10:27

Prologue: Fate and Destiny

What happens when you die?

This is the question that most people ponder for a very, very, long time. Along with other questions: What happens to us when the earth explodes? What happens when you spontaneously combust? What happens... - The questions could go on but, with these questions, they all revolve around one thing, death. They are all asking; What happens when you die?

It's a scary thought, death. I mean, do you want to die? Nevermind don't answer that. Everyone has a different version of death. For example, the Greeks and Romans all believe that there is an underworld, you go there no matter what. There's religious point of view, where there's a ruler called God that decides whether or not you get sent down to hell or get to stay in heaven with him. There's a multitude of different visions of that sort of thing, but, surprisingly, no one ever came up with the correct answer: all of them are true.

Once again, Death is a terrifying thing to think about. But trust me, when it actually happens, it is surprisingly calm. Your life is put on hold for just a few seconds as fate and destiny muse over you to decide where you should go. Heaven, Hell, The Underworld. Or maybe they decide it's not your time yet, and give you something to wake up.

This exact thing happened to five kids in a California town, Arkaley. They all went to Ark High and they all 'died' on October 8th, 2017 at exactly 10:27 a.m.

Usually, five is a minimum number for dying at the same time as someone else. But Fate was bored and needed some excitement. Destiny warned them not to, Fate didn't listen. Fate sent Death to bring the souls of the five children to the center of the workshop. Shaped in a circle, with the floor falling into a funnel at the center. The ceiling was open to the night sky.

When someone dies, Fate and Destiny sit on opposite sides of the room, they both decide mutually where to send the recently deceased. One after the other, souls continued to float into the room getting caught in the tornado of themselves, to wait to be sorted. At this moment in time, there were no souls, not one, for exactly six seconds there was peace in the round room.

Then, five souls, just children, came through the walls. One was dripping wet, one's skin was melting off, another was covered in dirt, one had no hair and the last looked normal. These kids all joined the tornado and it was only them for many moments, long enough for Fate and Destiny to notice. No one else died in the few minutes that followed, so Fate decided to do what it had wanted to do for some time now. It sent them back.

With a gust of wind, Fate stood and pushed its hand into the tornado, Destiny stood frantically and forced its hand, as well, into the twister, thinking to stop Fate from doing the worst. People aren't supposed to survive their death, they aren't supposed to go back to the land of the living.

With both Destiny and Fate focused on the souls, Death released its grip on the five souls and they returned to the land of the living. With a little something extra.