Prologue
George whirls around and stakes Mitchell in the heart. "I'm doing this because I love you," he chokes out, staring into Mitchell's stunned face. Mitchell stares back and smiles. "I know," he says quietly. Annie, George, and Nina stand frozen as Mitchell cracks and disintegrates into a pile of dust and clothes; then just clothes.
Mitchell blinks as his view shifts from a fade of George's face to... A wall. A decidedly familiar, gray, wall. He looks down and realizes he's standing in a doorway; he's dry, clean, and standing just inside a doorway. Purgatory's doorway.
"The hell?" he wonders aloud as he steps into the hallway and looks around. "Hello?" he calls, "Is anyone here?" The door shuts behind him with a bang that makes him jump, but when he whirls around to see who did it there's no one there. "Yeah. HELLO?" he calls; no response, not even an echo. "Where's all the doors?" he asks, looking left to right. The hallway seems to stretch out endlessly on either side, with bright white light radiating from far away. "Thought I'd warrant at least some kind of reception," he mutters. "So, I guess hell would be this way?" Mitchell looks to the right, shrugs and starts heading down the hall.
Light after overhead light passes above him, but the end of the hall never seems to get closer.
After a few yards Mitchell picks up the pace and begins to jog, keeping an eye out for any door in the wall or a change in perspective to show him he's getting closer to the end. It was hard to judge how long he ran, having so little frame of reference, but after what felt like an hour he slowed to a halt and planted his hands on his hips.
"Helloo?" he calls again, futilely. "Is this hell?" he asks the wall to his left. "I'm stuck alone for eternity, in a corridor that shares traits with a treadmill?" In frustration Mitchell punches the wall for its silence, then checks over his shoulder to see if anything is different that way. A glint in the wall a few yards back catches his eye, and he makes a mad dash to whatever door he somehow managed to overlook.
Mitchell draws up just as he's about to wrench open the door.
"This is..." he pauses as he backs away, jarring into the opposite wall. "This is the door I came through... But I've run miles." he says quietly. "What is going on?" he wonders, then looks up to the ceiling and steps forward, "What is going on here!" he roars, then drops his head and lets lets his body sag when the silence continues. Leaning back against the wall, he lets his body slide to the floor, rests his arms on his bent knees, and give the door across from him the stinkeye. "This doesn't make sense," he says to himself in frustration, "why won't it make SENSE?" Mitchell slams his palms on the ground, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" he roars at the ceiling. "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it! Show me where to go and I'll be there! You've got me here, PUNISH ME!"
Dropping his head into his hands and jamming his fingers into his hair, Mitchell almost misses seeing the entry door creak open.
No noise or light spills into the corridor, and he tenses as he he waits to see who is coming in. He relaxes and leans his heads back against the wall as minutes go by with no change. Eventually heaving a sigh, Mitchell pushes up off the ground, reaches one hand out to the door, braces himself, nods, takes a deep breath, and steps into the black...