Page 57 of The Scrooge Effect

“Cash. I guess I don’t get any credit for that because my other son got himself killed.”

“You mean Cash had to shoot your other son to save him from burning alive,” I reminded him.

I could practically feel the voice shrug. “I told him not to get involved, but Rafe always was stubborn.”

“And your other son?”

“Knight,” he sighed. “Okay, it’s very possible I was not the father he needed. I was gone a lot.”

“I’ll say. I’m surprised he turned out so well-adjusted.”

“He became an assassin,” the voice pointed out.

“Right, well…he has a family now. That has to count for something.”

This was who they sent me? A guy who, by all accounts, was the worst of humanity? I mean, sure, the guy took on the scum of the earth and made things better for all mankind. But his own family? He was the lowest of the low.

I scoffed as I started walking toward the light.

“Where are you going?”

“See that light shining up ahead? I’m hoping there’s a house there, and preferably some shoes.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier if I just flew you there?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned back to the darkness. “You can do that?”

“Well, that’s sort of why they sent me here. That, and it’s part of my duties.”

“Your duties?”

“Well, I didn’t go to hell, but I didn’t go to heaven either. I’m awaiting judgment, and until that time, I have to prove myself worthy.”

Yeah, like that would ever happen. The man was a wreck. I doubt he could ever be worthy of getting beyond the pearly gates.

“Well, thank God they care about me enough to send someone so amazing to show me the way,” I said sarcastically.

“I think that’s the point.”

“What? To show me not to be like you? Got it. Consider it done.”

As I trudged through the snow, the voice called after me. “Do you really think that’s all it takes?”

“Well, I figure if I don’t put my family through hell, that’s a good start.”

“By leaving them?” The voice drifted around me.

I stopped walking and spun around, looking for the bastard. “Walking away would be better than staying and ruining their lives.”

“I used to tell myself the same thing. I gotta wonder, though, would they have turned out differently?”

“You mean, like maybe Isabelle wouldn’t have been stolen by a drug lord and held on an island for thirteen years?” I asked sarcastically.

A dark presence surrounded me, and for the first time, I was slightly afraid of Michael’s ghost.

“Do you really want to go there with me?”

“You know, I’m the one who’s stuck in a dream state. Maybe we should focus on me instead of you.”