Random Short Stories (ON HOLD)

The Underworld (Part 2 of Gone)

*part 2 of Gone*

Darkness.
Suffocating darkness.
Memories flash before my eyes, like a movie screen, like floating dreams on a river.
It's like I'm asleep, only barely there.
I can faintly hear the laughter of the assassin, but I hear other things too, that grow stronger with each second.
Whispers.
Illegible gibberish, which soon consumes my head.
Thousands and thousands of whispers in my head.
They whisper of the lives they once had, the lives they would have had.
The love they have lost, the wealth they have lost.
Their families.
Their friends.
And most of all, their future.
Gone.
Dead.
Betrayed.
Loved.
Secrets.
Families.
Fun.
Earth.
Heaven.
Hell.
The whispers whittle away, replaced by one calling, hissing sound.
"Welcome ssstranger. Welcome to the Underworld"
I am spooked.
The images in my brain go faster, trying to relive my life in moments.
And at last, I have one last subconscious memory.
One all humans forget.
The memory of a baby in the womb.
The warmth.
The darkness.
The comfort.
The blanket of love.
When the memory fades, I am stuck in eternal darkness once more.
But something is different.
My eyes.
They are open.
Before, no sensations reached me.
But now I feel my skin, feel my eyes, feel my heart beat.
I am grateful for every breath.
I hear a slosh of an oar against water, echoing down the cavern.
Swish.
Slosh.
Swish.
Slosh.
Plop.
Slosh.
Plop.
At last, eager for my arrival, I see torches set along the river.
Translucent figures shuffle along, leaving wisps of wind and whispers.
So many whispers.
Each shade takes drinks from the water, then wades in and bathes after waiting in line.
The boat I was in stops along the dock.
Silently, without my brain commanding them, my feet begin to walk.
No, not walk.
Glide.
It is an interesting feeling.
The line is forever growing as new boats arrive at the dock every second, and soon I am not last, but second.
The translucent overseer wordlessly hands me a bowl to scoop water with, and motions me forward.
I eye the river.
The water is black as the night, only lit by the torches around it, leaving red and white speckles in it.
I wade in, just up to my knees.
The water is shockingly cold, like ice. My legs start tingling, and memories flash through my mind.
Of how to walk.
Of how to run.
Of how to skip, and gallop and dance.
I try to walk into the river a little more, to feel these refreshing tingles once again. But instead of gracefully walking forward, I stumble and fall in.
Soon, I am underwater.
My whole body tingles, but especially my brain.
The water around me is full of sparks dancing along, but these sparks are like tiny pictures, emptying out of my brain.
The river absorbs memories.
I try to scramble out, but it is no use.
I can't walk. Or swim.
Suddenly, I am suffocating.
How do I stop it?
I hear meaningless jumble. It sounds somewhat like, "Why does it have so many memories, this is taking a long time!"
Like I said, meaningless.
I can still think, luckily, but that is rapidly shutting down.
Something is happening.
My last precious memory, of me comfortably resting in my mother, sparkles and fizzes away into the water.
I stare at it moving along by the current, and feel my last thoughts fading.
Why do this to me?
All I know for sure is this is not the after life I thought I could ever be in, and would ever want to be.