by RJ Pritchett
He almost smiled when the person woke, leaning forward to look at him. She was just as confused as he was. The face she wore when she took in her surroundings suggested that she didn’t know where they were either.
“Where are we?” he called out as she stepped out of the bed, her bare feet taking their first steps on the cold floor.
The girl limped closer to the bars that kept her locked away. Her hair was a cerulean blue and her gown was as white as the walls that trapped them. She opened her mouth but the man opposite her couldn’t hear anything.
“Huh? Can you speak up?” he shouted, “I can’t hear you!”
A loud thunderous bang erupted from outside, shaking the entire building. The man panicked, running to look outside the window to find the source of the loud noise. “What the hell is happening?” another explosion sounded off. The sound of gunfire emerged, and he heard a few screams of panic elsewhere.
It didn’t take long before he saw someone running past his cell. A young woman with all-black clothes and a single braid wrapped neatly around her head.
“Hey, hello!” the man called out to her, “Can you please tell me what’s happening? Where am I?”
The young woman turned around and rushed back to his cell. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I’m here to save you. No time to talk, just stand back.”
He did as he was told and watched as the girl pulled out a small device, with one tap of the screen, the cell that separated them came crashing down, falling to the man’s feet. “Hurry, up. We have to get out of here!” she said, “Did you see anyone else?”
“Yeah, there’s a girl in that cell over there,” he pointed to the cell where he saw the blue-haired girl. The two of them ran over to the cell, and another tap of the screen freed the blue-haired girl when the bars of the cell crashed down to the floor, before her toes.
“Come with us,” the woman said to the scared looking girl, “This place isn’t safe at all.”
The girl stepped on top of the fallen cell with her bare feet and limped on her wobbly legs to hug the woman saving her. She mouthed a few words, but nothing came out.
“This is nice and all, but we have to leave now before it’s too late. Let’s go. Who else is here?” the young woman asked.
“I didn’t see anyone else,” the man said, “just us two.”
“I’m going to check the other cells, you two go outside and run as fast as you can to the forest across the grass. As soon as you get out the building, run straight -and don’t stop until you get to the forest. A friend of mine will be there waiting for you. I’ll catch up with you later and everything will be explained. Just do as I say.”
The building shook again.
“Go. Get out of here!” the woman ordered, pointing down the hall.
The man and young girl both moved in the direction that they were pointed in. The man turned around after reaching the lone staircase to see the blue-haired girl limping slowly behind him. “You can’t walk any faster than that?” he asked.
The girl shook her blue locks of hair and then toppled to the cold floor, face-first. After sighing, he walked over to her and lifted her up. “Something wrong with your legs? Never mind. Get on my back, I’ll carry you down!” he shouted over the groans of the shaking building.
The building shook again as the blue-haired girl climbed onto his back. He kept himself balanced by holding onto the bars of an empty cell nearby. He started to jog while the girl wrapped her legs around his torso. After only two flights of stairs, they were at the bottom. They found themselves in an empty lobby with fallen plants, debris, and broken glass everywhere. He immediately saw the broken glass that was once a door.
“Okay. We’re almost out of here. Don’t you worry.”
The setting sunlight burdened them, warmed their skin for a split second, and temporarily blinded them as soon as they stepped outside for the first time. There were other people running away from the building, screaming and scattering in all directions. From the corner of his eye, the man saw someone in a mask staring at them as he ran with the young girl on his back. The person behind the mask looked as if he or she was trying to calm the scattering group down.
The man was running, and in the midst of all the chaos, he forgot where he was supposed to go until the blue-haired girl on his back pointed to a bunch of trees that were out in the distance.
“Hey, you!” a voice bellowed over to them when they finally reached the forest. The voice belonged to a young man sporting a white shirt and a pair of cargo pants of the same color. “Y’all escaped, right? Come on, we have to get moving! Where’s Rebellia?”
“Who?” the older man asked, lifting the blue-haired girl to a more comfortable position.
“A girl, kinda pretty -has a bit of an edge to her. About this tall… fanny pack… all-black clothes. She was supposed to go in the prison to save you.”
“…”
“She was looking for others last time we saw her,” the confused man said when the girl on his back couldn’t be heard, “Before we left her, she told us to run straight to the forest. Maybe she’s still in-”
“Oh, there she is…” the much younger man said, seeing his partner running out of the breaking building, pushing a random person out of her way and knocking them to the ground. Rebellia dashed past a lone willow tree that stood tall in the middle of the grass field separating the collapsing building from the forest they stood in. She never lost speed, inching closer and closer to where they were until she reached her destination.
“Keep running!” Rebellia said when she was finally close enough to be heard. “These were the only two that were locked in there. All the other cells were empty. Come on, keep running until we’re out of sight!”
* * *
“Wow, Rebellia, look at this one!” the young man wearing a white T-shirt and cargo pants said, pointing at the blue-haired girl when they finally stopped running. Their running eventually slowed into a jog, and now they were walking through the very green forest.
“I know,” Rebellia said, “just wait until Faye sees this.”
“Excuse me, but what the hell just happened back there?” the man, who was carrying the blue-haired girl on his back said.
“You mind introducing yourself first?” Rebellia asked the man, “Do you know your name?”
“Why wouldn’t I? My name is Vincent,” he said, squinting at the young woman, “Where am I? What’s going on?”
“You just got here, Vincent?” the young man who accompanied Rebellia asked, “my name is Travis by the way.”
“I just woke up in jail,” Vincent said, “Did I do something wrong? What’s happening? Where’s Clara?”
“Who’s Clara?” Rebellia asked.
“My wife,” Vincent answered.
“Wow, you just woke up and you already know your wife? That’s really impressive.” Rebellia said as Travis clapped his hands in dramatic fashion. “A lot of people’s minds go completely blank when they enter this world,” she looked at the treetops and turned to Travis, “I don’t know if we will make it back before nightfall. We might have to camp out.”
Travis nodded, “We’ll tell you all about this place on the way to where we’re going,” he said to Vincent and the girl on his back, “Do you have a name?” he asked the blue-haired girl.
“…” the answer failed to come out of her mouth.
“She’s mute,” Rebellia turned to Travis. She then looked back at the girl, “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to speak soon. It happens sometimes to the recently deceased. Not very common, but it happens.”
“Hold on… deceased?” Vincent’s eyes popped wide open when his footsteps stopped. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you remember?” Rebellia asked, stopping to turn around, “You remember your wife and your name, I’m sure you remember dying.”
“…No, I do not remember dying,” Vincent shook his head after a long pause, “Is this a dream or something?”
“
I wish,” Travis sighed, “but no. We’re all dead. This is the afterlife. Sorry to be the one to break it to you.”
“This has gotta be a joke or something?” Vincent sighed, chuckling as he shook his head.
“Seriously, do you want to see proof?” Rebellia said, reaching for a holstered pistol that rested on the side of her waist next to the fanny pack.
“What are you-?”
She pointed the gun to him, aiming at his forehead and a clicking sound suggested that the safety was removed. The bullet was clicked into place as she closed one eye, aiming. “I can shoot you right in the head and you won’t die. You will only pass out for a couple of hours and wake up without any wounds.”
“We can’t do that, Rebellia,” Travis grabbed at her arm, “How are we going to get home before dark if we have to drag his body there? Chances are already slim as is. Shoot him when we get to camp or something.”
Rebellia holstered her pistol and nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll do it when we get to where we need to be.”
“Please don’t shoot me,” Vincent said.
“Alright, no shooting,” Travis chuckled, “But you must understand that this really is the afterlife. Everyone you meet here is dead. You’re dead, I’m dead, that girl on your back is dead. Shit, even all these trees around us are dead.”
“Humanity has killed a lot of trees over the years,” Rebellia said, looking at the forest around her, “You’ll learn sooner or later that I’m not bullshitting you.”
“Why are you carrying her?” Travis pointed to the blue-haired girl, “Did she get hurt?”
“…” the blue-haired girl shook her head.
“She couldn’t keep up,” Vincent said, lowering his body so the blue-haired girl could stand on her own. Her toes curled as soon as her bare feet touched the moist grass.
“…” she rested her hand on Vincent’s shoulder. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek shortly after.
“I think she just thanked you,” Rebellia said, reading the girl’s lips before she pecked Vincent’s cheek.
“You’re very welcome,” Vincent smiled at the young girl, who was now taking her first steps on the ground.
“There’s something strange about that girl,” Travis whispered as the girl with blue hair started to hop instead of walking.
“What? What do you mean?” Vincent asked.
“Her hair color… It’s not natural.”
“Well, no. But it’s called hair dye,” Vincent said.
“I’m not talking about that,” Travis whispered, making sure the blue-haired girl couldn’t hear him, “Usually when people spawn into this world, all unnatural changes go away. Like body enhancements, piercings, skin conditions, scars, tattoos, hair dye, you get the gist. But her hair color stayed the same. I wonder why.”
“I’m still confused,” Vincent said, “I don’t understand anything that’s happening. Why did that jail blow up? Why did you save us? I still don’t understand this dead talk, but I’m willing to go along with it because y’all might shoot me.”
“What is there not to understand?” Rebellia asked, “you died; you woke up in a jail -in the afterlife, and I rescued you from being someone else’s slave. Simple as that.”
“Someone else’s slave?”
“The people that run that jail back there are no good,” Travis clarified.
“We saved you from them, so you should be thanking us,” Rebellia said.
“Well, if you’re telling the truth, then thank you,” Vincent said, “Sorry, this whole thing sounds a little ridiculous. I can’t be dead. I was just… this has to be a dream.”
“What’s your story?” Travis craned his neck to look at Vincent, “Did you get shot? Stabbed? Did your wife burn you alive too?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember dying, that’s what makes this whole scenario sound crazy,” Vincent said, stepping over the overgrown roots of a nearby tree, “this has to be a dream… wait. Did your wife burn you alive?”
Travis and Rebellia shared a laugh. “Nah, man,” Travis said, “I ain’t got no wife.”
“I’m telling Patricia you’re not claiming her-” Rebellia said.
“Shush,” Travis interrupted her, still smiling, “like I was saying, that didn’t happen to me. There was this guy back at our sanctuary that died in a fire his wife started after he cheated on her by mistake. Tragic. He’s not there anymore though. After he finished telling us his story, he moved on.”
“Moved on? Why is nothing making sense?” Vincent said, rubbing his eyes with both hands. “Can somebody please wake me up?”
“Give me your hand,” Rebellia turned around and grabbed Vincent by the left hand, “Do you really want proof that this whole thing is real and not a dream. Let me shoot you in the hand.”
“What? Hell no!”
“It’ll only hurt for about fifteen seconds. The wound should heal by itself and after that, everything will be back to normal,” Rebellia said.
“Why can’t you do it on him?” Vincent pointed to Travis.
“Because you won’t be able to feel it if I shoot him,” Rebellia said, pointing her pistol towards Travis, “I want you to feel the temporary pain, so you can realize this is not a dream. All of this is really happening.”
“Okay well, I don’t want to get shot. I’ll take your word for it,” Vincent retrieved his hand from Rebellia’s, “Can you please put the gun away? It’s making me nervous.”
“It does?” Travis asked as the group started walking again, “Maybe you got shot before you died. I used to get nervous all the time around guns.”
“Or maybe, I just don’t wanna get shot accidentally,” Vincent shrugged his shoulders, “Either or.”
“You see that squirrel over there that’s climbing that tree?” Travis pointed at what he described.
“Yeah,” Vincent said, staring at the squirrel circling around the large tree they were passing. “What about it?”
“That squirrel is dead too,” Travis said, “It’s really heartbreaking to know that everything here is dead, right?”
Rebellia nodded.
“I don’t know. That squirrel looks full of life to me.” Vincent said while watching the squirrel dash around the tree. The blue-haired girl stopped walking, extended her hand to the small creature, and let out a silent giggle when the squirrel walked onto her hand.
“Animals are very friendly here too,” Rebellia said, “They have no reason to be afraid of us since we can’t really kill them, and we have no reason to be afraid of them since they can’t really kill us. The world is a much better place when the possibility of death doesn’t exist.”
“Where are all the people then?” Vincent said looking around, “You say this is the afterlife, right? This forest should be swarming with all the people that died.”
“This is a humongous world,” Rebellia said, emphasizing her words with hand motions, “There are decillions of people here -if not more, they’re just settled in other parts of this ever-expanding world.”
“So, is this like Heaven or something?”
“No.”
Vincent stopped and stared at Rebellia and Travis. His eyes were swelling. “Hell?”
“No,” Rebellia shook her head, smirking and eventually chuckling at Vincent’s scared facial expression, “Hell is Earth. This is sort of a Purgatory if you wish to call it that. It doesn’t really have a name to tell you the truth. It’s either you’re summoned here, or you go to Heaven. The people that you would think were truly evil enough to go to hell; those people were obliterated long before reaching this place.”
“Obliterated?”
“It’s the closest thing to death in this world,” Travis said imitating an explosion by using his hands.
“When you’re obliterated, you’re practically erased. Your soul is deemed completely evil to the point of no return and your entire essence is destroyed by the hands of God,” Rebellia said, “I know there are some people down on Earth awaiting that fa
te.”
“That’s a fact,” Travis nodded.
“Have you seen anyone get obliterated before?” Vincent asked, ducking underneath a low-hanging tree branch.
“Nope,” Travis said, shaking his head, “but Rebellia did.”
Rebellia nodded. She looked through the corner of her eye to the blue-haired girl carrying the squirrel in her hands as she walked, “I see the squirrel decided to come with us.”
The blue-haired girl nodded and started petting the small creature that rested in her palms as she walked.
“The more, the merrier,” Travis smiled.
“Hello?” a voice called out to them.
Rebellia and Travis both summoned their pistols, aiming it in all directions.
“Was that you?” Travis asked the blue-haired girl, who shook her head and ran closer to the small group she was with, frightened by the sudden voice.
“Who are you?” Rebellia called out to the faceless voice, “Show yourself!”
“I don’t know,” the woman’s voice was much closer, “I’m lost.”
The woman appeared, pushing a pair of shrubs out of the way to walk closer to the group of four. “Whoa!” she held up her hands when she saw the guns pointed at her, “Please don’t kill me. Can you just tell me what happened?”
“Friend or Foe?” Rebellia shouted.
“Sorry, about that,” Travis holstered his gun and held his hand out to Rebellia to get her to lower her gun, “We thought you were an enemy.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Rebellia shouted at Travis, “Are you dumb? She could be one of-”
“She’s cute,” Travis smiled, “no way she’s with O-”