Fifteen-year-old Michelle saves the world on a daily basis...with her trusty video game controller, of course! Naturally, she jumps at the chance to play an experimental virtual reality game.
The beautiful fantasy world of Starrs? Check. The power...
I don't think I've ever felt anything like this—not for so long, anyway. It's almost like that fleeting feeling right before falling asleep. I'm floating, relaxed, and I can't perceive anything but my own thoughts. I can't feel my body...if I even still have a body.
It's at this moment, when I'm lying in bed, that I wake up again and realize that I was just about to fall asleep, but this time I don't wake up. I don't know if I'm still alive.
Am I...dead?
Did Aaron just kill me?!
He might have, with his crazy experiment. I should've known that it wasn't safe! He came out of it even crazier than he was before, and it must've electrocuted me.
The phantom sensation of a heartbeat pounds at the core of what should be my chest, and a racing stream of something cool and relieving fills in the same area. Does this mean I still have a body? I hear a sharp gasp—at least I still have some working senses. I reach for my face, my fingers trembling. Before I can touch my cheeks, a gust blows past me, and flashes of scenery shoot by in my peripheral vision—white mountains, green fields, a red temple, a golden canyon... Something bubbles in my stomach, telling me that these are places I've visited before, even though I know I've never left California in my life. For a second, I can see my hands in front of me, and then the images are gone. What was that?
I can feel myself moving now. I'm floating, as if in outer space. I look around for the flash of light that just passed, but I can't see anything in the darkness.
On the bare skin of my upper back, I finally feel warmth. I spin around and there, not too far away from me, is a soft orb of pure white light. It glimmers with prismatic rays, which stretch out and soon blind me. I shield my eyes with my forearm, and clench my eyes shut.
Then I hear a voice. It's not coming from any particular direction—it sounds as if it connects directly to my mind. When the light fades, I see who the voice belongs to, and she's as beautiful as the light that surrounds her.
Just like me, she floats in nothing, but she's a lot more composed. Her hair is almost as black as the space that surrounds us, and it drifts in soft, shiny curls behind her, like wisps of smoke. Her white clothes are as radiant, and when she moves, they flutter like wings in slow motion. Wait, they actually are wings! I never gave much thought to the angels depicted in religious artwork, but she's the epitome of what I think an angel should look like. Her pale skin glows like moonlight, and her eyes twinkle with wisdom.
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My small voice resounds, "You're here to take me to the afterlife, aren't you?"
I think she answers, but I can't understand a word that she says. I curl into a ball and turn away from her.
Am I dead, or is this the video game's epic introduction? Even with the warmth of her light, I find myself shivering. It literally chills me how real the sensation is. I feel even more helpless without anything to stand on.
