Death felt weird. Not in a peaceful way or 'I'm going straight to hell' way, but in a awkward silence type of way. Most would expect to hear angels singing, or satanic laughter in the distance as they're pulled one way or another. For myself I seemed to be… stuck, for lack of a better word. Not really sure which ending I would have preferred, but I think I would like anything better than my current situation.
I only wish everything was dark, in this giant expanse I seemed to float around in. Everything was bright white, like an overbearing bright pen light being shined into my corneas. My own hands were barely visible in front of my face when I waved them about. Every once in a while bursts of bright green or blue would drift by by, but it only added to the assault on my eyes. Kind of exaggerating a bit, but I don't know how else to describe it. At least closing my eyes seemed to lessen the brightness a bit, though not shut it out completely. I couldn't even tell you how long I've been floating here. Really, it could have been hours or days for all I know. But for the sake of my own sanity, I want to believe it's only been a few hours opposed to... however long it's been.
Back to the whole death thing: yes I know I'm dead. It was just a bad case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Said case just happened to involve an armed robbery with certain people I'd rather not think about right now. Let's just say that we go way back... But the end result was the death of Ashton Payne, which is me by the way. Having my life cut short was unexpected, but that's what happens sometimes. I know I sound pretty calm for someone who just died but it's not like I can do anything about it. I guess the shock just hasn't fully set in yet because I felt oddly at peace.
For now all I can do is float here, lost among my own thoughts.
I felt the pull before everything started to go dark. It was like someone was gently tugging on my hand, trying to get me to follow them to wherever it was they wanted to lead me. Whatever this weird force was I opted to let it take me where it wanted. It wasn't like I could really walk, or float in this case, on my own. Or resist it at all.
I was more grateful when the brightness started to dim around me until everything was black. Only myself and the random flashes of blue and green were still visible at that point. It felt like only a few moments had passed before I began to notice something else. It was a small but bright ball of red light hovering only a few yards in front of me, and it was moving towards me at a slow and steady pace. It seemed to stand out thanks to the darkness around me, giving it the appearance that it was glowing. When it was no more then a foot away from me, I reached out and took it to examine it better.
The object was more like a small glass ball, but not quite like glass at all. It felt slightly warm to the touch and smooth. Though it was opaque it looked as if a thick red mist was swirling around inside of it. The most noticeable thing was the glow it emitted. It was pulsating slowly at a steady rhythm. However the glow had started to fade the longer I held it. I couldn't bring myself to let go of it as the color faded. It was oddly comforting in a way. I held it for what felt like hours, until the light the orb admitted finally pulsed one more time before turned a dull gray color.
A large crack split down the middle of the orb once the light was gone. As soon as the crack had appeared I noticed two things had happened. First, the blue and green light that was previously here faded away until it was completely dark. Experimentally I waved my hand holding the orb in front of my face. I could barely make it out in the surrounding darkness. Second, I started to feel an increasing pressure on my body. It started off light at first, like being wrapped up in a blanket. Heat started to envelope me as the pressure increased until I felt like I was inside as mini oven or something.
Saying it was uncomfortable would be an understatement. However considering the space I was in there wasn't much I could do about it, except scream.
Thanks for checking out the prologue! This story was partially inspired by the show, The Good Place. It gave my an interesting idea of what can come after death and thus, this story happened. The next two or three chapters will be pretty short, but will be out soon!
12/24/18