So... I started this story awhile ago then forgot about it, but I kind of wanted to finish it so I'm rewriting it. Enjoy! (btw... Happy Holidays)


A mild ringing encompasses my head as I slowly gain consciousness. The ringing is soft, but enough to cause irritation. My eyes blink open and suddenly warm light slaps my face. The room is mildly warm and filled with golden white light that smells something like a clean bathroom. As my mind wanders, I try to remember how I got here. Feeling apprehensive, I quickly stand up to evade any sort of danger around me. I stammer forward. I lose my balance, succumbing to a disoriented feeling. Falling backwards is a surreal feeling. The fall is light and seems to last much longer than I'm used to. Landing on a solid floor comes as a relief to me for some reason. With one look I can tell the room is endless. The floor is a translucent shade of white, but it's supporting my weight so it must be solid. How can something so boundless be so finite at the same time? When my eyes finally adjust, I feel myself overcome with fear. The initial shock, however, is transient. The fear is replaced by a strange feeling of curiosity. I squint as I slowly become aware of my surroundings. Could I be dreaming? This place is unreal.

"I've been waiting for you, my darling." A voice calls sweetly. The sound echoes throughout the room. A figure appears in the distance. "Don't be scared." The voice is familiar and so is the shape of the figure approaching me. "Don't you recognize me, Aria? Has it really been that long?" It can't be...

"Alison?" My muscles stiffen and tension paralyzes my body. "I don't understand… Is this a dream?"

"A dream… An illusion… A fantasy… Reality... Actuality and Real life." The incorporeal figure suddenly materializes. It is Alison. But how? "All of the above, sweetheart." Her voice rings as it vibrates in the room. My mind is blown. This defies the laws of physics. Sound cannot echo if there is no wall for the waves to bounce off of.

"The rules of the physical world don't apply here, Aria." I stare at her blankly. She offers her hand. "Walk with me?"

"Did you just read my thoughts?" My eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"I didn't have to." Taking in my surroundings, my face falls. I lower my eyes. "Am I dead?" I ask, afraid of the answer.

"Don't look so sad, sweetie. It happens to the best of us." She shrugs. No. I can't be dead. I refuse to be dead.

"I'm dreaming. This isn't possible. I want to wake up now." I protest. She just smiles. She raises her wrist slightly, looking at it and silently ordering me to take it. I do. She smiles and clasps her hand around mine. She takes me along the room without saying anything. "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere." She stops moving and turns around and flashes a smile at me. "Somewhere. Anywhere." I open my mouth to protest, but she interrupts me with a laugh. "Everywhere." She adds. As she giggles I reminisce back to when she was still alive and the five of us were together.

Time passes- or so it seems. Up to this point neither of us has said anything else. We just continue along. I figure we're not really going to any particular destination. Then again, Alison always had a purpose for taking us places when she was alive. Alison had a purpose for everything. Every muscle she moved had some reason for its flow. The atmosphere doesn't change as we walk further. The floor neither goes up, down, nor straight. It simply continues- if that's even possible. I suppose, though, nothing is going to make much sense here if I am to be dead.

"We've been walking a long time..." I say finally.

"Time doesn't exist here, Aria." Alison says, not bothering to stop. "Nothing exists here."

"Even us?" Alison laughs again. I wish she would stop that.

"We're dead, remember?"

"Right. Of course." I roll my eyes. Something about this place seemed off. I always imagined heaven different than this. It didn't expect it to be so... mysterious. I didn't expect God to be my dead best friend, either. "If I'm dead… Does that make this heaven?" She doesn't reply. "If this is heaven, does that make you God?" She chuckles softly.

"I'm whatever you want me to be." I looked away. This is crazy. "Although, I never took you for the religious type." None of this was making any sense to me. I still had no idea how or why I'd been sent here. As if on cue, Alison puts her arm on my shoulder. "Don't worry, sweetie. You're here for a reason. So am I."

"Can you cut this cryptic crap and tell me what's going on?" I yank my hand away from hers. "Where are we? What's happening to me?" A dangerous silence surrounds the moment.

"Do you hear that?" She says, avoiding my question.

"Alison…" I groan. She closes her eyes. She must be serious. I remain silent and listen.

"I don't hear anything." I whisper.

"You aren't listening hard enough." She laughs. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"They're coming for you." Her voice interrupts my focus. "But it's not time yet."

"They?"

"I'm not ready. You've only just got here." Alison complains.

"I don't understand. Alison, who is coming?" She takes my hand again.

"Come on." She pulls me along and we run through the room.

"Ali, where are we going?" We suddenly stop and the white room morphs into a darker, greyer shade.

"Did the room just get darker?" I mutter, quietly. Her manner is serious and focused. "Did you do this?"

"No." Alison replies, gently settling her body in a chair. "You did." I sit down next to her, letting out a shaky breath I don't remember holding. "It means you don't have much time."

"I thought you said time doesn't exist here." I recall.

"Not your sense of time."

"If not mine... Then whose?"

"You ask too many questions." I step away from her and my eyes wander around her bedroom.

"Why am I here, Alison."

"You tell me that." Alison crosses her legs and smirks.

"You can hear my thoughts. You talk like some kind of mystery novel. You're immaterial and material at the same time. You can hear things that I can't? … You must be some sort of spiritual figure."

"You were always so keen, Aria." Her hair falls against her shoulders as she tilts her head. "That's why I chose you."

"Chose me?" I pull away from her. "Chose me for what?" She doesn't reply. "I didn't realize we were playing a game..."

"It was always a game, Aria."