Work Text:
Marilyn mixed herself a drink and got comfortable on the sofa after a long day of training. For the afterlife supposedly being eternal rest, there sure was a lot of hustle and bustle. Like seriously, she had a fucking job??? Granted, time worked differently now so it wasn’t nearly as crazy as the 9-5 grind or the hours she had to pull on set for some of her films. Also workplace safety was much better, not like it really mattered since they were all dead, but it was still a nice step up. She figured it was better than being completely bored for all eternity.
She had just turned on the telebopper to watch the evening news when there was a knock on her front door. Sighing, she snapped her fingers to admit the messenger standing outside. The young figure in a brilliant white postal uniform slipped in silently dropping two rather hefty files, a diskette, and a letter on her mahogany coffee table before seeing themself out. This was her off time. The work could wait. She made a point of taking her new shoes off and putting one on each file folder. She’d show them who’s boss.
But just as she was about to get comfy in her defiance of the system, her phone rang. Ugh. Really? Nevertheless, she answered it. It’s not like she could pretend to be sick to get out of work.
“Hello,” she answered sweetly, knowing full well that it didn’t matter if she charmed the worker on the other end of the line. They wouldn’t care. They were just doing their job. All new arrivals were put on the phones while they were in training. ‘An adjustment period’ the orientation presentation had called it.
“Greetings, Miss Monroe,” a monotone voice replied. “You have just been assigned case 1963BB1983. This case has been marked as urgent. Please begin work immediately. As this is your first assignment, your supervisor may be monitoring your work. Congratulations.” The line clicked, and Marilyn cradled the receiver.
“Well so much for a comfy night in.” She picked up the letter and scanned it. It was an exact transcript of the call she had just received. It was almost like some all-seeing force knew she wasn’t going to work and decided that if they called her, she wouldn’t be able to say no. Demanding bosses. She kept her grumbling to herself. No need to risk losing her first assignment. She had worked beside people who grumbled too much and got ‘career changed’ and stuck on the phones for centuries. She didn’t want to be one of those.
She hopped off the couch and put the diskette in the TV’s special port. The news faded out and was replaced by the guy from the training video series sitting in front of a slide projector image.
“Miss Monroe. Hello and welcome to case 1963BB1983.” Why did the man have to be so damn happy? It was off-putting at best and infuriating at worst. “You have been specially selected for this case by upper management. The two files you have received contain details on the two concerned parties: Jennifer Lyons and Annette Johnstone. Your task, to put it in simplest terms, is to come up with a solution to rekindle the kinship between these two women that they once shared.”
Okay. That can’t be that hard. They’ve probably just had some sort of falling out.
“Management would like to see positive results by the end of the week. And as always, remember with great power comes great responsibility!” The presenter shot the camera an extremely forced smile as the video faded to black.
End of the week. Wow fuck that. She did a quick calculation in her head. “Okay that gives me three days starting tomorrow. That’s a pretty hefty chunk of living time so I should be able to handle that.” Gotta sound positive in case management is listening in. There were no such things as personal boundaries in the afterlife really. The company just liked to pretend there were some to help keep the spirits in line.
Marilyn swirled the ice in her empty glass. She sighed and instead put the kettle up. If she was going to do work, she might as well have a cup of her favorite focus tea. She was 100% not just using the excuse of waiting for the water to boil to avoid doing work. Even if she was, she would never say it. She was smarter than that. The kettle boiled much too quickly for her taste, but she was resigned to the fact that she would have to get back to work. It’s a good thing that spirits don’t need sleep. The hours they have us working. I’m sure someone would fuck something up major from lack of sleep.
She brewed her tea and got back on the sofa, tucking her legs up underneath her in a way that would make a physical therapist shake their fist and tell you that you’re fucking up your hips. Both of the folders were thiccc. She picked up the first one and opened it to the first page.
“Annette Johnstone. Mother of 7. Blah blah blah. Mhmm. Mkay.” She read through the first page of biographical info before setting the file down and picking up the other one. “Jennifer Lyons. Wife of Richard Lyons. Yeah okay. So when did they meet?” Had she been hoping that she would have just been given the information in a narrative format like the case studies they did in training? Yes. Did they give her that? Of course not. These were just normal documents like tax returns and bills and birth certificates. Was she really expected to piece these women’s lives together and then make them … Oh what was the phrase that blasted presenter used? … rekindle their kinship whatever that means. Nevertheless, she persisted. She laid out both files side by side. Eventually she had to move from the coffee table to the floor. She was careful not to mix the papers between the two files.
After what felt like months but was in actuality only a handful of hours, she had figured out the barest structure of what was happening. “Yo, what the fuck?” she said, looking back over the notes she had created on her work tablet. From her baseline understanding, Jen and Annette had met when they were younger and had a “special kinship.” Yeah no. They were lovers. And then shit had happened and capitalism. Capitalism fucking sucks. Oh and Annette went dancing. That was somehow important enough to end up in the file. Marilyn wasn’t really sure how it was relevant, but someone thought it was. Now Jen has a husband named Dicky Poo, and Annette is a single mother of seven who cleans for her ex-lover.
Satisfied that she had done enough work for the night, Marilyn decided to take some well-deserved rest. She might not need sleep, but she would sure take it if she could get it. She gingerly stepped around her hard work and went to bed. “It’ll only be a few hours. Then I’ll be refreshed and ready to visit.”
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Marilyn did indeed wake up refreshed. It was not, however, a few hours but rather a few days later. Two days later to be exact. Maybe spirits did need sleep to keep from becoming restless and haunting the living. Marilyn didn’t have time to dwell on it. She was thoroughly fucked. She scrambled out of bed and fixed herself some strong tea before throwing on her uniform and grabbing her badge and running out the door. She arrived at the Life Terminal just as the last shuttle of the morning was taking off.
“Where to?” the operator asked her as she swiped her badge.
“Liverpool?”
“You don’t sound so sure of yourself.”
“No. That’s right. I just had a bit of a morning,” she said putting on her best smile. The operator sighed and pushed the button.
Marilyn had only experienced visiting the realm of the living once before. It was on their training excursion. She still wasn’t quite sure how to describe the feeling of having her very essence stretched like taffy and then evaporated and recondensed. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it also wasn’t pleasant. Maybe in a few centuries she’d have a better sense of if she liked it or not. Once her new form settled, she set to work.
Her first stop was the Lyons residence. She checked the clock in the town square. Both of the women should be in the residence together now. She waltzed right into the parlor of the fancy house. Annette was tidying up the table, and Jen was sitting there looking drop-dead gorgeous. Marilyn had to pull herself together so that she could properly listen to what the women were saying.
“And you’re pregnant again? With twins?” Jen asked, a clear note of jealousy rang through the way she punctuated the last word.
“I don’t know how it keeps happening. Lord knows I can’t keep having kids. I can’t take care of ‘em. I’ve already got seven mouths to feed.” The gears in Marilyn’s head started turning. She walked up behind Jen and whispered something in her ear.
Jen started as though she had a brilliant idea. “What if I took one of them off your hands?” Marilyn was surprised how easy it was. All she had to say was “Baby. Mine.” and suddenly Jen was off doing exactly what she wanted. It felt like magic. Maybe it was. Oh, I am too powerful now. The two of them can co-parent the children. It’ll be sweet, and then once they see how well they work together, making them fall in love again will be a walk in the park. She looked down at her empty coffee cup and sighed. She didn’t want to have to go all the way back through the LTerm just for coffee. So instead she opted for a brisk walk in the park. Take a half-hour to wrap up my thoughts and check and make sure everything is hunky-dory. Before she left the two women, she wrapped a small thread of spiritual essence around them lest something happen in her absence and she needed to move locations. It would only be a year or so in living time. If she was lucky, they’d be living together in a house of their own with the children and maybe a dog and very deeply in love. Marilyn smiled and let herself ascend a plane. The walk was nice. The landscape wasn’t nearly as interesting as the Liverpool streets, but it was a bit more like the environment she was familiar with these days. She didn’t run into anyone she knew, which was probably for the best.
Once she had pet all the dogs at the astral pup playground and finished her loop, she descended to find herself very much no longer in Liverpool. A quick look at her navigator put her in some place called Skelmersdale. She had no clue where she was. I guess it’s a good thing I put those trackers on them. Otherwise they would have left me in the dust.
A quick look around told her that more time had passed than she anticipated. Fourteen years to be exact she realized peeking at the date on an old man’s newspaper. It didn’t take her long to find Annette standing near a rather nice house. Oh maybe I did good. But instead of going in, Annette turned and walked away. Marilyn’s heart sank. She had not indeed done the good she thought she had. Discouraged, she was about to move on and follow Annette when she spied Jen in the window of the building. Plot twist. Instead of following Annette, she decided to see what Jen was up to.
The woman was pacing around her kitchen, anxiously checking out the window every few laps. Marilyn thought for a bit. Time was running out. She needed to have a result in just a few Afterlife hours, and she had no idea how that mapped onto Living Time. She had thought she knew, but maybe she didn’t. Or maybe she was just bad at keeping track of her own hours. Maybe petting all of the dogs took longer than a minute or so. They were just very cute and excited and wanted all of the treats and snuggles, and Marilyn was more than happy to oblige. What Marilyn needed was a plan. A real concrete plan to get these two together. Sometimes the simplest is the wisest. She couldn’t remember where she read it, but it felt relevant now. She waited a few laps before grabbing Jen by the hand. “Annette wants you,” she practically screamed. She didn’t expect Jen to startle. Marilyn was never good at the energy channeling training so she knew she hadn’t caused any sort of environmental manifestation. Still, she dropped Jen’s hand and backed away as the anxiety in the other woman’s eyes seemed to focus itself. The spirit trailed as Jen grabbed her purse and coat and headed out into the street.
They didn’t seem to have far to go before they reached the council house. Marilyn was feeling something. Was it anxiety? Was it an attraction to Jennifer Lyons? Was it fear that she had been too forward with Jennifer and had royally fucked up her mission? Maybe she just needed more caffeine. It was very unclear.
Annette opened the door for Jennifer, and by extension the ghost who was very appreciative of not needing to expend the energy needed to walk through solid objects.
“What do you want?” Annette asked.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing following me here?” Jen asked, venom dripping from her words.
“Look, Mrs. Lyons, I was moved here. They cleared my block. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You’re fucking following me. What is it? Why are you trying to steal my son? He’s my son. Not yours.”
Marilyn stood by the fridge in mild horror as the scene unfolded before her. This was 100% not what she had wanted. Maybe the whole baby thing had made this worse. How was she to have known? Fuck. It was a good thing that she had been an actor in life. She could read body language pretty well. Sure it had changed and was very dependent on the person, but she could see the way Jen looked at Annette and the way the mother looked back at her ex-friend. She could see a spark of something. All she wanted to do was figure out how to fan that spark into an all-consuming blaze. But there was something else too. Something that threatened the little flame’s very existence. She saw the way Jen’s eyes kept flicking to the knife block. She rushed over to Annette and grabbed her shoulder. “She’s got a knife.” And soon as she had said it, Jen whirled around, knife in hand, and took a stab at Annette.
Marilyn was but a mere spirit so there wasn’t anything she could really do to stop the scuffle. Her powers were really only for planting thoughts in people’s minds. She couldn't make them do anything they didn’t want to. She couldn’t make them think anything that wasn’t already there to an extent. She could merely encourage those ideas.
Eventually, the knife was dropped, and the two mothers finally gave up. Jen left and Annette was left alone. Marilyn didn’t know what to do at this point. She had to catch the last Life Terminal shuttle back in time to deliver her report to her supervisor. Management is not going to be happy. She sighed and decided she would give the two women one last thought each and hope for the best. She laid a hand on Annette. “I don’t know how you fell in love with that woman once before, but you’re both new people. Don’t try to cling to old notions of who someone was or should be. Accept them as who they are now and try to figure out if and how they fit into your life. You only get one after all.” She then found Jen standing in the street muttering something incoherent about how she had just tried to commit homicide. Marilyn took her hand and simply said, “Yo, what the fuck?” She severed her spirit ties to the two of them before ascending to the Life Terminal Layer and hitching a ride back to her realm.
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Marilyn took a deep breath as she opened the door to her supervisor’s office.
“Please. Take a seat,” the supervisor said smiling sweetly. The former actor did as she was told, internally steeling herself for the impending reassignment. Her supervisor took out a steno pad and began to write as she recounted her actions and their repercussions. They didn’t say anything until she was finished.
“And how do you think you did?”
“Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
“I don’t know. I think I screwed up a lot. I should have been more attentive. I tried really hard to follow the ‘keep your guidance vague’ rule, but I didn’t fully grasp the way these women think. I was just basing things on my own experiences and how I think I would have responded to the situation, but then they’d take my influence and run with it in a totally different direction.” She watched nervously as the boss scribbled down one word and underlined it about ten times, each pen stroke sending a shiver through her.
“Thank you. That will be all. You’ll find a debriefing waiting in your mailbox when you arrive home.”
She returned to find her floor had been cleared of the papers and the file folders on Jen and Annette gone. In their place was a note reminding her to take better care of confidential company files, which ended with a rather sarcastic smiley face. The debrief came in the form of another diskette. She held the diskette debating if she had the energy to deal with it at the moment. She kind of just wanted to sleep and not think about how much she failed a mission that upper management requested her for specially. But at the same time, she wanted to know what happened. She needed to know so she could put her brain to rest. She poured herself a drink and popped in the debrief before flopping on the couch like a beached whale.
“Congratulations!” greeted her favourite presenter. “You have completed your assignment. We are all sure you learned a lot. The management team learned a lot about you too, but I’m sure you want to know what happened next. Jen and Annette avoided each other for four more years. If one saw the other in public they would quickly turn away or find an excuse to leave. In 1981, the separated twins were both shot and killed in a dispute at the council offices.” Well, fuck nuggets. I hope I don’t run into either of them in the call center… “After the deaths of their sons, Jennifer Lyons and Annette Johnstone were forced to acknowledge each other’s existence. It took many years and some therapy and a lot of remembering that people grow and change, but they were able to rekindle their friendship. Once again, congratulations.”
The screen filled with virtual confetti and the video faded to black. Marilyn sipped her drink. Maybe she could figure this gig out. She still had her issues with the Company and all, but if she was stuck here for all eternity, she might as well figure out how to do it right. Besides, it felt good to have a happy ending once in a while.