Are You Worthy?

The Final Day

"Yeah, well I lied."

His words go through my head over and over again as I finally wrap my head around the situation.

He's going to kill me.

Right now.

He slams the metal door shut, and I'm pretty sure I hear a click, most likely meaning that it's locked.

"You should have known it was going to end this way," Alex says, making his way towards two small boxes on the wall.

God it smells bad in here. Like a hospital room. Doesn't look far from one either.

I look to the left, and see what looks like an operating table, but Alex doesn't even acknowledge it.

"What's the operating table for?" I ask, trying to distract him from the reason we're in here. I can tell he knows I'm scared by the sound of my voice.

"That's what we use to send people home. Like James. But you aren't going home. Come over here," he says, waving his hand for me to approach him.

If he thinks I'm just going to waltz over there and let him do whatever he wants to me, then he had another thing coming.

"Do you really think I'm going to willingly let you kill me?" I ask him.

"I'm not killing you," he says matter-of-factly, "I'm sending your soul away from here. That table over there-" he motions to the operating table, "is what we use to send the soul back to the body. These here-" he motions to the box-looking things, "are what we use to simply send you away. Who keeps you is up to your life choices."

I watch him as he turns around and faces the box things. He stares at them for a moment, then walks over to a bright computer setup, one that should be in a sci-fi movie, and not ten feet in front of me. He flips a few switches on the desk area, and the two boxes glow a translucent green.

"Are you in any pain right now?" Alex asks.

It takes me a few seconds to realize he's talking to me, and another few to realize that no, I'm not in any pain.

"No," I respond. I then add, "Why not? How come the knife wound in my back doesn't even hurt?"

He pushes a button on the desk, and a pre-recorded audio tape starts playing.

"Here at the Sanctuary, we want to make sure that no matter what happens to you, you go out pain-free. You will probably begin to notice that you are starting to feel light-headed,  maybe a little dizzy."

Yes.

"This is because in order to access the brain stems of your physical body, we need to familiarize your soul with the process we call Psychotomimetic Shock, or PS for short. During PS, we send vivid images and hallucinations to your consciousness, your soul, which changes the blood flow to your brain, your physical body. The visions are different for everyone, and no two are the same. Symptoms felt by your physical body include increased heart rate and blood pressure, seizures, and nose bleeds. Symptoms felt by your soul include excruciating pain, weakness and tingling in the legs and arms, and the slow loss of your senses of sight, smell, hearing, and touch. "

This whole process sounds very painful and scary.

I feel my heart beat increasing and grab the door handle to try to support myself. I look up at Alex and watch him push the same button on the desk, and the recording stops.

"I'll explain everything else."

He comes over to me and grabs my hand. It takes everything inside of me to not yank my hand free from his and tell him to eff off.