Excerpt: Tempus Fidgets

Tempus Fidgets
Chapter One
My nails were almost finished. I hated getting manicures; they were quite annoying, but he said that the silver only looked good with another color. I had chose a dark maroon, and the male manicurist said that it looked orange over my light silver. I could never understand what was the thing about guy people who painted nails. I mean, isn’t that for girls? I felt more comfortable with other girls painting my nails. Well, technically, I didn’t like anyone to paint my nails. Not even myself. I was never a “girly” type of girl. I didn’t ever mind it, but I didn’t see why they had to put the most advanced technology in nail polish. It was probably the most inconspicuous. No one would think that we had special powers because of silver nail polish.

I always wished that they would have told us how they did it. All we knew, was that when someone was dead, if they were touched with the nail where the nail polish was applied, it would somehow jumpstart their heart. Sure, we got paid a really good amount. We get about six people per day about five hundred dollars per person. I just didn’t see any reason in it. People were supposed to die. Why was I picked as one of the few who were supposed to disrupt that? I didn’t mind much, it had just been bugging me lately. And I got a free apartment and free food. So all of that money that I get for resurrecting goes for stuff that I really don’t even need. Usually that is on clothes and unnecessary jewelry that Mark keeps telling me to get. He says that it makes me look more normal.

Who is Mark, you may be asking? He is one of my fellow resurrecters, and the one who referred me to them. We had been friends in Arizona and he moved to Virginia when we were still in Middle School. That was three years ago, when I was thirteen and he was twelve. The resurrecters took him away two years later, when he was fourteen. When he heard news of me running away, he told them about me. They came to the small town in Arizona called Mesa and took me to Reston, Virginia. At first I thought that I was being kidnaped, because they hadn’t told me anything on the way there. The first thing that they did was take me to Mark, in hopes that he could calm me down. They asked me weird questions on the plane ride. (They brought me there in a private jet!) They were questions like “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and “Do you believe that you are here to save people?”. I had no idea what they wanted from me, or my answers, so I kept my mouth shut. When they brought me to Mark, I felt relieved. It seemed that he wasn’t about to explain anything either, because he started to ask me some of the same questions.

Then, one of the people that I had rode with in the plane came in. As he tried to explain everything to me, I was surprised. I was sure that they could both see it in my face. “It is hard to comprehend at first, but after a while it starts to make sense,” Mark mumbled quietly.

“No, Mark, it doesn’t make sense at all! People are supposed to die when it is their time,” I tried to explain how I was feeling, but it wasn’t working, “Why would you take someone away from that? Nobody wants to live forever.”

“Over time, you will find that very untrue,” the man from the jet stated, “Everyone tells us how glad they are when we resurrect them.”

“Well, I am sorry, but this job isn’t for me. I would like to go home now, if you don’t mind,” I croaked, trying to push the man out of the way.

“I’m afraid that you already know too much, Tempus. You are with us now,” he said patiently. I glared at Mark and said,

“Why did you do this to me? I liked my life how it was, not with you ruining it for me.” I kept glaring at him for a few more seconds when the man grabbed me by the arms and pushed me out of the room.

“Sorry,” Mark cried, “I thought that you would want this. To be here. To be with me.”

So that is how this whole resurrecting buisness started for me. By now, I had forgiven Mark, but I still think that its wrong to do what we do. I couldn’t stop it now for two reasons. 1) As you know, I know too much. 2) The smiles from the family that you get when you bring home the not-so-dead-anymore body.

So I stayed. I didn’t nessisarily mind doing it anymore, and it WAS a great way to make money. Seeing Mark again was also a plus. The biggest minus for me, was the parents. I know, I know. I ran away. I shouldn’t miss them. But I do. More than anything. If I could just see the smile on my mom’s face again, or have another one of those comforting hugs from dad, I would be happier to be here. But I hadn’t had one of those. For almost two years. I wrote a letter a while back. Here is what it said:

Dear Parents,
I love you. I miss you. But I can’t see you anymore. And I can’t tell you why, and its really bugging me. My only wish now is for you two to realize that I am perfectly safe, and am doing good in the world. Its okay if you hate me now for leaving. I wouldn’t blame you. In fact, I would hate me too.
Tell Krissa that I love her and miss her too. I’m not sure if Terren will even remember me, but tell her that I love her more than anything in the world. I’ve got to go now. Please, please write back to the address on the envelope.

Love,
Tempus Fidgets

My only regret at sending this simple letter, is that I didn’t get a letter back. I thought that they had always loved me. But in sending this letter, I found that I had no ties anywhere but here.

“That would be fifty dollars please,” I heard someone say as I was shook back into reality.

“Fifty?” I asked.

“Yes, Mam,” the man answered suspiciously, as if he thought I didn’t have enough money. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my wallet and gave him a fifty dollar tip. “It was only fifty dollars,” he questioned. Then I winked at him and left. I hated to dazzle people like that, but I was getting too annoyed and I was sure that I would have taken my extra money back soon anyway. My usual Nail Salon was in the middle of a strip mall, with tons of other stores. My favorites were “Dollar Tree” (Even with raking in three thousand bucks a day!), J C Penny and Aeropastale.

At that particular moment, I didn’t want to go to any of them. I wanted to go home and sleep. It had been a long day. But I knew that I wouldn’t do that. I would go to see Mark, and see if he had any new jobs. And if he did, I would go with him. Because that is what I usually do. Can’t do anything about it. Not that I necessarily wanted to go with him, it was just that I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep and that spending time with Mark is a lot of fun, after having not seen him for so long. He had just got back from a two month trip. Because we were the only resurrecting group out there, we had to go all over the world sometimes for a job. His just happened to be a lot of jobs and took two months.

So then next thing I did was call Mark. I pulled out my cell phone and pressed 2. That was his speed-dial. It rang a few times until he answered.

“Hello?” he coughed.

“Did you get another cold, Mark?” I asked.

“You know me too well. So what’s up?” he said.

“Well, I was wondering . . .” I mumbled, “If you had a job today. Because if you do, I would really want to go. I haven’t seen you for two months!”

“Yeah, I have one at three o’clock. Its at the Arlington Cemetery. You ever been there?” he grumbled.

“Yeah, I think I have. Do you have an adult or a baby? I heard everyone in that cemetery is, like, hundreds of years old. What family wants people who are way old to be brought back from the dead?” I asked.

“It was a special request from the doctor. Apparently he has family who were just recently buried there. And as you know, we aren’t allowed to resurrect family members. They aren’t supposed to know that we do this,” he replied.

“I didn’t know he had family,” I wondered aloud.

“His cousin just died in the Iraq war or something like that. I don’t remember all of the details he gave me,” he said.

“Oh, well okay. Maybe you should ask him. Tell me when we meet up at the cemetery!” I shrieked involuntarily, “Bye.”

“Bye, see you at three,” he said as he hung up the phone and I heard a loud BEEP! In my ear.

“That was a very . . . interesting conversation,” I muttered to myself, “Mark is definitely hiding something from me. I can feel it. But there are still two questions. Why would he hide anything from me? And the second is, What would, or could, he possibly be hiding from me?” After this, I got some very random stares from some random people.