Equinox

Chapter 1

 "Now arriving: Cycle B. Please stand clear of the doors as they open."

The female, monotone voice rang throughout the train station. Families clutched to the metal fence, desperate to see their loved ones. Rumors of those who would leave and never return are as contagious as the bubonic plague, and create just as much panic.

Clutching my ticket, I search like mad for a friend. I always petition for a ticket to get me past the gates, and somehow get one. The only way you could get one is if you live with someone who's cycle is ending, and I've gotten a ticket for thirty-six cycles in a row.

The newly arrived are disoriented as they leave the train. Either the first time they ever rode, and are confused as to how this is related to everything that just happened to them, or they just gone through the exact same thing earlier.

"Welcome to Solstice," I offer to a young man, who's staring at his ticket in disbelief. "It's not heaven, and it sure will feel like hell."

Thousands of people pour past me, leaving behind their tortures for a new one. Hours pass, and still my friend's face hasn't passed me. Sadly, this is nothing new to me. I clutch the ticket one last time before heading towards the trash can and tossing it inside.

The rumors, much like the bubonic plague, are true. And everyone I know has experienced either the shock of or the act of the disappearances.

"Hey Oceana!" a chipper young barista smiles as I enter my favorite coffee shop. "Your cycle starts tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, actually," I grumbled, the barista serving up my usual. I've been coming to this place since I arrived in Solstice eighty years ago, and the barista, Louis, has been here even longer.

Guess I should explain how Louis is over eighty years old, and still looking fairly young.

When you die, you either go to heaven or hell, depending on how you live your life on the surface. I don't know what heaven's like, but I do know what hell's like.

Solstice is the main city, where everyone either lives or works. When you aren't going through your tortures, you're here living a regular life. The transfer between the city and torture is the train station.

The part that truly makes Solstice feel like hell rather than New York City is how your tortures fit with your life here. It mimics it with perfect precession, altering only a little bit of what your life would be like, slowly driving you insane as you lose track of which is real and which is false.

"Have you heard that Ragnorak has started questioning people about the disappearances?"

Taken aback a bit, I choked on my hot chocolate a bit. "Ragnorak? Ruler of Hell?"

"Is there another?" Louis laughed as he served up the next person.

"What does he care about if some people disappear from their cycles. He should be more focused on stopping Lucifer's Rebellion!"

Leaning on the counter, he chuckled. "Maybe he thinks it's related somehow? Just be careful this next cycle, I got a bad feeling."

His feelings were almost always right, except that time he thought that this one clam would make me sick. I smiled at him and gave hm a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's a cycle. Of course something bad's going to happen."

His blond hair shone in the florescent lighting, his usual white smile a frown. "No, worse than usual. Just promise me you'll be careful."

A smiled at his adorable frown. He looked about my age when I died, which was roughly sixteen. I gave him a quick hug, promising to be a little more careful than usual, and ran to my studio. In Solstice, every job imaginable was available, including painters. People loved my work because I could fill it with emotions that if you looked it from a torture, you just wouldn't feel. No one knows how or why I do this, but it's the greatest hit out there.