I looked out over the damp ground. The water was reflecting the street lights above. I felt cold. My blood was on the ground next to my arm. The only thing that I could think of was that it looked so beautiful in the night lights. The puddle was so pretty and it started flashing red and yellow as a vehicle drove up to me. 

The tires ground along the ground. Its rubber seemed like just black shapes in the distance and the sound of voices became louder as they moved towards me. My face was wet. I couldn’t tell if it was just from the rain or not but it was the only sensation that I had felt throughout the entire time that I lay here. 

The feeling of the world around me felt light. The people from the vehicle got closer and began rolling me on my back. With a lift, they placed me on the stretcher and I was floating. Everything felt empty and quiet as they placed me in the vehicle. The water stopped. The quiet was gone. The voices remained as I was fidgeted and moved. A plastic mask was placed on my face and I felt air rush in. My shirt was cut open with scissors and I could feel as stickers were placed on my chest and around my upper body. 

I heard a beeping. A rhythmic beeping as I lay staring at the roof in front of me. Each breath felt like an effort. Each sensation of feeling becoming dulled. I didn’t feel any pain anymore. I felt light and floating. The only sensation left was a bright light in front of me. It was quiet now. 

Another moment and I saw an arm reach across me for something. Their face was serious as they were looking down at me. The words I couldn’t make out as they spoke, seemed important but I just continued to blink. The lights were disappearing. It was growing dim. I was moving as they were trying to keep me awake but I felt so tired now. I felt so, so tired and it was time to shut my eyes.

The world around me was gone. The sensation of fear or any emotion vanished as I drifted in an endless night. My eyes were open now but I wasn’t where I was before. I was floating. A large amount of water around me. Floating down the river. The sky above me was vast. The only lights filling the void were those of stars and galaxies. The mixture of colors, so vibrant that they looked as if picked from a beautiful garden. 

Floating down the river I went. The sky passing above me. It was pleasant. It was safe. I closed my eyes to take in the sensation and then opened them again. That’s where I found myself no longer in the river. I found myself in a brightly lit room. The walls were a bright white light. It was almost jarring and hard to see. 

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust and focus but the more I could see, the more I noticed I wasn’t alone. There were others around me seated or lying down on the floor. Men and women, with pure white clothing on their bodies. Some were asleep still. Others held their head as they tried to come to their senses. I seemed to be the first one fully awake. 

I leaned my back against the wall behind me and slowly lifted myself from the ground. As I stood, I realized I no longer had any scars or wounds or blood covering my body. I was purely clean with a silky white linen draped over me. My fingers were well manicured. My arms seemed like they had less wear and tear of the life that I had. I even was missing a scar I had received in the 5th grade after falling off of a swing set. This didn’t seem right. 

I looked quickly around at those around me. Some were beginning to stand up. The same as me, they started to notice their own bodies and examine them. One of the women with blonde hair to my left looked at me.

“Do you know where we are?” She asked quietly.

I shook my head. The wall behind us lifted and a hallway appeared. It was a long white corridor with a significant amount of bright fluorescents all throughout. It didn’t feel warm or cold. It just seemed to be.

I looked back at her and nodded my head.

“Do you think we should go?” I asked back to her.

The feeling of fear should have been welling up in me but instead I just felt calm. We both looked around and just about everyone was standing up now and looking at the hallway.

“What is that? Where am I?” Another man in the room asked. “Who are you people?”

I moved closer to the woman I had previously been talking to. She nodded as I approached. A voice out of nowhere sounded above us.

“Welcome to your next adventure.”