Chapter One: The Corridor

I didn't expect it to happen this way.

I can't feel a nerve in my body. Although the blow I've just taken was expected to send pain into me as I have never felt before, I couldn't feel it. I was scared that my mind had exempted me from the feelings of anguish, and it was then I began to realize- I have lost all of my senses. I cannot see, nor can I feel. I cannot even tell you if I have a nose or ears- my mind is on standby.

The only thing working are my emotions. My sudden panics, my fits of confusion, these are the only signs of use in my mind.Within seconds of discovering my disadvantages, my body proved me wrong once again. Sensations of the absent pain soon returned with a vengeance. I must have been standing up during my time of numbness, since I felt my legs give way underneath me, my body collapsed against the warm, moist ground. I began to spasm as fits of pain started at my feet, torturing me as it traveled up my knees and ribs. As the splitting burns reached my back, I screamed in anguish- I realized the pain in my back was the source of the burns. I doubled over- What is happening to me?

I became paralyzed again. I realized that I have yet to open my eyes, in which I carefully do so. I braced myself and gritted my teeth... Nothing. All that was present was a narrow white corridor with a single wooden door. I move to stand, yet my body reminds me I am still paralyzed. Damn. The only part of me that worked were my arms. Thank God. I crawled as if I were a Vietnam soldier, my elbows inching me closer and closer towards the single door. As I reach for the brass doorknob, I notice a corner of a cream envelope sticking out from underneath it. I grab it, carefully unsealing the envelope to pull out a single leaf of paper. I began to read:

Welcome

Emilie Christian Hastings

T.O.D. May Seventeen 1997, 10:47 PM

Please cleanse hands upon entrance

Enjoy your stay

Though the elegant print was appealing, it took a few seconds to actually comprehend what it was telling me. Suddenly the gears and motors turned in my brain, and everything clicked. I died. Every small minute I had spent alive had officially been cashed in. It finally happened. Where was I? What was I doing? The questions of death I used to contemplate as a troubled teen were suddenly answered. Yet with it bore more questions.

I looked up from where I was lying and stared at the doorknob. Fear grew inside of me, more than I had ever felt. What was the point of being afraid anymore? I was already dead. Yet I know deep down that what awaited me beyond that door would be either by reward or my doom, depending on which religious text was the best seller through that wooden passage. My thoughts were racing, trying to decide whether or not to quickly convert to something safe. No, I decided. I left as a woman of good morale and spirit without faith, and that is how I will enter the other side, whatever that meant. The doorknob turned with a loud click, and pulled the door ajar. Whatever I was waiting for, I was ready.