Rebirth

When I regained consciousness, I found myself suspended in an unending expanse of darkness. It was a disorienting and bewildering sensation, like floating in the abyss between dreams and reality. Panic surged through me as I grappled with the utter blackness that enveloped me.

"Am I ….. in hell?" 

The thought echoed through my mind like a haunting refrain. Memories of the plane crash that had brought me here flooded my thoughts. The last thing I remembered was the chaos and terror as the aircraft plummeted from the sky. Had I perished in that fiery descent? Was this the afterlife?

  Gradually, I became aware of a faint sensation beneath my feet—a solid surface that seemed to materialize out of the void. It was an eerie feeling, like stepping onto a precipice into the unknown. I strained my eyes, but the darkness was impenetrable. I couldn't discern anything, not even the ground I stood upon.

  Then, as if emerging from the shadows themselves, a silhouette began to take shape before me. My heart quickened, and I could feel the weight of dread pressing down on me. Was this the Grim Reaper, the harbinger of my fate?

*Thump**Thump*

I could hear my own heart beating hard as I gulped in dread

But what I saw next defied all reason and plunged me even deeper into the enigma of this place. The figure that approached was not a spectral reaper, but a mirror image of myself. Every detail, every contour of their form mirrored mine with an uncanny precision. It was me—or someone who resembled me to an eerie, unsettling degree.

As the figure drew nearer, I noticed the bags under their eyes, the haggardness etched into their face. It looked as though 'he, had endured unspeakable torment.

Confusion and apprehension clawed at my insides as I struggled to comprehend what stood before me.

The doppelgänger raised Its hands in a feeble attempt to wave, 'his' voice barely a whisper.

"Hi,"

'he' greeted me,

My voice trembled as I asked the question that hung heavy in the air,

"Did you also die?"

To my astonishment, the doppelgänger replied,

"I did not die. I chose to end my own existence."

The revelation struck me like a thunderbolt, and a chilling sense of disquiet washed over me.

"Why?" 

I managed to ask, my curiosity tinged with a growing unease.

But the doppelgänger's response was cryptic and elusive. 

"I cannot say,"

'he' whispered, 'his' lips curling into a self-deprecating smile. 

The smile seemed out of place, almost mocking, in this desolate void.

Before I could press for more answers, the doppelgänger spoke again, 'his' voice tinged with an urgency that intensified my discomfort.

"Take care of my family for me… Please."

I was left utterly bewildered by this strange request. Why would I be entrusted with such a responsibility? The doppelgänger's words hung in the air, a haunting enigma that defied comprehension.

And then, as abruptly as 'he' had appeared, the doppelgänger dissipated into the darkness, leaving me in a state of profound shock and confusion. As the echoes of their presence faded, I began to lose consciousness once more.

The second time I regained consciousness, I found myself once again drifting in the unfathomable darkness. This place seemed like an ever-expanding void, and I was a mere speck adrift within it.

"Hmmm..."

I groaned either in distaste or in discomfort over what was happening to me.

Suddenly, amidst the oppressive silence, a series of faint but unmistakable sounds reached my ears

*bzzt* *bzzt*

They were like distant radio transmissions, fragmented and incomprehensible, yet they held an eerie quality that sent shivers down my spine.

As I strained to make sense of these strange transmissions, an excruciating pain began to seep into my very being. It felt as though I were being engulfed in flames as if I were submerged in molten lava. The intensity of the pain was beyond anything I had ever experienced, and I could feel myself teetering on the precipice of agony.

*bzzt* *bzzt* 

The mysterious radio sounds persisted, now mingling with my torment as if they were part of some sinister orchestra playing in the depths of this abyss.

And so, I fainted again, my awareness fading into the inky blackness.

"F@#n& ..... *i# ...."

*bzzt**bzzt*

Incoherent voices whispered through the void, their words disjointed and fragmented. 

"t##s t$m@ ….. w# w@%l s@c#@e&"

Then, amidst the chaos, a determined voice emerged, its resonance cutting through the confusion like a beacon in the night. It spoke with unwavering resolve, its words laden with an unspoken purpose.

.

.

.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Pain – an agonizing, unrelenting pain – coursed through my entire being. It felt as though I had been crushed by an avalanche, then resurrected to feel the aftermath. Slowly, as if emerging from a dark abyss, I regained consciousness, on a bed in a hospital room.

The world around me was a blurry mess, and my senses were dulled by the ordeal.

"Am I alive?" 

I wondered, my fingers trembling as they explored my battered body. The persistent throbbing in my head and the gnawing ache in my stomach were cruel reminders that something had gone horribly wrong.

Uncertain emotions gripped my heart as a chilling notion took root:

Could it be possible that I had been granted a second chance at life?

"Was I saved?"

I wondered aloud

The pain slowly began to recede, replaced by a torrent of thoughts and emotions. It was as if my mind had been jolted awake after a long, dreamless slumber. Memories rushed back in a chaotic flurry, like a reel of film spinning in fast forward.

The events leading up to my ordeal were still shrouded in a fog, but one thing was undeniably clear – I had stared into the abyss, and somehow, I had clawed my way back.

But there was an unsettling twist to my awakening. As my senses sharpened, I began to realize that something was amiss. I remembered the nightmare? I had prior to waking up.

And then, as I took a closer look at the reflection of the window, I gasped. The person who stared back at me was none other than myself. The face, the features, every detail – it was all the same.

The only difference was the deep bags under the eyes and the haggard face.

It was the face of the person I talked to in the abyss.