*Ping* 

Adam appeared in the middle of the room. He was unsure whether he had materialised, teleported or simply regained consciousness but it was an odd sensation of suddenly being somewhere without any knowledge of the journey before. He looked around to try and get a bearing of where he was. The room was featureless, in a literal sense. The walls; ceiling and floor all pristine white with the whole ceiling glowing rather than having individual light fittings visible to the eye.

In the centre of the room sat Adam, facing a plain office desk the other side of which was another chair. Next to the chair sat a filing cabinet about shoulder height with three drawers. All the furniture was plain, utilitarian and basic. With nothing else of note in the room, Adam looked down at himself. Hands - check; arms - check; plain, unmarked white t-shirt - check; plain white trousers - check; bare feet - check. Interesting. He didn’t recognise the clothes; the room and there was nothing to distinguish where he was or had been recently. 

No outward clues - Adam tried to concentrate on working out how he arrived in this place. It was an unsettling experience. He couldn’t. General facts like the way he drove to work or the routine of the office day were clear and easy; but specifics of the last day or week wouldn’t come. He could remember what he normally had for breakfast during the week but had no memory of what he had for breakfast yesterday. In fact he couldn’t say when yesterday was. Was yesterday a day, or a week ago? This was starting to feel quite unsettling.

As if on queue, when the unsettled feeling began the faint outline of a door appeared in the wall he was facing behind the other chair. First a line, then a crack, then a door appeared on the wall where there had definitely not been a door before. The same plain white walls lined the space beyond the door, with the same uniformly lit ceiling. 

A person walked through the door, closing it behind them. Adam was not being politically correct by saying it was a person rather than man or woman he just couldn’t tell. The Person was difficult to describe. It seemed like the representation of a human would if needed for an alien text-book. The same way a picture of a cat or dog doesn’t show the gender but is obviously a cat or a dog. Person smiled and reached out a hand to Adam. 

“Hello Adam, I am Person.”

Adam sceptically raised an eyebrow. What were the chances that the noun he had used to name the individual in front of him was actually its name? He stood, took the offered hand, shook it then sat back down. Adam’s head span, he had so many questions. Where was he? Why was he here? How did he get here? Who was Person? Why was he/she called Person and was it because he (Adam) had thought of the name? He cleared his throat, getting ready to speak so he could get some answers. Just as he opened his mouth Person raised his hand to stop him.

Is he bloody reading my mind? Thought Adam

“Yes, sorry.” Replied Person. “Can I stop you before you do something silly?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Adam’s other eyebrow went up to join the first. This was very peculiar. He nodded, too stunned to speak for now.

“You only get five questions.” Said Person with what Adam took to be a helpful smile. Then he added “You have to say them out loud, for the record.” Followed by a wink. 

He had way more than five questions, and what kind of rule was that? What kind of way to start a conversation? Right, question one.

“Where am I?” Adam asked.

“You are in-between.” Came the answer.

What kind of crap answer was that? Adam was pretty sure that Person was reading his thoughts, so he thought it again to be clear. What kind of crap answer…

“Sorry.” Said Person sheepishly; he/she looked up and pointed in a gesture that seemed to indicate they were being watched. It really gave Adam the impression that Person wanted to give him more information but couldn’t. That they were being observed by someone higher up the chain of command for wherever it was they were. 

Adam thought for a moment. 

He was in a strange place called the in-between with an individual that could read his thoughts. He looked up and noticed that Person was nodding. 

It seemed whoever was observing could hear what they said but not see them or hear his thoughts. Person winced, shrugged his/her shoulders and gave a slight shake of the head. 

So, assuming Person could be trusted. Person looked down then up as he thought this, taking on the appearance of a kicked puppy. Ok, rethinking that, if I trust Person. Person perked up and smiled again. I can think things through as I go and might get some more detailed answers. Person nodded but also looked towards his/her wrist and tapped an invisible watch with his/her finger. Ok, so I have a time limit as well. Person nodded again.

“What is your next question Adam?” Asked Person followed by a wink and then a repeat of the look up and point gesture. 

“Hmmm, just a minute.” Adam said, to stall for time. He quickly thought through the scenario. An unknown organisation had wiped his memory, moved him to a secure and secret location and now he was playing some weird question game with a person that could read his mind. So logically only a few things could be happening. 

This is some crazy next-level virtual reality suite? Person shook their head. Crazy super high tech military or government operation? Another shake. Aliens? Shake. Adam sighed, trying to think what else could be going on. His stomach suddenly dropped. 

I’m dead? Person nodded, trying to look apologetic at the same time. “I’m…” Adam said aloud, Person waving their arms as if to stop him “…dead?”

“Yes.” Said Person “You have three questions remaining.” The apologetic look returned with this explanation. 

Adam sat in shock for a moment. He didn’t remember dying, he didn’t remember any specifics of recent past. All the rest was there though. Childhood; school; university; getting a job etc… Why take away the end? Person shrugged as if he didn’t know.

Adam couldn’t help the next question, he had to know. “How did I die?” Person looked up at the ceiling then down again the apologetic expression never leaving his face.

“Sorry, I cannot answer that question. You have two questions remaining.” Said Person.

The shock was leaving him to be replaced by anger. “You can’t answer. Really? You tell me I died and that you can’t tell me how?” Adam was shouting by the end. He had been thinking that Person was on his side. 

“No I can’t answer.” Person looked like they were about to cry as they added: “you have one question remaining.”

It was Person’s face that stopped him doing something stupid, or shouting out again. He was dead, he didn’t know how but he had died. Adam took a deep breath and held it for ten seconds, letting his mind calm a little. He was here thinking and talking rather than just dead; so there must be a reason. There must be a next step.

“What happens next?” He asked, using his final question.

Person perked up a little with this and reached over to the filing cabinet to open the top drawer. Out came a manilla folder with Adam’s name at the top. Person leafed through the file and gave a little gasp of surprise. 

“You are being made a God.” Person said and added with a final smile “Good luck.”

With that, the white light in the room brightened until it was so intense that Adam couldn’t see. Then all went dark again with a loud: 

*Ping*