Chapter Three: Sorrow

If you haven't read chapter one or two make sure to check them out!
One: https://steemit.com/story/@mel1ss/chapter-one-the-beginning
Two: https://steemit.com/writing/@mel1ss/chapter-two-reckoning

Chapter Three: Sorrow

I'm still coming to the realisation that I'm actually dead. It's amazing how one second you're alive and the next you're not. I should've known to treat life better, to love more and to tell my family that I love them every single day. It's too late now, too late to change what I didn't do. I'm never going to see them again, never going to hear their laughs or cries, I won't get to see my little brother grow up and become a man.

Life is cruel and death doesn't know forgiveness, and now I'm stuck here in the Reckoning. Death isn't as simple as life, it's a lot tougher. In the Reckoning you learn to grow up quicker than you ever could whilst living. I'm one of the lucky ones, I have Will. I have someone who's been here for years, someone who knows the dos and don’ts.

I've only been here for a few days and I've already seen things that haunt me. People can still kill each other in the Reckoning and murder is a favourite sport for many. People who would've never murdered whilst alive are among the top murderers here. There's no rules and no hierarchy, apart from the man in the sky. Nobody knows who he is but a lot of people believe he's 'God.' He only ever talks once a day when he's selected the next 20 people to go into the Death Trials. The Death Trials scare me and even thinking about them makes me shiver.

Will has told me that the trials bring out your fears as well as focus on your weaknesses. He doesn't know much about the trials and what he's heard are only rumours but it's something. People here will talk about anything, but they all want another chance at life. They don't want to die here, but only one in twenty will win the trials. As far as we know, once you win you will be reborn and sent into a newborns body. All of your memories from your previous life will be wiped and you get to start over.

Although, some people don't want a fresh start, they don't want to forget the lives or memories they once had. Unfortunately for them, once you get selected for the trials you have no choice but to compete. I’ve seen a few of these people get selected and refuse to go, but something pulls them towards the building, something they can’t resist no matter how hard they try.

As you can imagine there are billions of people here. We think there’s no end to the Reckoning, people are scattered across endless amounts of space. Although, as far as we know there’s only one building that leads to the Death Trials. Whenever someone who’s been selected is far away, they will literally come flying to the building. ‘The work of God’ some people say. I honestly have never believed in God and even now I still don’t. Why not give everyone a second chance instead of just the ones who win the trials? It feels like this ‘God’ is more like the ‘Devil.’

The Reckoning is an awful place filled with some terrible people but it’s not all bad. We all have our own apartments in which we don’t have to share with anybody. Nobody can get into your personal apartment without your say so. A lot of people will bunker up in their apartment and will never come out, unless their name is called for the Trials. When I first got here and William took me aside he told me how to find my apartment. There was a key in my pocket engraved with a letter and four numbers B3535. Will was very surprised as it was the same apartment building as his and was even the room next door. He said the lady who was in there before had been selected for the trials only yesterday, so I got lucky. The apartments have everything we need and even though sleep and food isn’t a necessity anymore we can still enjoy them.

I can hear the sirens calling outside, Will comes to my door and we go to the announcement together. I feel nervous every time those sirens ring, what if I’m picked? How will I survive?

As we walk out onto the street the man in the sky starts talking.

‘Hello my precious souls. I know you’ve all been eagerly awaiting today’s announcement, but wait no longer for the time has come. It’s time for 20 of you to begin your journey back to Earth. The trials have been changed and adjusted to make things a little harder. I wish you all good fortune but may the best win the life.’

He says the same thing every day, never changes a word. As he begins reading out names I think to myself, ‘Please don’t say my name, don’t say my name…’

‘Sophie Taskers.’

He said it.

I’m frozen in fear, I can’t go, I can’t leave Will. Will looks at me with sadness in his eyes and gives me a hug before pushing me into the crowd towards the building. I try and walk but my legs fail. All of a sudden I feel a force pushing me from behind, it’s him. The man in the sky is forcing me to my death, to the Death Trials.

As I’m thrown inside the building I see the 19 other people who’ve been selected. Most of them look as frightened as I do but there’s a few who look like they’ve killed before, lucky me. I look around the building and notice the walls, ceiling and tiles are all gold. A woman sitting behind a desk asks us all to line up before ticking us off some list one by one. After she’s done we’re shoved into an elevator and go up to the top floor. The doors open and all I can see is him.

He’s younger than I thought he would be. His eyes are gold, everything about him is gold, except in some ways he looks like us.

‘Welcome, glad you could join me.’ He sounds different, not as frightening as the voice in the sky.

‘I’m sure you’ll all be very confused by what’s happening. I’m not God or whoever you believed in. I’m just a creator. You see, Earth isn’t yours, there was no Big Bang or a magical man who created you all, it was just us. We found Earth billions of years ago and since we already had many planets of our own we decided to experiment. Our experiments lead to what you call ‘Humans’ and after observing you for many years we decided to let you take charge. What a mistake that was. When we came back, Earth was dying, your population had grown significantly and we needed to do something about it. We took control of Earth again and tried to get the population and global warming under control. The Reckoning, as you call it, is a way of punishment. You’re stuck here until we decide it’s your time to leave. For most people it takes centuries to get out of this place, but your time has come.’ He almost looked sad, as if it wasn’t up to him what happens to us.

‘Follow me.’ He points back towards the elevator and we all do as we’re told.

Once in the elevator he doesn’t push a button. Instead, he looks down at the ground and shuts his eyes. The elevator starts to rumble and we fly downwards, everyone is on top of each other but he hasn’t moved. The elevator doors open and everything is dark, there’s no light wherever we are. I get up, look around and wait for my eyes to focus.
Once I see where we are, I gasp. He looks at me and a sense of sorrow crosses his face.

‘Welcome to the Death Trials.’

Here's to hoping you all enjoyed this chapter - not feeling too confident about it so don't be too harsh on me!!

Check back in next week for Chapter Four!

Thanks for reading.

Until next time,

Meliss