Black. Everything is black.
I sit up, although I don't remember why I was even lying down in the first place. Was I asleep? Am I in bed?
No; whatever I'm lying on is too hard for that.
I push myself up off the ground easily, straining my eyes to try and make out something, anything, in this darkness.
Elise.
Well everything must be okay if my stupid conscience is speaking again.
Elise, turn around.
I sigh and do as I'm told, knowing that there really isn't much else for me to do.
Only, when I turn around, there's actually something there. It looks like a person... But not.
"Hello?" I call cautiously, trying to see the figure better.
Hello Elise.
"Wait, you're my conscience? Why can I see you?" I ask. Musical laughter fills the air, only it doesn't. My ears aren't hearing this. My brain is.
We are not your conscience. We have been around for a lot longer than that.
"We? Who's we?"
We are we.
"Wow. That's a great answer." I say sarcastically. "Who are you?"
We think it's best if you figure that out for yourself.
"Okay... Where am I? How did I get here? How did you get here? If you're not my conscience, then why have you been saying my name over and over? Why're you here? How long will this take? How long will I be here? How do I leave?"
Patience. We will answer everything in due timing.
"Please just tell me what happened."
You were struck by lightning, and now you are here. This place is the 'in-between' zone, if you will.
"Wait, as in like, between asleep and awake? Between death and life?"
We cannot say, but you will figure it out. We have called you, for you have been deemed suitable for a trade. We are here because you are here. We have always been here. You will be here until you are not, and that is up to you.
"What?" I ask in total confusion. This figure just contradicted itself so many times, and hardly answered any of my questions. "Who are you?"
We are we.
Great. It knows how to repeat itself.
"Am I gonna be stuck here forever, or what? Like, should I bother coming up with a name for you or should I just twiddle my thumbs until I dematerialise or something?"
You will not dematerialise. You will leave. You will wake up, and then you will be gone.
"So this is a dream? I just have to wake up from my sleep?" I pinch myself and slap my own arm really hard. Ow.
We never said you were sleeping.
"But if I'm not sleeping, then how do I wake up?" I groan; this is going nowhere. I lie down on the floor in defeat and frustration, then realise that maybe I need to fall asleep now, that way I can wake up.
Elise.
"What?" The figure appears on the ground next to me and I can now see that it's literally just a light. Basically it's a silhouette, but instead of being made of shadows it's made of light.
Do not sleep.
"What? Why?" I ask, sitting up and looking down at 'we'.
Sleeping in this place loses the path. Losing the path gets you lost in-between. We cannot let you get lost, therefore we cannot let you sleep.
I sigh and sit cross-legged, and the light figure appears sitting in the same style directly in front of me.
Ask.
"What?"
Ask and we will answer.
"Okay... How many people or beings or whatever are a part of you?"
Human minds cannot comprehend. Next.
"You don't have a face. You're just an outline. Why?" As I watch 'we', it changes shape, and soon Patty is sitting across from me instead of a faceless figure of light. "You're Patty?"
No. We thought you might want a familiar face to talk to now. We can be Lance or Debora Quick if you would prefer them.
"No thanks; talking to my parents would be weirder than talking to a Patty that's not Patty... Man, this is so weird."
Would you prefer us to change back?
"Yes please... Can you change where we are too? Like, is that another thing you're capable of? Can you change to fictional places or anything cool like that?"
We can change to anywhere.
Suddenly we're sitting in my front yard, but then we're in a park, then an empty coffee shop, then we go through a series of places I don't recognise until one in particular catches my attention.
"Jitters?"
We knew you would like this one.
"Well, I'd love to go home and watch some Flash and pretend this never happened, but I can't, can I?"
No, you cannot. We can turn you into ash if you would like though.
"What? Why would I want that?"
It is a sure way out.
"Yeah, but that's because I'll be dead. I don't want to die."
You will not be ashes. You need to wake up. It is needed.
Then why did you say you would do it?
"Okay, but what do I do when I wake up?"
You will be Cara, and Cara will be you.
"What? Who's Cara?"
You. Everything will be clear when you wake up. You will understand.
"And what if I don't understand?"
You will. We will make sure.
"Why is all of this happening to me?"
You are suitable.
"Suitable for what? Wait, let me guess; you can't say." I don't say anything more for a while, and neither does the light figure. We just sit there, me looking around 'Jitters' from my spot on the floor while the figure does who knows what in it's own mind. "What happened to Wolfgang?" I ask out of nowhere.
We have noticed how much you care for the creature. He is good. We knew you would like him.
"Wait, you're the one who left him on the side of the road? You trained him?"
We did not do it, but we made it happen.
"What? How?"
A breeder trained him, and wanted to sell him. We had to stop him. He is ashes.
"He's ashes? You killed him?"
It was necessary. He would not cooperate, and he was smart. He knew too much.
"Are you going to kill me too? I mean, I know things now."
Not necessary. You are good. You must wake up. You are needed.
"I'm needed? For what?"
You are needed.
I sigh in frustration; this thing is only giving me more and more confusion instead of answering my questions. I get up and walk around to stand behind the register of Jitters, taking a cookie out of the display cabinet and biting into it. I taste nothing.
"If I'm needed, then why am I here? What do I need to do to get out? How do I do whatever I'm needed for?"
We cannot say. Sleep now.
"What? Sleep? You said before that I'm not meant to sleep."
SLEEP.
My head hurts with the force of the command, and it's enough to make me fall to the ground and close my eyes.
It's enough to knock me out.
It's enough to make me sleep.