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Beta’s room was huge compared to the apartment he had back home. The walls were carved and crafted in stained marble, an arc separating the room area from the lounge area, stocked with a green sofa, a cushioned chair on either side, and a T.V. against the wall. Behind the beds and closets was a door leading off into a bathroom. There were two beds in the room. Beta shut the door and walked into the unfamiliar environment. He looked at the bed on the left and noticed there was stuff—clothes, toiletries, a shoe—scattered everywhere, juxtaposed with the other bed, which was freshly made.

When the reality became clear, Beta grunted. Even in death, he couldn’t escape the evil wrath of having a roommate.

With a tired gaze, he took a detour into the bathroom. He smelled—oddly enough—like cheese and tears.

He shut the door and locked it, checking the lock twice before he stripped. It was habit he picked up as a kid, but could never really drop in adulthood. The clothes he wore were the ones he died in, he could remember, which no one bothered to clean. Beta stepped into the high-tech shower. It was much cleaner than he would have expected, although the drain seemed a bit rusty and the shower head was, well, not there. He searched for a nozzle or a button or anything, but nothing stood out to him. Before anything could be said or done, the shower gained a mind of its own. Above him, the wall split open like a double door and out of the black abyss came an also rusty showerhead. As relieved as he was to see the shower head, the feeling was not mutual, for it decided to spray its icy wrath straight into Beta’s eyes.

He yelped and vocalized, “F-Freezing!” before the water slowly warmed until it’s temperature matched Beta’s body heat, and then exceeded it. He relaxed into it, letting the water flush over him.

Twenty minutes later, he got out of the shower. After he dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his chest, he was on the search for clothes. Checking the closet, then the floor, then the lounge space, he found nothing. As he went to go back to the bathroom so he wouldn’t soak the carpet, he spotted something next to the closet that he missed. There was a tube sticking out of the wall right beside it. He looked at it. There were two strips of green light that glowed along the sides of the black tube. It looked like it would boost his energy somehow. On top of the gadget was a sign that said:

Put your finger in the hole (if ya know what I mean 😉)

Despite the fact that his mind was faintly buzzing with uncertainty, he complied. “If you say so magic tube,” Beta muttered, inserting his finger.

It started to vibrate and he flinched as something poked him. The humming went down until it completely stopped and he took his finger away, examining it. He squeezed and a droplet of blood came out of the tip. Sucking on it, the legal youth started toward the bed.

Beta paused when he heard the closet rumble. Spinning back around, the urge to check again kicking in. He opened the closet door dramatically.

It was full of clothes that just so happened to fit his taste and body type.

His first instinct, of course, was to rummage through, throwing on underwear, a blue T-shirt, and sweatpants.

Beta lied down on his bed and stared at the chipping ceiling.

The first of my kind. That’s something, he thought.

But that thought triggered so much more.

“Beta come back!”

The lights began to flicker in the room, the bed shaking slightly. Beta’s face contorted with anger and he shut his eyes, putting his hands over his face as if to block out the feelings. “Why’re you doing this to me?” he muttered, the ground now starting to shake.

He ran faster, even farther into the woods. The rain was pouring down on him hard. His bare feet were dirty and aching. He wanted to stop.

Turning around, seeing now his friend screamed louder than before, calling his name in worry. Beta cursed as his right leg started to itch. It might have been poison ivy, or maybe he was exaggerating. Maybe he just wished it was.

When he reached down to scratch the mosquito bite, he tripped. Tumbling down the conveniently placed hill before him, he hit a tree headfirst in the process.

But the young man got up again despite the splitting pain in his head and stumbled farther into the woods.

He turned around once again, expecting to see his friend, but he saw nothing. Beginning to run faster now, the feeling of fear intensified. Maybe it was all in his head, or maybe it was all real. There was still nothing when he looked back.

Then he decided to stop, or his heart did. Unable to get any more oxygen in, he collapsed to catch his breath. The forest was still moist after the rain had fallen, and he found the wet leaves relaxing. He knew the sun would suck up all the moisture by tomorrow morning, so for that brief moment he enjoyed it.

“I can’t go on…” He heaved. “I can’t…go back.” Beta closed his eyes briefly, and then opened them to the night sky, reaching upward. “Please…just please…take me now…”

Beta shot up suddenly and everything around him exploded. The lamps, the closet doors, the clothes, the bedsheets, all of it split into pieces and flew across the room, leaving Beta dead in the middle of it. “Why are you doing this to me…?” Beta whispered, causing the lights to spark until the glass holding in the electricity bursted, the room then submerged in darkness. Beta’s eyes and the flames emerging from the broken of the lamps were the only real light sources left. Even the barred window’s metal had covered up the light.

He was met with silence, a dawning feeling of loneliness that he’d been trying so desperately to avoid. “Are you even real?” Beta whispered, and his prayers were answered.

“Why’re you doing this to me!?” Beta shouted, unconcerned with who heard. “Is this how you want me to spend the afterlife? In a bloody motel room!?”

“Yes,” a voice much unlike any other responded, and a giant beast hunched over him, their eyes seeming to reflect the moon’s light.

It definitely wasn’t human, and despite the lack of fear he felt in its presence…before its claws came down on him…he still found the air in his lungs to scream.

“I said why!?” The bed’s foundation shuddered before collapsing, bringing Beta down with it.

“Because I break things?!” Beta’s butt started to leave the comfort of the torn sheets and rise into the air involuntarily. Beta’s nose wrinkled as he thought about the day he died over and over again…thought about it with such hate. He was not meant to be there. “Well, then you should know that there’s a lot more that I can—!”

Smack!

A flying Cheeto hit Beta surprisingly hard against the cheek, leaving a cheesy orange mark. Beta’s blood red eyes turned down upon the culprit, seeing a person had entered the room without his knowledge.

“Hey! Brit! That designer Queen-sized bed with silk sheets and hand carved wood didn’t come from money grown on trees.” The accuser paused and held up a finger. “Well, I mean technically it did but that’s not really the point.”

Beta let himself sink to the floor slowly, and all the objects stopped moving, even the fires were put out. Once on the ground, Beta noticed how tall the other guy was. When he was standing, the guy asked, “Either you’re my roommate or you just decided to go into my room before having a little…” He looked around the room in dismay. “…fun.”

“No,” Beta said, then rephrased his answer. “Yes, as in I am your roommate. It’s nice to meet you…Latino,” Beta greeted.

His tanned skin matched well with his well-built body, and his hair was swooshed back carelessly, if carelessly meant with the help of copious amounts of gel. The nose was long but not so much skinny enough to be ‘skinny’, also not so much long enough to be a conversation starter. His eyebrows were thick and his lips thin and pink. Beta noticed a few beauty marks littering the side of his neck and one directly under his eye. He hadn’t exactly ‘smiled’ yet, but Beta could see from the short glimpses that his teeth were very white but not perfectly straight, but then again neither were Beta’s. His eyes were silver, and that triggered Beta’s all too good memory.

Silver eyes, death was accidental, Telekinesis, Cannibalism, grumpy. Stak.

All of this Beta could see with the help from the light coming in from the hallway. The man squinted at him. “Don’t call me that.”

“But you called me a Brit?”

“Fine, then can I call you Perna?”

Beta’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know. Can I call you Stak?”

“If you find that easier, knock yourself out.” The guy walked past him and dropped the bag of snacks where his bed was supposed to be, turning back to face Beta. “Having a little party in here, were we?”

“Pardon me for getting a little angry,” he replied, feeling guilty as part of the light bulb exploded again and the shards fell to the ground.

“A little you say?” the Stak said.

“Sorry, I tend to break things when I’m…in the heat of the moment,” Beta admitted, trying to be gentle with it.

“Yeah, well, I throw things across the room with my mind, so.” The Stak shrugged. When silence struck, the stranger gave in. He sighed. “What’s your name?”

“Beta.”

The Stak snickered. “That’s dumb.”

His eyes rolled. “Well what’s yours?”

“Matrix.”

“Oh, as in the movie?”

Matrix gave him a dirty look. “I chose my name; your parents gave you yours. There’s a difference.”

Beta stared at Matrix, not understanding why choosing a bad name was better than having one forced upon you. “We can’t be that different,” Beta said.

Matrix scoffed. “We’re very different.” He turned and started rummaging through his own closet for his jacket. “I’m supposed to show you around since you’re new here. But please do not be stupid and read the fine print first, which just happens to be…” Matrix turned to face Beta. “My lips.” He took a deep breath in, indicating to Beta that it would be a long exhale. “Don’t touch anything, don’t try to make idle conversation, don’t ask me questions, don’t ask other people questions, don’t dawdle, don’t wander, don’t touch me, don’t interrupt me, don’t trip and fall, and please for the love of God don’t have another ‘fun party’ when we’re out in public. That’s how you lose potential friends. Okay?”

Beta said nothing at first, and then followed it up with, “Are you always like this?” Beta asked. Matrix ignored his comment. The door suddenly swung open. Matrix gestured out. “Go on.”

The young man walked through the door as Matrix followed. Beta figured Matrix didn’t care much considering he was leading without having any idea where to go. When he looked back at Matrix—to which he did not react—then turned to the front again, a wall decided to have a not-so friendly conversation with his face.

“This way,” Matrix said, turning the corner. Beta rubbed his forehead and followed him.

“You know, you’re not as bad as I thought a Stak would be,” Beta said. Matrix rolled his eyes and grunted.

“What did I literally just say to you about talking.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so, and stop asking questions.”

“But I have a really important question to pose.”

Matrix rolled his eyes, charging down a case of stairs. “What.”

“What’s the thing in my arm for?”

Matrix stopped abruptly, causing Beta to run into his back. He swung around and held up the arm Beta was gripping firmly. “What—What’re you even talking about? There’s no tracker in your arm.”

Beta looked at Matrix like he was the crazy one. “First of all, I never said it was a tracker.” Matrix stood unusually stiff as Beta slipped his arm out of the Stak’s grip. “And second of all, yes I do.”

“No…you don’t.”

Beta’s eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head. “Are you feeling alright?” Matrix looked surprised and slightly offended that Beta was already somehow belittling him. He turned back around to keep walking. “This is why I said no questions.”

They walked through a few more corridors and came to a big open space with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Lines of tables covered in food stretched across the room. People were scattered here and there, but not many filled up the tables. “This is the dining hall where we...dine. Some of us anyway,” Matrix explained.

“But I thought you didn’t eat? I mean, considering you’re all dead.” It came out of his mouth like it was forbidden, but Matrix didn’t take any offense.

“We’re all dead,” Matrix corrected, making Beta less gentle and more agitated. “And of course, we don’t have to, but you’d be lying if you told me it wasn’t fun. Just because we’re dead doesn’t mean food doesn’t taste good anymore.”

“…so you only like the taste?” the Perna asked.

Matrix’s facial expression was stoic. “Oh what, you liked the getting fat part too?” Beta seemed unamused. “Look, it’s the same as sleeping. We don’t really need to, but, it’s nice…sort of. It’s not as enjoyable anymore but…still.” Matrix sounded tired, but Beta didn’t comment on it.

“That’s a lot more complex than what I’ve been taught,” Beta admitted.

Matrix’s bushy eyebrows furrowed as he turned to look at him. “Taught when?”

The Perna flinched, his head pulsating from the pressure of being forced to remember. But just as he had, he forgot, giving Matrix the rather disappointing answer of: “I’m not sure.” Quickly, the subject changed. Betas asked, “Speaking of which, what do you think about Lucienne? Do you think he’s really a king?” Matrix shrugged. “Depends on how you define king,” he answered. Considering that was the best answer Beta had gotten all day, he was satisfied with it.

Matrix felt as if Beta was going to ask more, but he didn’t. So instead they both shook it off, blaming it on the lack of blood flowing to their brains, and moved on.

As they walked through the open space, people stared at him. Beta had to look away constantly, and he hoped that over time the floor would eventually gain his interest. Some of them had wings attached to their backs. Others had hard, devil-like horns.

It just so happened that one of the horny guys was coming straight for them.

The newcomer’s hair was dyed a salmon pink hue—his roots still black—and it was flicked up and out his face, accompanied by thin, round glasses. His horns weren’t like the others. They came out like bones from behind his ears and sprung out like gills on his head. It reminded Beta of Thor’s helmet, but more extravagant. The newcomer’s face was round, and his eyes were much larger than Matrix’s. The lips followed the eyes’ trend, although you couldn’t tell as well that they were bigger since they lacked the color Matrix’s lips held. He looked young. Hell, he looked a few years younger than Beta. The two were the same race, but the ethnicity differed. Beta could tell by a glance that he was some part—if not all—Korean.

“Who is that?” Beta asked.

Matrix rolled his eyes, but answered his question anyway. “A friend,” he said as the Korean came in contact with them. He held out a shoebox to Matrix.

“Here’s your—”

“Great,” the Stak interrupted, grabbing the Korean’s shoulders and spinning him around. Matrix pushed him forward. “Walk with us.”

“Um,” the boy muttered, walking side-by-side with Matrix. “Okay.”

As they left the dining hall, the newcomer brought his attention to Beta, giving him a smile. “So, what’s your name?”

Beta turned to him. “Beta.”

“Interesting. Where’s your Alpha, Beta?” The boy laughed, and abruptly stopped when he realized it wasn’t as funny as he thought. “Sorry, that was a bad joke. I’m Hershey.”

“Like the chocolate?”

“Well that and Jolly Ranchers, Kisses, Twizzlers, Whoppers, 5th Avenue, Allan Candy, Almond Joy, Breath Savers, Brookside, Cadbury, Dagoba, Heath bar—”

Matrix’s hand slammed over Hershey’s mouth abruptly. The Stak turned back to look at Beta and smiled. “Yes, like the chocolate.”

In the heat of Hershey’s rant, Beta realized that Hershey’s eyes were golden. His memory sparked again.

Golden eyes, death by natural causes, elemental abilities, horns, curious. Nat.

“So…you’re a nerd?”

Matrix’s hand left Hershey’s mouth. “Smarter than this one anyway,” he answered. Hershey pointed a thumb over at Matrix. Matrix ignored him as they headed down the aging hallway. “I like your eyes,” Hershey complemented, staring in fascination. Beta would’ve thought that there was more to the comment, but when he looked over he realized that Hershey wasn’t even there. Beta hit Matrix’s shoulder, letting him know his friend was gone, and turned around.

Hershey had stopped, staring numbly at the large glass pane. Matrix and Beta backtracked, looking from Hershey’s surprised expression to the nursery. The babies lied in their clear cribs, crying only to stop and then cry some more. The nurses ran to and fro from crib to crib, trying to hush each one. The eggshell on the walls and the bright light fixtures illuminated the boy’s eyes as they stared through the glass.

Beta tried to find words but couldn’t, at least not right away. Eventually he did. “They’re—” Hershey began to explain but Beta immediately cut him off.

“Stillborns. Most of them, anyway.” Hershey turned to him. Beta glanced back, but that was it. “Some of them are just neglected babies and children parents didn’t want anymore. When you don’t grow or age, I can understand how the care can get tiresome.” Beta looked over at Matrix, dumbfounded where he stood. “You know they weren’t always like this. Originally when babies didn’t make it into the world, they were just reincarnated. The nurses take care of them here, right?”

Awaiting a response, Beta watched Matrix’s face closely as he slowly comprehended what Beta was saying. But, even as he started to understand, Matrix still stared at Beta. He didn’t like the feeling of someone else knowing more than him, and really hated that the newcomer was treating the afterlife like some tourist attraction. “Let’s go.” Matrix grabbed Hershey’s arm and dragged him forward.

Beta’s eyes shifted as he followed them.

“Here’s the living room.” It was even bigger than the dining hall. Couches were lined up against the walls which were decorated with large-paned windows. There were two T.V.s back-to-back in the center of the room so people on either side could watch, not to mention the ones on the walls.

Even more people were gathered there, chatting and drinking. Some old, some young, some kids. Beta put his hands on his hips, judging the area. “It looks—”

Hershey screamed and both Matrix and Beta winced in unison.

The Nat squeezed past them and ran to a couple in the corner. He practically tackled them, pulling them in for a hug. “I’m guessing he knows them,” Beta commented.

Matrix sighed. “Yeah…he does.” Gesturing with his hands, an explanation came. “They’re twins. She was raped and killed by her psychotic ex-boyfriend, and then after the funeral the brother tried to hunt the ex-boyfriend down and ended up dead too. I personally think he secretly just wanted to be with his sister again.”

Beta started to walk over to Hershey and the twins but Matrix stopped him. “Don’t wander around aimlessly. I’m not gonna lose you on the first day.”

Beta sighed. “Then come with me,” he said, walking over anyway. Matrix stuttered before quickly following him.

“Oh my goodness, you’re back!” Hershey said to the twins.

They were a beautiful sight up close. Both had matching dark skin. One had a shaved head and the other had braids loosely hanging down. A boy and a girl with bright eyes that, even though they were a shimmering purple, somehow made him think of the sea.

Purple eyes, death by intention, Persuasion, Mermaid, carefree. Tenti.

“What a conveniently diverse group of friends,” Beta commented.

“We were helping our mom get settled. She isn’t taking the whole situation so well,” the girl said somberly. “Nothing’s perfect, I guess!” Then she started to laugh, taking Beta by surprise. The boy started laughing too and they laughed together.

Beta looked over at Matrix who just rolled his eyes. The Stak leaned over and whispered, “This is why I hate Tenties.”

“And apparently Nats love them,” Beta whispered back, smiling to himself. Everything seemed so new to him, even though he had heard about it a thousand times...but that was irrelevant now.

“Mmmm. Anyway, we gotta go. Nice talking to you guys.” Matrix tried to end the conversation but the female Tenti screamed with excitement.

“Oh! I’ve got a great idea!” She pointed at Beta. “Since you’re new here, why don’t we show you where all the different hangouts are?” She jumped up and down, her bright yellow dress bouncing along with her.

“We’re literally already doing that,” Matrix muttered, turning to Beta. Beta just shrugged.

Frowning, it was clear that he wanted a different response. “Fine.” He guided Beta forward with the twins and Hershey following swiftly.

Beta sighed, nevertheless. He was still bored, and he was desperate for things to spice up.