How Could You Forget?

In between

The girl opened her eyes. The pain had finally stopped, but that didn't quite explain what was going on. Just where was she? On further inspection, all she could see was black. Nothing but an endless void of darkness.

It wasn't as pleasant as she imagined death to be. Nothing in sight, no feeling, just a vast expanse of nothing. But was she truly dead if she still had her consciousness? Well, now that she was here, she might as well spend the rest of her...existence?...pondering the idea.

Her thoughts turned inward as she silently reflected on everything that had gone on in her life. She absently wondered how badly her body must have been and just how she looked to the person who had been by her side in her final moments. A sad smile spread across her face as she thought of the kind soul that had at least tried to ease her suffering.

A sudden burst of light cut off the remainder of her thoughts. Reflexively, she brought her arm up to shield her eyes from the harsh light that only grew brighter. A strange garbled speech startled her into action. Whipping around, she came face to face with nothing. Everything was as it had been before, except now it was bright. The voice echoed from behind her once more.

"It seems you took quite a fall back there.." the weird voice chuckled.

Whirling around led to the same result..nothing.

"You are.. determined. I'll give you that."

"Who are you? Why are you here?" She asked aloud while silently scanning the air around her.

A deep chuckle reverberated throughout wherever they were, "Ah, yes. I haven't properly introduced myself. Call me Gaster. It has been quite a long time since someone has visited this place. As for why I'm here.. that's not really a concern to you."

Brow furrowing and a tight frown upon her lips, she angrily huffed, "Yeah, well, considering we're floating around in nothing, I think I have the right to know what this," she gestured outward, "is, Gaster." His name emphasized with a bit of sass.

The voice, Gaster, spoke once more except this time directly in front of her, "Where we are is something I call the void. It is a barrier of sorts. A pit between the very planes of life and death.."

Startled, she took a step back, "You can't be serious! So what now, we just stay here and spend the rest of time in an empty fucking existence?"

A ghostly figure appeared before her. It was a frightening sight to behold, a single black mass for a body with a freakishly wide toothy grin upon a mask like face. One eye was nothing more than a slit while the other was merely an empty black eye socket. A shiver ran down her spine and she instinctively took a step back. He only smiled wider.

"Ah, my dear, I apologize greatly for frightening you, but I must ask for your assistance."

"Wh-What do you need me for?" She stuttered.

"Well, I have need for a body per say. A way to interact with the physical realm. As you can see, I'm nothing more than a specter at the moment.. which is where you will come in."

"And if I refuse?" She whispered weakly, but managed to cross her arms and glare difiantly at the figure before her.

"You could certainly do so, but that would leave us both stuck in this space for the rest of time." He smiled that still creepy smile.

She looked at him in disbelief but her gaze quickly dropped to her feet. She really only had two choices. Be stuck here forever or return to the land of the living. A sigh passed her lips before realization took over.

"Wait just a moment! I'm supposed to be dead! I fell down a mountain for God's sake!" She yelled into the abyss.

The figure merely shrugged, "Technically you are in between life and death. You still hold on to your form in the living. Perhaps there is something you must do before you can cross over. However, you will be stuck here, without my knowledge. So you have no choice but to accept my offer or remain here forever."

And with that his form vanished into thin air. She reached out to try and grasp him, but found her hand slipping into nothing. With a heavy sigh she resigned herself to weigh her options. It felt like hours had passed, but since there was no way to tell time, she had no idea how long she had been pondering her thoughts. She merely waited in silence for the strange man to return.

Her patience ran thin, she did not know how long she waited for that guy to show himself, but she felt herself slipping into madness. For every moment was torture, grating her mind in its silence. Nothing sounds nice until you're trapped in it, she figured.

"Gaster!" She tried yelling to see if it would work. Fortunately for her it did as the specter reformed before her once more.

"You called?"

"Yes, I did. About your proposition.."

He smiled once more, "I see. Have you reached a decision?"

She nodded, "Yes. I want to go back."

He laughed lightly, "So it would seem. Although, I do not blame you. A few millenia here would surely drive you to madness.."

At her horrified stare he merely chuckled before continuing, "Nevermind, dear. Now about getting us out of here.. I need to use your soul."

She stiffened, "My soul?" At his nod she spoke a bit louder, "Why on earth would you need that?"

"As you can see, I am merely a spirit, confined to this plane of existence. In order to get out, I must attach myself to your soul since you have a physical form." He explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a harsher tone, "The price to escape this place is to take me with you. Unless you would rather spend the rest of your days trapped here."

She froze momentarily but let out a defeated sigh, "Fine. I get it. Now how do we go about getting my soul-"

A sharp pain erupted from her chest as the spirit raised a hand in her direction. Letting out a loud cry of pain, she slumped forward while clutching her chest tightly.

"Couldn't you have warned me or something!" She hissed.

He shook his head, "I'm truly sorry, however it had to be done." And with that she felt something wrap itself tightly around her soul, almost a sheath of sorts. It was cold and thin, almost as if it didn't truly wish to belong with her. She let out a shaky breath and rose to her feet.

"Now what?" She reluctantly asked.

The specter smiled, "Wake up."