Purgatory: Middle of the Road

Chapter 1: The Start of Nothing

??? POV

Where am I?

How did I get here?

There were several other questions in my mind however if I had to limit them to one, it was one of those two questions. I don't have any memory of what happened, which is quite unusual. As a matter of fact, I don't remember anything at all! I can't recall any information that could be useful in the situation I'm in. No matter how hard I try, I don't get anything, just a minor headache, more confusion, and darkness.

Darkness and claustrophobia.

Even though I never really feared tight spaces, this place was getting really uncomfortable to endure. What kind of confinement is this?! It's like I'm in some sort of box; a very uncomfortable box. I can barely move my arms or legs at all. At least there was some kind of cushion around this box. Not entirely sure if this is safe but it does make up for the cramped space around here. Besides, it's not the worst situation I've probably been in.

Suddenly I felt like I was moving somewhere. Then I moved from an upward standing position and laid down instead. What was going on?! As much as I wanted to bang against the box, I couldn't. This place was cramped to even move my hand up front. And I'm not one who usually complains about things like this.

I hear a voice from outside of the box I'm in. It was faint and I couldn't really make out any of the words that they were muttering. It sounded like a feminine voice which seemed quite frustrated about something. Suddenly I hear something being inserted, almost like how someone would insert a key into a lock. Then out of nowhere, the box started to open as if it had a lid on it. Light seeped inside, blinding me so I closed my eyes.

"Wake up sleepy head. The time has come."

The unfamiliar voice spoke out to me now. I sat up and opened my eyes, rubbing them lightly to adjust to the brightness of this place. When I looked around, I noticed I was in a void of white space. Besides a few things in the distance, it felt so empty and I would have thought I was alone if it wasn't for the fact that there was someone in front of me, a woman to be exact.

The clothes she wore were all black as if she was mourning the death of someone. Black blouse, black pants, black boots, black gloves, black hat with a black veil that covered half of her face. She wore a black coat that almost flowed like a dress. The only things that weren't black were the white skulls she had on her hat as well as the one of her chest that served as a brooch. Her hair was the color of blood, crimson red that was tied up in a bun. I couldn't see her eyes clearly due to the veil she wore but on her face, she wore a grin and her lips were painted with some kind of black lipstick that stood out against the glimpse of her pale skin.

"Huh you finally woke up! I thought you were a goner and had become a lost soul," she said as she looked at some sort of file she had in her hand. None of her words seemed to have been processed in mind so the only thing that said was, "Huh?" I was so confused about the situation at hand. The woman looked at me for a second before she looked like she had just figured out the solution to cure a life threatening disease. "Oh right, you just woke up, no wonder you don't remember anything." She chuckled a little before patting my head. "Don't worry bud, you'll remember soon, though personally I think it's better to forget."

Before I could even ask her any more questions, the woman turned her attention back to the file she held. "Alrighty then, time to review some basic information. Hm, let's see..." she hummed lightly as she turned some papers around. "...born some time here on September 9th, 3047...occupation scientist, inventor..." This shocked me. How did she know all of this?! But more importantly how do I not remember this information?! "W-what how did you-" "Oh, didn't you know. Us soul keepers need to be up to date with all of your information in order for us to identify you correctly. It'd be a shame if we didn't have anyway to identify yourself. We could mistake you for an already dead lost soul," she interrupted me as if she read my mind. And what does she mean about lost souls?