong, dear " She added, grabbing one of Vincent's hands as they walked, and looked at the man, " Alex and I are just stating the facts, Genevive is absolutely hideous, not to mention her bitter personality, there is absolutely no way someone like Genevive is dating a sane man" Megumi said, trying to clear her and Alexander's images from the new hire;
" Maybe the guy is really that blind... " Vincent could only said, as he partially agreed but partially couldn't care less;
Before this rather akward conversation could continue, Megumi spotted the said 'store' what was, in the end, a kebab shop, a very ordinary-looking kebab shop, with a few tables inside and a few more in front of it, but seemed mostly focused on to-go food preparation.
" it's... here? " Asked VIncent, a bit a lot disappointed, or confused, or bothm he definetly didin't know;
" Meg, a Kebab shop? I was thinking about eating this other day! " Alexander seemed enthusiastic, making Megumi laugh and toss her hair proudly;
" Vince, what's wrong? Are ya alergic to somenthing here? " Megumi asked, now looking at Vincent, she was all fun and giggles, vbut now, even undar all that make-up, shje seemed genuinely worried;
" yeah... Vince, are you alergic? If you are, we can go somewhere else, you know... " Alexander started to say, apologizing a bit as he scratched the back of his neck;
" I'm not allergic, I was just not expecting for the afterlife to have kebab shops " Vincent said, quite embarassed for making the two worry, but with a plain face of doubt, as he tried to not look at the Sun™ Alexander, and his absolutely perfect worried face, focusing on the young and exagerted features of Megumi's;
" oh, Dear, we have everything shops here! " Megumi said, and winked in a dramatical and almost cartoonish way;
Vincent twisted his face in a way of not undertanding the woman's quirkyness or whatever, and the three of them stepped into a reasonably long line, for ordering food. While Megumi and Alexander discussed what to eat and what to put on their kebabs, Vincent was looking around, trying tho understand what the hell was going on.
" Who the hell runs these shops? Don't we all work for that damn company? " Vincent asked, very confused, completely in the foggiest and brightest dark;
" There are some people who are not atheists, who don't like the afterlifes, who are neutral or simply don't qualify to any religious afterlife, those people live here, in the Outside. Many have to work somewhere else then the company, so run things such as shops " Alexander explained, calmly, while he was shielding Vincent's full back, as if alexander was protecting him from a knife attack;
" What? " Vincent said, confused by this new information, and the three gave two steps ahead on the long line;
" Ooma usually doesn't tell us, but we are not all atheists here, there are a bunch of believers too, but the company doesn't accept them mostly " Alexander added, quite interested on explaining things to Vincent;
Vincent didn't answer, he just kept on thinking about it, so little time and such changing news had arrived already. This was mostly infuriating for him, and confusing; Vincent put a real amount of thought on the matter. If there were believers, getting into a hell of heaven was only a matter of semantics and illusion for people, this was at least interesting to think about.
" So, how do people even go to a Religious Afterlife? " Vincent asked, very much more confused, some more steps forward;
" Qualifying for subscription " Megumi said, while typing on her phone, Vincent tried to see what she was typing;
" What do you mean? " Vincent asked, confused, still trying to find out what she was typing;
" They pass through an evaluation, by the very own rulers of the afterlifes they subscribed to when informing their religion " Megumi explained, rather bored, not taking her eyes away from the phone, now only two people were ahead the trio on the line;
" This sounds quite troublesome... " Vincent commented, not knowing much what to say besides that;
" It is. But for us, not for the souls, they just arrive and are guided through the whole 'afterlife setting in' deal by us, then we never see 'em again " Megumi added, quite annoyed by the situation, as she began to type more rapidly, Vincent might not know her that well, but he knew some women from his old work who did type faster when angry;
" Us? " Vincent asked, confused, this was the part of her speech that he got particularly bugged with; " Do we have to guide souls too? " He asked, turning to Alexander, behind him, with a huge question mark on his face;
" Sort of, but that's not what she was talking about, Meg works, supposedly, a guide to newly arrived souls, like a retail seller woman " Alexander explained, looking away and back at Vincent, he sounded so calm and patient;
" I do work there. And it's more of a hostess job since I have to be all smiles and 'don't worry sir, it will be alright, just follow me!' it's boring as hell!! " Megumi complained, genuinely stressed, then went back to typing and focusing on the line;
Vincent kept his mouth shut, he didn't have much to say anyway, so he just focused on looking at the store they were in. The kebab shop wasn't a large place, it was actually just a tiny store with a balcon for ordering that stretched behind in an L shape making a corner on the store, Vincent leaned to the right to see more clearly, on this stretched part of the balcon, that was all inside the store on its length, there were two preparation stations, with some young looking workers, a heated display with some other foods, and a part for the costumers to get their orders; on the spare side, there were three desks, all occupied, for people to eat. Looking behind him, to the outside, there were some other chair and tables, all occupied as well, for people to eat. Vincent thought this was a quite adorable shop, and smiled, satisfied, it reminded him, even, of the shops on his old hometown, which were all owned by old people, making him wonder, "was this shop owned by an old person too?", he asked himself. Before he could vocalize his question, Megumi got to the counter, keeping her phone on her pocket, the woman got her two hands on the counter, and smiled, looking at the middle aged woman, who seemed to be the cashier.
" Hi!! your complete comes with what? " Megumi asked, cheefully, looking at the cashier, an tired looking old woman;
" The common wrapped one comes with bread, meat - which can be lamb, beef or chicken - and vegetables, lettuce and tomatoes, which are somehow popular among you all youngsters, and a sauce, which can be tzatziki or just yogurt, for the sensible, you decide " Said the woman, looking at the trio as if they had asked somenthing obvious, she wasn't all wrong, since there was a menu there with everything written;
" hmmm... One complete Kebab for me, with beef meat and yogurt, Lady " Megumi declared, and looked at Alexander for him to speak;
" Full with Lamb and tzatziki, since you have it! " He answered, happy so see somenthing he seemed to be familiar with, the woman just noded and wrote somenthing;
" Anything else? " She asked, a bit less angry with the world, somenthing Vincent would Atribute to Alexander;
" I want... eh... the same as Megumi's but with lamb, please, lady? " Vincent said, a bit embarassed and confused, since he had so many prior questions regarding where the food actually came from;
The woman, who seemed to be shooting him with her eyes, simply wrote somenthing on a paper, and, with an old calculator, made some calculus and turned to the trio.
" Thirty-five merits, are you going to pay all together or separately? " The woman asked, looking at them;
" Yeah, we will pay se- " Megumi started to say, but Vincent cut her;
" I don't have any money, yet... " Vincent whispered, looking quite embarassed, making both Alexander and Megumi look at him;
" No problem, I'll pay for you, Vince! " Alexander declared, passing his left arm around Vincent's shoulders, looking at him; "Lady, I'll pay for mine and for his, please take my food ticket " He said, to the lady, grabbed his wallet and took out a card, Megumi did the same and raised to show the lady she was paying with it;
The ledy separated the total into Megumi's part, which she paid with a beep of her card, and into Alexander and Vinecnt's part, paid by alexander as quickly as the other, the lady, then, handed them a paper with their orders, Megumi grabbed it and started walking away, trying to find a place for them to sit. They didn't find. So, Megumi just leaned into a nearby wall, holding the paper between her fingers, with Vincent, and his shiny-model-like shadow, Alexander, standing nearby.
" When the day is off, or if we have time at the end of our lunch, we need to go to HR for you to get all of your tickerts and housing settled. " Alexander said, looking at Vincent;
"Alex, he needs to go to the bank to get the money, he's totes broke till Vince finds some time to go to the bank. " Megumi corrected, looking at her phone, trying to sound a bit simpatethic, aind failing, throwing Vincent into a huge dreading situation;
" I have better questions, where do the food come from? No way all vegetables are atheists and/or neutral leaning just like the animals, so how does this food end up in the afterlife? " Vincent asked, trying to ignore his very own misfortunes;
Alexander and Megumi looked at each other, trying to make some sort of connection that would help them understand the question, which seemed to have never crossed their minds until now with Vincent, when no answer came, they both looked at Vincent ad raised their shoulds in a way to show they didn't know either.
" maybe they are atheists in the end, since a God is not a known concept for animals and plants... " Alexander said, giving the matter much tought, Vincent and megumi agreed with that line of tought, because they didn't have any better ideas;
Before the three of them could discuss the matter any longer, someone screamed their orders, making the them turn and walk to the counter, for grabbing the food. Now, with food, Vincent discovered two things: 1) dead people feel hunger, 2) dead people food was awfully good. Vincent took three bites of his kebab and his eyes started to shine as if he was eating the best food ever made by the humanity, he raised his eyes to meet Alexander, who was just standing beside him with both of the hands on the kebab, and gaze upon his handsome face, filled with joy of eating good food, he seemed to enjoy the food from the depth of his soul-core and even made the food look tastier. Megumi, on the other side, was eating with stars in her eyes, texting everyone she knew of how good that kebab was, definitely, the feelings of good food was common to every single one of them. Vincent felt grateful for being dead, since it meant eating such tasty food.