"Mom, mommy, I'm scared," cried a young girl and boy as they clutched the hem of their mother's dress.
Marie looked around at the blazing flames threatening to devour them. However, she couldn't be scared, she had to be brave for her kids.
Marie quickly carried them into her arms.
Seeing the smoke getting thicker and the fire burning brighter, she knew she had to move.
'What are those firefighters doing?' Marie wondered as she carried her children in her arms.
She wanted to use the stairs of the apartment building, however, once she reached them and looked down, they were fully covered in flames.
Seeing this, Marie decided to go up while carrying her children. Her face was greeted by harsh smoke, causing both her and her kids to cough heavily.
Marie didn't care, no matter how hot the building felt, she still had to push forward. They couldn't jump down because they were on the middle floor of the sixty-floor building, it would be a death sentence. And knowing this country the fire fighters aren't equipped with the stuff they use to save civilians to jump from a building.
She was tired, her body aching from running, but it didn't matter.
Getting her children to safety was her priority.
After several minutes of rushing up the stairs and finally reaching the roof door, Marie sighed in relief. However, when she pushed the door, it didn't budge. She pushed and kicked it, banging on the door as tears streamed down her eyes.
Her last hope to save her children had vanished just like that.
She wanted to go back down the stairs, but when she looked below, the flames had already caught up to them. Seeing her children's anxious faces, Marie patted them on the head with a smile.
"Mommy, what's going to happen to us?" asked Ark, Marie's son, who looked to be about seven years old.
"It's okay. We will be fine. Just know that mummy loves you both, alright?" Marie stated as she held them close.
And finally, the building was fully engulfed in flames.
The firefighters downstairs helped the victims of this catastrophe they managed to rescue. However, it was too late to save the rest.
This incident was shown to everybody through the news. It blew up online, a fire that destroyed an apartment building.
Apparently, it was caused by a massive gas leak that wasn't taken care of. Seeing this, a certain individual used it as an opportunity to try to set someone's apartment on fire. However, it didn't only affect their target apartment but all the other apartments in the building as well.
The criminal was declared to be a forty-year-old man known as the rank one chef in the world. After a thorough investigation, it was revealed that his target was Marie Grayfield, an African woman he was supposed to compete against in the Chef World Championship.
He was arrested and would be sentenced properly, and those in charge of the building were arrested as well.
On that day, 200 lives were lost.
___
Marie opened her eyes to see her soul floating. She had no arms, no legs, basically no body, but she was aware of her surroundings. It was a space-like place, and she watched numerous other balls floating onward, moving in many different lines. Seeing this and confused, Marie began to panic.
"Where are my children? Where are my children?" Marie began to cry as she looked around.
Seeing a soul that had gained consciousness, an angel-like being who was tracking the souls jumped in panic. Its entire body was a black humanoid form with space-like lights on it, and it had white wings on its back. He looked at his fellow female angel as they stared at each other in confusion, then back at the floating soul that was moving around in panic.
It was obvious from the angels' reactions that this was a case they had seen in a very long time.
"What should we do? We've never heard of such a case before," the male angel said to his partner.
"Maybe we should ask the older angels. Maybe they can do something about it," the female angel stated nervously.
However, their talking caught Marie's attention, so she floated toward them.
"Um… hello. Please, where am I? Where are my children? And what is happening to me?" Marie asked as she looked up at them. She was scared, but she forced herself to put that fear aside.
"You're dead. And from your logs, it seems you died in a fire," the angel stated, seeing a screen appear above Marie, displaying a detailed record of her entire life.
"So please, where is everyone heading?" Marie asked curiously as she looked at the several lines of souls passing by her.
"Well, it seems you're in the line of reincarnation, so you simply have to follow the line and you'll be reincarnated," the angel stated calmly while pointing toward a massive golden light in the distance.
However, Marie shook her soul. "I can't get reincarnated yet. I need to see my children!" Marie cried out.
As the angels nervously wondered how to respond to this soul, a much larger angel approached them. All of them looked far more alien than what most people believed angels were.
"What is going on with you two? Why aren't you following the line to make sure no soul mistakenly diverts from it?" asked the larger angel as he came forward and looked down at the two smaller angels, who were panicking.
"Oh, a conscious soul. I haven't seen this in a million years," the larger angel chuckled, his voice deep and sounded like a man.
"Sir Alphonso, you know about this?" the two smaller angels asked in unison, and Alphonso, the larger angel, nodded.
"I don't think this one can be reincarnated. Souls like these are given an exception to go through the transmigration portal. After all, it would be strange for an adult soul to reincarnate as a child. So, soul, you'd better use that other line to my left, alright? Seeing your good karma on your tab, your transmigration won't be bad," Alphonso stated with an approving nod.
"But is it possible for me to be transmigrated with my children?" Marie asked as she looked up at him.