Short Story Swirl

The Abyss (Suspense)

I remember dying.

I remember the panic I felt when the ground gave out below me, the shock of the cold water as my body hit it, and the icy calm that washed over me as a salty brine filled my lungs. I remember all of it. I remember growing tired, my water-blurred vision growing dark, and then nothing.

That's the part that disturbs me most. I don't remember anything after that. When you read similar stories online, they all describe some kind of afterlife, but I don't remember anything. Does that mean there's nothing waiting for me after death? That my eternity will be spent in darkness; an eternal abyss?

After a couple of moments just floating through nothingness, I jolted awake, sitting upright in my bed. Confused, I looked around my room, making note of everything I've ever collected, remembering each little moment the objects held. As I looked, I couldn't shake the feeling that something seemed off. I know I died. I know I was sent to the absent afterlife. So, why am I sitting in my bed?

Absentmindedly, I peeled back my covers to get out of bed, and was surprised to hit my wall. Wasn't my bed normally on the other side of the room? I looked around my room again, realization slowing dawning. I remembered now. My bed was on the other side of the room, and my dresser was where my bed currently is. Everything was backwards, and as I noticed more and more things out of place, chills ran down my spine.

As quickly as I could, I jumped out of bed and ran out of my room, desperately trying to find my parents. Instead of heading left and continuing down the hallway like I expected, I turned left and ran face first into a wall. With a loud groan, I slowly turned around, holding my throbbing nose. My eyes grew wide as I saw my hallway extended out in front of me, meaning it turned to the right, not the left.

Everything was backwards.

Without warning, I screamed as loud as I could, the sound echoed throughout the reversed house, leaving a deafening silence behind it. It became clear that the house was empty, and the aching loniless inched it's way towards me. With a panic, I bolted down the hall, racing towards my front door. I yanked it open as hard as I could, and froze.

There was nothing. No grass, no trees, no front steps; there was no road, no cars, no neighboring houses. There was nothing.

Every alarm instilled in me through evolution began going off, panic raced through my body, and yet I couldn't move. I stared, dumb founded at the empty void laid out in front of me. There was nothing there, only blackness.

Did I ever escape the abyss?