The Unkillable Girl - [ONC 2024]

1. In the beginning there was light

A blinding light. Painful and intense, it burned her eyes. As it grew ever brighter there came a sound like rushing water all around. Louder and louder. Roaring like thunder. Pounding in her ears, until the pain became unbearable.

Then in an instant, it stopped.

Her ears were still ringing as Amelia sat up. With her eyes shut tightly she could still see the memory of the light burned into her retina, like when you stare at the sun for too long.

After a few minutes, she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision still blurry, it slowly started to come to focus.

Looking around, Amelia found herself sitting in a strange room that she didn't recognise. About ten metres wide and completely empty. The walls and floor were painted white and completely smooth, apart from a door that was in front of her. It all felt very cold and sterile.

Amelia felt disoriented. She tried to stand up. When she did, she found her legs were weak and unsteady, and she dropped back to her knees.

Looking down accusingly at her body, she suddenly realised that her clothes had changed. She was now wearing a plain white gown. Stiff cotton, like something you would wear in a hospital.

It wasn't what she had been wearing before. But when she tried to remember what that had been, her mind was blank. She couldn't even remember how she got there. Wherever there was.

As Amelia was trying to focus her mind on what had happened to her, the door in front of her suddenly swung open. As it opened to reveal the corridor outside, a man came walking into the room. A kindly man, who was short and old, and walked with a slight limp. He was wearing a plain white suit, and he was carrying a clipboard in his left hand.

"I'm terribly sorry," he said. "But you were not supposed to come here."

Amelia was confused. "I'm not?" she asked. "But where is this place?"

"This is nowhere," he said.

"What? As in a place called nowhere?" Amelia asked.

"No," he replied. "I mean to say this is not a place that exists. Not in the physical or spiritual realms. It is nowhere."

"Eh... what? I don't understand," said Amelia.

"No, I imagine it would be quite difficult to comprehend, especially in your current condition," he said.

"Why, what is my current condition?" Amelia asked. The effort to understand this strange man was making her brain hurt.

"You died," he said, rather matter-of-factly.

"What? I'm dead?" said Amelia.

"Ah, well, not exactly," he said.

"Not exactly dead? What's that supposed to mean?" Amelia asked, with her voice growing louder as she grew less confused and more angry.

The man looked down at his clipboard and frowned nervously. "Well, the thing is..." he said, without looking back up at her. "Something went wrong. You're going to have to try again."

"Try what again?" Amelia asked.

"The dying part," he said. "We're going to have to try doing that again."

"You want to kill me?" she said.

The man glared at her with a look of shock, then quickly turned to revulsion. "Me? No, I would never," he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you," said Amelia. "But how am I going to die?"

"Well you did upset me," he said. "So because of that, I'm not going to tell you."

"But what am I supposed to do about it?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just wake up," he said.

And with that, the room started to fade away until Amelia fell down into complete darkness.