Eden

Three

I wake again, and look up at the sky, and realize that now I'm outside.

I sit up, and look around. I'm in a dirt courtyard. Someone must have carried me outside while I was unconscious, and left me here to wake up on my own.

I'm not sure if I appreciate that or not.

I'm sitting in sun-warmed dust, against a wall, and beside me there is a door. I'm outside the door, and it's the only door in that building. And the door locks from the inside, by the way. They've thought of that. It's a one-way door, and once you're out, you can't get back in. Ever.

So yes, what they've done seems a little thoughtless, just leaving me here, but in fairness, how I feel isn't really their problem. I mean, I think I should say that, just to be fair. Because nothing really bad is going to happen to me here, not right outside this particular building, in this sheltered courtyard which is here for new arrivals to catch their breath. And the job of the people in that building is to wake me up, and make sure I'm not too confused, and can walk around on my own, and then to send me off to do whatever, and that's all they are meant to do. It very deliberately is all they do. If nothing else, they don't really have time to explain everything properly, and even if they did, any warnings they tried to give would probably not make sense, not yet. Or would be ignored. And it isn't like a lot of other people haven't been where I am right now, and coped. A lot. I can't begin to imagine how many.

So the easiest thing for them to do when I faint is just to put me outside, in the sun, in the fresh air, to wake up when I'm ready.

And so they do.

It saves arguments, I suppose. Me fainting was probably a relief for them, really, since then they don't have to keep explaining or arguing or dealing with tears. I suppose there must be a lot of different way to react to waking up in Heaven, or wherever I actually am, and a lot of ways to react to waking up not dead, as well. And of all those ways, fainting is one of the least complicated, and probably one of the most convenient for the people who have to actually deal with it.

So they did what they did. And it was about as kind as anyone was likely to be to me, here.

Not that I knew that right then.

Oh, and not that they're actually people, either. I mean, I keep calling them that, but obviously they aren't. Not people, like people. Not like me and everyone else who wakes up here. They're something else, the ones who work in the background, and keep everything here running properly. I'm still not quite sure what they are, to be honest, and it doesn't really matter anyway, because mostly they stay out of everyone else's way.

But just to say that too.