I am a skeleton.

I have died, and now I'm in the afterlife.

I know I am dead.

There's no other explanation for what's going on right now.

Also, I remember dying. I remember the pain, and the suffering that I felt right before I died.

It was a relatively quick death thankfully, but it was still a death.

I died. And now, I'm in the afterlife.

How do I know I'm in the afterlife?

I'll tell you why; it's because whenever I look down, I see nothing but bones: a skeleton.

I am a skeleton.

I have no flesh, no muscles, no skin, no organs, nothing.

And yet, I can still see, I can hear, I can feel, and I can walk around, as if I still had a human body.

Why am I able to see, and hear, and feel and walk as though I am still alive? The only explanation I can think of is that this is the afterlife, and I am dead. This doesn't feel like heaven, so maybe I'm probably in purgatory or something? I'm not sure. But one thing's for certain: I am no longer alive.

Also, I don't need to eat or drink anything (not that I even could), and I never seem to get tired either.

I'm inside a room, about 20 feet by 20 feet with a ceiling about 8 feet high. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made out of some kind of stone bricks. It looks very weathered and old, and I can see moss growing in places, so this place probably hasn't been cleaned in a long time. There's no lights or furniture in here, although I can still see pretty easily, so it makes everything look almost cartoon-ish, as there are no shadows anywhere, yet everything looks well-lit to me.

Around me, are other skeletons as well. About a dozen. They are all standing up, and sometimes even slowly walk around, but usually they just stand completely still, and when I first woke up here I thought they were all statues. When I try to interact with them, like poke them or wave my hand in front of their face, they don't really respond. Sometimes if I push them hard enough, they'll take a step back or walk away from me, but they pretty much just ignore me. I don't know why, I mean, if these guys used to be living people like me, they don't really act like it. In fact their behavior almost reminds me of some sort of insect, like a cockroach or something. Very dumb.

Maybe they've just been here for a very long time, and their consciousness and interest in the outside world slowly faded away from a lack of stimulation? Which I sort of get, I've already been here a couple weeks (I think?) and I'm already bored out of my mind. When I think of how long they've been here to behave like this, I start to get really worried that eventually I'll end up like them, dead on the outside, as well as the inside.

On one side of the room, there's a single large, wooden door, that looks in a way I can only describe as medieval. It's a bunch of thick, vertical planks, strapped together and reinforced with metal bindings, making it look very resilient. And no matter how hard I try, I cannot open it, so I assume it is locked from the other side. The existence of the door makes me think that maybe we are all in some sort of 'waiting room' for the afterlife, and eventually, angels will come through that door, and lead us to the next stage of the afterlife, taking us to heaven or hell, wherever we're supposed to go.

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I hope they get here soon, because it's already been a couple weeks since I woke up in this room, and judging by the mental state of the other guys, I might have to wait here a very, very long time.

By the way, some of the other skeletons are carrying weapons, like old swords or clubs or axes. Very medieval. Some of them are also wearing some dirty, tattered, old looking rags. I wonder were they even got those from.

One of the skeletons though, is carrying a really cool looking big sword that takes both of his bony hands to hold. It's almost as tall as I am, and when I tried to take it from him, he wouldn't let go, and even started waving it around aggressively towards me, so I stepped back and left him alone, and then he calmed back down. His bones are a bit more yellow colored than the others, and I think he's one of the oldest ones here.

I think I'm going to give him a nick name.

I don't know what his real name is, and when I tried to ask him, I came to the realization that I can't talk, as I don't possess any lungs. I can open my mouth, and close it quickly, which makes a light chattering noise when my teeth touch each other, but that's about all I can do as far as vocal communication.

So, I decided to name him: Skelly McSkellington.

That's the first thing that popped into my head for some reason when I tried to think up a cool name, so I just went with it.

Well, it's pretty boring here, and there isn't anything to do, so to keep my sanity I think I'm just going to start counting bricks.

1 brick, 2 bricks, 3 bricks, 4 bricks, ...

********************************************

2,076 bricks, 2,077 bricks -

Wait...

I hear some footsteps coming from outside the door, and they're getting closer.

It sounds like there's multiple people, at least three, and I think one of them is wearing chainmail or carrying lots of keys perhaps. There's also the sound of a piece of wood hitting the ground with the footsteps, so I think one of them also has a walking stick or a cane.

As the footsteps get closer to the door, I don't feel my heart start to race. Some of the other skeletons are starting to perk themselves up, turning their attention towards the large door.

The sounds stop right outside the door, and by now, everyone else here is staring at the door, and the ones with weapons seem to be tightening their grip.

I hear some voices from outside, in a language that I've never heard before. It must be angel language.

Next I hear some wood moving around, and then being set on the floor, I think there was a wooden beam on the outside, blocking the door from being opened, and now they've removed it.

After that, it feels like an eternity passed before anything else happens, but it was probably less than ten seconds.

Then, slowly, very slowly, the door opens, and I can see light from outside start to creep in, casting shadows behind all my skeletal brethren, even though I could see perfectly fine before. Its a very surreal experience actually.

As the door opens more, I can see the figures of the angels on the other side, the first living faces I've seen in what has felt like an eternity. They look like humans wearing medieval style clothing, and they carry medieval style weapons, similar to the ones the other skeletons are holding, only they don't look so weathered and rusty, as there's an actual shine to them.

They must really be angels, because even though I don't see any halos or wings attached to them, I can feel an almost blinding presence coming from them, and it makes them almost uncomfortable to be around. It's like if you were standing next to a car alarm going off, except I don't actually hear anything, I just get the feeling that I don't want to stand around them for very long.

Anyways, these angels must be here to guide us to the next stage of the afterlife, to take us to heaven or hell.

I wonder if my skeleton friends are going to start behaving more like actual people now that something has changed in our environment. I hope so, I would really like to get to know them.