Chapter 20 #2
Jaime stuck out her lower lip. ‘Because it’s not fair. Because no matter what higher power might exist, I want them to know that I never asked to be born into this world.’
Heather’s desire to laugh faded away. The video changed again. This time, Heather found herself staring at a giant image of . . . herself? The mirror image had a cold, cruel expression that Heather could never remember seeing on her own face before.
The movie Heather said, ‘Jaime, did you seriously think I wanted you around? You were such a nuisance, hanging out at my desk when I was trying to work. I only had to look after you because there was no one else. It’s not as if I ever wanted to.
You’re an obnoxious smart-mouthed little troublemaker.
I’ve been dreaming of escaping off to Heaven for years. Don’t you get it? You’re a burden.’
‘Hey, I never said that!’ Heather protested.
A sniffle came from the front row.
Heather ran forward. For the first time, she saw Jaime curled up on the floor next to the front row of seats. Jaime’s hands covered her ears and Heather could see from her face that she’d been crying. She’d been watching all of her worst memories?
The fake Heather on the screen continued, ‘You deserve to be stuck in Purgatory forever—’
‘Shut up!’ Heather grabbed a chair and threw it at the movie projector.
It hit like a bullseye. The projector tumbled to the ground. The movie stuttered out.
Heather knelt next to Jaime. ‘None of that is true.’
Jaime turned her face away and mumbled, ‘It’s okay. I know I’m a nuisance. You’ve always been congenial to me even so.’
‘Listen to me.’ Heather took Jaime’s face in her hands and wiped away her tears.
‘Being the receptionist at the Purgatory Hotel for Wayward Ghosts was interesting at first, but I got burned out. There were too many similar people with the same complaints. I didn’t know how I’d get through decades more of it.
Then you came along. It was so much fun to have another person to complain with about annoying guests.
You are a brilliant girl, and you made my sides hurt from laughing with all your scathing commentary.
Because of you, every day started to become interesting again.
You’re a ray of sunshine in my reception lobby. You have never, ever been a burden.’
‘But you want to leave.’ Jaime sniffled.
‘I want to try something new with my life. That doesn’t mean I want to leave you.’ Heather pulled Jaime into a hug. ‘Let’s figure this out together. We’ll get the hotel working again. Perhaps you’ll be able to take your test on a new floor. If not, then I’ll stay. The hotel clearly needs me.’
‘I don’t want you to be stuck forever because of me!’ Jaime cried. ‘I mean – I do want you to stay, but I shouldn’t. That wouldn’t be fair to you. You deserve to go to Heaven. You’d come to hate me if you got stuck because of me. I’m just . . . I’ve been so selfish . . .’
Abruptly, Jaime broke free. A door opened up in the middle of the movie screen. Jaime ran through.
‘Wait!’ Heather ran after, but the door faded before she could reach it. ‘Aargh!’ She kicked the wall below the screen.
She couldn’t just leave it like this. She needed to talk to Jaime again. That meant getting out of here, even if she had to tolerate Godfrey insulting her endlessly to her face. Or would it be faster to simply blow up at him and fail the trial? Right now, she cared the most about Jaime.
A different door opened. Delilah called, ‘Heather? I thought the flower-arranging class was your trial. What are you doing here?’
Heather turned round. ‘The same thing as you, I suspect. My test got to be too much for my nerves, so I went exploring other doors.’ She ran her fingers through her hair. ‘This room held Jaime’s test. It was brutal.’
Delilah nodded. ‘These tests seem designed to pick at our worst anxieties.’
‘Mine doesn’t seem as bad now compared to this.’ Heather sighed. ‘I should go back and listen to Godfrey and Karen insult me again. I can handle it.’ I hope.
‘I have another idea,’ Delilah said. ‘Who says we can only exit through our own doors? Maybe we can swap tests. Godfrey annoys me, but I haven’t been around him as long as you, so he doesn’t have the same gift for getting under my skin. And you shouldn’t be bothered by my mother’s lectures.’
Heather considered. ‘It’s worth a try.’ At this point, she cared more about making a door appear than about if it would count as passing the test.
They returned to Heather’s room. The people inside were frozen, but as soon as they entered, Godfrey started judging the other flower arrangements. He apparently had mild praise for everyone except Heather.
‘Let me try.’ Delilah stood in front of Heather’s nameplate.
Godfrey marched over. ‘What is this? A flower arrangement or the plant version of period cramps?’
Heather twitched.
Delilah only stared blandly. ‘It’s a shame you don’t like the arrangement. People’s tastes are different. I think it looks great. Heather, I like how you arranged it into layers of colour like a rainbow.’
Karen chimed in: ‘You should have used a sunflower as the centrepiece instead, like me. It would be haute cooties.’
Heather wanted to scream Why are you randomly speaking French in a terrible accent? and You stole my sunflower!