Prologue

You would think that after spending more than five years in this world I would’ve seen it all, yet somehow, I’m still caught off guard. I stood there simply dumbfounded by what I was seeing. Three men coated in a white light stood in the middle of the dark frozen ocean. As I tried to comprehend what was happening my eyes focus on four shivering kids that were stranded in the dark water.

“Calm down Kat.” I grab onto the railing to stop myself from jumping into the abyss. “Those guys can freeze the freaking ocean, I stand no chance against them.”

But still, if I let them take the kids, they’ll end up just like me. And you wouldn’t like that would you, Ryder?

“Phew, here I go.” Taking a deep breath, I jump off the boat and dive straight into the dark ocean. “Leave them alone!” I shouted, making sure their attention was only on me. Gathering the last bit of my strength, I threw my exhausted body at the three men.

For some reason, memories of my past begin to flash through my head. They say the reason why a person near death life begins to flash through their eyes, is because their body is desperately trying to find a way to survive. I doubt there’s anything in my memories that’ll help me in this situation. After all, my life has been nothing more than a series of unfortunate events, both this one and the last.

----------------------------------------

I found myself standing in an empty white room that seems to stretch for eternity.  “How tragic. Another lost sheep have stumble their way into this realm.” Suddenly a bespectacled man in a white suit appears before me. He calmly shifted through the papers on his desk as if he was sitting there the whole time.

“Where am I?” The man pushes up his glasses and looks at me, the cold gaze in his eyes turns soft for a spilt-second.

“If you want to know the answer to that question, you must first remember who you are.”

“Remember? How could I forget? I’m….” My mind went blank. For some reason, I couldn’t remember anything about myself, my name age, nothing.

“Drawing a blank huh? Unsurprising, your passing was quite violent.” Lightly tapping the desk with his pen, A mirror appears in front of us. “Look deep into the mirror, it should help you remember.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

I nervously walk towards the mirror. A young man who looks to be in late teens or at least early twenties stare at me through the mirror. Blood ooze out of a hole that was in the center of my forehead.

“Gunshot wound? No, that shouldn’t be possible.” I slowly move my hand towards the wound. Upon touching it, images violently flash through my head. Images of a man coated in blood. A wide sinister smile spread across the man’s face as he aims his pistol at my head.

“W-Wait.” I tried pushing the gun away, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any strength to resist him. The man easily overpowers me and places the barrel of the gun directly at my forehead. “Too bad.” The man said with a cruel grin. “Your story ends here.” The world explodes into a white light.

“Do you remember now?” A shadowy figure came into view as the light faded away. I quickly back away from the shadow only slam my back into something solid. Slowly, I turn around to see my reflection staring at me with a horrified look in its eyes. The bullet wound and blood that was on my forehead were nowhere to be found.

Was that all a dream? No, it couldn’t be that was far too realistic, I could feel the cold barrel of the pistol on my head.

My body involuntarily shudders at the gruesome memory. As I tried to shake the memory out my head, I notice in the mirror that a man in a white suit was approaching me.

“Do you remember now?” From the way he spoke it seems he knew I had a vision, and from the pity look, he’s giving me I can also guess that my vision wasn’t a vision.

“Yes, I remember. I know exactly how I ended up here.”

I, no, we was coming back from a mission. But before we could make it back home we were attacked. Somehow, I manage to survive the ambush escape, although not unscathed. Heavily wounded, it didn’t take long for them to find me and…. and.

“I-I die, didn’t I?” The man in white close his eyes walks back to his desk.

“It shouldn’t have been that surprising. You receive multiple fatal wounds as you attempted to escape. Even if you did somehow manage to escape your pursuers you still would’ve died.”

No, I could’ve survived. Frustration and anger build in my heart, as multiple “What if” scenario played in my head.

“So, what happens now?!” I got shot in the head, and yet here I am, still talking as if nothing happened. I guess that means this is the afterlife?” To stop myself from going insane, I force myself to focus on something else.

“Yes, this is the afterlife, as you humans like to call it.”

‘As you, humans like to call it.’ I never thought I hear someone say that with a straight face.

“Since you went out of your way to add in the fact that you’re not human, you mind telling me who you are, and what’s your purpose.” He must be planning on doing something to me since he appeared the moment I woke up in this empty area.

The man in white adjusted his glasses and gave me a stern look. “My name is Shepherd, and it’s my job to guide lost souls like you down the right path.”