Chapter 0: - Death and mysterious place

POV Matthew Turner

Somewhere in California

I feel like I'm losing my mind, being stuck in my home and being unable to leave for months is going to kill me, and my girlfriend is stuck on the other side of the country for the last couple of months all because of something we could not see, yes that's right it's COVID-19.

My name is Matthew Turner also called Matt, I am 24 years old, I graduated from Gonebridge university in the software department at the top of my class, and from then on, my life was smooth sailing currently, I am working as a team leader in a top multinational company and am headed on a path to success, and would have many more achievements under my belt if everything hadn't come to a standstill because of this … virus.

Sighing I reminiscent of the time I just started working, the time when I first saw my girlfriend Sarah Smith, how my heart fluttered seeing her golden blond hair lightly bouncing as she was talking, her enchanting ocean blue eyes, her smile which would even make the gods blush, those plump cherry red lips, the slight blush on her cheeks, what first caught my attention looking down was her slim waist with moderately sized breasts and thighs combined to make her figure jaw dropping and taking in her appearance altogether there was a halo of light surrounding her which swear I could see was the definition of mystic and encaptivating.

I was captivated by her appearance and stared at her for a moment too long allowing her to see that I was smitten by her appearance, then later I came to know that she was in our team and was regarded as our office's goddess, as time passed we became close and we enjoyed each other's company, a couple of months later we started dating and everyone called us the perfect office couple, aah those were the days when I could see her every day, then some days after she decided to move in with me she had to go to an office trip to the other side of the country and then the lockdown started trapping her there.

How much I missed her during these last couple of months, and the good thing is that just last week the lockdown was lifted and she was able to book a flight, but man the delay made my patience run dry, but it was all worth the wait as today I will finally see her again after so long, but I am kinda nervous now and started having thoughts like 'will she still like me after this long' 'what should I do, should I take her to a date ' 'will she want to rest after the flight' 'will we do it again after so long?' clam down Matt calm down everything will be alright no need to worry not take a deep breath, then exhale hoof continue taking deep breadths .

Still, I am very excited to meet her again just a couple more hours remaining, there now I'll set an alarm for 2 hours to get ready and to pick her up from airport, till then I'll try to finish this 3-D rendering I don't know when it started but I picked up Blender for distraction and completely fell in love with it during the last couple of months, it's a good experience to learn this I can even get some increase in my salary by knowing this.

I then turned on my computer and start applying some finishing touches

'Hmm this still needs some work, there should be some more here and here hmm seems good annnd done, … … … seems good'

Kik kik kik … kik kik kik … kik kik

'Ooh the time's already over'

I turn off my alarm and start getting ready, have a quick shower and I decide to wear light blue jeans pant with a black t-shirt and a light grey hoodie, then I comb my hair and apply some perfume, overall I'd say my look was casual and decent enough to use for any plans that may come up, and I wear my shoes and leave, and start driving towards the airport to meet Sarah.

As I drive, I suddenly start to recall my past I am an only child and as I was born almost 6 years after my parents' marriage at a time they thought they would never have a child of their own and when I was born they became overprotective of me, growing up with my overprotective and doting parents was probably the best time of my life and think that will still be, I can confidently say that I had the best childhood out of everyone I knew, I was a very smart child from birth and could get 1st rank in my class with minimal effort and I was hailed as a genius by my family and relatives because of which I grew up argent and overconfident.

but who can blame me I have a very good memory I basically remember anything with a single reading or with a quick glance and only forget when I want, I was able to easily understand anything be it my studies or practical knowledge and I am also very athletic and can play most sports at a level where I could easily join national teams, I was born gifted yeah I was arrogantly but who wouldn't be with my talent, my school life was good but the only problem was that it was an all-boys school, so when I finally started going to university I was very awkward with girls, still I was the most popular guy in the campus as I was athletic and also aced all my exams, but then in my second year my parents passed away in an accident, caused by a drunk truck driver, at that moment my whole world shattered in front of me and I went into a pretty severe depression, I drowned myself in books to fulfill my parents wishes to see me become someone successful and tried to ignore the world around me.

That was a very difficult time for me as I almost thought of committing suicide a few times as my parents were my whole world, and I started to ignore people around me because I always thought that they would befriend me to exploit me so I became pretty much a loner, and there was no one to help with my depression at first but slowly my best friend introduced me to some of his close friends and they all helped me to cope up and accept my parents' deaths.

It was difficult a difficult time but I managed to overcome my grief and went on to get a good job, then within a year and a half I managed to become a team leader and also started dating Sarah, it was a bit awkward at first as I had no experience in dating but she was considerate enough to overlook my inexperience and thankfully everything went well, and she decided to move in with me after some months in our dating, but half a month after she moved in with me she had to go on the office trip and the rest is history.

'Just a couple more minutes till I reach the airport' thought Matt coming out of his thoughts

'Man, I seem to be thinking of the past a lot today, I wonder why' thought Matt curiously

After a couple of minutes I reached the airport, then I parked my car near on side and while waiting for Sarah to show up I started browsing my social network feed for a couple of minutes, then I checked if there were any interesting new novels, I found an interesting one by EvilHornRNG I was going to start reading it when my phone rang notifying of Sarah's' arrival.

"Hey Sarah are you out yet?" asked Matthew on the phone

"Yes, I am here at the exit where are you," asked Sarah curiously

"Ooh me I am in the driveway …, never mind I see you, to your left yes there, do you see me now?" said Matthew and started waving his hand for Sarah to see

"Yes, I see you now, wait there I am coming to you," told Sarah

"Wait don't you need help with your luggage?" inquired Matthew with concern

"No, it's alright they are light," said Sarah with a smile

"Ok then" sighing Matthew left it at that

When Sarah reached the car Matthew helped put her luggage in the car and started driving out of the airport he started talking with Sarah

"So, what should we do now, go back home or?" questions Matthew

"Hmm first let's go home I need to fresh up then we can go eat dinner at that restaurant near the home you talked so much about," says Sarah

"Ok sure mi lady" replies Matthew with a smirk, to which Sarah rolls her eyes

we casually talk with each during the ride then sometime later we reach home then Sarah goes to bath, while I unpack her stuff and start putting everything in it's place a few minutes later she comes out of the bath and starts getting dressed while I continue unpacking her remaining stuff and, a few minutes later I am done and wait for her while making small talk and ask her about her stay, later we leave home and go to the restaurant by walk.

After some time, we reached the restaurant and I ordered some dishes that I liked here before then we started eating while talking, overall we had a good time there and Sarah also liked the food there, and she was happy that such a nice place was so close to our home then, when we were on our way back suddenly a mugger appeared form a dark alleyway and started to exhort us to give him our money.

I noticed that the mugger was heavily drunk but he had a gun pointed our way, I lifted my hands and also encouraged Sarah to do the same to try and show the mugger that we don't intend to fight back while I tried to make him put down his gun afraid the drunk bastard might shoot us or something.

"Hey now here we will give our money now just put the gun away, you don't have to do this," said Matthew trying to make sense to him

"nuo, yuo lissen heerr yuo little sit pirst gimee all yuor maney deen ill ceee" slurred the drunk idiotic mugger

"Ok here, easy now take it," said Matthew while slowly trying to give him his wallet, then he notices the mugger staring at Sarah lecherously

'This fucker how dare he' thought Matt angrily

when noticed his look I was alert for anything he might try to do, Sarah was also wary of him it seems like she also saw the way he was looking, aargh just my day to meet a drunk pervert with a gun nonetheless.

Then I start to pay attention to his every move and also his look into consideration he looks ugly with a face full of fat and dropping eyes which he finds difficult to keep open, a mouth with crooked teeth, and a lecherous smile that makes him look absolutely disgusting and a body that looks like he had never even known what a gym is overall he looks like a person which even his mother would find disgusting.

He seems to have noticed my expression morphed into disgust, as he exploded into a rage at my judging looks and shouts

"yuu baastadu how daree uu luk at mi likee dem Ill kill yuu" said the drunk man

'Aww shit I just had to piss him off way to go my arrogance just why couldn't keep my expression from changing, though looks like he got those looked often if he recognized my look this easily and exploded into drunk rage ' Thought Matthew cursing himself

"Hey hey hey easy now, I am sorry just don't shoot," says Matthew cautiously trying to prevent the situation from exploding any further

'Aargh, fucking drunkard were we the only people available for you to rob, fuck I just wanted to spend my time with Sarah and he just had to ruin it fuck I am getting angry now, come on now Matt first things first and that is to diffuse this situation quickly, hmm just need to buy some time for cops to come'

The mugger's previous shouting seems to have got the attention of bystanders as they were rushing over in his direction and some are calling 911

The mugger seems to have noticed this and started panicking, and I knew he was going to do something stupid so I stepped forward and covered Sarah with my own body and was waiting for a chance to tackle the mugger and remove the gun from his hand, then in the distance police sirens were ringing this made the mugger look in that direction, I used this chance to knock the gun out of his hands and tackled him to the ground, just then I heard a gunshot and a searing pain in my side.

'How' I know the gun must have fallen on the ground, and even if it did trigger it should have happened when it fell not now, how did it hit my chest this just doesn't make any sense, then I look in the direction where I think the gun fell only to see the gun floating lightly above the ground pointing its barrel at me, and then it seems the gun noticed my look and then it fell down.

'Aah So this is why I was recalling my past, who would have thought I would die like this's thought Matthew morbid Matthew

I could see the mugger become sober and he started running but was caught by the bystanders, and Sarah was crying her eyes out and was saying something I could not hear.

I try to reassure her but it seems that my weak smile caused her to cry harder and the police came and started inspecting my wound while one was handcuffing the mugger, I feel like I am drowning in magma, it is getting difficult to breathe and it feels like I am choking on something hot, it seems like my lung got pierced by the bullet.

'Aw shit I don't wanna die I still have so much I wanna do so much I want to accomplish, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Sarah, I want to live I don't want to die no…' thought Matthew as tears started to pour out from his eyes

Soon after Matthew passed away from this world and after some time he woke up in some mysterious place

'Huh didn't I die, am I still alive, thank god I seem to be alive yes thankyou thankyou so much god, but where am I can't see anything, and I can't even feel anything, hmm am I in a coma, but I thought the bullet pierced my lungs and those wounds are supposed to be fatal without immediate medical care, but how did I survive even if there was an ambulance near me it would still have been hard to save me, wait if I am really dead then how am I still thinking, everything is so weird, what is that.

After his internal monologue Matthew looked at the blackness that surrounds him and gets mesmerized by it, it looks pitch black but it still feels ever-changing and he knows that there's something there but he is unable to see anything, it feels like his brain is saying there is nothing there but his instincts were all telling him that there was something in the darkness surrounding him and he should be careful.

He feels more and more drawn into the darkness it seemed as if there was something moving in the darkness and the darkness was calling to him like a sirens song which was so alluring that he even forgets about his previous existential crisis and he just kept on staring in the darkness Until he starts feeling like he is even losing his mind and his instincts were screaming at him to look away to close his eyes or do something, but suddenly a shout interrupts his concentrating and cold sweat forms on his back as he realized that shout just now saved his mind/soul and then he looks around searching for that voice.

"Hello there Mortal" says ??? to Matthew who immediately turns around and his jaw drops till it almost hits the floor by what he saw behind him