Saylee plopped onto the bed, yawning as she leaned over to the shelf to grab the tablet.

She swiped through the settings until she found the clock option. She set the alarm and went back to the home screen. The screen lit up, a bland gray background wallpaper. It reminded her of tablet rentals at the library. Where the rentals only provided limited options for the user. The screen displayed only a small selection of apps: Messages, Reports, News feed, Contacts, Settings, Support Media & FAQ’s.

Saylee tapped the Reports app, not sure what to expect.

At the top of the screen, a bold title read; Currently Showing: Continuation Inc. Station 62. Beneath the title, was a moving marquee banner, displaying numbers for inbound and outbound passengers. The total numbers were constantly in flux, ranging in the thousands.

She raised a brow, Am I…supposed to see this? She thought.

The data on the screen was available to browse at her leisure. She observed the standing queries.

Saylee messed with the keywords and filters. She had the option to view passengers by batch, or by individual passenger data such as their age, name, and individual or group processing status.

There is so much data to sort through. If I can view this data, can the other passengers? Perhaps they, whoever at Continuation Inc., or whatever…must not care about hiding this information? That doesn’t make sense but then again, why bother with data security? Not like she or any other passenger right now could do anything with that data.

Saylee shook her head with a frown.

She placed the tablet back onto the shelf.

Having some security or privacy over one’s confidential personal data wouldn’t hurt. I don’t know if it would matter in this new afterlife, but an option to have her information hidden would be nice-

Saylee quickly grabbed the tablet off the shelf.

She typed her name into the search bar.

There I am, let’s see what they got on me.

Her eyes scanned the personal file.

There were several pages so she skimmed the report. The name, date of death, and date of birth were correct.

Her personal file status read, “Pending Transfer”.

The appointed occupation section read; “Customer Service”

She grimaced.

Saylee was about to put down the tablet when one section of the file document stood out to her.

UB Tracker? What is that? She read the description, Unethical Behavior Tracker data is used during the final board review. This data will be reviewed by the official board members of the afterlife to determine one’s destination after their judgment years. UB Tracker data collected by Continuation Inc. can only be viewable by the approved Continuation Inc. personal and afterlife officials. A view-only document can be requested through an official Continuation Inc. Chaplain.

Her UB Tracker total read 26.

She sat up, her eyes widened in disbelief; “26? 26? I don’t believe I’d done that much bad behavior. Was I getting a marked per stolen treat or what? What else did I do?”

Planting her feet on the floor, she started to pace around the room.

“What else did I do? I just started this new trying to be humble and now my file makes me look like I’m a troublemaker”

She started to pull mess with her hair, she frowned, “How many marks before I’m doomed to never go to heaven or whatever good happy happy place? Why isn’t there a good behavior tracker? How does it measure good and bad behavior?”

An idea struck.

She placed the tablet down.

I don’t hear anything or anyone in here, so these rooms must be soundproof. I wonder…

Saylee walked to a side wall and started pounding her fist on it. She shouted, “Hey! Wake up! I don’t know you but wake up. uh…” She paused, looking chagrin before she yelled, “Sorry but not sorry!”

She stood back, listening for a response.

Not a sound in response from the neighbor.

She turned and picked up the tablet.

Now, I wonder if my rude action caused a…

She made a halfhearted smile, the UB Tracker count updated to 27.

Wow, that was fast…and…

Saylee glanced around, looking for cameras.

How are they watching me? So damn creepy.

She strode back to her bed, the tablet still in hand, and she laid back. Her interest was now piqued and focused on how to adjust to this new life.

If I’m going to go back to my old life, see my family and be there for them. I’m going to need to fully understand how things work around here. That includes keeping my intentions secret. They have eyes on me. Whoever they are.

Saylee thought back on her first moments waking up after her death.

The strange driver.

The semi-truck was on top of her vehicle.

The transport van.

The running man.

He was so angry.

What happened to that one man who got left behind? Is he trapped as some sort of ghost? I wonder…, she mused.

She went back to the search bar.

She tried different keywords. The keywords “missing”, “denied”, “unknown”, and “lost”, provided her with zero results.

Saylee, determined, kept trying keywords.

She tried “late”, “absent”, “unaccounted” and “castaway”.

No luck.

Her heart skipped a beat when the keyword “delayed” did yield some results, but only concerning shuttle flight data.

“I’ll try one more” she grumbled, “Let’s try, the word AWOL”

The screen didn’t show a response. No indication that received her request.

She tapped the search magnifying glass icon again.

Nothing.

After a few moments without anything loading on the screen, she started to aggressively tap the screen.

“Dang hunk of junk froze”, she muttered.

The screen updated.

She sat up, her jaw dropped. Her eyes glazed over the screen in disbelief.

The results showed over a thousand people with their file status as “AWOL”

“These people….what is this? Are they alone on Earth, just left behind? I…”

She was about to select a file when a loud pounding on the door.

Startled, the tablet, along with herself, stumbled and slid awkwardly off the bed, shoulder first onto the floor.

“Ow”, she winced. The pounding on the door continued.

She got up, rubbing her shoulder, “Stop your knocking, I’ll be there”

Her mood soured, she didn’t bother to check the peephole. She swung open the door.

There, standing in front of the door, was a man whose face indicated that Saylee wasn’t the only one in a sour mood.

She placed her hands on her hips, “Well, what is it?”

The man spoke with an icy tone, “You woke me up. That is what. You, pounding on my bedside wall, just to tell me, in the middle of slumber, that I, for some reason, stink. I couldn’t get back to sleep.” His arms crossed, eyes glaring. He waited for her to speak.

“Well…”

The man swiftly held up a hand, “No, no, no. I’m going to stop you right there. Don’t you say I’m sorry, or Oh my apologies? I don’t want to hear it”

Saylee taken aback, bit her tongue on her eager apology.

The man continued, “You yelled, and listen closely, as this here is the icing on the cake, sorry, not sorry. After declaring to our neighbors that I stink. The funny thing is, I don’t believe we met. So you, woke me, someone you don’t know, to jolt them awake. Yelling a childish insult, followed by a clear lake of empathy.”

Saylee fidgeted, looking for the right words while the man stared daggers into her skull.

She took a deep breath, “I…I was foolish. I believed the room was soundproof. I’ve been here for two days and I have yet to hear a peep from anyone else in the hall. I assumed wrong on the soundproof walls. I was testing the UB Tracker to see-”

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As she spoke, the man ran a hand through his hair. He shook his head in frustration before reaching over to grab the door handle.

He cut her off mid-sentence, eyes narrowed, “I’m done. I’ve heard enough from you. Just, don’t do it again”. He closed the door, the thud loud enough to cause an echo.

Saylee stood there for a moment, staring at her door. Speechless.

Saylee put the tablet down. She stared at the ceiling, not staring at anything in particular.

Lingering thoughts in the back of her mind keep prodding and distracting her.

Should I move on? I could just play by the rules. I’d just have to wait patiently until I see my family again in whatever place awaits beyond after this. I’ll just be away from them for a little while. I hope Dalmon can raise the kids on his own.

A mental image of her Dalmon, Kayla, and Issac looked in her direction. They were smiling at her.

Externally, she found herself smiling back.

The image in her mind changed.

Issac lay on the hospital bed. Dalmon and Kayla were holding his hands, looking intently at Issac. Issac’s eyes were closed.

She felt her eyes water, as she was struck with emotion.

Issac’s eyes opened.

He lifted his back off the bed, turning his head, and his soft eyes looked directly at her.

He mouthed something to her, calling something out to her. No words left his mouth.

This can’t be real

Issac closed his eyes. He laid his back on the bed.

This isn’t real

Dalmon turned, hurt pleading eyes looked up at her.

I don’t care if this isn’t real

They need me

Saylee stood up, tossing the tablet onto the bed.

She subconsciously paced back and forth in the small room.

I can’t be stupid and cause a scene. I can’t be caught. I need to play along and keep my head down. Observe and plot my escape.

She stared at the door.

I’m no longer in spirit form. I’m alive.

She burst into a grin.

I’m alive and that is good enough to live with my family back home.

She turned and faced the mirror. She stared at herself, giving herself a look of determination. She pointed an index finger at herself.

“I will figure out a way home, I will. No one will stop me”

Saylee awoke. The light emitting from the ceiling above blinded her.

She cursed, frustrated that she’d been in the room for more than a day and still couldn’t find a switch or means of turning off room lights.

Checking the tablet, she audibly groaned as she saw she had six hours before the alarm went off.

She left the room. To her surprise, she heard people talking down the hall.

As she neared the voices, she saw a woman reading on one of the recliners in the library. Two men were chatting in the recreation room, leaning against the arcade machine.

Saylee avoided eye contact and headed toward the vending machines.

The one machine, that have a selection of treats, still displayed the OUT OF ORDER message.

Feeling in a sour mood and no longer caring about consequences, she shoved her shoulder hard against the side of the junk food machine.

No luck.

Putting more oomph into the shove, she tried again.

Nothing dispersed.

Stepping back a few steps, she rushed forward. Her shoulder hit the screen instead of the edge of the machine. There was a crack in the machine. She stared in dismay.

There was no alarm going off to her relief.

Several bags slowly fell below.

She just now noticed, peaking from around the corner, the woman from the library and the two men from the rec room.

Saylee felt a mixture of guilt and embarrassment.

She was about to explain herself when one of the men, a man appearing to be in his forties, spoke first, “I like your approach. I feel like a chump for just giving up after reading the display.”

He smiled at her and then pointed at the stash of bags, “If you don’t mind, could you share? I don’t feel hungry but I can eat”

The other man, a little shorter than the redhead raised a hand, “If you don’t mind sharing, I’d love to try some too. I’ve never seen those brands before”

The woman, peaking from the other side of the door frame spoke up, “I’d love a bite or two as well, if you don’t mind sharing”

The four of them sat on the ground in the vending machine room. A hoard of treats laid out on the ground in the middle of them.

They each sampled each treat, sharing their thoughts on what treat to its similar counterpart back on their home world.

Out of all the snacks in the pile, only the “Dark Rope” licorice candy was left untouched on the floor.

One of the passengers, sitting to the left of Saylee; was a woman with dark curly hair and kind eyes. The woman trying to finish chewing some beef jerky before she spoke, “Nothing like questionable space food to bring a group of strangers together. We were so focused on food, that we forgot all about introductions”

Saylee slipped out a grin, “It’s easy to forget about pleasantries on an empty stomach.” She pointed toward the loot, “Even though I wasn’t hungry, it was the thought of eating again that I craved.”

A red-headed man, sitting across from Saylee raised his snack into the air, “Ideally, I’d raise a glass to that, but this chocolate bar will have to suffice”

The others raised their snacks as well.

Saylee, placing a bag of Moon-yums Onion flavored chips on the ground, “I guess I’ll go first”

She paused, looking a little uneasy.

The others around her politely paused from munching.

Saylee shrugged, “I guess this new life is a fresh start, so…how would I introduce myself? It would feel odd to speak about…my old life. This is…odd. Let me-um”

Saylee took a deep breath and was pleasantly surprised when the dark-haired woman next to her placed a gentle hand on Saylee’s shoulder, looking at her with a reassuring smile. Saylee continued, “It’s been such an odd experience since…you know, that I…let me just get to it. I’m Saylee… I’m from San Antonio.” Saylee started to feel the heavy weight of dread as her thoughts wandered off about her life back home.

Those thoughts were flung out of her mind as she was taken aback when the lady beside her placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. The woman put her other hand on her chest.

The woman smiled kindly, “You’re from San Antonio? I’ve been there a few times as a child. I have a wonderful aunt that lives out there. My Aunt Maria used to…she would…she.” She paused, she began to cross her arms. Her smile slowly faded away as her mind went elsewhere.

Saylee noticed the woman’s mind was about to go down a certain path so she spoke up, “San Antonio is a big city but who knows, I could’ve crossed paths with Maria. Oh, silly me but what was your name again? If you’ve already shared your name, please forgive me. I ate a lot of junk food and clearly, I can’t function on an empty or full stomach”

The woman broke into a smile. She wiped away an eye before speaking, “I’m sorry, I thought I mentioned my name earlier. I’m Amy. I’m from Arizona, around the city of Tempe.” Amy, picked up a picked up a piece of jerky. She took a bite before pointing the remaining beef jerky in her hand towards herself, “I, am slightly embarrassed to say, that I drowned at the young age of 23. I was on vacation and I had way too many mimosas. My…” she paused, taking another bite before continuing, “my drunk-ass, unfortunately, checked out early. I had drunkenly fallen off a cruise ship. I had lost my balance when I was sitting on the railing during a selfie”

Amy’s casual demeanor about her death surprised Saylee, before Saylee could remark on nonchalance, Amy continued; “You could imagine my confusion and surprise when I awoke to see myself. I woke up in the ocean. Like, IN the ocean. I stood up, the water, and even the fish, frozen in time. My amazement went way immediately when I…when..when I looked down to be looking face to face with my bloated body. I started at myself for what felt like an eternity. I finally snapped back to reality when I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. I turned to see this guy, who bluntly began explaining my death. I thought I was having an intense dream after having one too many, or did something get slipped into my drink? I was trying to make sense of it all. It was too strange. There I was, in the ocean, talking to some guy who magically called a white van to just appear right next to us. I thought I’d wake up any moment now. Seeing my dead body, talking to some dude in the water, who’s asking me to get into some van. I went along for the ride, believing that at any moment that I’d be waking up at some point, my friends would be there, giving me water as I recovered from a hangover. It took me longer than I’m proud to admit to realize that this-” she gestured around the room. “-wasn’t a dream”

The red-headed man spoke up, “Hey now Amy, don’t feel bad. You’re not the only one who thought this was all some weird lucid dream.” The man went to put his hand towards his face, then paused his hand movement. His right hand hovered in front of his face for a few moments before he started to slowly lower his hand. He shook his head, “Sorry, old habit. I forgot I don’t wear glasses anymore. I guess old habits don’t die as quickly as we do. Perfect eyesight is another blessing after death I suppose.” The man then straightened up his posture, “Um, okay. Let me start over.” He paused before speaking once again. “Hello everyone, my name is Terrold Redd, but most call me Dr. Reddy, or Red. I’m from a super small town, that you’ve probably never heard of in Wisconsin. I was the lone town doctor. Important keyword “was”. I went home after work one day, and unbeknownst to me; my dear wife had poisoned my usual wine. In retrospect, that is no surprise to me, as we never really got along. I thank the old shotgun wedding tradition. My wife was a wicked woman, I will miss how she made peanut butter chocolate brownies. They were phenomenal. The only thing Loved about her except those nights she would go out…“. The Doctor smacked one of his knees with his hand, “Anyways, I digress. My murder doesn’t surprise me. Thankfully, she was thoughtful enough to make sure I died inebriated and experienced very little pain…” He went silent as he started to scratch the back of his head. He coughed suddenly, “Anyways, in death, I have met Amy on the van ride here. We talked to each other during the journey. It helped us both keep our sanity. When we reached the van drop-off site, I was pleasantly surprised to bump into my old classmate Timid-”

The other man, with short blonde hair, cut Dr. Reddy’s sentence short by giving the former doctor a swift elbow to his side, “It’s Timothy.”

Dr. Reddy tried to hide a smirk by failed.

Timothy continued, “He’s just grindin’ my gears because the others in town would call me Timid-thee. We both grew up in the same small town and were even classmates in high school. I haven’t seen him since I left town after graduation. I left to start a new life in Vegas. I wanted to get rich and get as far as possible from the small-town life and that terrible nickname. I am sad to say that I didn’t get anywhere. I usually found comfort in the usual Las Vegas vices. The substance abuse had finally caught up to me one day as I took a heavy nap in the backseat of my car…on a hot summer day…windows closed, too zapped out on-” He paused, frowning, “If you know anything about the dangerously hot summers in Vegas…I had essentially air-fried myself. I died at the age of 36”

Dr. Reddy gave a warm smile, “I, at 37. We died far too young. We will all get a fresh start in this new world. What it’s called again? New Earth or Earth 2?”

Amy spoke, “I believe they said New Earth during the presentation. I could be wrong. I was hardly paying attention.”

Timothy shrugged, “I won’t complain about starting a new start. My chaplain stated I’d be placed on a career path as an accountant. I’d be OK with that, no more custodial work for me.”

Dr. Reddy, Amy, and Timothy spoke with enthusiasm about their new life on New Earth. Saylee, on the other hand, stayed silent, as she didn’t share the same enthusiasm.

Amy turned to Saylee, noticing her silence, “How about you Saylee? What will be your-”

Saylee cut her off, “I’m going back”

Amy double blinked, stunned. Dr. Reddy and Timothy just stared at Saylee in confusion.

Saylee sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude. I don’t accept this fate”

The other three leaned in with interest.

Saylee continued in a whisper, her tone nothing but serious, “I’m going to return home. If it takes me a day, a week, a month, or years. I don’t care. I’m not giving up. I’m going to play nice for a while until I figure out how to get back home. I am not leaving my family behind. My kids and my husband…they need me”

The other three exchanged looks.

Amy looked like she was about to speak but paused.

Dr. Reddy observed them all before speaking, “I respect your determination Saylee. I can’t say I understand, and I wouldn’t want to go back”

Saylee was about to speak but Dr. Ready cut her off by raising a hand, “That being said, I will help you however I can”

Amy slowly raised a hand, “I’d like to help too. I don’t want to return home because I believe in moving forward but…” she shrugged and while breaking out into a mischievous smile, “I’m not afraid to break a law or two to help a friend”

Timothy shook his head, “I’m not going to stop you and you have every right to fight for your return home.” He averted his eyes, “That being said, I don’t want to ruin my second chance here. I wish you luck on your journey”

Dr. Reddy looked at Timothy for a moment, looking like he was about to say something but then thought better of it.

Timothy continued, “Later, when we are placed in our new homes and jobs, and we all happen to cross paths…don’t be a stranger. Saylee…I hope you find a path back to your family soon. I can’t imagine the hurt you’re going through right now. I have confidence that you will succeed in your journey home”

Saylee felt her face warm from the others looking in her direction, “Thank you, everyone. I truly appreciate it. Your support… means a lot. I’m trying not to tear up”. She exhaled before running a hand through her hair, “Now, let’s figure out how to add each other’s number on these odd tablets. So we can stay in contact”

As Saylee watched her new friends figure out how to add each other’s contact information on their tablets. Her smile faded as she realized they’d probably be separated when it was time to leave the station. She remembered the glimpse of the departure area during the elevator ride. Hundreds of people, are in queues, waiting for their departure flight.

Will it be one big transport out of the station? Will it be several small ships leaving the station? Saylee didn’t know. What she did know was, it was very likely she’ll won’t see her new friends again. They’ll be on her own, once again.

Her left hand turned into a fist. She wrapped her right hand over her right. She began to rotate her right thumb over the top of her left hand. An old habit, but it gave her minor comfort.

She reminded herself that she’ll be okay. She told herself that the finish line was to get to her family, and all she needed to do was plan the route to get there.

She nodded to herself, I just need to play it smart going forward.

The hidden cameras focused in on her face.