“People die all the time.”
Mei gasped. “They do? Oh my god, this changes everything. I can’t believe I never—oh, now that’s a look on your face for sure.”
Wallace grimaced. “Whoever told you that you were funny obviously lied and you should feel bad about it.”
“I don’t,” Mei assured him. “Like, at all.”
“Like, totally.”
“Sounds like we spoke to the same person.”
“Hey!”
“There aren’t other ghosts here because we haven’t received a new assignment yet. Some days, it’s back-to-back and things overlap. And then there are other days when we don’t get anyone at all.” She glanced at him before going back to the dishwasher. “We don’t usually have long-term tenants. And no, Nelson and Apollo don’t count. I think the most we ever had at one time was … three, not including them. It got a little crowded.”
“Of course they don’t count,” Wallace muttered. “What’s the longest someone has been here?”
“Why? Thinking about setting down roots?”
He crossed his arms defensively. “No. I’m just asking.”
“Ah. Right. Well, I know Hugo had someone who stayed for two weeks. That was … a hard case. Deaths by suicide usually are.”
Wallace swallowed thickly. “I can’t imagine having to deal with that.”
“I don’t deal with it,” Mei said sharply. “And neither does Hugo. We do what we do because we want to help people. We aren’t here because we have to be. We’re here because we choose to be. Remember that distinction, yeah?”
“Okay, okay. I didn’t mean anything by it.” He’d struck a nerve he didn’t even know to aim for. He needed to be careful.
She relaxed. “I won’t pretend to say I understand what you’re going through. How can I? And even if I thought I knew what it’s like, I’d probably still be wrong. It’s different for everyone, man. What the people went through before you and those who will come after you, it’s never going to be the same thing twice. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“You’re new,” Wallace reminded her.
“I am. I was training for only two years before I was given your case. That’s quicker than any other Reaper in history.”
That certainly didn’t make him feel any better. He changed tack, an old trick he’d learned to try to catch people off guard. It was mostly force of habit because he wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for. “At the convenience store.”
“What about it?” She closed the dishwasher before leaning against it, waiting for him to continue.
“The clerk,” Wallace said. “He could see you. And the people here can too.”
“They can,” she said slowly.
“But the people at my funeral couldn’t.”
“Is there a question in there somewhere?”
He scowled at her. “Are you always this aggravating?”
She shrugged. “Depends on who you ask.”
“Are you … human?” He knew how ridiculous that sounded, but then he remembered he was a ghost talking to a woman who could snap her fingers and drag him hundreds of miles in an instant.
“Sort of,” she said. She hoisted herself up onto the counter, legs and feet dangling against a row of wooden cabinets. “Or, rather, I used to be. I’ve still got all my human parts, if that’s what you meant.”
“I don’t think that’s what I meant at all. I’m not thinking about your parts.”
She snorted. “I know. I’m just giving you shit, man. Lighten up a little. There’s not a whole lot for you to worry about anymore.”
That stung more than he cared to admit. “That’s not true,” he said stiffly.
She sobered. “Hey, no. I didn’t mean it like—you’re allowed to ask questions, Wallace. In fact, if you didn’t, I’d be concerned. It’s natural. This is something you’ve never experienced before. Of course you’ll want to try to figure out everything right away. It can’t be easy not getting the answers you’re used to hearing. I wish I could give you all the answers, but I don’t have them. I don’t know if anyone does, not really.” She squinted at him. “Did that help?”
“I have no idea how to answer that.”
“Good,” she said.
He blinked, confused. “It is?”
She nodded. “Maybe it’s just me, but I think I’d feel relieved finding out there are things I don’t know about. It can’t be healthy the other way, you know?”
“Obviously,” he said faintly. “I died.”
She laughed and looked shocked because of it. “Obviously. Don’t try to force it, Wallace. It’ll come when it comes. I’ve seen it before. You’ll know when the time is right.”
He thought she was speaking about more than the contents of their conversation, and his mind drifted to the door upstairs. He hadn’t worked up the courage to find it, much less ask more about it.
“Time moves a little different here,” she said. “I don’t know if you noticed that, but there’s—”
“The clock.”
She arched an eyebrow. “The clock?”
“Last night, when we got here. The second hand was stuttering. It moved back and forth or sometimes not at all.”
She seemed impressed. “Noticed that, huh?”
“Hard not to. Is it always like that?”
She shook her head. “Only when we have visitors like yourself, and only on the first day. It’s meant to give you time to acclimate. To get an understanding of the position you find yourself in. Most of the time, it means sitting there, waiting for someone like you to speak.”
“I ran instead,” Wallace said.
“You did. And the clock began to move like it normally does the moment you left. It happens at all places like this.”
“Nelson called it a way station.”
“That’s a good way to put it,” Mei said. “Though, I think of it more as a waiting station.”
“What am I waiting for?” Wallace asked, aware of how monumental the question felt.
“That’s for you to decide, Wallace. You can’t force this, and no one here is going to try to push you into something you’re not ready for. Hope for the best, you know?”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
“It’s worked so far. Mostly.”
Cameron. That wasn’t a topic he was prepared for. He still could hear the wordless sound the man had made at the sight of him. If he could still dream, he thought he’d have nightmares because of it. “Why do you do this?”
“That’s a little personal.”
He blinked. “Oh. I … suppose it is. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”
“Why do you want to know?” Her tone gave nothing away.
Wallace struggled with what to say. He landed on, “I’m trying.”
She didn’t let him off the hook. He was a little in awe of her. “Trying to what, Wallace?”