The Sky Without Starts

Chapter 1 | Eternal Night

Brandon never imagined that the afterlife would be so bland. He did not expect some perfect society where nothing bad ever happened, but he expected at least some light. Instead, he was greeted with nothing but an eternal abyss of darkness. he could feel the floor underneath his body and the air against his skin, but other than that, there was nothing.

"so this is my punishment," Brandon thought to himself, "perfect freedom. I'm starting to miss the hole"

Brandon fought with the idea of standing up. It's not that he did not have the energy to, it was just that he did not feel any need to. He was dead, so why do any work? for once in his life, he did not have any pressure to do anything. Then again, this was not his life, it was his afterlife. Maybe this was his paradise, an eternity of nothing. No worries, no responsibilities, just... freedom. He decided that, since he had all of eternity to rest, he might as well get practicing. And so he laid there, doing nothing, for as long as he could. Memories flashed through his head. memories of the past, of the bunker he was born in, of the bunker he was raised in, and of the bunker he died in. It became extremely clear to Brandon that his life was nothing important. At the age of 23, he had no wife, no children, and was only a low-ranked officer in the bunker guard. He wondered if his subordinates would remember him in a few years. What about his superiors? what will his funeral look like?

That's when he saw it.

It was only for a quick second, but Brandon swore he saw a little red dot blink in the abyss. This time there was no debate, He shot to his feet and tried to walk towards the light. He did not make it more than three feet before he ran his head into a wall. He cursed as he stumbled backward, but his curiosity won over the pain, and he walked forward again, this time with his arms outstretched to find the wall before his face did. Within a few feet, he found the wall again. Its body felt cold against Brandon's hands.

"What is a wall doing in my void?" Brandon asked himself, quickly taking ownership of his void of an afterlife. He felt around the wall, moving his hands back and forth as he tried to find what could have made the light. He was a solid few minutes into his search when his left hand hit what felt like another wall perfectly perpendicular to the one he was currently searching.

"what the..." he said to himself.

That's when he heard the laughter.

It was not malicious laughter. Instead, it sounded like pure joy. Like whoever was laughing found Brandon to be one of the funniest things in the world. Brandon felt his face become red as he became more and more aware that he was not alone. He was many things, but social was not one of them. He leaned his back against the wall and slid down it, trying to make himself as small as possible, in hopes that whoever was laughing would forget about him.

unfortunately, that was not the case

"Don't go silent now" The voice said, "just a bit more you might have gone somewhere." it couldn't help but chuckle as it finished its sentence. Brandon just shrank more as the voice went on. He wished that he could silently disappear into the void, but the walls made that impossible. That was when he asked himself a question that he should have asked before: why are there walls in the afterlife? he dreaded the thought of asking the voice, but he felt like he had no choice. He quickly thought of what would be the least embarrassing way to ask the question.

"Where are we?" he asked, trying his best to hide his embarrassment. There was a snicker before the voice responded.

"were in hell, where else would we be?"

"Then what about the walls?"

"You think God has enough space to give everyone an infinite void?"

"That... doesn't make sense"

"That doesn't make sense." The voice responded in a mocking tone, "If you have a problem with it take it up with HR."

Brandon quite talking after that last comment. It wasn't that he did not know how to talk with people, but he couldn't handle talking when he was so... open. He was used to hiding behind his rank, behind his helmet, behind his position. When all of that was gone he felt so... vulnerable.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" the voice asked. It no longer had the same tone. This time it was more lighthearted. It sounded like it took pity on Brandon. He couldn't tell which he preferred, the voice that laughed at him, or the one that took down on him. A few minutes passed before the voice talked again.

"The name's Conner, yours?"

"Brandon"

"pleasure to meet you, Brandon."

"Why say's 'a pleasure to meet you'" Brandon wanted to ask, but he didn't. instead, he only replied with a simple, "yeah"

Then there was more silence. Brandon wanted to say something, but no words came to mind. 

"so," Conner continued, "how did you die?" Brandon took a second to debate if he wanted to reply.

"I don't know" he answered, deciding that he might as well get used to talking with Conner. They would be spending eternity together, after all. "Most likely from getting shot"

"shot?" Conner sounded surprised, "most people would know if they were going to get shot"

"I know I was being chased, but I didn't hear the gun discharge, so I can't be certain." Brandon replayed the moments through his head. The discussion with the man behind the wall, planting the bomb outside the central server room, running from the guard, and then the darkness. He felt so disappointed in himself. He had his whole life ahead of him, but in one moment he ruined it. Then again, if he hadn't been caught, he would have seen them. He remembered his 3rd-grade teacher telling him about the constellations. How they were believed to be the heavens leaking into the human world. It was all a silly story that all the children were told, but that did not stop him from wanting to see them. All he had to do was plant the bomb outside the bunker's server room, then he would be able to go outside. That's what the man behind the wall told him. He was an idiot for believing him.

"well that sucks," Conner said, "at least you got a quick death"

"what do you mean by that?" Brandon asked

"I mean your death was quick. you didn't realize you died until you were dead"

"and yours wasn't?"

"Nope, I had the unfortunate opportunity to be painfully..." Connors's sentence was cut short by the sound of knocking. Conner clicked his tongue before talking again. 

"guess that story will have to wait, my ride is here."

With the sound of pneumatic pistons decompressing, a bright light filled Brandon's eyes. He could hear the clacking of boots against the floor. Then he heard a second voice.

"too many guards," it said in a slow, monotone voice.

"no worries, me and Brandon here had a good chat" Conner replied to the voice

"wait," Brandon called out, "where are you going"

"Sorry Brandon, you just seemed so convinced that you were dead that I couldn't break your delusion." Brandon felt his embarrassment coming back at that moment. "don't worry, I technically was not lying. You are dead, the Grim Reaper is just taking longer than expected."

"Didn't you say that you were also dead?"

"Yeah," Conner replied, "something like that

The pneumatic pistons of the door could be heard again as Brandon was once again plunged into the eternal night of the cage he was in. He didn't realize until then, but sometime in the excitement he had stood up. He once again leaned against the wall and slid down it. He quickly buried his head into his arms and hoped that he would never hear the end of Conner's story.