But can you really get lost in heaven?

A crash. Pain. A bright light. Darkness.

Awsten's mind raced, trying to process the last 30 seconds of his life.

Wait.

Life?

He opened his eyes, or at least that was the best way he could describe what he had done. It is hard to open your eyes if they aren't really there.

He felt suspended in the air, beneath him was the scene of the accident, dark and grimy in comparison to what was above him.

Light was the best word Awsten could think of to describe it, unfiltered, harsh, blinding light.

Heaven?

Even as he kept his eyes focused on Earth beneath him, he could feel himself being pulled away from it. The bloody scene beneath him started to lose focus, almost as if he had been focusing on too small a portion of an image. As he tore his eyes away, he could understand why.

Awsten could see everything. The world, the planets beyond, the whole universe if he looked far enough.

But just as he saw it in perfect clarity, it was snatched away when he was pulled up for the final time.

He found himself in a blank, white space. The emptiness was suffocating him.

"Welcome to heaven" a voice appeared in his head. "We know you have many questions, but first-"

"This is heaven?" Awsten said incredulously. He thought that heaven was supposed to be actually pleasant to be in.

"Heaven is whatever you make of it," the voice said in an overly cheery, customer-service sounding tone. "Now first, the rules."

Upon hearing the word "rules," Awsten lost focus. Before he knew it, the voice was saying "And that's all!" in their sugary-sweet way.

Before he realized what was happening, the emptiness had condensed to form a blank room. Four white walls, a white ceiling, and a cold, white floor surrounded him. There were no windows, and only one door.

He made his way over to the door, slowly opening it. Looking to the right, there were only a few doors, with the hallway suddenly ending. Beyond it, he could see the expanse of outer space. When he looked to the left, he realized he could not see the end of the hallway. It was the same white as his room, and the featureless plane was only broken up by more doors.

He stepped out, intending on exploring, only to notice the number next to his door.

58,000,284,109

Was that how many rooms there were? He had no way of knowing.

After a moment of looking at the number, he looked back to his right. While the end of the hall had seemed so close just before, it was now noticeably farther away.

He ran to it; it seemed to stretch away from him as he sprinted. Slowing before he reached the edge, he stood and looked out. Without thinking, he sat down and dangled his legs over the edge, but before he could enjoy it he felt himself being yanked back down the hall, through his door and into his room.

The voice appeared in his head again. "Rule number 9, do not go over the edge."

Sighing, he tried to open the door again, only to find it locked from the outside.

The voice said, "violation of the rules may result in confinement."

Well, fuck, Awsten thought. He didn't listen to any of the rules.

Some time later, he tried the door again and was able to open it. Wandering down the hall, he noticed an elderly man looking lost and confused.

"Uh- hi," Awsten said tentatively, when he felt himself being yanked back to his room again.

This time the voice said, "Rule 57, no speaking to others."

Awsten sat down and sighed, waiting before trying the door again. As time went on, he discovered more rules, like number 104, no standing still in the hallway; number 295, no attempting to open other doors; number 23, no alterations to his room.

One day, at least he thought it was a day, it was hard to tell when he didn't sleep in this state, he was wandering down the hall to where the end had once been. Distracted, he barely noticed the older man passing him, until suddenly it clicked. Travis was here. They locked eyes in confusion, when Awsten felt the all-to-familiar sense of being pulled. He reached out in fear and almost grabbed Travis' arm before landing back in his room.

This time the voice was angry. "Rule number 1: no contacting anyone you knew in life."

He laid on the floor, because there was no furniture. Even if he could find a way to make some, it was probably against the rules.

How did Traivs die? He wondered to himself. How long had it been? Travis had aged, but Awsten was having trouble remembering what he looked like to begin with.

Awsten did what he always did when he was punished for breaking the rules- he waited for a while, and then opened his door again.

But this time, the door was still locked. He waited some more. Still locked. Even longer. Still locked. He gave up and tried kicking the door, then pounding on it and screaming until his voice was raspy.

Still locked.

Aren't you supposed to enjoy heaven? he thought. I am supposed to be enjoying this. "I AM SUPPOSED TO BE ENJOYING THIS," he screamed, before resting his head on the door, defeated, as tears ran down his face.

He turned around and something on the floor caught his eye. Walking towards it, he realized it was a large air vent. That definitely hadn't been there before.

Slowly, Awsten knelt down and touched it. He found that with some force he was able to pry the cover off one corner, and the rest were quick to follow.

Looking down, he saw that it only dropped for a few feet before it turned to run horizontally beneath the floor.

It was just wide enough for him to fit. He climbed in.

Now fully in the air shaft, he crawled along. He had no idea where it would lead, but this was the most exciting thing that had happened since he briefly saw the inside of someone else's room covered in snakes. When the door had closed behind the girl, he tried knocking on it, which was how he learned about rule number 68.

He had made it several feet before the tunnel split. He went to the left, and kept crawling.

Several more splits later, his knees started to hurt. The world seemed to swim in front of him as he tried to remember how to get back to his room. He shuffled backwards for what seemed like hours, but to no avail. He was lost.

Mindlessly wandering at this point, searching for an opened shaft above him, he felt the metal bend beneath him. Panicked, he moved away from the collapsing panel, but it was too late.

The entire tunnel collapsed and fell, taking him with it.

Frantic, he reached out, trying to grab onto anything that would save him. His hands met the edge of the metal panel that had been below him, and he flinched away. It had become burning hot and seared his hands.

As the air around him got hotter, the smell of sulfur rising to meet him, he realized.

You can't get lost in heaven if you were never there to begin with. After all, hell looks different for everybody.

A/N: Awsten and Travis, if you ever read this, thank you. You both have inspired me to be creative again, with writing and music.