Atlas

11

The room I dropped into was much brighter. Almost blindingly so, actually. It was a large bedroom. A large bed sat directly in the middle of the room, a large crystal chandelier that didn't fit the surrounding decor at all directly above the bed. Along one of the blue-painted walls, an old wardrobe stared out at the rest of the room.

Beyond the bed and the chandelier, Seokjin was leaning on the windowsill, looking out through the glass. Something bright was outside the window, and I was tempted to walk over there and see what it was. But then he turned and looked directly at me with a small smile like I was an expected guest.

"Hello," he said. "You've come very far."

"I have?" I asked.

"You have if you've gotten this far."

I waited for him to elaborate. When he didn't, just kept staring at me with a polite smile on his face, I sighed in exasperation. "Does anything in this place make sense?"

He laughed. "That's a very subjective question."

I glared at him. He smiled politely and took one last glance outside the window before he sat down on the bed and patted the comforter next to him. I rolled my eyes but did sit.

"So what the hell is all of this?" I asked.

"I can't answer everything for you," he said with a smile.

"Give me a hint. Is this all in my head or something? I mean, everything is impossible here."

"Like what?"

I sighed, waving my hands in frustration, and I noticed a wedding band in the ring finger of my left hand. "Apparently death is something totally normal, along with not staying dead?"

"Yeah," he said, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "My friends are kind of losing their minds."

I scoffed. "I'm kind of losing my mind."

"You're doing okay, actually. Don't be too hard on yourself, y'know? This is confusing for everyone."

"Anyway," I said, trying to get things back on track, "at least give me a hint on what's going on. And what's this thing I have to remember?"

He looked upward at the chandelier, considering. "I can give you two hints."

"Okay."

"First hint: you have a daughter."

At the words, sudden memories flooded my brain, flooring me. Holding a newborn infant in my arms, terrified I was going to hurt her. The stress of choosing a name that I couldn't remember. The first feedings, the first steps, the first words. The first day of kindergarten, the first report card, the first-- then something changed. I remember standing in a line. My daughter, the baby I had carefully held, grown up just a little more, clinging to my leg and crying as I stood in a line of other people that were dressed in the same way I was dressed.

Then for a second, everything went blank.

Then that same beautiful girl, a little older. The first day of middle school. The first fight. Hearing her scream and cry and yell that she hates me. And even though I knew it wasn't true, how much it hurt to hear the words.

And then the blankness again, but longer, darker. Just empty, terrifying, nothingness.

"Are you still with me?" Seokjin asked.

I blinked and nodded. "Yes," I said, even though I was still reeling. "What's the second hint?"

He smiled with encouragement. "I know she hates you, but you really gotta talk to the girl in Room 13."

Across the room, the wardrobe doors creaked open. "It's like we're in a book," Seokjin said. "Now there's your door, I suggest you get going."