Purgatory and escape

"So I'll keep on breaking to prove I ain't broken. I'll keep on facing the truth unspoken.

It's a far jump, so… If you're falling, just hold onto me~

If you're falling just hold onto me~"

We sing a song as our intrusive thoughts lead bouncing back and forth between breakdancing and waltzing.

We were making so much ruckus holding each other's hands and jumping around spinning making ourselves dizzy, falling over and continuing, that I suspect that's the reason why the man who appeared in the hallway is glaring at me intensely.

Trying to shake my dizziness off to get back to my senses, I quickly introduce myself.

"Um, hello sir. I don't know how we got here, but would you happen to know where we are?"

"Run.", the girl I've been playing with who is behind me tells me.

"W-what?", I turn to her, and her face is mortified.

Suddenly my vision gets Midhrjznhdus sjm$:8:)4$&€|^{%}>€~

…

..

.

Hello? Is anyone there? Holy shit I think I'm under water, I need to breathe, which way is up?!

I see light and the shimmer of the water surface in that direction, I'll swim that way.

*GASP*, dear God that was close.

What the heck?

(All I see around me is an everlasting, calm, grey ocean.)

"HELLO?! HELLO, IS ANYBODY OUT THERE??!"

Suddenly, I feel solid ground beneath my feet, and I can stand in the now shallow water.

I look around me, and I see a girl who's long hair remains to be in the water covering most of her face despite her body from her hips up being in open air.

"Hey! Are you ok?!", I walk over lifting my knees over the water with each step to get to her faster, no wanting to embarrass myself swimming in the shallow water with my clothes on, for whatever reason.

The ground beneath me continues to elevate, and eventually my whole body is out of it. The ground is flooded, muddy grass, but she remains to be in a pond from what it looks like.

I see her with her gaze tilted up not looking at anything in particular, but she appears to be tired.

The white in her eyes are completely black, and she wears a cardigan in her saddened state.

"Have you been here alone for long? What happened?", I ask her.

"Yes, I've been here for as long as I can remember. I've lived far longer outside of this place, but having lacked the stimulus to remind me of things outside of here, here is all I now know."

"Where is 'here'?"

"Purgatory."

"What brought us both here?"

"I told you, I can't remember anything."

"Hmmm, ok. For me, the last thing I saw was the face of a man who interrupted the fun I was having in another place which I didn't know how I got to. I don't even know what that place was still, but at least before I whatever happened that lead me here, I was in good company."

"Hmmm… thank you for the information, perhaps with your experiences and stories to tell, I could recall a bit of my own past."

"That's an idea. Why don't you get out of the water?", I give out my hand to her.

To her surprise, she didn't even notice the land beneath my feet.

"Wait, what?! But how??"

Her eyes are shocked and innocent, now overshadowing the slight fear I had from seeking the black of her eyes where the white should be.

"Ahaha, how about we give each other good company? I'd like to do some exploring if you don't have anything in mind on what to do."

"Huh? Ah, yeah, sure.", she grabs my hand, and I help her stand up from the water.

Her legs are unaffected by the water, but when out of it, I notice that she may not be wearing anything underneath her cardigan, which is slightly see-through.

Her hair is also so long, that there is genuine concern that she might trip over it.

Reminds me of the girl from The Ring, Sadako, but I don't know if she would take that reference as a compliment, although I personally do find that monster/ghost more cool than scary.

I look away a bit to respect her appearance while she drives off, and although in a situation like this anime has told me to give the girl my jacket, I don't have one.

"Hm?", she looks down, playing with her clothes that stick to her skin.

It's as if she's fascinated with her own body, the fact that she has a body.

Being totally honest, I'm not fully looking away from her despite my intention to be respectful, since just by watching her, I feel like I have to protect her the best I can in her state.

Is it a pity thing? I don't know what pity is really, all I know is that that's just want I want to do, so I'm not going to have myself to expect my intentions to feel like a bad thing, when the actions are what I think to be good.

I look around, and I see that we are at the edge of a park (now swamp), surrounded by skyscrapers in a modern city.

Everything is grey, empty, and quiet.

There's too much to explore, so we've got to find a clear aim.

Hmmm, if this is purgatory, there are two scenarios I can think of us getting out of here:

1 - Either everything that happens to us here is a chosen one moment, and it's our responsibility to chose what chooses us and get our aim out of here that way.

2 - There are no chosen one moments, no callings, no significant experiences and memories to guide us, so we must rely on making an aim from the imagination alone, and hope to come across something that informs us of what could be outside of or lead us outside of this bubble realm.

Let's test to see which of the two it is.

"Let's go into the city, there might be others who came onto land before us.", I tell her.

"Hmmm, okay."

We walk alone together, and we see a sign.

It reads, "Welcome to monster high.".

"Wait, like a high school? Is there a high school nearby or is the whole city really supposed to be a high school. And, for monsters?"

"Ah!", the girl grabs her head, "I remember something!".

"What is it?!"

"I'm not just a person, I'm a monster!"

"You're a what?!", I stare at her black eyes with glowing blue irises, and it all makes sense now.

"Are you a monster of the lake or pond we were just at?"

"No, at least, I don't know yet."

"Can you remember anything else?"

"Hmmm…", she close her eyes, squinting and pressing the temples of her head with both index fingers, trying really hard to remember.

"Ahhhhh… It's too hard…", she sighs.

"That's fine, we'll go to this high school at least and see what's up."

I think about the fact that I'm an adult now, and am surprised that I have forgotten the fact.

"Wait, maybe this isn't a good idea. I'm too old to be going to school."

"How old are you?"

"Hmmm… good question. I don't actually know.", I surprise myself again.

"Maybe you're like me? We could both be ageless."

"I don't think I'm a monster though, even though I'm also a person, I'm pretty sure I'm human."

"Monsters are supposed to age the same as humans, but I've been in purgatory for over a decade and haven't aged a day I think. You tell me, does my face look alright?", she asks feeling insecure about her questioning her own appearance which she has yet to see yet apart from her body.

"Of course, you're good looking."

She blushes, "But how old do I look to you?"

"Hmmm… I don't know. I've never been good at age things. As for why I know I've 'never been good at that', I can't remember that either.

Is the forgetfulness a result of being in purgatory for any period of time?"

"I don't think so, do you remember anything before coming here? How far back can you think?"

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….", I feel like an idiot, but I only just now realised that I have no memories from before I woke up on the king sized bed in the large building.

"Looks like we have more in common than first thought."

"Yeah, you're right."