Death was a miserable, lonely place. All around me, everything was black. Except the moon. The moon was glowing compared to this place.
This place; it was kind of like a beach, but with black sand and black everything except for the moon and stars, which shown even brighter against the black night sky.
I sat up and looked around, not even bothering to get the sand out of my hair.
So this is it. I'm dead.
Falling even deeper into a depressed state, I wrapped my arms around my legs and sat there, humming a sad and lonely lullaby. No one was around; it was just me.
But from somewhere far away, I could hear a voice calling out to me.
"Sai? Sai!"
The voice sounded like a woman. Who are you? Why are you calling my name? It's not like I can talk anymore.
I slowly walked the other way down the bank of the beach, looking around at the empty land before me. After what seemed like an eternity, the beach had started to fade and became a black forest. I was standing in the middle of a great big tree with two signs pointing in the opposite directions; the one on the left said 'The Sweet Escape' and the one on the right read 'Salvation'. Of course, at the time, I didn't understand what they meant.
Suddenly, I heard the voice again, making me jump.
"Sai! Oh god, please! Wake up, Sai!"
I let out a silent sigh and looked again at the two signs when a new voice rang through the forest.
"Lady, it's over. She's dead.."
It sounded sympathetic. A man's voice; rich and clear.
Then I realized what he said.
He said Lady!
So, Lady's here too? But how? I'm supposed to be dead, right?
And again another new voice sounded.
"We may be able to save her. We are going to send volts of electricity through her system which may jump start her heart."
Wait, was that Dr. Dileo?
Oh shit. That's funny. It sounded like Dr. Dileo.
Deciding to ignore what else was being said, I started down the path to the right of the tree. A wind blew past me, but I didn't feel it. I didn't feel anything anymore.
Just then, another gust of wind blew past me, but I felt it this time.
Weird.
I took about another ten steps forward when I noticed something in the distance coming straight toward me.
It looked like a gigantic ray of light. It was so bright that it illuminated the entire forest.
Quickly, it washed over me and the rest of the trees around me.
"Sai?"
The voice was much clearer this time.
I slowly opened my eyes to find another gigantic light pointing directly at me. When I realized that it was another one of those surgery lights, I shot up out of the bed as if I'd been bitten.
A hand quickly flew to my shoulder to try and calm me down.
I looked to my right and saw Lady standing there with a concerned face.
"It's okay. You're safe now."
On the right-hand side of me, Dr. Dileo smiled and wiped sweat from his brow.
"Amazing."
And with that, he and his team of doctors left the room, shuffling out without another word. Lady sat on my side of the bed and studied me curiously.
"Are you okay? What the hell happened?"
I opened my mouth to say something, then stopped after a flood of memories from the fight I had with Dr. Tomo quickly came into my mind. Lady's face seemed to soften.
"You don't have to tell me. Dante's already told me everything he knew about the incident."
Wait, huh?" I tilted my head at her curiously, trying to remember what had happened right before I went under the dark waters.
"I suppose there's no way you could've remembered," Lady chuckled. "Dante said that you were at his office when the mysterious phone call came. After giving the phone to you, he left the room to give you and your 'father' some privacy. Then when he heard the door slam, he followed the scent of your blood right to the Fairground Theatre, where he found you lying on the stage. He said he thought you were dead just from looking at you. That was when the police showed up and they brought you here."
"I see." That was all I could think to say.
"You'd better thank Dante when you see him next!" Lady scolded me.
I laughed a little. "Suppose I should."
