Chapter 2: A Search
"Morning." I heard Alyanna's voice above me, she was probably kicking me softly in the rib or something. I groaned. "What time is it?" I said in a raspy voice. I saw her look at the broken clock then back to me. "I don't know, maybe you can check?" The brunette said with sarcasm in her voice. I slowly get up, and open my eyes to see Alyanna going out again. "Where are you going?" I ask, did she even sleep last night? "Breakfast. You should come." I nodded and since I was already dressed, I just followed her out the door.
The cabins looked cozy from the outside, there were signs indicating which is which. There was a restaurant, a Mayor's office, and some cabins for the other residents. "Carm!" Said girl popped out of the restaurant. The door opened, showing a female teen with a yellow hoodie with grey sweatpants, her messy hair in a ponytail. "Hello, Alyanna!" They know each other, but I don't know her. Alyanna waves to her. The girl, who I assume is Carm, goes to the room, probably the kitchen. While she's still in the room, she told me to sit with her. "Hungry?" The brunette asks. I nod, nothing was on mind right now so I gladly took the toasted bread that came with her coffee. "Are you new here?" Carm asks me. "Uh, yeah." She nodded, taking in the information. "Do you remember anything?" I shook my head, she probably knew my name or something.
"Do you remember how you died?" The teen asks so suddenly. I saw Alyanna almost spit her coffee out in the corner of my eye. "Well, now that you mentioned it, I kind of remember..." I trailed out my sentence. My death? 'Venice!' A voice at the back of my head said. 'Venice, wake up!' It cried out. 'Who are you?' I heard my voice, but my mouth didn't move. There was only silence and the cold breeze. A slap on the back brought me back to reality, I yelped and saw Carm's and Alyana's face looking concerned. "Sorry! I spaced out a bit." I apologize, the two dropped their concerned faces, and put a smile on them. "Since you're new, how about Alyanna give you a tour?" Carm offered. "A tour? Sure." I accepted the offer, it's better if I now the place a bit better.
"Alright then." Alyanna stood up. "Thanks for the food, Carm." She said before going to out the restaurant. I gave a smile to Carm, who smiled back at me before doing her own business. "So, the tour." She said while she stretched. "You already know the cabins, so I'll show you the others." I follow her to the path that was laid out by rocks and withering pink petals. The place was really pretty and creepy all together. Ever since I arrived to this place yesterday, my memory is trying to solve itself like a jigsaw puzzle, I wasn't sure of it until just after being reminded that I died. It was really small but I figured that they could be of use for later events.
It was blurry but I remember being told of stories of second deaths and fallen angels, I think I know what they mean by the second death but not the fallen angels. I wasn't a religious child anyway. "We're here." We stopped by a garden with crops all over the place, as if someone barfed and it turned out to be rainbow-colored. "So, these are the crops, but we call it a garden. And that," she pointed to the pond, "is the pond and below it is some gemstones, but we don't have equipment to get it yet." I looked to her with a disappointed face. "What?!" She said. "You're really bad at this." Alyanna pouted with her arms crossed. "You have toasters and ovens, why don't you have swimming or pickaxes to get something there?" I ask. "Where do you even get those?"
The brunette pointed to a dead tree with white ribbons as decorations I didn't even notice. "That's where we get stuff." I stood there confused. Are they just messing with me right now? "How those it work?" Alyanna shrugged, I sighed. I go towards the tree and notice something else, there were dozens of graves scattered all over the place. The sudden discovery confirmed my theory of second deaths. "We just pray for what we want." The woman behind me answered my question earlier. "We dug their grave here, hoping it could bring them back or something." The answer brought down the mood, as much as I wanted to lift it again, I wanted to find answers to questions that keeps popping up in my head.
"Oh, its's getting late. We should go now or something." I didn't even notice the sky fade into a darker shade of blue, stars were peaking out as the color darkens. "Hey, Alyanna. Is there something I can get more information from?" She grinned. "Glad you asked."
-
"Here." Alyanna threw a red dusty book with gold letters on the front. "It's a diary from someone that was here years ago, maybe you can get some information there." The book smelled nice and old, and since it looks like it has a hundred pages, I can definitely find answers to my questions here. "Thank you-" My sentence was cut off by the sound of her soft snores, she was that tired even though she didn't even do anything. I sighed, I wasn't tired so I just read the first page that was written in neat and faded handwriting.
I don't know how I got here but I only know my name and nothing else. They were nice and got me some papers I can spill my thoughts on. It's terrifying, I didn't even think I'd die and end up to this place. I stayed here for some weeks, if I counted correctly, and I think I'm getting used to it. I thought it would be nice, to stay in a nice place with friendly folks. I was very, very wrong. It was maddening, seeing the same faces and same places all over again. I wanted to explore, but there isn't really much out there. Then I did a little search of my own, look for answers. There was no way this place is Purgatory. People sent me confused and concerned looks three days in the search. Two months pass and I was so close to giving up and accept what is there, that is until I found a door.
- Uriel