Megumi, Vincent and Alexander all descended through the spiral staircase, it seemed too long, Vincent thought, already annoyed by having to go down so many steps. The staircase was endless, and made him feel like he had been walking for a good time, while made him feel like he had just gotten down on the first step, it was confusing, a confusing staircase, and dusty, a dusty and confusing staircase.
" Is this thing endless? " Vincent said, under his breath as he descended;
" Nope! We have arrived " Megumi said, closing her phone and stepping two steps forward, giving room to Vincent;
" What... " Vincent said, and almost fell as he stepped on the floor, thinking it was only another step of the stairs, luckily he was rescued before falling;
" Woah! Easy there, Pal! " Alexander said, grabbing Vincent's arm to stop his fall, he seemed genuinely worried, at least that was what Vincent thought when he saw the other's face; " these stairs are kinda tricky, I almost fell at least twelve times " he added, giving Vincent a smile of reassurance;
" Uhh... Thanks... Alexander... " Vincent said, scratching the back of his head, a bit embarrassed from falling right in front of Alexander and having to be rescued;
They both looked at each other with yellowish smiles, not knowing what to say or how to act after this awkward moment, luckily, Megumi cut through the tense and dense mist of embarrassment with a cough; Vincent and Alexander quickly stood straight and start to walk towards her, remaking the old walking formation line.
The second floor, as it seemed, was filled with books, of different formats and sizes, some seemed new, some seemed as old as time, Megumi would be guiding the way, like someone experienced on walking in that space, but barely paid attention to anything or spoke something about where they were, this was Alexander's job. With a heavy hand on Vincent's back, he would spin the man to the sides, point at something and explain as they walked, Vincent felt like he was inside a washing machine of information, being spun all the time.
As confused as he was, Vincent could grasp some things, the first – or rather third floor was filled with rebirth log and records, telling every single rebirth of every single soul, where they were sent, when they were sent, how they were sent, and how did the company explained it to them depending on their last belief system, truly a bunch of paperwork and a lot of job; the second floor, where they were walking, had records about every single soul and life, where they were, when they first had their lifes (all recorded individually on books) and even where was their last life, according to Megumi, the company employees had their own section, detailing their last lifes, since they would be in the afterlife ' forever '.
" You are sure we cannot get reborn? " Vincent asked, looking at Alexander with doubts, as they all walked through an isle full of medieval-looking books;
" We actually can but only as a fish " Alexander said, clarifying something that was rather unfortunate or uncomfortable, his face twisted as Vincent's face twisted with confusion;
" A fish ? But... Why !? " Vincent asked, confused, thinking it was some sort of joke;
" And it's a lame one " Megumi added, looking quite bored, " they do this so we don't actually want to leave. Plus we have to pay to be reborn, so, totes not worth it " Megumi said, now actually with her eyes on the two;
" This sucks " Vincent said, walking;
" Everything sucks here, love " the woman said, and meant every word, then just kept walking like nothing had happened;
Vincent opened his mouth to say something more about the subject, but closed it back when he felt aware of Alexander, who had died drowned, and his hand, now more heavy, on Vincent's shoulder, so he decided to stay quiet. The trio kept walking through the isles, Vincent looked at everything he was pointed, like a child in a museum, specially because, not happy to be handsome, Alexander had a handsome voice, like those radio men Vincent's grandma used to listen at full volume every morning, waking poor Vincent up in the summer when he was a child.
As Vincent thought of his grandma, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth, she was still alive – well, she was in the hospital, but alive in a way, when he, apparently, died, making Vincent wonder how she was, and almost cried, it was Alexander's hand, squeezing his shoulders, that kept him grounded without tears, ' how can someone be so damn perfect!? Good looks, soothing voice and comforting touch! That's so unfair! ', Vincent would think, his mouth bitter with envy and something more, he could only look away, trying to ignore Alexander.
A lot of walks and another hell of set of stairs after, the trio finally got to the first floor, which, according to Megumi, was focused solely on Costumer Service and complaints reports, plus, all of the Afterlife's terms and conditions and sets of rules, it was sorted by afterlife, time and type.
" Get used to this floor, it's basically your department's floor " she said, and giggled playfully as her eyes met Vincent, who simply decided to ignore her tease, focusing on another subject, pointed by her;
" What is my job anyway? " Vincent asked, going through lines and lines of shelves with piles of unsorted paperwork towering in front of them, as the three looked for something;
" We get calls with complaints, questions and problems, like lost souls or something along the lines, and we have to help them understand and solve them, plus, file reports on every single problem and record every single call log. " Alexander answered, again with that toothpaste advertisement smile, making Vincent dread in disgust;
It was truly hell, Vincent was convinced, and that weird lady had lied to him, lied to him with every single word about him not being set for any afterlife, becaus this was certainly hell. What did they mean with dying and having to work solving some afterlife sorted souls problems?? As if Vincent didn't have his own to deal with!! It was truly depressing and gave him physical pain only to think about. He got another migraine, the health insurance would be of good use for him, as it seemed.
Fortunately, before Vincent could complain from his headache, he was standing in front of another elevator, Megumi and Alexander now on his sides, as if trying to not let Vincent scape the tour while they waited for the elevator to come once again. It came. The doors opened, revealing someone inside it, wearing the same plain office wear everyone wore, the person, some androgenous creature, nodded before walking right past them, with a cart full of documents, Alexander, nor Megumi paid any attention to the person and just entered the elevator, bringing Vincent with them.
Megumi, with that long finger with improperly enormous clip on nails, lingered on the buttons before pressing one of them and sliding her finger through all the others, she did that mention at least three times; after pressing all the buttons like a child, going from 290 until 152, Megumi turned to the two men accompanying her, flashing them a playful smile.
" Okayyy, Vince!! Here are some floors, we will do an office haul!! " She said, winked and stroke a pose;
" But how are we going to go though all of these floors? " Vincent asked, and felt a bit foolish moments after;
" Have you ever heard of Animaniacs ? " Alexander asked, to which Vincent answered positively with a nod, " so, remember that part where Yakko sings about every single country? " He added, one more question;
" Yes... But what does this have to to do with office hauls? " Vincent asked, confused and not getting what they meant;
" We are going to name every single floor of the second part of the building for you! " Megumi said, cheefully, as both Alexander and her filled the sides of Vincent's vision of the elevator doors;
" Wait... WHAT!? " It was all Vinecnt could say before hearing the ' ding ' of the doors opening;
And then, for the thirty five minutes, Alexander and Megumi proceeded to name each one of the one-hundred and thirty-nine floors, adding some very confused employees, of the second part of the Company's building. When the three reached floor 151, Vincent's head was spinning like crazy, he had a headache so bad that he thought he might die - again - or faint due to exaustion of thinking, it was worse than when he was in college, or when his colleagues would drag him out to celebrate some pointless shit with them, overwhelmed was a far too simple word to express how Vincent was feeling, but, at least, he had learnt some things:
Firstly, his division of the Call Center had, at least, five full floors to be called theirs, and his one was the third;
Secondly, there were two other floors above 151 that served food, and on almost every office there was a little vending machine with fair prices, according to Alexander;
Thirdly, the HR was huge, taking at least ten floors, since there was one floor for each division, Vincent's one was the 255, or eighth;
Fourthly, Grim Reapers were real and had THIRTY floors only for them. According to Megumi, it was like a smaller version of the company, and this is why they would not be stopping there;
Lastly, white was the favourite colour of this world, Vincent felt grateful for not having physical eyes, because the whiteness of this world would've blinded him.