Star Crossed Myth: Black Holes

Chapter 21: 32

Now, I am in absolute darkness. I cannot tell if my eyes are open or not. My memories are no longer assaulting me. I am dull and empty. No information passing through me. Am I lying down or standing? I can't tell. I know for sure, however, that I am no longer a member of the world of the living. I cannot tell how long I have been like this, in this darkness. Seconds? Eons? When I decide to turn my head, I am met with a startling sight. Samuel.

He is the same, and for a moment, I am eight years old. I look at him, and he smiles his sunny smile. "Samuel?" Behind him are thirty-one other children. I remember all of them, and for a moment, I feel ashamed. A guilty cold seeps into my chest, laboring my breath. I cannot look at them. "Imani." Samuel sounds strange, like his voice echoes through all of Space and Time. He sounds at peace. "You've hidden these memories for so long. Wasn't it tiring?"

I nod.

"Aren't you glad you got to see us again?" I am, but my sins will never be wiped clean.

"You always think too much. It's over and done with. We live a lot better than we'd ever be able to here." But I killed you. That I can never forget.

"We were all children that the world didn't want." You had the right to life, and I took it away. There were so many ways I could've avoided the bloodshed, but I didn't.

"There you go, blaming yourself again." I deserve the blame, don't I?

"No." thirty-two voices say all together. "I know it sound like we're trying to comfort you when we say this, but if you logically look at it, we died when we were kids, and we were manipulated into doing the things we did. It's basically a free pass into heaven." Samuel shrugs his shoulders. Oh. Well, there's that, but I can't just forget the things I've done.

"I know, but it's never too late to start forgiving yourself. I mean, sure, you killed us pretty brutally, but we're having a fucking ball in the afterlife." So that's where I got that stupid nonchalant attitude from.

"What?" So what do I do now?

"Well, to start with, you can't sit with us." You died before that reference even became a thing. "Yeah, but we have access to a lot of things in the afterlife."

"Someone is still calling for you in the living world. Is it really the living world?" Samuel turns round to confirm it with Zara. They whisper for a time, then he turns back to me and says, "Kind of the living world, more or less. Fifty-fifty." Someone is still calling? Who?

"That scorpion person." He's calling for me? Why?

"Go find out or something. We're going back to watch some Adventure Time." Wait! I want to watch with you guys. "You can't. Not your time yet." He says, turning away from me. It's when I start to run, my hand outstretched.

"Oh yeah. I didn't tell you back then, but when I asked you to pray for me..." but it's too late, and I'm being pulled back.

Yoyoyo! How r my fav readers doing? I  hope y'all are good. The stupid author's notes are baaaack!!