2. Void

Three stood.

Colour-coded hats held precariously in their right hands, placed above the heart, they leaned forward with robotic synchronization, settling in a respectful bow. Synchronously, the three fixed their posture, straightening their backs and standing upright.

A chuckle rumbled in my throat. How nostalgic, that was our usual performance. 

...but 'Nostalgia'? Why do I feel this way? 

The shortest of the three would toss her hat to the sky, prancing steps ahead-- perhaps she would do an extra twirl today; maybe she'd do a somersault instead, or maybe she'd dance. It was different every day, but it always ended as she caught the hat with her head.

It was her, my signature starter, it was the beginning of our show. It was the startup of everything, the little warm-up act everyone and she loved. 

And then, she would say... "Ladies and Gentlemen!" 

Speaking in unison with her, I chuckled. Wincing at my parched throat, I frowned. Was my throat always so dry? 

She was wearing her favourite white tailcoat. It was garnished with green trims, finished with a smart green tie. Her top hat was white, with a green ribbon tied into a fancy and huge, yet somehow adorable bow. 

Her hair was tied into a low ponytail, part of her fringe pinned up with two bobby pins with a red and blue gem.

Why am I looking at myself?

-----

"Drew," my brothers called for me. 

"Hm?" I made a natural response, lifting my head from my homework and getting up to make my way to Eve's room upstairs. 

"Close your eyes," Eve said playfully. Standing meekly behind him, I could see Zen with hands pushed behind him, evidently to obscure a little something from my eyes. The desk was a mess.

I giggled lightly, knowing I was in for a pleasant surprise. Obediently, I closed my eyes, lifting it towards my brother. "You better not draw on my face or something, kay?" 

"We won't!" Eve whined in a promise, "Just stay still."

I felt warm fingers brush across my forehead. Warm fingers; Warm hands; This was Zen. 

"Okay," said Zen. 

The warmth of his hands left my forehead, quickly being replaced by cold; thin fingers petting my head and ruffling my hair into place. Cold hands... Eve had cold hands.

"Open your eyes," he said, removing his hand.

I saw a mirror, myself. My bangs had been brushed apart neatly, now held up by two bobby pins. They gleamed as new, each garnished with a sparkling gemstone. One was red; the other was blue. 

"Do you like it?" Eve asked, "They're real gems."

As simple a present hairclips were, his statement left me at a lost for words. "You've got to be kidding, seriously?"

Zen nodded meekly, putting out a V. "100%," he assured, "it's small, but that's an actual garnet and sapphire." 

Garnet-- ruby, and sapphire?? As much as I loved rubies and sapphires-- "I-I can't wear these! How expensive were these?? This is crazy--this is the kind of stuff you hide in a safe!" I freaked out, "I mean, I mean--"

Eve put a hand on my head in attempt to calm me. "Oh c'mon, dear. Everyone probably thinks they're fake. I mean, who'd be wearing that? But you gotta wear that." 

"Eve, what even--"

"It's a perfect fit, ain't it?" Eve interrupted me. "Red, Blue and Green," he counted in his fingers, "coming together, the colours meld perfectly, don't you think?"

"Green?" I piqued.

"Well, unlike me and Eve..." Zen mumbled, "You've got mom's eyes." 

I felt my face flush with flattery. In fact, I was the only child in the family with our mother's emerald green eyes. But this was just-- I'm so embarrassed.

"Oh, her face is all red." Eve teased. 

"Get a camera," Zen followed.

"Heeeyyy!!" I whined. Eve and Zen laughed, and I followed. I wrapped my arms around them both. "Thank you." I said gratefully, "Thanks, Zen. Thanks, Eve."

The two smiled warmly. They turned to each other, their eyes meeting for a knowing moment. Then, they turned back to me. 

"You're welcome." Zen said, petting my head softly.

"Happy birthday, Drew." Eve said.

-----

Ah. I know now.

I was watching the scene, sitting down, calmly, as if it was a movie. 

I'm dead.

I remembered. It took me a while. My hair was put up in a way I usually did for school, with my pins holding up my fringe. 

I drowned.

There were injuries on me. My left wrist and right ankle were badly swollen, a growth to twice their size a sickly shade of purple where I knew it had been snapped. However, there was no pain. I felt nothing, aside from the dryness of my throat that couldn't be quenched no matter how much saliva I swallowed.

I felt nothing. No despair, no fear, no hate, no guilt, no pain, no sadness, no nothing. It was just like Oh, I'm dead? Oh, well. 

Am I watching my life flash before my eyes?

I wonder what Zen and Eve are doing now. Did they find me? Are they mourning my death? Or are they still searching? Have they gone on with the show without me? Has my death affected them positively, negatively, or at all?

What happened to those thugs? Did they find their target? Who were they, anyway? 

Where am I, even?

Was this what lay beyond death? Nothingness? Was Heaven and Hell a lie? All that lay beyond death was a Void... A space of nothingness, where nothing exists, nothing is created, and nothing is left behind?

I guess it's not so bad.

After all, I no longer have any petty human emotions in my way. I can faintly remember my last. The fear I felt. The desperate crying. How quickly my heart beat. How painful agony was. 

Here, I feel nothing. Here, unpleasantness and fear didn't exist. Here, I'm in complete bliss. I really wouldn't mind staying here forever. 

After all, there's no suffering. 

-----

"Oh, I found another one." 

I opened my eyes slowly. Someone had spoken. In this infinite darkness with not a single thing in sight, someone had spoken. 

Who's there?

There was a response. The voice gave a low, distant chuckle that echoed across the ebony horizon, "I am a governor. That's who's there."

A ...governor? ...Not a god?

There was a chortle. "Well, [God] is a little different," he laughed again, "you could call me the Void."

The Void... ?

"It's a simple system. Humans die-- then they're here. Some call this place the Limbo," it began explaining. "Heaven takes the good; Hell takes the bad; But there are exceptions."

"Regret--those who left the Earth with strong feelings of guilt, for a lack of fulfillment or a powerful malice toward the lack of equality in human nature. Then there are the broken who fail to find in themselves what they desire. Perhaps it is the here itself that they would like to remain in, but humans are incapable of remaining in this nothingness." 

I heard him sigh. "I am the Void, and I serve to return souls to earth."

I blinked. It wasn't really surprising, but I was just--bewildered? He popped out of nowhere and began vomiting all this information on me--I get he's some sort of governor of the afterlife or something, but is he supposed to be explaining the Afterlife Monarchy Rules to me?

This guy has no physical form. I don't really know where to look.

"So, kid," he started, surprising me with his change in tone. Was he forcing himself to sound professional? Did he give up on the professionalism and went straight into neighborhood old man? 

"I'm giving you a new life, but this life will be a living Dante's inferno, I tell ya." he said, giving a weird metaphor, "there's no telling what kind of world you'll be in, or what changes will happen to your body as it adapts to the new world you will be reincarnated in."

Wait, what? What's going on now am I getting a second life ticket? Why not to my own world is this an isekai light novel??? 

"You'll go through hardships," his voice was solemn, "a lot more than what you've already gone through. You'll have lasting effects from whatever you died from, including some pretty birthmarks--" he stopped to scoff, muttering under his breath, "cause this system is so shitty they can't even give you a proper human body--" I heard him spit, "but this is your one and only second chance at life! Use it wisely!"

JUST GIV EME A MOMENT CAN I HAVE A DEEPER EXPLANATION--

"Bye!"