Eternal Escapes

Looking  to escape your old life and start a new one? Then you need to visit me.  Who am I? I’m Richard LaFayette and I’m the director of Eternal Escapes  Funeral Home. Wait, don’t panic. Yes, we offer the traditional services  for those who have passed, but we also offer additional services for  those who need to escape this life. After all once you’re dead, who can  come after you?

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“I’ve  managed Eternal Escapes for several years now. To the outside world, it  appears to be a normal funeral home, one which has been in the  LaFayette family for generations.” I was proud of that fact and smoothed  my dark tie as I spoke. “The original building was part of a church and  the long ago member of the LaFayette family, who established Eternal  Escapes, had the grounds blessed not only by the local Catholic priest  before he left New Orleans,” I chuckled knowing his true fate, “but also  by several other priests and priestesses of different religions. There  are stories,” I sat back slightly in my chair. Not too relaxed, one must  keep up appearances. “Handed down in the oldest journals that say the  great Voodoo Priestess Marie Laveau herself had a hand in casting the  magic this place uses.”

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A slight smile tugged at my lips.

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“Funeral  homes here in New Orleans have long faced a challenge—the water. There  are places in this city where you can’t bury a body in the ground  because of it. Well, Eternal Escapes offers a unique solution. I paused  dramatically, “Internment in a different time and place.”

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I  stopped and looked at the young woman sitting across from me. She was  dressed in a tattered dress, wooden shoes and her blue eyes were wide,  both with fear and excitement. She had appeared in the coffin room after  I returned the sarcophagus that had been used for the Egyptian style  funeral of an elderly woman who believed she was the reincarnation of  some forgotten temple priestess of Bast.

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The  decease’s linen wrapped body safely rested with thousands of cat bodies  in the Great Tomb near the goddess’ temple in Bubatis. A minor mystery  if anyone ever realizes there is a human body with all the cats interred  there.

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The  girl continued to watch me with those luminous blue eyes. The universe  had been telling me for a couple of years I would soon have to retire by  bringing ‘replacements’ here to train, just as I had been brought here  from my place in time to become part of the LaFayette family and  eventually director of this unique funeral home.

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There  was none of the terror I had seen in the eyes of the boy who had been  the last brought here. He’d been sent back to his own time and place.

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She leaned forward, her gaze curious, her eyes sparkling. Good signs. Maybe my time had indeed finally come.

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“What is your name?” I asked.

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“Lieke.”

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I nodded. “Messenger.”

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She nodded.

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“To  fit into this place and time, we should change it.” I held up my hand  before she could protest. “I had to do the same when I was brought here,  Lieke.” I think it had been summer as well. “Before I became Richard, I  was Sorley, which is a summer traveler in my native tongue.”

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I  waited for her reaction and saw the tiny nod she gave me. I wanted to  keep her name tied to her home, but wasn’t sure how to translate Lieke.  Then it hit me—flowers. The Nederlands was renowned for their flowers,  tulips in particular, but also: “Lily,” I said.

Lieke,  now Lily smiled at me. “Lily LaFayette,” she confirmed. Even as she  said it, her speech changed slightly, adopting a delicate southern  accent. Not heavy like Hollywood made them, but soft, gentle. Just like a  flower. Like a Lily.

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I  had one more thing to tell her. “Right now, you still have the option  to go home. Until you actually agree to stay and become the next  Director of Eternal Escapes, you are not required to stay. However,” I  waited as what I had told her sunk in. “If you agree to stay you will  not be able to leave until you have trained someone to take over after  you. This place is a blessing for many, but it is also a trap.”