04. The Summons

“So explain to me again why not remembering is not an option?” Grace asked for what felt like the millionth time. Meridian watched her take a sip of tea, bright blue eyes peering at her over the rim of the mug before she continued. “I mean what makes him remembering you so important? If he’s immortal, he’s probably loved tons of women before you.”

Meridian winced at the words. “That’s not possible.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because I was his first love. We were born in the same village a week apart.”

“Ah, I see.” Grace placed her mug on the wooden dining table.

Tracing circles on the table with her fingertip, Meridian considered her options. She and Grace had been sitting at her dining table for the past three hours and made no progress in their search for a way to save Meridian from hell. It could not be this hard to save her soul from eternal damnation if that is what was waiting for her in the Netherworld anyway.

“Maybe we can research some things on the computer? Maybe there’s something we’re just not thinking of.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Grace shrugged, not seeming to think a search on the eternal net was going to provide help.

Before Grace could convince her otherwise, Meridian turned on her computer and opened a browser. She started typing in a tab when Grace called out, “Meridian! Wait! Look!”

With a furrowed brow, Meridian turned in her desk chair to stare at Grace for her outburst. “I swear you better have a good reason for screaming at me like that, Grace.”

Grace just pointed repeatedly at a golden, blinking envelope icon on the taskbar of Meridian’s screen. How had Meridian not noticed it before? It was definitely hard to miss. “This is impossible!”

“Maybe it isn’t what we think it is. Just open it!”

“What else could it be, Grace?” Meridian snorted in derision. She appreciated Grace’s skepticism, which Meridian was sure was purely for her benefit, but there weren’t many other possibilities of what the golden envelope could be.

Without breathing, Meridian clicked on the blinking icon and a message outline in a thick green border appeared on her screen. In the top right corner was yesterday’s date, the eve of her death day. Meridian thought back to yesterday and could not remember turning on her computer at all. If she had, she may have saved herself a trip to the Soul Bank. Taking in a deep breath of air, Meridian read the message:

From: The Office of the Judgment Council

To: Meridian King

Re: Reincarnation

Dear Ms. King,

It has come to the attention of the council that as of 5:00 pm this evening, you have faded from living memory. Considering your history, the council finds it imperative that you reincarnate as soon as possible. Reincarnation is expected of every soul, and, as such, it is imperative that you return this message to us promptly with your acceptance within seven days time. Should you elect to forfeit the opportunity to reincarnate, you are electing to be promptly sent to the Netherworld. We cannot impress upon you enough the seriousness of this decision.

May you choose wisely.

Michael Dotan

Commissioner

“Well, what does it say? Meridian?” Grace all but cried.

Meridian’s hand dropped from the mouse and hang limply on her side. She could not believe what she just read. This just couldn’t be right. There is no way that she could be up for reincarnation. Omar could never forget her. He would never forget her. She turned her head to the left and stared at a picture of Omar that she kept on her wall. Staring into the hazel eyes in the picture, Meridian thought back to the last time she looked in those eyes that she loved so much.

The winter was harsh that year, and Meridian knew she would not last much longer. She laid in the bed of the one-room log cabin she shared with Omar on the outskirts of their small village, shivering although she was sweating. Omar sat on the edge of the bed, wiping a cloth across her forehead to sop up the sweat that seemed to come pouring out of her in droves.

“It’s going to be okay, my love,” Omar promised, running his fingers through her afro of curls that lay spread all over the feather pillow.

“Y-y-you d-don’t know t-th-th-that,” Meridian’s teeth chattered as she struggled to respond to him. She felt as if she was wrapped in lava, but could not stop shivering.

“Shhh, don’t waste the little energy you have. And I may not know, but I have to have faith that it is going to be okay. I need it to be okay.”

Meridian just nodded, not having the strength to verbally respond. She knew she was going to die. She had a feeling Omar knew it too, but he was trying to be hopeful for her.

“Do you remember when we first met?” It seemed to be a question out of the blue and Meridian opened her eyes to look up at Omar as if to say, ‘why are you asking me this?’ “Well, do you?”

Meridian nodded her affirmation and briefly thought of witnessing a six-year-old boy falling out of a cherry blossom tree. She ran to him, afraid he would be dead with a snapped neck when she reached him, but he had nothing but small scrapes and bruises. That would forever be their place as they grew from childhood friends to lovers.

“I knew the day you found me at the bottom of that tree I would love you forever, Meridian. I promise you, no matter what happens, that I will never forget you.”

Meridian stared into his eyes like pools of crystalized honey and her eyes misted over as her vision began to fade. She knew that she, too, would love him forever. A single tear escaped beyond the safety of her eyelashes and slid down her clammy cheeks as everything turned to darkness. The last thing she heard was Omar crying out her name before she heard, saw, and felt no more….

“Meridian!” Grace snapped in Meridian’s face. “What does it say?”

Meridian blinked a few times registering Grace’s face. A sob escaped Meridian so forcefully as if it began in her toes and snowballed up her body to leak out of her lips as the realization washed over her in deep, drowning waves of misery.

“Meridian?” Grace asked again as she enveloped Meridian in a hug. Somehow, Meridian slipped out of her chair and Grace sat with her on the hickory wood floor, rocking back and forth. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

Every time Meridian opened her mouth to form the words, another guttural sob took their place and she could do nothing, but cry over and over. “Oh, God!”

After some time, Meridian was not sure how long, Grace stopped asking for information and just rocked Meridian like an infant, whispering words of assurance into her curls. Every now and then, Grace would place a kiss on her forehead telling her that she was loved and everything would work out alright, but that just made Meridian cry harder.

What felt like hours later (and likely was), only the sounds of Meridian’s whimpering could be heard in the small house. Faithfully, Grace still remained there rocking Meridian while rubbing soothing circles on her back.

“He promised,” Meridian’s voice was hoarse from the crying.

Grace didn’t comment. She just continued her soothing and waited for Meridian to continue.

“He said he would love me forever. He said he would never forget. He lied, he lied, he lied. Oh God, he lied!” The tears began again and Grace sighed.

“He couldn’t have lied, Meridian.”

“How do you figure?”

“You’ve gone five hundred years without a reincarnation summons. That’s five whole centuries in which he remembered you. I do not want to believe that he lied to you. It does not make sense. Something must have happened.”

“He cannot die, Grace. What else could erase me from living memory besides his death?” At her words of the thought of Omar’s possible death, a new wave of sorrow clawed at Meridian’s aching heart.

Grace gave a small shrug and pulled Meridian up so they were looking at each other. “I bet there is a reasonable explanation. Let’s just not worry about it today. How about I tuck you into bed and you try to get to sleep?”

Meridian nodded, teardrops filled with her pain dripping down her face. She latched onto Grace as she pulled off the floor and led to her bedroom. Crawling into bed and pulling a pillow to her chest, ripples ran through her body as she cried harder.

Grace placed a kiss on her forehead with a promise to come back in the morning. Unable to respond, Meridian nodded. She continued to feel waves of panic and sorrow flow throughout the night until she could no longer stay awake. Breathless and exhausted, Meridian fell into a deep, nightmare-filled sleep longing for just one more moment with him to know that what they had was real and not just a figment of her imagination. To know that it was not just a trick of her half-a-millennia-old memory. Just, to know.