Act One, END

To be, or not to be, that is the question

End

Death was a natural construct.

It would snip and snap at the thinnest of threads called life once it decided that it was already your time— because humanity has always been delicate with a short span in all their transient glory. One minute you were begrudgingly treading through the difficulties of puberty, then in the blink of an eye you were on your death bed, barely hanging surrounded by the people who regarded you as someone who mattered in their lives.

At least that's how you imagined your last moments would be, who knew that dying could blur out the years of memories you've spent as a person? You weren't even sure how old you were when death permanently drew its curtains close and claimed you as its own.

Then again, did anyone who died actually come back to live and tell the tale of what to expect on the other side?

Numerous possibilities have made you ponder before.

Would there be cherubs who'll sing of your most compassionate deeds whilst welcoming you in front of gigantic gates above a sea of clouds? Would the devil himself be the one greeting you as he dragged your damned of a soul down to the pits of blazing hellfire?

Endless possibilities.

There was also the notion of reincarnation, about being tossed back into the cycle to totally experience all of that from the very beginning.

Life was as much of a tedious pattern as it was a gift. You've been in a whirlwind of ups and downs, achievements and disappointments, and frankly, the entire shtick was exhausting that you had hoped to fulfill what was written on your tombstone after all of this: truly Rest In Peace.

A more unfortunate scenario would probably be being swallowed in a limbo with your idle consciousness dragging on in perpetual vain, while the more scientific approach you could come up with was...

Nothing.

Nothing else was beyond the grave. You would simply cease to exist after everything's over. Just you and your rotting bones together ten feet under in an eternity of slumber.

However, the cosmos believed it was time to chuck your assumptions to the trash, let you experience it firsthand by blessing you with another opportunity in this seamless course deemed as life.

The last time you had shut your eyes, your vision was slowly dimmed with black splotches. The first time you opened them again, harsh white light blinded your sight.

Shoot, is this heaven?

It was like being pushed out of complete darkness with bright glows hugging your form. Something worth noting was that you felt oddly ten times smaller and were smothered up in soft sheets after the ordeal of violently ripping you away from the void.

There were a lot of uncomfortable tugging and background noises, before you managed to single out a nearby person's voice, whose heavy breathing seemed like they just finished running a lap. "You're so... so beautiful."

It was when the image became somewhat clearer and the weird bouts of light headedness disappearing slightly that you realized an enormous, sweaty woman was holding you captive.

"Welcome home."

What.

You forcibly wriggled your way out of her touch, threw countless profanities at her face— honestly what the fuck, only for your demands to come out as unintelligible series of cries.