Chapter 2

[Warning: Mentions of suicide]

Darkness.

Not a darkness that would comfort you in it's cool embrace, but a suffocating darkness that feels as if it could devour you, no, your soul, if you lost concentration for even just a moment. A darkness so heavy that you felt you were breathing in lead and so vast that if you could look down you would only see up. A darkness that could no longer be describe as just black; it was oblivion. But in the oblivion a speck of dim light could be observed, refusing to be put out.

'W-where am I?' Heyton finally regained consciouness, but he couln't understand what just transpired. Lights. Sounds. Nothing. But he could make sense of one thing, at the end of it all, he was dead.

'So this is death?'

'I don't like it, it's quite boring'

He didn't regret much in his life. He mainly lived for the sake that he didn't really like the idea of killing himself. His life wan't particularly happy or sad; just a life. His mom died during childbirth and his father later died of prostate cancer and his uncle and aunt didn't really want to take in another child. The decided they would let him live by himself and sent him weekly payments just enough for him to get by with the part-time jobs he did.

'Hmm... What's that?'

Far in the distance, he saw a light similar to his own. Only this one was much dimmer, almost black. For unknown reasons, he felt the urge to go to the light. Maybe it was to find some sort of comfort the oblivion or maybe it's just plot armour.

As he reached the flickering light, their light connected and his surroundings changed. It was still darkness, but this darkness was as if he was just dozing off to sleep and could wake up any minute. It was quite nice for Heyton, the silence and peace was comforting when he accepted that whatever was going to happen was going to happen. His sense of loneliness wasn't bad but gentle and serene.

There were many misconceptions on loneliness, solitude was Heyton's solace where he knew the only one who was there was him and if you knew yourself, you were in control. You had nothing to be afraid of as the worst thing was yourself and the best thing was also yourself. You can't get any worse than that.

Heyton loved this quiet darkness. He could ponder on whatever came to mind without interruption or needing to care for his physical needs.

After a while, Heyton thought more on what the situation was right now. It reminded him of his favourite anime Dr Stone.

'Maybe I should start counting the seconds until I wake up?'

He quickly dismissed the thought as he realised he doesn't even know if, where ever the heck he is right now, can wake up. Or even if he wants to wake up. For all he knows, he could have two heads, three arms, and a tail.

And so Heyton pointless thought journey began.

'Does pineapple really belong on pizza?'

'Do you wet the toothbrush before or after toothpaste?'

'Is it pronounced gif or jif?'

'Should a shirt be buttoned top-to-bottom or bottom to top?'

'Will I ever remember when I fall asleep?'

Little did Heyton know it, but it had already been a month since he started thinking about the sleep question. But that is yet another drop in the ocean compared to how long he has been conscious for. If you didn't count the time in the oblivion, it had been four years.

Four years of peaceful silence, suddenly interrupted.

Bang!