IT's done, total revamp! I am starting three jobs to pay for collage so my writing consistency may be finiky. Either way hope you like this.

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When he opened his eyes, all he could see was darkness surrounding him. With a flash of light, figures appeared appeared in front him him. All of them looked familiar as if he saw them everyday… like family.

There was a man who had a glow around him, giving him a noble like aura. Then there was the woman who stood beside him; she was beautiful yet her fierceness demanded respect. Her pointed ears could only give off a sense of being an ‘elf’ Josh thought.

Josh turns his head again to see a being with wings. The being looked more like a fairy than a bird and she was the size of a human. Her comforting air that permeated around her made Josh just want to hug her, and believe the world is a good place.

Then there was a strange figure. It was covered in black and had a mask on its face. It seethed darkness as if it was trying to hide from Josh’s view.

However, that’s when Josh noticed. All of these beings were also staring at him. They looked at him with cowering eyes. Their eyes told Josh of their fear. The feeling of being looked at with fear was unpleasant as all their beings felt familiar. Familiarity with them made his fear of rejection even higher.

Upon raising his hand, Josh saw his own hands as claws with sharp weapon like nails. His head turned to his body and saw what looked like armour. Yet, the strangest thing was that he felt two protrusions from his back. His gaze turned to his back; and with a surprise, a pair of pure white wings idled on his back.

“Is that you Josh?” The man with a noble aura spoke.

“Ya, Dad…” Josh’s voice trembled with uncertainty, “Is that you?”

'Y-y..Yes Josh.” His dad hesitated. “What happened to you?”

His dad’s stare made him uncomfortable. Why does he look at me like that? Do I look that strange?

“What happened... What happened!? Did we all die?!” Josh screamed. Without waiting for a reply, he continued, “I saw all of you die right in front of me and you ask me what happened”

His family was right in front of him. Josh never thought of being able to see them so soon again. The elf looked a lot like his mother; and sure enough, she was. Concluding that all of them had similar appearances, the fairy was his sister Jess. The mutant like human straight from the D&D game was his brother, Dust.

Tears formed around the corner of Josh’s eyes as he recognized them one by one. Yet, they looked at Josh with an ill omened stare.

Seeing Josh’s miserable expression, Jess, his sister, lips opened up a gap on her lips.

“Josh! we were just worried about you!” She exclaimed as it to interrupt Josh’s thoughts. ”You just showed up and looked sad.”

“Then why do you look like you’re scared of me?!” Josh cried.

“Bro, you look like a demon except for those angel like wings y’know?” Dust said.

“Ya and your eyes still are still sky blue… but they glow...” His mom spoke out.

Josh was still on his knees and spoke with an expression of disbelief. “What do you mean… glow?”

“Bro, you’re eyes are like glow sticks, except like a ball.” Dust chuckled.

“Not funny DJ” Josh answered with an irritation in his voice. It wasn’t the time to joke around when everyone was in a dark place with no visible structures, people, or anything. Everyone was alone, in a sense that nothing was around them. The black space they were in was neither cold nor warm. There was only one description that could describe such a place—a place between life and death.

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Josh stood up, looking at his body once more. Thoughts lingered on his mind as he examined his body in more detail than before. One thought popped up more than the rest: he was different. The difference in his mind made him feel that he didn’t fit with his family anymore. It was like an ill fitting joke that God played on him.

Why would God make him feel separated from his family. His family was the place he felt the most comfortable in. It was the one last place where he could be himself, yet such difference between him and his family members made his past comfort being with them look like a joke.

At that instant, Josh felt a nudge. His dad had shook him out of his deep thoughts. Being the leading kind of man his dad was, it was bound to happen. His dad knew how Josh thought and when to snap him out of it. It was his innate leader like qualities that let him handle all kinds of people—especially knowing his son the best.

“So we all died?” Josh muttered.

“Mhm, looks like it.” His father answered with a stern voice. “But all of us arrived shortly one after another.”

“But yours took longer than any of ours. We have been waiting what has felt like six hours” Jess let out a groan.

I looked at them weirdly

“I died shortly after you when I killed the two men. So I don’t think that was the reason…” Josh mumbled.

“Wait a minute!!” His father waved his hands around to stop the discussion. “You killed them!?”

I then spent the next ten minutes explaining what happened.

His parent’s face paled when they heard the details. Never would have they expected their son to kill; not even to avenge their deaths. Worse of all, Josh did it in a fit of rage. Everyone in his family knew that his rage was destructive and could hurt those around him. Even though he was kind, he was bullied all his life; nevertheless, that never held him back .

His morals were solid and the love for his family was unconditional. A lot of people took their family for granted, but family for Josh was never for granted. Always thinking about them and loving them was something that Josh always thought about deeply.

Yet even after all of that, Josh still had “that.” And “that” was his rage. He put all the pent up rage and hate inside a ball that he imagined inside his chest. All the hate from the bullying, all the hate from the hate of others for him, they all went inside that small ball. From there, dark thoughts were born. Soon enough, those dark thoughts became apart of him.

However, Josh denied that part about him. Never did he want to admit it. So because he didn’t accept it, it grew, and grew, and grew until it became a massive part of him that was ignited on that day the men broke into his house.

The blind rage set itself on fire. It gave him strength and consumed him as a person at the same time.

“This anger…” Josh mumbled. “I can still feel it.” He looked up at his family as his eyes were still teary from the relief of meeting his family again. Misery ran down his face, and all they could do was give Josh one big embrace as a whole family.

The feeling of being surrounded by the ones he loved was an indescribable bliss. His raging soul, anger, hate… all of it calmed down.

From that calming feeling, Josh learned one important lesson: even though they all look different, they were all still family no matter what.

“Hello there. God is speaking.”

The voice was light yet it had a commanding pressure. At this point, everyone turned their heads to see where the voice came from.