The Void
Prequel
Sometimes life will have you by the balls, unrelenting and waiting for you to plead uncle. It’s how you tell life to fuck off that really matters. The way you respond when you’re whole life is thrown into chaos and there is nothing more in your will to fight back. When you see the world for what it truly is and how you never cared for anything other than yourself, at least that’s the way it seemed before this moment. To be honest I’m getting ahead of myself, let me give you some background information of the current situation at hand.
I was 26 and living in the greatest city of them all. Where ever the fuck I was, New York, San Francisco, Denver. Where I was doesn’t really matter and you’ll understand that later. Honestly, none of it matters, not the kids or the wife or my yappy ass dog. What matters is what happened on January 18th, 2036. I’m sure you’re wondering how can I be writing you this story when this hasn’t even happened yet and that doesn’t matter either just trust me when this is all over you’ll finally be able to see what I mean.
So back to the story, it was 2 weeks before the big day at hand and I was just driving to work like any normal day. Then suddenly I was hit by some asshole who couldn’t find his side of the road. Who would have guessed the drunken idiot killed me. I certainly would have but you, no you would have thought I would have been saved by some EMT. How could he save me when the prick didn’t even arrive at the scene for another two hours?
Next thing I know I’m standing there looking down at my miserable body wondering why the fuck me. Why did today have to be my day? I’m looking around and I see all these assholes not even caring, they’re just going on with their days like none of this mattered. Hell if I was there I can’t say I wouldn’t have reacted any different than them.
What does a guy do when he’s dead and how the fuck was I supposed to know what to do? I just started walking around wondering if I would see anyone else in this trance like state I found myself in. There I was walking along 23rd and 5th when suddenly this mystical man walks up toward me. I noticed right away that his face wasn’t really, well, noticeable. It wasn’t as if it was non-existent but more like the features all blurred into one.
I hollered at the guy and asked him where the hell this place is and he turned around and responded, “Well I don’t know why I should be the one to have to tell you.” I thought to myself what the fuck kind of response is that shit.
So I said “If you’re not going to tell me then where can I go to find out?” As if this asshole was going to be any help to me. My luck is he’d probably want me to give him head behind the Steak ‘N Shake then run off before I got my answer and fuck if I was going to blow some guy to begin with.
Oddly enough he walked over to me. Now this guy didn’t walk like you and me walk, it was more like he just moved from location to location in one swift, fluid movement. When he was standing less than a foot from my face he told me “This is a place where those who have no answers to find come, when we are unable to help with the end result. It’s like when you’re playing a game of solitary and there isn’t any more moves. Sometimes you will restart but eventually you just stop. Welcome my friend to what we like to call The Void
I’d like to think I’m like any other sap who lives in this town, out of hope with nowhere else to go but I’d be wrong. I had a lot of hope with nowhere else to go. The days would seem to run together because my youth was forever and I could spend it with everyone but no one that I wanted to.
There is a weird feeling you get when you feel like nothing matters anymore. When the very fibers of your soul have decided that it no longer wants a do over. The weird thing about it is that I don’t have memories from all my previous lives. Andrew down Venus Park where some of us in the Void like to hang out told me that no one else does either. I guess you’re stuck with the memories from whatever retry you had last.
Now I’m not a very good author I know that, I cuss a lot and my grammar is shit so I hired this guy to tell my story for all of you who haven’t given up yet. So try not to be a dick to him about writing such a shit book but he was the only author I could find in the Void. We made a deal that if I ever find the way out that I’ll bring him with me.
Before I go I just wanted to let you guys know who I am or rather was before I died. My name is Jesse Dean. This is my story on the conquest for me to get out of this God forsaken Void before I finally give up like everyone else here. Now I can’t tell you I ever make it out or not because I haven’t gotten that far. Today is day 1 and this guy Hunter is going to follow me around and record all my events for you on the off chance that I ever make it out of here and just because you’re reading this doesn’t mean I did. I might have just found some fucked way to get this story through my world back into the living one.
Chapter One
By, Hunter Fluharty
“So where do you think we should go from here” Jesse asked Andrew
Andrew was a quite spirit, but he hadn’t quite given up hope yet either. He had been in the Void for a little over a week according to him. It was odd, the ones who hadn’t been in the Void for far too long still had some reminiscence of their face left. Andrew was tall at 5 feet 11 inches. He had very dark blue-ish green eyes with long eyelashes that desperately attempted to hide the pain he had stowed away.
“We should wait for your eyes to adjust to the Void first” said Andrew “Your first day here, you’ll still see the living world but after you wake up for the first time you will see what really is the Void. I’m surprised you can see the spirits already. I wasn’t able to see anyone for my first three days.”
Jesse replied “Well where do I sleep at then? Do I even need rest here?”
Andrew answered “I don’t know why you think I’m some expert on this shit man, but you can sleep wherever you want as far as I’m concerned. Since you can’t see the Void yet, you should probably just come with me to where I stay. And yes, you need rest to keep your hope, at least that’s what one of the blurred faces told me. He had said that he thought he could go forever like it was one big hit of coke that never ended, I guess he was wrong.”
“Have you made any other acquaintances here” Jesse asked
“Well I have made a few” Andrew replied “But I don’t know them very well. I don’t think anyone really knows anyone here that well. It’s like we’re all lost, stranded puppies that all need a mother’s tit to suckle.”
Jesse said “I don’t know about you but I think we should stick together in order to get out of here. If we even can that is.”
“How can we?” said Andrew “Don’t you think if someone could get out of here that everyone would be running down the yellow-brick fucking road to find their way out?”
“Then let’s be the first to get out. There has to be something we can do.” said Jesse
Andrew told Jesse to follow him as he walked off right after saying “Or there is nothing we can do, we spend the last bit of our sanity striving to find an answer when there was really none to find. We are no different than any of these other lovely people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.”
Jesse hoped to find a friend in Andrew because so far he was the only person he had met who still had hope. Someone who he could make out from everyone else. He didn’t know what kind of person Andrew was but Jesse didn’t care. He felt alone and he knew no one so to him it didn’t really matter who Andrew was. All that mattered was that he would help him find his way out of this place.
Jesse followed Andrew through what seemed like countless blocks. From Jesse’s perspective they had ventured through about 20 buildings, they just went right through them. He would walk right through someone’s apartment and see them rub their shoulders like they just got a cold chill down their spine. Jesse had begun to wonder if he would start to feel any exhaustion in the Void. He thought about asking Andrew but didn’t want to annoy his only, so called friend any more than he already has.
Andrew and Jesse finally made it back to Andrews’s place of residence where Jesse could only see out over the ocean. He had no idea how to react and in an attempt to reframe from having a panic attack, which he wasn’t even sure he could still have, he decided it would be best to get some rest.
“You won’t have any dreams” Andrew told Jesse. “This place seems to cease to exist for many of the things we were once used to having accommodated to us. If only we knew all the dreams, good or bad, would be welcomed once we could no longer have them. Instead you will watch yourself in a black abyss as you try not to lose hope.”
As Jesse laid down on what seemed like the sky and he closed his eyes awaiting the dark abyss to surface he replied “Well that’s fucking horrifying.” He wasn’t sure how long it had taken him to fall to sleep. He couldn’t tell if it was 5 minutes or 5 hours. He didn’t know truly what to expect when he closed his eyes except that tomorrow he would start on a journey to regain his life back.
When Jesse’s eyes opened he saw sharp edges and vivid colors. The colors in the room he was in were an array of bright blues, greens, and reds. They would normally seem out of place but somehow here they all flowed together seemingly perfect. The edges on every corner where so sharp he was afraid that if he would bump anything that it would cut him so deep he might bleed out, well not to death but to hopelessness he figured.
He wondered how someone could lose hope the way they did. Why would anyone want to live in the Void when there was life out there to experience? He imagined that many of them were wrongfully killed in their own way. Wouldn’t they want a second chance to get things right, to right all there wrongs?
Suddenly Jesse remembered about his previous night of sleep. He had a dream. He had to find Andrew and tell him, so he jumped up out of bed to be startled by a mirror. He looked empty, it was as if he could see through his soul at the pure emptiness there. He couldn’t see any love or hate of any kind. However, he wonder if the emptiness could be hate and maybe he was overwhelmed with hate.
Deciding that he needed to find Andrew and tell him about his dream he pulled himself away from the mirror and headed towards the only door in sight. He stepped out into the hall which was full off colors. They seemed to stripe through the walls in every which way. There were colors there that normally would have looked dull but for some reason they were vivid as he ever imagined. It was as if they were full of all the life he was chasing. He worried if they would fade along with his hope.
He decided to turn right and go to the room at the end of the hallway since it looked like there was only a bathroom to his left. Jesse yelled out for Andrew as he walked through this disorientating world.
“So your finally awake, are you?” Andrew said from behind him.
“Where did you come from?” Jesse asked startled. “Do you see all these colors too?”
Andrew replied “Well I’m glad I’m not the only one who can see them. I was curious if you were going to or not.”
Jesse asked “Are they so bright to you? It seems like they are just flowing through everything here. Here in the Void, that’s where we are isn’t it?”
“Well this is my loft, but yeah this is the Void.” Said Andrew “and before you ask, as far as I’ve seen, everywhere has energies flowing through it.”
“Is there anything else unique about this world I’ve found myself in with you?” Jesse asked.
Andrew replied “Reality is perception, we all see illusions. Reality is deception.” Jesse stared at him looking rather confused to which Andrew said “Seeing is believing right? However, here your eyes will play tricks on you.”
Jesse responded by saying “Where do you think we should go first? I was thinking we should head down to the water fountain at the park and start gathering everyone who still has some hope left.”
“There is millions of people here Jesse, the majority of which have lost hope.” Andrew said snarky. “What makes you think out of all the people who haven’t they will want to help you and me?”
Jesse said “Well sure a lot might not want anything to do with us, but some surely will. We will be able to find at least a few people to help us brainstorm and come up with a way out. Even if we can’t, we have to do something man and I don’t have a clue as to what that is.”
Slightly taken aback Andrew replied “Fine we can go down there and ask around but I don’t think you’re going to find a means to ends there.” Andrew walked closer to him. With all seriousness he said “We have to be careful because if we do things over and over and get disappointed, we are going to end up losing our hope a lot faster than we’re able to capitalize.”
Andrew went to his room which was actually through a door through the bathroom, he said he wanted a few minutes before they set off. So Jesse thought it would be a good idea to get his sea legs set, well that’s probably what his grandfather, Earl, would have told him. Earl was in the navy for ten years during a battle with the Koreans before Jesse was ever born.
He had taught Jesse many important things when he was a child because he had practically lived with his grandfather Earl. Jesse looked up to him an awful lot when he was growing up. Jesse was wondering if he might find him here and he could help them get out. However, Jesse thought that if he was here he most likely would have given up hope by now because it had been roughly 15 years since he had passed away
Jesse had arrived at a window now and he was looking out to see a world more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. It was filled to the brim with life. There was extravagant color deep rooted into every aspect of the Void. From the sky to the trees everything was vibrant even if it wasn’t quite the right color opposed to the world he once lived in. Jesse saw things flying throughout the skies and thousands of people walking throughout the streets, almost like zombies.
He turned around now to truly look at everything is this apartment of Andrew’s. If you would say anything about it you would say minimalist.