Anodyne

Choices...

In front of me, two tracks stretched out along the floor that had always been there. They appeared to almost sprout out of the ground in front of me- as I looked over my shoulder, an abyss yawned, pure space in every direction except for before me. Each track positioned itself under my feet- as if leading me simultaneously to the two glowing doorways in the cliff face- my right foot to the red, and my left to the blue.
* * *
Curious, I neared the blue one, straining to see what lay behind the light- despite being unnecessarily well lit, I couldn't actually see into them. From behind it however, I could hear the sound that one traditionally associates with tranquility and yoga- waterfalls, meadow grass, leaves rustling and tiny little birds screaming their heads off for food.
* * *
Tentatively, I reached out my hand, and waved it around cautiously. Immediately, a cool voice that sounded remarkably like me (on a calm day) reverberated around my head, 'Wonderful; welcome to your afterlife Alyssa' (After I've been robotised to sound like an air-hostess of course). I yelped, scrambling away from the doorway, noticing only too late that my elbow had found it's way into the other one. This time, the voice wasn't quite as emotionless, sounding like me on a deadly combination of sugar, caffeine, and suspicious intent, but was sadly equally loud, ' Ha! I knew you'd make the right choice! Why don't you just come with me?' A horrible squeezing sensation formed around my elbow, and I slowly felt myself being dragged up to my shoulder through the red light, which was emitting night-clubby sounds, wi to a couple of screams thrown in for added effect.
* * *
The first voice swiftly reappeared though , sounding severely agitated. 'You can't do that! You know the rules! Release her at once!' I felt myself being yanked by some invisible force in the other direction by my wrist, before being stretched by my arms in both directions at once. I began to feel like the rope in a tug-of-war, and let me tell you it was NOT a fun experience. As the tension increased slowly, I felt anger swelling in me like an unstoppable soap bubble. And then it burst.
'GET THE FLYING FUDGE OFF ME!' Although I didn't exactly say flying fudge.
* * *
I was dropped abruptly, thrown about a metre into the air before landing in a very unladylike position. I winced, then got up slowly, dusting myself off. 'Thank you. Now would someone please explain what's going on? Because let me tell you I have literally no idea where I am, why I am, and most importantly WHO I am. And I feel that in the circumstances I am entitled to that knowledge at least, if not more. So...?' The first voice at once rushed straight into it. 'Of course dearie, I'm so sorry, I should have thought of it sooner. You must be feeling so helpless, so confused, so alone!'
* * *
I shuffle my feet awkwardly, feeling that whatever emotional brain surgery she'd gone through, it wasn't really a change for the better. She sounded like what I imagined a grandmother would sound like. Or a really overbearing aunt. As she continued to apologise with long and pitying words, I began to wish that she'd either stop talking, or cut to that chase. As if sensing my thoughts, the second voice broke in. 'Ignore her. She's never really cracked human interaction... Soo, your first question- you're in your head, or more literally, your mind. You're here because, to put it bluntly, you're dead, and you're basically being given the choice between which afterlife to go to. Your name is Alyssa Stuart, but you probably don't remember this, because as I said before, you're dead. Dead people don't usually retain their memories...'
* * *
I blink, and sit down again. On second thoughts, I think I preferred 1's mollycoddling. Due to my brains being under extreme stress, I say the first thing that pops into my head. 'That's at but pointless isn't it, giving me the choice- surely you know I'll choose Heaven? I mean, why on Earth would I go for Hell?'
* * *
'That's interesting- she automatically assumed that we're Heaven and Hell. You're not Christian are you?' The last question seemed to be directed to me, but it hit a newly discovered sore spot, and I replied snappishly, 'How on Earth should I know? I can't remember anything can I?' 2 (who I was assuming was 'Hell's Ambassador' or whatever thought this was hilarious, and filled the cavern with his childlike cackling, 'Ooh, ooh ooh!' *queue mad cackling* 'But she does have a point- we'll have to do this anonymously.'
* * *
The doorways blurred briefly, then jumped apart, this time both a purplish colour. 'So, which will it be? Left or right?' Both voices at once rang in my ears, leaving the question hanging in the air like a confused hummingbird. I grinned, 'Ooh, ooh, I know this one!' I cleared my throat ceremoniously, then said clearly, 'If you were the other guard, which doorway would you tell me to take?'
* * *
'That won't work I'm afraid, as we're both one voice now.' It may have been my dead brain playing up, but I was fairly sure that they sounded slightly smug about this. 'Yeah, but it'll work regardless- it would still have the same result.' There was a pause, during which I could practically hear the cogs whirring, until they said, sounding noticeably less smug, but still very childish voice now, 'Then we just won't answer your question.' I sigh, I had hoped to do this the easy way, but they'd left me no choice. Time to see if my theory was correct. After all, they had said that this was in my head. So I start running towards the light.

A/N• Hiiiiii! I've never actually done one of these before, so it will probably sound really weird... How's it going so far? I know it's a slow start, please be patient- it will get better(I hope). Please comment or send me a message telling me how I'm doing or what I should work on etc. Thanks for reading it so far! Enjoy!
Otters747 •