Chapter 2

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Opening her eyes, Maria finds herself in a strange white room. looking around, she saw that the room was completely empty.

Just then she felt a sharp pang on her forehead and touched her head. She took her hand back and stared at it in horror as the blood from her forehead continued to flow.

She put her hand back to her head to try and keep the blood from flowing but it just kept going.

She bent down and hugged her knees tight. The pain wouldn't stop and she was starting to feel very weak due to all the blood she had lost.

Somehow, she felt as if she hadn't been bleeding at all. She touched her forehead to see that the blood had stopped flowing.

[IS THAT BETTER?] There was a sudden booming voice.

Alarmed, Maria's head spun back and forth trying to identify where the voice came from.

[WHATEVER OR WHOEVER YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, YOU WON'T FIND THEM.] The voice said.

"H-huh?" Maria said surprised as she tried to look for the voice again but couldn't find it.

She tried to stand up but immediately fell back down on her knees.

[PERHAPS YOU SHOULD STAY DOWN, YOU COULD HARM YOURSELF.] The voice said.

Maria sat down quietly and hugged her knees tight. She didn't understand anything at all.

[SO, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO ASK ME?] The voice asked.

"Am I dead?" Maria asked as she looked up around at the white walls.

[AH, STRAIGHT TO THE POINT I SEE.] The voice said. [WELL, YES, YOU ARE DEAD, SO--]

"Where am I? What's happening? Is this the afterlife? What is--" Maria started rambling as she held her head tight.

[0KAY, OKAY. IT'S ALRIGHT.] The voice said concerned.

"Where am I?" she asked again.

[WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?] The voice asked.

"What's happening?" she asked quietly.

[YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE, THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING.] The voice said.

"Is this the afterlife?" Maria asked with a sort of glum look on her face.

Voice: ...

Maria: ...

~~~

Maria sat quietly in the empty white room a while later after being lectured by the disembodied voice.

"Umm, excuse me?" Maria called.

[YES?] the voice asked.

"What did you mean when you said that I was about to die?" Maria asked.

[I MEANT EXACTLY WHAT I HAD SAID.] The voice said.

"So does that mean that I'm in a coma or..?" Maria asked.

[YES, YOU ARE IN A COMA.] The voice responded.

"W-well, since I'm in a coma... That means I can go back. right?" Maria asked with a concerned tone.

[YES, YOU CAN.] The voice responded.

"So, can I be sent back now?" Maria asked.

[AND WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO BE SENT BACK?] The voice asked.

"Well, I have people waiting for me, so I want to go back," Maria said.

[HMM, BUT I'M AFRAID THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE.] The voice said.

"What do you mean?" Maria asked.

[YOU HAVE LOST A LOT OF BLOOD. I'M AFRAID IT WILL BE PAINFUL AND NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO GO BACK.] The voice said.

"But there has to be a way, please, I have to go back," Maria said getting more anxious by the minute.

[THERE IS NO WAY BACK.] THE VOICE SAID.

Maria sat in silence for a while after what the voice said.

[BUT, THERE IS A WAY, BUT IT WILL STILL BE VERY PAINFUL.] The voice said after a couple of minutes of silence.

Maria looked up with an expectant look on her face and tears streaming down her cheeks.

"R-really?" Maria asked with a cute expression on her face.

[YES, THERE IS.] The voice responded and there was a small wind that sounded like a sigh.

"Then can I please do it? I'll do whatever it takes." Maria spluttered.

[GO AHEAD.] The voice said sounding kind of bored now. [BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO GO BACK? MOST HUMANS WOULD RATHER GO TO THE AFTERLIFE THAN GO BACK.]

"I have a lot of people who depend on me, I can't just leave them like that," Maria said as she wiped the tears off of her face.

[MHM. WELL THAT SOUNDS JUST ABOUT RIGHT.] The voice said.

Just then a piece of paper and a quill appeared before her. The quill started zooming across the paper writing words she couldn't understand and then scribbled the number 122 on it and then disappeared.

The piece of paper came to her and zoomed into her hands. Maria stood up and tried to keep her balance.

She tried to read the words that were written on the paper but it was not at all understandable.

[I WILL BE SENDING YOU OFF NOW.] The voice said.

Maria was plunged into darkness all of a sudden.

When she opened her eyes she was no longer in the empty white room. Instead, she found herself at the beginning of a long hallway with many many rooms and other hallways connected to it.