sinking down, down

[facultwist]

Death is a drop into a blackness that swallows you. You feel the movement of not air but shadow across your face as you plummet, and there is no bottom. No crash.

If there is another side, you do not reach it.

It is neither the light of heaven or the fires of hell that greets you when you wake. And wake you do, to the buzz and flicker of old fluorescent lights.

You are laid out beside a full-size competitive swimming pool, half-filled with stagnant water. The doors out are blocked off by locked doors covered in caution tape. The locker rooms are long since emptied, paint peeling from the humidity. The only signs of habitation are a few pieces of scattered graffiti.

Welcome to your new home. There's no sunlight, no indication of time passing. Just you and each other and your thoughts. the stagnant water bubbles a little occasionally, but there's nothing in it.

Before long you'll realize that you no longer need to eat or drink. You might notice your hand go through something if you don't focus. You're a ghost now. What's that they say about unfinished business?

Comments

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie takes a moment to survey her new afterlife. Sure is decrepit out here, so what Misty is saying makes some sense. Still: ]

Is that just a guess? Or do you know something about this place?

[ Misty loves playing detective, after all. Maybe she's actually uncovered something useful. ]

[thatsplato]

You think I’d tell you without evidence? [Misty sounds scoffs.]

I cleaned out the locker room. You wouldn’t believe the amount of contraband and garbage I had to clear out.

[protomartyr]

Of course not.

[ Okay, so Misty's been busy. Lottie nods, somewhat impressed. ]

You've been able to touch things? How?

[thatsplato]

[Misty preens beside her, obviously pleased that she gets to be the person to educate Lottie on this.]

You just have to keep trying. As long as you focus, you can do it. [she wasted an entire week emptying lockers of alcohol. it’s a little more complex than that.]

[protomartyr]

[ Well, that's not so bad. It's just like listening to the wilderness, which was really always just an extension of the exercises her therapists used to give her.

She gives it a shot. It doesn't work. But at least she has time to practice. Speaking of which: ]

You said there hasn't been anyone here since the eighties. Do you know how they left?

[ In other words: is Lottie stuck here forever with Misty Quigley? ]

[thatsplato]

No. But... [Misty leans in towards Lottie, a conspicuous smile on her lips. She has another secret.]

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie raises her eyebrows, just a little. A secret? Lottie doesn't lean away. ]

What?

[thatsplato]

See that vent? [she points]

There's something behind it. It was moving.

[protomartyr]

[ Squinting at the vent!! ]

Could you tell what it was?