Chapter One 

          The flicker of fluorescent lights made Wren look up from their file and sigh. It was too early in the morning to be dealing with unstable lights. There were some positives to working at Soul Collection Services, and a whole lot of cons. The faulty wiring made checking case files a pain. The lights typically shut off about once a week, often at the most inopportune of times. Luckily, the Wi-Fi still worked when the lights were off, making it so that they wouldn’t lose their progress when editing the case file. 

          They were lucky that they convinced Adrar, the Director of Collections, to switch to Google Sheets over Excel for the caseload list. It was easier to edit the list when the case managers added their soul pulls to the pending section. Each name, soul destination, and method of departure was listed in the form, with their age and other identifying information inputted accurately and in a timely manner. 

          That was what made Wren enjoy this job. The ease of data entry and the unique methods of departure made the slog of checking case files for proper identification materials and intake forms worth it. The lights flickered again, stirring Wren out of their daze. They quickly read through the document they were working on, preparing for the lights to shut off. Wren felt safe at Soul Collection Services, but they were one of the few without dark vision. Anything could happen in the deep, dark expanse of their cubicle, and they liked to be prepared. A phone flashlight would have to suffice when the lights finally kicked off. They would be ready for anything and still be able to read the paper file in front of them. 

          As Wren readied their finger over the button, the lights flickered on, off, on, then off again. Darkness surrounded them. They sat in the light of their computer screen, waited a few moments, then pressed down. A beam of light pointed down at their lap. They turned, the light piercing the cold darkness surrounding them. Cold could mean a few things. It could mean that the AC was especially powerful that autumn morning, or that they had a visitor. They cast the flashlight around the cubicle, searching for a body. When they didn’t see it, they took a stab in the dark and said, “Can I help you, Murk?” 

          There was a silence for a moment, making Wren doubt themself. When Murk spoke, they were able to pinpoint the flashlight’s beam toward his form. “I was wondering where you were with my case file. The Demon in Charge of the collection wants to complete the task before sunrise,” he said in a voice like gravel. The flashlight beam found his legs, a shifting gray-black almost like static underneath the light. They kept the flashlight low. They didn’t know how Murk saw things, but they thought that shadow people still had eyes. It would be rude to accidentally blind a creature of the night. 

          “Almost,” Wren sighed, “It’ll take a little longer by flashlight, but I’m over halfway done. Give me another ten and I’ll drop it by your cubicle, okay?” 

          “Sounds good,” Murk said. The spotlight aimed towards his form widened to a circle as he left the sphere of light. The feeling of cold dissipated. Wren rubbed their arms after placing the phone on their desk and sighed again. They turned toward the case file they were looking over, aimed the flashlight down at the paper, and got back to work. 

          Case files were the most straightforward thing about the job, yet the most tiresome to go through. They received over sixty files a week, and all were expected to be processed as soon as possible. It’s not as if the files were perfect, either. If Wren had a penny for every time a case manager forgot to include the target’s name, they would be rich enough to not have to work a 9 to 5 – that is, a 9 PM to 5 AM. Wren didn’t mind the unorthodox hours; they’ve suffered from excessive insomnia for most of their life. Now, they had a valid reason to sleep through the day. It was just them and their pet lizard, Michael, who didn’t care what time they were home, just as long as it meant she would be fed every few days. 

          Wren refocused on the case file, pointing their phone flashlight at the words before them. This client was named Anna Andarife, 37 years old, and was targeted by a horde of demons to collect her soul from a bet she made when she was eleven. There were many reasons for a soul to be collected. Some made a bet with a supernatural entity, some lived a life in sin, while others were randomly collected to meet the quotas the Collection Sector placed on their employees. This file looked clean. The only piece missing was the signature that the Demon in Charge would sign after completing the job. 

          Wren logged into the computer and entered the information next to Anna’s name in the caseload spreadsheet. They changed ‘pending’ to ‘in process’ and entered their password to transfer the information on the paper to an electronic copy. Inputting in the information was mindless and went quickly. 

          Wren collected the forms in the file, closed it, then made their way over to Murk’s cubicle. They kept their flashlight pointed in front of them, aimed low to not shock anyone as they passed. They saw humanoid legs standing near the water cooler. Wren kept moving, but felt a pair of eyes on them. They heard a scuttling noise, then the black torso of a spider appeared. As Wren lifted the light, more of Lily came into view. Her humanoid torso was covered in a nice blouse; she was wearing a cardigan to keep warm in the slightly chill office.

          “Hi, Wren! How are you this fine morning?” Lily said, her red hair gleaming under the light of the flashlight. Wren kept it low enough so that they could see Lily without blinding her with the light. Lily’s red eyes looked to be almost glowing in the dark. 

          “Hey, I’m good! How are you? Are you still working on that sweater Elizabeth from Soul Sorting commissioned?” 

          “No, I finished that one right up. It’s just so relaxing to knit away, the repetitive motion distracts me from my worries,” Lily said wistfully, as if she wished she were knitting now. “Um, yeah, I’m sure. Listen, I need to get this file to Murk, but I’ll catch up with you later?” Wren stated this like a question, but didn’t exactly mean to. They were always working on how they came off to the team, to appear a competent and confident leader of a group of supernatural creatures. They were the only human on the fourth floor, which made them feel isolated sometimes. Wren didn’t often interact with other humans, at least in a meaningful way. 

          “Yes of course, I’ll stop by your office later to drop off a case file,” she said, rubbing her front two legs together in a self-soothing gesture. Wren liked Lily the most. She was always so kind and nervous enough to put Wren at ease. Once you got past her eight eyes and sharp mandibles on the side of her mouth, she was a great coworker to be around. She wasn’t like the others, who kept them at a distance. It was professional at least, but a bit lonely. At their past job as a data entry specialist, they had weekly lunches with coworkers who were almost friends. It was nice to pretend that they had a social network there. Here, it was clear that they were the odd one out; that their status as a human made them different. But they didn’t come to this place to make friends, they were here to check case files and log data. Friendship was secondary, maybe even tertiary on their list of priorities.

          Wren made it to Murk’s cubicle. Their flashlight shone low at the ground as they said, “Hello?” It was easier when the lights were on to see Murk. Wren could feel the pervasive cold that surrounded his cubicle. It was always at least five degrees cooler near him or spaces he inhabited. It was nice during the summer, but a pain during the colder months. 

          “Hi,” a staticy voice said to their left, outside the cubicle. Wren jumped, their flashlight beam bouncing, then falling back into place. They swiveled, shining the light at Murk’s supposed feet. “I have your file ready,” they said, trying to blow past their momentary fright. “Great,” Murk said, his arm coming into view of the flashlight. Wren handed over the file, trying not to wonder too much about how the amorphous blob of his hand was able to hold the case file. It was probably demeaning to ask. 

          “Yep,” Wren said, standing in place. There was a pause. 

          “Can I get by you? You’re standing in the doorway to my cubicle,” Murk said. Wren burned, a splotchy flush rising to their face. “Yes of course! Sorry,” they apologized, walking quickly away from his cubicle. They liked Murk, thought he was a reliable worker, but they never had a comfortable interaction with him. Maybe it was because of his nature. Or mine, they thought bitterly. 

          As they made their way back to their cubicle, they thought they felt eyes on them again, but they dismissed it as a passing glance. Wren’s flashlight caught the water cooler, the dying plants on the window sill, and the countless file cabinets lining the walls. They turned a corner and made it to their own cubicle. As they sat down, the light illuminated a new case file on their desk. They sighed, put their phone face down so the light would point towards the ceiling, and rubbed their eyes. Wren could do this. Only three more hours until they could go home, eat breakfast, and collapse into bed. ~ 

          Wren hated pull meetings. It was a waste of time that they could’ve used updating tracking measures of successful soul collections, including adding where each soul ends up after the collection. Pull meetings were important, though. It allowed the case managers to discuss the souls being collected the following week with Adrar and plan the case files accordingly. Adrar was an… intimidating presence. She stood three feet tall, had light brown eyes, and was the buffest gnome Wren had ever seen. She led the meetings very efficiently, but it was still a pain to leave their desk to sit and contribute absolutely nothing for an hour once a week. 

          “We need twelve more souls before the end of this week,” Adrar was saying. 

          “Twelve more souls!? But our caseloads are full,” said Lily. Murk might’ve nodded in agreement. It was hard to tell with the way his shadowy form shifted under the bright lights. “Yours might be full, but Ezra and Nova have room in their loads. We’ll divvy up the souls so that Ezra and Nova get five each, then you and Murk will each get one. That should be doable for the next week, right?” 

          “Yeah, I suppose,” Lily muttered, rubbing her spindly legs together 

          “That works for me,” Ezra said, studying her blood-red manicure under the white fluorescent lights. Ezra was Wren’s least favorite case worker. She always left sections blank on the case file, then acted like it was Wren’s job to fill it out for them. It wasn’t. Wren was employed at Soul Collection Services to double check and track case files for completion and correctness. Nothing in their contract stated that they had to track down the to-be collected souls’ information, input it into the file, then finish their own work. Case managers had resources that data entry specialists didn’t. They needed to work together to achieve a common goal, but Ezra’s main priorities were slacking off and avoiding responsibility. It was interesting that she was fine with taking on more souls this week, they thought. 

          “Yeah, same.” Nova said, almost vibrating in her seat. She couldn’t stand these meetings either, but it was a necessary part of her job. Nova was half-fae. She had a cloud of curly hair that was primarily brown, with pieces enchanted to shine metallic gold. Her brown skin was covered in floral tattoos engraved in gold ink. Her golden eyes flitted around the room, clearly feeling the energy drink she had chugged to make it through the meeting. Wren stopped being concerned about Nova’s caffeine addiction when they found out what she was like without it – snappy, sluggish, and standoffish. Whenever Wren stopped by her cubicle for corrections, they were often met with a full trash can, small piles of cans on the floor, and an open energy drink on Nova’s desk. 

          Nova’s favorite way of greeting new people was, “Hello, my name is Nova! Can I have your name?” The only reason why Wren still had their name and full control over themself is because Adrar warned them about Nova’s tendencies. Wren sometimes wondered how many names Nova had under her possession. It didn’t interfere with her ability to complete case files, so Wren tended to ignore Nova’s eccentricities and be very, very careful when talking to her. Wren only knew Nova’s true name because they happened to stop by her cubicle while she was on the phone with her mother. Nova was on break, sitting with her legs crossed on her desk, sipping at an Ultra Peachy Keen Monster with her phone on speaker. 

          “Anovis, you need to start taking better care of yourself,” a stern woman’s voice said.

          “I know, mom, but you and ma have to trust me when I say that I know what I’m doing,” She sighed, kicked her legs down and turned to see Wren standing awkwardly at the doorway, “I gotta go, I’ll call you back later, mom.” She hung up and looked expectantly at Wren, who lifted the case file in their hand. 

          “It’s a nice name. Anovis, I mean,” Wren said. 

          Nova’s face flattened as she realized a human heard her true name, “Don’t use that name. You of all people are not allowed to use that name. And don’t tell anybody, or I’ll have HR on your ass. Got it?” Wren balked, looking down, “Got it.” 

          “Great!” Nova’s face shifted and she smiled, “Now what can I help you with?” 

          Wren was brought out of their thoughts to the present as Ezra began tapping their fingers against the plastic table covered in a thin wood-style vinyl. The blood-red points were mesmerizing to watch as they listened to Adrar discuss final plans for this next week. Ezra was mesmerizing, but in an infuriating way. She was perfect – her thick black hair, deep brown eyes, and smooth tan skin were all used to allure and entrap. Her dark circles were the only technical physical imperfection Wren could see, and it only served to make her seem almost human. Her horrible personality, however, detracted from her looks. 

          “So I will have eighteen souls this week?” Ezra asked. 

          “Yes,” Adrar confirmed, “Now unless we have any other pressing issues to attend to, I want you out of my sight.” 

          With a sigh of relief, Wren stood, making their way toward the door until they were interrupted in their escape: “Not you, Wren. I need to talk to you about something,” Adrar said.

          Turning, they said, “Yeah, what’s up?” They cringed, realizing that their comment was neither confident nor professional. Adrar paused as Lily finished collecting the notes and yarn from her seat, watching as she ambled through the door, ducking under the doorway. 

          “I wanted to let you know something that would change your status here. You are doing a great job as the data entry specialist, yadda yadda, but we need to hire another data entry position to work alongside you. With your workload, you aren’t keeping up with management’s increasing demands. By collecting extra souls, we’ve allocated enough income to fund a part- time data entry assistant. They’ll be reporting to you, and will handle looking through part of the caseloads while you track data and start to work on research efforts. Alright?” 

          “Um, alright!” Wren said, mind blank as they processed what Adrar was saying. They’d have an assistant, which was a first. The fact that they even got an assistant had to be a good sign for their job security. It made them feel more official, even. 

          “We’ve already interviewed the final candidates; I’ll get back to you on when they start.” “Sounds good, please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” 

          “Great, will do, now get out of my face.” Adrar said, leaning back in their chair and looking off to the side. As Wren turned to leave, they saw Adrar steeple her hands together and sigh deeply, still staring off into space. Wren left her to her introspection. They had a pile of case files to finish. ~ 

          Wren was looking over yet another case file in the pile that was left on their desk from Friday morning. Monday nights were the worst. There was no way a person could get through all the case files in a timely manner. They just stacked and stacked. Luckily, Wren would be able to offload some of the files onto the new data entry assistant when they arrived soon that evening. Wren wondered idly what they were like – if they would be kind like Lily, energetic like Nova, quiet like Murk, or anything like Ezra. Wren hoped not. They were going through Ezra’s most recent case file, and there were countless items missing. The target’s name, for one, their date of birth, their gender, and their social security number. The only thing fully filled out was the type of death and the Demon in Charge of the collection. Bane was the demon listed on the contract. He was the best-performing soul collector in the area. He and Ezra were close. Wren wondered about their relationship – if it was purely professional, or if there were other reasons for them to want to work together frequently. 

          “Wren,” Adrar called through her open door, “come in here.” Wren stood from their seat, putting their pencil to mark their spot in the file before closing the manila envelope. As they made their way to Adrar’s office, their stomach twisted up in knots at the thought of finally meeting the new data entry assistant. As they walked through the entryway, however, they paused. 

          “Ezra, Adrar, good evening,” Wren said, very professionally, confused on why Ezra would be in Adrar’s office when she had case files to fill out. 

          “Hi, hello, I want you to meet your new assistant,” Adrar gestured, scowling. 

          “Assistant?” Wren said, feeling faint. 

          “Yes,” Ezra said, “I will be your new data entry assistant.” 

          “What? But, Ezra, your case files are always a mess! How can you clear case files if you can’t even fill out your own?” Wren knew that was the wrong thing to say, but professionalism be damned. Ezra’s face darkened, “I am just as qualified as anyone here. I will not be told that I cannot do my job from someone who takes years on each case file!”

          “Hey!” Adrar yelled, “No fighting in my office. Ezra – do your job. Wren – Ezra is here to stay. Now get out and figure out your issues.” Wren blushed at the admonishment. She was right. They would just have to get used to Ezra and train her as best as she could. 

          “Fine,” they said, “Follow me.” Wren led Ezra to their cubicle to begin training, which was outfitted with a second chair and small desk for the occasion. 

          Wren tapped the case file at their desk and said, “This is a perfect training opportunity. Please, take a seat.” Both Ezra and Wren sat at the desk, crowding in close. Wren was careful not to let their bodies touch. 

          “Take a look at this,” they said, “This file is a wreck.” 

          Ezra scowled, “I was in a rush. I had to get down all the details Bane told me before clocking out.” 

          “You were in such a rush that you forgot to fill out the entire Name and Demographics section?” 

          “Yes, I was!” 

          “Well, now you’ll learn what it’s like to track what’s missing. Even in case files as sparse as yours,” Wren said. 

          Ezra sighed, “Fine, where do I start?” 

          Wren leaned in to point at the top of the page, “You start to make sure all information is correct in both the case file and the online caseload. On the Soul Assessment form, you track the name, age and date of birth, gender identity, pronouns, and social security number. Then, you go down towards the Boons and Misfortunes section to make sure their lived experience is reflected accurately on the case file and online. Finally, you read the Soul Contract, which, as you know, is on a separate document. You make sure that the contract tells you how the soul will be collected through what methods by whom. If all of that aligns with the online case file, then you can put the information into a spreadsheet. I will give you access shortly. Sound good?” 

          Ezra slowly looked up from Wren’s hands and said, “Yeah. That seems good.” She seemed to be a little overwhelmed, but Wren powered through. 

          “Great, we have a lot of case files to get through, so if you want to take half the stack in the pile, I’ll check your work when you’re done.” 

          “You do not need to check my work,” Ezra snapped. 

          “According to this case file,” Wren held up the case file they went over together, “Yes, I do.”

          Ezra frowned, focusing on the case file in front of them, seemingly ignoring Wren as she got to work. Wren sighed and turned toward their own file. They were almost done with the Soul Contract, then they would put the file in the ‘Ezra’ pile to take back to her cubicle. This would be difficult. If Ezra decided she knew better than Wren as both a case manager and data entry personnel, then Wren wouldn’t be able to do their job. If Ezra chose to learn and grow both as a person and as a worker, then Wren could make this work. It all just depended on her and the choices she made. Wren didn’t like Ezra, but they would be willing to try for this job.

 

 

          I started writing seriously last fall. I wrote countless poems, collected them, and just published my first chapbook through Bottlecap Press. My writing process is often just desperately cramming out the words before they escape me. I write in huge blocks of time, almost hyper fixating on the work until it's done. I had a similar process when writing Soul Collection Services. I started the project a month ago, and wrote, revised, and edited the work throughout the past few weeks. The themes present in the work are life and death and coming of “age.” The work uses alliteration, foreshadowing, and imagery to convey the story of a data entry specialist, and their journey of growing and accepting a rival before undergoing a fatal change. This is part of a larger work, there are three chapters total. The first chapter sets up the main character’s work life, introduces the characters, and reveals that the main character’s rival will be their new assistant. The second chapter highlights their developing relationship and shows them leaving together to attend a meeting that results in the main character’s death. The third chapter is from the rival/love interest’s point of view, reacting to the fall out and finding comfort in the situation.

 

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