Certified to bring tagged people back from the dead, Anna knows responsibility. So when Millicent, local school bully, approaches Anna to raise Millicent’s boyfriend Victor, Anna does the right thing: she refuses. Victor has no tag. 

But now? Millicent’s steaming mad, and willing to risk anything—and everything—to get her revenge. 

Anna better watch out. This probably won’t end well. 

A sassy little story about the consequences of overstretching our limits—and a warning against thinking we always know best.

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Certified/Seven Things

My name’s Anna and I’m certified to bring people back from the dead. Sometimes they don’t want to come, but that’s neither here nor there. 

What matters is that I’m certified. Licensed. Allowed. And I’m the youngest person ever to qualify as a Raiser; but that doesn’t matter either. I’m qualified. And being qualified means I have to follow the rules.

That’s why, when Millicent asked me to Raise her boyfriend Victor, I said no. I’m not allowed to Raise people I know. We’re only allowed to Raise people that have been tagged for us. 

The authorities do the tagging; no one knows what they do with the people once they’re Raised. You hear stories, but everyone agrees it’s to help the war effort. So I guess it doesn’t matter what they’re doing. 

All that matters is that we can’t Raise people who aren’t tagged. The authorities think that if we could Raise anyone willy-nilly, it would lead to self-indulgence, Raising everyone we ever loved who died.

I don’t think so. Some people are better off dead, and I like to think I’m mature enough to realise that. If they were supposed to be alive, the authorities would have tagged them.