It was a warm summer morning, the wind was blowing crisp air and the sun was rising over the horizon. A simple scene which could definitely be described as tranquil.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP -
“...Urrghhh…”
Keyword being “could.” If not for the sound of a grumbling youth being forced out of bed, one would be able to appreciate such a scene more. Sadly, this wasn’t the case.
The rustling of blankets brings attention back to the figure of the young man who is gradually, and without a doubt grumpily, coming to terms with the fact that he is being pulled into the world of the awake.
In denial the youth covered himself up even more with his blanket; an act of resistance towards his waking mind, no doubt in order to get more sleep. But as fate would have it, the forces acting to pull him into the world of the awake had already prepared for this, and played their favourite card.
“Leo wake up, I don’t want you inside the house all day again,” said the youth's mother.
“But it’s the holiday and it’s -” Leo took a quick glance at his alarm clock.
“-It’s 6:30!” replied Leo.
“I don’t care, I’m not having you stay inside all day for the rest of your holiday, at least go out for a walk,” said the Leo’s mother.
To encourage her son, Leo’s mother opened the curtains letting light from the rising sun into the room; however, seeing this wasn’t enough to get the boy out of bed, she yanked Leo’s blankets off of him as well. This finally got the boy moving.
“So bright…” mumbled Leo, whilst hiding his eyes behind his hand.
“Oh stop complaining, you’re not a vampire, and go have a shower before your brother wakes up,” replied Leo’s mother with a hint of irritation in her voice.
The sound of the door to Leo’s room closing signaled his mother’s departure from the room.
After a couple more minutes Leo began to properly get out of bed.
‘Well, I guess there’s no point in me just sitting here anymore,’ thought Leo as he prepared to have a shower.
‘As if I’m letting my brother use the shower before me.’
(Break)
Around twenty minutes after Leo was forced out of bed the sound of footsteps could be heard as he descended down the stairs into the first floor. Leo’s mother took a look at her son, Leo - whose actual name was Leon Faucher -, as he walked into the kitchen to have breakfast.
With a head of short midnight black hair, and a pair of dark brown eyes, Leo gave off the image of your average joe. Aside from his slightly above average height, Leo didn’t have any features that would make him stand out, - which he was personally grateful for - much to the discontent of his mother. He wore his usual setup of a light gray t-shirt and darker shorts that sat just above the knee.
Although Leo’s mother felt proud of Leo as he’d made it into university for the next semester, she was still troubled by his lack of responsibility. During high school he had never gotten a job, joined any sports or co-curricular activities, or even made an effort to go out with his friends. She knew everyone was different, but her sons behaviour still troubled her as his mother, maybe she went wrong somewhere in bringing him up? He seemed to have a very big interest in hanging out with himself in his room all day.
She stopped her thoughts about her son's apparent reclusive behaviour to greet him. It wasn’t the first time she’d had these thoughts.
“Morning Leo,” greeted Leo’s mother.
“Morning mum, how are you?” replied Leo, making small talk.
“I’m good, sleep well?” replied his mother, with a slight tease in her voice.
“Yeh...” replied Leo, still grumpy about the events this morning.
A smile formed on Leo’s mother's face due to her son’s immature behaviour, no matter how old someone got, some things just never changed.
“There’s cereal in the cupboard and milk in the fridge, or you could make some toas-,” said Leo’s mother, before being interrupted by her son.
“I know,” replied Leo, clearly used to this scene.
Thirty minutes later, Leo had finished eating breakfast and left the house on the walk his mother asked him to go on. In reality he’d tried to stall until his mother left for work so he wouldn’t have to go out on said walk, but sadly for him his mother was being extra persistent this time, and shoved him out the door without a key. She’d told him, “come back in an hour and I’ll let you in.”
Without a chance to refute his mother's demand Leo grumpily started his walk, questioning just what he would do for an hour. ‘She doesn’t actually expect me to walk around for an hour does she?’ thought Leo.
And so, Leo walked.
(Break)
It didn’t take long until Leo got tired of walking in circles around his neighbourhood. It’d only been 30 minutes and he was already searching for something else to do, just walking was not only boring for him, but it also made him feel uncomfortable. He just felt awkward walking for the purpose of walking.
However, he at least gained something from the walk.
‘I’ll never tell her this, but this walk is kinda refreshing.’
This was because Leo had locked himself in his room for the past few days, so he appreciated the chance to get some fresh air in his lungs, as well as exercise his somewhat stiff legs.
But back to the issue at hand, Leo was stumped as to what to do for another 30 minutes. He knew his mother, and she wouldn’t go back on her word when she’d said to come back in an hour. Hence, his only option was to find something to do until his mother would let him back into the house.
After a couple more minutes of walking Leo settled on taking a seat on a nearby bench to play on his phone. His mother always made him take his phone with him in case there was an emergency, and so he had it on him. Sadly Leo barely ever used his phone, thus it only had two games, snake and tetris.
The bench he was sitting on was located in a park next to a playground for little kids, this playground had all the things a little kid could wish for in a small neighbourhood park. A small climbing wall, a slide, seesaw and a couple swings. It was honestly, your average public playground.
Normally the bench would be used by parents to watch their children while they played, but since it was still early in the morning there was noone else here, spare a few joggers.
Leo choose to play tetris, he wasn’t a fan of either games so just picked the one he was less opposed to.
A couple minutes into Leo’s first game, and he was doing fairly well by his own standards. He was starting to get quite focused on the game as well, so when he realised there was now someone sitting next to him, he dropped his phone in surprise.
“Sorry, did I surprise you?” said a feminine voice.
Leo realised the voice came from the person sitting next to him, so he replied whilst picking his phone up off the ground.
“Yeh, it’s fine though, don’t worry.”
Leo inspected his phone, the screen was cracked from the corner it fell on, but it was still functioning.
“Sorry about your phone, is it ok?” replied the woman sitting next to him.
“Yeh it’s fine, the screens cracked but it’s still functional. I don’t use it much anyway so I don’t mind,” Leo said.
“Phew, that’s good- uh, I don’t mean it’s good your phone is broken, it’s-,” replied the woman before being interrupted.
“Honestly it’s fine, I know what you’re trying to say, so don’t worry about it,” replied Leo giving the woman a smile; judging by her voice, he believed that she really was genuinely sorry.
Leo’s phone was nothing fancy, it was one of those cheap phones people were given when they joined a contract, and thus he wasn’t kidding when he said he didn’t mind it getting damaged. As long as it could call and text, it did everything he needed. But this didn’t mean Leo was a wasteful person; infact, he got a bit annoyed when people wasted things, however he felt only a little annoyed at what had happened. He knew accidents happened, and from his point of view it was his fault his phone got damaged.
Once the conversation had ended Leo started to feel awkward, neither of them had said anything to each other since and so they’d sat there in silence for the past 5 minutes.
‘I guess we’re back to being strangers,’ thought Leo.
Seeing as he felt awkward, and neither of them we’re going to be talking to each other any time soon, Leo decided to leave the park.
Hence, he was now standing outside the entrance to the park with another 20 minutes left until he could return home. He sighed, he had no idea what to do.
‘So I either stand here awkwardly, or I start walking in circles again…’
And so, Leo walked.
(Break)
There were another 5 minutes until Leo could return home and so he’d started to head back.
The number of cars on the road had gone up since Leo left this morning; people were rushing to get to work as well as take their kids to school. His family’s home was situated at the top of a fairly busy T-junction, and so he was used to seeing this much traffic in the morning.
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Leo was currently walking along the left side of the road, approaching said junction from the bottom. He took a left when he got to the junction, heading towards a zebra crossing; he himself had no intention of jaywalking through this much traffic.
As he approached the zebra crossing he came to a stop to check that it was clear to cross; seeing that traffic from his left and right had stopped he began crossing the road.
At the same time Leo started crossing, another pedestrian tried to rush across the road at the bottom of the junction, forgetting to check their right and so thinking it was clear, a piercing cry could be heard as a car screeched and swerved to their left to dodge the pedestrian. Narrowly dodging said pedestrian, the driver heaved a sigh of relief.
This all happened in a split second, and the pedestrian, lucky for them, continued to rush across the road reaching the other side in one piece. The event had caught Leo’s attention as well causing him to momentarily slow down as he crossed the road, after which he continued to cross at his normal pace.
The sound of another vehicle screeching to Leo’s right could be heard; however, this time the sound was much louder to Leo’s ears, and he instinctively turned his head to the right to check what it was.
A car was headed straight for him. He tried to run, but with one leg still in the air he fell over as his head went into overdrive. All Leo could do was look up at the car and driver inside of it before everything went black.
Someone called for an ambulance and within 10 minutes paramedics had arrived to rush Leo to hospital. Police had also arrived to redirect traffic and talk to those involved in the crash.
Leo’s injuries were critical and the paramedics did everything they could to try keep him alive, however his injuries were too great; the limits of what they could do to help him becoming apparent.
Leo was declared dead on arrival with his mother and brother beside him; his mother not bothering to contain her emotions by openly crying, and his brother still unsure of how to react.
(Break)
‘What the fuck is this.’
Leo felt like his life was a train that had just derailed off a bridge, tumbled around a bit, split into pieces, been eaten by a flock of giant vultures, then caught by an eagle that fed them and his life to it’s kids, then thrown back onto another train track in a carriage without any wheels and a ton of people onboard telling him to “haul ass.”
Understand any of that? Did it make any sense? No? Now you know how he felt.
‘I got hit by a car and died… didn’t I?’
Leo felt unsure of just what had happened; he was almost certain he should be dead, but despite this he was still here. Just what “here” meant however was beyond his comprehension.
‘So I’m dead, but I’m not. That’s just fucking great, and why is it so dark?’
All Leo could see was pitch black darkness. He wasn’t sure if he’d lost his sight, there wasn’t any light or there actually wasn’t anything here at all. It was very disturbing to him, and it didn’t end there, he couldn’t hear, feel, taste or smell anything either. It all added up to create a seemingly empty feeling in him. Normally these senses were so common to him that they almost became intrusive, but now that he was without them, the lack thereof made him feel abnormal instead.
‘Maybe this is what happens when people die?’
Given some time Leo noticed that it wasn’t just his usual senses of touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing that were missing, but everything else as well. He didn’t get hungry or tired, nor did he feel hot or cold. His ability to perceive time was gone as well, he had no idea how long he had been here anymore as time didn’t seem to move at all.
‘So this is what it’s like to be immortal, boring as fuck. I actually wish I really was dead now.’
A lot of time had passed by, and for all Leo knew the state he was in wasn’t going to change any time soon. At first he’d felt angry, but with nothing to direct his anger at it quickly changed to sadness as he thought about everything he’d lost. Leo didn’t know many people closely, but that didn’t mean there weren't many people he cared about, his mother, brother and few friends called Jason and Alyssa he had known fairly closely and missed hearing their voices.
All the material possessions Leo had loved had lost their meaning to him as well. It was funny to him, the things he’d loved most in life we’re now the most insignificant and unimportant things to him. It was the things he’d ignored which he missed most.
‘It’s kinda pathetic huh… I only realise how much I want to be with people after I lose them…’ is what Leo had thought at the time.
Much like Leo’s anger however, eventually even his sadness passed and he was left feeling nothing other than boredom and a desire for “this” to be over.
He’d come to the conclusion after all this time that he was in Limbo, a place in between life and death, and that he was now just a consciousness stuck there without a chance of leaving any time soon.
As time continued to pass by Leo’s mind went silent. With nothing to think about and no hope for the foreseeable future, he had lost the will to think anymore, content with just remaining in silence until the end of eternity.
(Break)
In the never ending void that is Limbo a sound could be heard.
Thump Thump-
It invaded Leo’s mind; taunting him, willing him to have thoughts he didn’t want. Thoughts which he’d given up on long ago.
Thump Thump-
The sound didn’t stop however, and it never did.
Thump Thump-
Eventually Leo reached his limit.
‘...Urrghhh…’
‘The fuck is that sound?’
However long it had been since Leo’s mind was active didn’t matter; however, what did matter was his previously dormant state had been broken, and he felt pissed.
‘I literally wish I had ears right now, just so I could tear them off.’
Whatever the sound that pierced into Leo’s mind was didn’t matter to him, from his point of view it was just ‘...fucking annoying.’
Thump Thump-
‘Arghhhhhh just STOP!’
The sound was without a doubt alive; Leo was sure of it. Sometimes it would speed up, and at other times it would slow down, but no matter what, it never stopped. His frustration grew with each passing moment, and without any way to stop the sound Leo found himself forced to adapt, as he gradually became accustomed to the sound.
As he found himself becoming more accustomed to the sound, he also found himself becoming reliant on it. It gave Leo something to sync his thoughts to, a way for him to remember that maybe there was more than just desolation in his future. Perhaps there was a chance he could get out of here… he just had to be patient.
Thump Thump-
In the time Leo waited he became increasingly familiar with the sound, gaining a greater understanding of it with every beat. Despite this, he still didn’t know what the sound is, and it had been bugging him since.
‘Alright, keep your thoughts organised Leo. It doesn’t stop, it follows a rhythm, but it also deviates from this rhythm at random, and these deviations can either be an increase or decrease in speed.’
‘...Urghhh… the fuck does that?’
Needless to say, Leo felt frustrated. He’d fretted over the origins of the sound for however many “thumps” he didn’t know, but at the least, it kept him busy. It kept his mind from returning to that dominating and never ending darkness he could feel all around him. The chance to understand - even if only a little - what he is now a part of is something beyond irresistible for him.
Whilst Leo’s thoughts escalated in focus the still unknown thumping sound continued to beat, and in time, Leo found the one thing in his head which matched what he knew about the sound.
‘Ohmygod… it’s beating… it’s a heartbeat?!’
‘Everything matches perfectly, the rhythm, the rises and falls in speed and the actual sound.’
How had he not realised this earlier? Who or what did the heartbeat belong to? These thoughts raced through Leo’s mind and he became enthralled once again in a search for answers. He had no doubts that he was wrong about the sounds origin.
(Break)
Twenty-seven million, six hundred and forty-eight thousand beats passed until another anomaly appeared in Limbo. Unlike the sudden appearance of a heartbeat, this time it was much more subtle, and so Leo had taken much longer to notice.
‘It’s getting brighter.’
As if Leo’s acknowledgement set off an alarm, beams of light cut and pierced through the eternal darkness he had become so used to; the endless void which shaped Limbo fell apart before him, sending his mind into turmoil.
Leo had no time to recover from what was happening before him, as the darkness got swept away by a blinding, warm light which filled his vision.