If Only There Were Options

- 5 -

    What is going on?

 I'm not one to feel a lot of fear but never in my life have I felt so terrified. After discovering the complete darkness behind me, I turned ahead again to find that everything was black everywhere. I was floating in nothingness; the mysterious being had vanished as well as the city. I started to panic, searching all over for some sign that this was a dream or just special effects.

 nothing.

"I know you are afraid but I promise there is no need. You are safe, I am here." I could here the previously cloaked figure clearly in my ears but I could not see them anywhere.

"Where are you? What is happening to me?!" I yelled into the distance with a small echo bouncing back. Suddenly, the figure appeared again, but this time giant and holding me in their arms. I felt like a small child, vulnerable to anything.

"I need to explain something to you. You are dead. I know you may not think it, but this is what happens when you died. Those people all gathered near the bridge watched your body plummet to the water, the impact killing you instantly. Nobody can see you or hear you except for me. And if you haven't figured this out yet, I am death."

Those words hung in the air like cigarette smoke. No longer there, but still floating around, invisible. I cant be dead, can I? I don't remember falling. Oh god, what have I done. I ended my own life. Why did I do this.

"The reason I am here, the reason you have not yet moved on, is because I am required to show you something. At the time, you may have felt that it was right for your life to end at that moment, or maybe someone was pressuring you. I don't know. I cannot understand the feelings you are experiencing. But I do know what moments in your life were impactful, whether you knew that at the time or not. Take my hand and let me show you what beauty and pain life gives those that are living to embrace.