The Mediator

Chapter 22

It was dark. "I'm dead." I thought to myself. Death wasn't at all what I expected it to be. I was sure I wasn't in heaven or hell...maybe this was limbo. "Is limbo this dark?" I wondered. I couldn't even find myself in the darkness. I could hear my thoughts, but I couldn't see myself. I couldn't feel anything either. Maybe this is what being dead is. This was a lot scarier than I ever imagined. It was uncomfortable in the dark with just my thoughts to keep me sane, which was actually more irritating than calming. Is this how it was going to be forever; stuck in the dark with my wondering thoughts for eternity?

"She can hear you." I heard an unfamiliar male voice say. Maybe this person was going to help me through this. I certainly had no idea what to do. I was stuck. Just like the time I had that awful dream. I was stuck in the darkness again. I hoped that wasn't what was going on here. It couldn't be. In that dream I was sure I was alive. This was different. I wasn't sure of anything.

"Cassie?" I heard a female voice whisper.

"I'm here." I called. Could she hear me? Suddenly something felt heavy. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but there was definitely more weight in the darkness. For a moment the darkness started to get lighter. It was the kind of effect you get when you're sleeping and someone turns on a light. It's still dark because you're eyes are closed but you know the light is on. I waited for something else to happen.

Then it hit me. If I was dead and Rob and Audrey were dead how come they weren't here with me? Maybe they were in the same situation I was in. If I could get out of the darkness maybe I could find them. We could all be reunited. I could spend eternity with them, but not alone like this. This felt like my own personal hell. "Maybe that's what this is..." I debated. Punishment.

I heard something again. A distant beeping sound, it had a rhythm. Beep...beep...beep...beep... Great what was this? It was getting annoying pretty quickly. I wish there was someway to make it stop. Maybe the man or the woman could help me. "Excuse me." I said and then waited for a reply. Beep...beep...beep... "Can I get a little help here?" I called. Beep...beep... "OUCH!" Something had just stabbed me. I couldn't see what it was. This had to be my own personal hell. Now I was sure of it. I wanted to die again just to get out of here and end up somewhere where I was completely oblivious to everything including myself.

"Cassie?" The female voice said again. It felt like someone was rubbing my arm. But what arm? I had no body just a mind. Then it dawned on me. "I'm blind!" I said. That must be it! The dead are blind? That didn't seem right. Maybe it was just me. I tried to open my eyes, to blink.

I opened my eyes to bright lights and a white room. Where was I? I tried to sit up and that's when I noticed my left hand. It was in a cast and it was heavy. Was this the extra wait I had become aware of not too long ago? I sat there examining the cast. I suddenly became aware of the beeping again. It was a heart monitor. And in my right arm was an IV. I blamed the stab I had felt on the IV. I glanced around the room, "I'm alive?" I muttered as it became apparent. How was it even possible? I tried to sit up again but my body protested the movement. I looked under the sheets and noticed a bandage on my right leg.

Why was I in here alone? I heard voices before. Now where were the people behind them? I needed someone to talk to. I had so many questions. Just then I hear the door creek open and I turned to see who it was.

A handsome man, with slick blond hair and piercing blue eyes, wearing a white coat and blue scrubs approached me. "Oh good you're awake," he smiled. "I'll notify your parents. It's too bad your mom didn't stick around a little longer. She left about a half hour ago."