Afterlife

Chapter 3: What Happened?

I blink my eyes open slowly.
There's a bright light above my head, which is throbbing.
I reach up to it as an instinct, but it doesn't make the intense feeling go away.
"W-what happened?" I ask to no one.
I look around the room I'm in; I'm lying on an old wooden table with a chair next to it.
The room is dark and damp, except for the one light above me.
There's a door in the right corner of the room, but that's all.
I stand up off the old table and sit in the chair instead.
I finally manage to get the throbbing in my head to lessen, but I still have a pretty good headache.
I was hit. I think to myself.
A rush of questions hits me like a brick.
Where am I?
What happened?
Where are they?
Who?
My daughter.
The thought of my daughter and husband come back to me. I can still picture her face, my little Harley. And Blake, my Blake.
Oh god. I need to get out of here, I need to get back to them! They're probably worried and..
All of a sudden the doorknob moves and a man comes inside.
He places another chair down on the other side of the table and looks at me.
He raises his eyebrows, looking as if I'm supposed to talk.
"What?" I ask.
My voice is different; it's deeper and sounds like it belongs to someone else.
"Do you remember me?" He asks.
"Should I?"
He pulls out a file from his suit and slides it across the table.
"I'm Commander Jackson. Recognize that name?" He asks.
I feel like I remember but I can't.
"No." I respond shaking my head.
He looks up in the corner behind me and nods.
I turn around and see a small camera in the corner.
"Do you know what happened to me? Do you know where my daughter and husband are? Where are they?!" I ask flustered.
"They're fine. It's being taken care of."
"What is?"
"You will know soon enough."
"What does that mean?"
"Open the file."
I slide the file on the table towards me and flip open the cover.
I see pictures of me and my daughter in the park, copies of my ID and license.
I see pictures of Blake and I at work, and Delilah.
There's newspaper articles that Blake wrote. (He's a journalist.)
There's our entire lives in this folder. Where we've both lived, our families, our friends, everything.
I look up at Commander Jackson.
"Why do you have all this?" I look him in the eyes.
"It's my responsibility to know every and all parts of my employee's lives."
"I'm not one of your employees. I don't even know who you are; never seen your face before."
"Oh, contraire. See, I know everything about you because you and I go way back."
"Again, I've never met you." I say angrier this time.
"What's your name?" He asks.
"Gwen Grace Wright." I say.
"That is, if you decided to marry Blake Wright, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Well, then you are still Gwen Grace, right?"
"I guess."
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"You are no longer Gwen Grace or Gwen Wright."
"Huh?"
"You are now Mary Isabella Andrews."
"What, why?"
"You are now Mary Isabella Andrews because Gwen Wright does not exist any longer."
I just look at him confused.
My eyes start to glaze over with tears, but I just look at C. Jackson.
"Open the folder to the last page." He instructs.
I open it.
In it, is a new ID, license, passport, some money, and an entire paper on a new life.
"I am NOT starting a new life." I say shocked.
"That's what you said last time, Ms. Andrews. You're getting sloppy." He says.
"What do you mean, last time?"
"Oh, yes! I almost forgot to tell you. You see, Ms. Andrews, you're the only person in the world who has an afterlife."
"What?!"
"Yes. You have multiple lives; you're almost immortal. Almost. But, we can't let the world know this, so last time we didn't tell you, considering what incorrect choices you've made before. Consider this life lucky, Ms. Andrews, because you know what you're getting into."
There's a long pause while I take in everything that I was just told.
"One more question." I say.
"Yes?"
"Where am I?" I ask.
"Oh, well, you're inside the Pentagon."