"In and Out"

"What are you doing here?" My eyelids opened before he could finish the sentence. My eyes rapidly gazed upon the darkened surroundings. The blankest, most simple feeling fell over me. I had no idea where I was or how I got there. I had no idea where I had came from, let alone have any knowledge of any such places to have been in the first place. I had on this strange black body suit that wouldn't seem to come off. "What do you think you're doing here?" I looked up at him. There he was standing in front of me in a black hood. There was a body at his side which he was holding by the hair of his head. It was a man, and blood was all over his face and shirt, and was seeping from his mouth. He didn't appear to be living. "Where am I?" I asked in a shaky voice. "Where do you come from?" "I don't know," I told him. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into," he said in a disgruntled tone. Although weak, I managed to stand myself up. The man asked me my name, but I didn't know. It was like being born with the ability to communicate, and nothing more. No memory, nor knowledge, just existence, but how did I know what these words even meant? "Where am I?" I asked him politely. "The wrong place at the wrong time," he said. An abrupt noise interrupted our conversation. "We've got a pulse," a woman's voice said loudly. I felt the air fill my lungs like a vacuum while a room full of people surrounded me. The discomfort of tubes in my nose caught my attention right away, and I'll never forget the beeping heart monitor. It was just like on tv. After taking several heavy breaths, and recovering from slipping in and out of consciousness, I managed to look around and eventually talk. "What happened?" Before I could get an answer, everything was starting to come back to me. I remembered the wreck. The full ton pick-up hitting me in the side. My name was Evan. Yes, I'm Evan Grelmer. "You were in a terrible wreck," a woman said. She was dressed in white and appeared to be a doctor. "You're extremely lucky to be alive. You were clinically dead for nearly a minute," she told me. I couldn't think of anything to say so I just let my eyes rest on a table some feet away. "The other driver didn't make it," she said after a few moments of silence. Those words truly hit me hard and I felt awful, although the wreck wasn't my fault, but I didn't say a word. "You suffered two broken ribs and a slightly fractured shin. Such minor injuries for such a severe wreck," the lady said. "Heh," is all I could manage to spout. The memories of being in the dark place, and the man in the black hood was evolving back into my mind, sort of like a dream that you just remembered but had it the night before. Before I could say anything about it, the woman left the room. I tried to move but that wasn't about to happen. I had just recovered from being clinically dead, and my body felt weaker than it had ever felt. My ribs ached even as I took shallow breaths, but I looked up at the bag of fluid, and realized I was being heavily medicated right away. I could start to feel it; my consciousness slipping in and out once again. A sharp tingling pain filled my body. It was so awful that a shrill cry left my mouth involuntarily. The beeping of the heart monitor slowed down. Doctors and nurses began rushing back into the room. The blackest of blackened scenery shrouded my vision. "What are you doing here?" I sat up as fast as I could. Although that blank feeling overwhelmed me, I could very faintly hear the voices of the doctors and nurses trying to resuscitate me. There was no feeling of fear, but the curiosity clouded my mind like a swarm of bees. A thousand thoughts cramped my mind at once. "What are you doing here?" the voice said again. There was the man in the black hood. He looked exactly the same, but not only did he have the man by the hair on his head, he also had a little girl by the hair of hers, as well. She was just as bloody as him, if not more. I could do nothing but stare with pale emotion. "You're not welcome here," he said. "Why...why am I not welcome?" I managed to sputter from my trembling lips. Instead of answering, the man turned around and carried the seemingly two dead bodies along side him. It was the most disturbing image. I wanted to shout something, but I didn't know what. "We're losing him!" a man's voice shouted. The voices sounded way up high. They were getting softer and softer. The sky, once a bright greenish color was now fading into a deep, dark blue. I could feel the heart in my chest slow down until it came to a final stop. I waited for it to beat again, but it did not. "We lost him," the man's voice said as it faded. "No!" I screamed in rush of panic. "Get me out!" I shouted again. The voices were gone. The sky was now completely dark except for particles of light which seemed to be stars. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't breathe heavy. My heartbeat was gone. I was dead. I could feel nothing. Just then, a dark figure showed up in the distance. It was the hooded man. He slowly walked my way until he came right up about ten feet in front of me. "I changed my mind," he said. "What?" I asked. "You're welcome here after all," I collapsed at his feet without wanting to, and he grabbed me by the hair. I couldn't scream or talk no matter how much I wanted to. My eyes were closed and I couldn't open them. I was numb; I was dead. We came upon this door that he opened and threw me in. Inside were more bodies, but they remained still. The room was huge but my attention stayed more on the others who lay there. As soon as the man in black left, I realized I could move, and so could the other bodies in the room with me. There were cats, and other species in there as well. It scared me, but some of them seemed as scared as I was. Others seemed as calm as could be. Everyone was dressed in black, even the cats and other animals. A full, black body suit just like mine. "Where am I?" were the first words I managed to get out. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you," a man's voice answered. He began laughing hysterically afterwards, and so did another small group of people, but most of them, like me, remained lifeless and confused. "You new comers never get that one," he said finishing up his laugh. "Who was the man in black?" I asked. "The man in black is death itself, if you can even call it a man, or human for that matter," I flinched as a cat brushed up against my leg. "Come here, spooky spoo," one of the women said. "What is this place?" another person asked. "Don't ask questions," one of them said. Just then, the door began to open up. We all fell flat to the floor parylized. Another body was thrown in, and the door closed back. After that, we could all move again. "The dead must fall in the face of death" a man's voice said before I could ask. The room was bigger than I realized, and was full of people. The shock of everything numbed my mind. "Why..." I started to ask. "Yeah, you're going ask why you're here," a girls' voice interrupted me. "Yeah," I answered. "You'll just have to wait and see," she said. I felt this overwhelming feeling of being shocked. "Huh!" I yelped as I jolted. My heart began to beat. It stopped at the fifth beat. "Ugh!" I let out another yelp. This time my heart began beating faster, and I felt like I was being sucked through a portal. There was nothing for several moments but a shroud of darkness that surrounded. "We've got him back!" A voice shouted nearly in my ear. I opened my eyes to see that I was back in the hospital. At this point, I didn't know what to think, but I knew what I had seen and felt were real. Words weren't able to leave my mouth. In a way, I felt at ease, but my mind was full of anxiety. There was a room full of people staring right down at me which made me felt very uncomfortable. Finally, a thought rumbled in my mind. "Was there a little girl?" I asked. "Yes, I'm sorry, but she didn't make it either. We just lost her, and we almost lost you again, Evan," a male doctor said this time. The images of the man and girl wouldn't leave my mind. I almost wanted to go back and save them. "You keep going in and out on us. You were clinically dead two different times," the doctor said. "Am I gong to be ok now?" I asked. "Would you like an honest answer?" he asked in an almost scary voice. I just slightly shook my head. "You could die at any moment. The broken ribs press a certain artery in your chest whenever you take a big enough breath, which causes your heart to cease its beating, and we don't know how long you're going to make it," he explained to me. I felt afraid to breathe, but I couldn't help it. Just then, I felt I had to cough. It was a big cough, and there was no way I was holding it in. A repulsive cough left my throat like a hurricane. There was blood in it that spouted on my chest. "Emergency!" the doctor yelled. Before anyone could rush in the room I seen the darkness once again. "Welcome," that so familiar voice said. It wasn't a, "What are you doing here?" this time which directly caught my attention Once again, it was the man in black. I fell flat to the cold ground again. He picked me up again by my hair and dragged me to the room, threw me in, and closed the door. It was like deja vu. When he left the room, the people began to move again. It was the same exact room as before, but there were a few new faces. I listened for voices from above, but there were none. The heart in my chest was silent. I knew it; I was dead. As time went by, eventually people in the room would disappear, and others would come in. Someone later explained to me that we're only here temporarily until we're rejuvenated or reincarnated into a new life, so I simply am awaiting my time to go. I am now one of the regulars in this room. New comers are always asking me that famous question. "Where am I?" I just tell them, "If I told you, I'd have to kill you," I can never help but laugh at that one.

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