138 reads already??? What?

That took me completely off guard. Thank you all so much!

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There was no light.

Jack almost wished there was, as maybe then everything would be a little less terrifying, but there wasn't. Just empty darkness.

Although, that still wasn't entirely true either. Everything around Jack was certainly pitch black, but something told him it wasn't empty. There was something, someone, here with him. Whoever it was made no sound to guarantee their presence, and Jack couldn't see or feel anything, and yet he was still certain that there was another person in this void, floating alongside him.

"Hello?" Jack cautiously called out. It was probably a stupid move, and anyone who's seen a fair amount of horror movies would know this, but Jack decided it was better than sitting in silence and waiting for God knows what to jump out at him. If the person that was here with him, should they be a person, was actually hostile, then there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

But, much to Jack's relief, his call into the darkness received no response. It was still unnaturally silent, to the point where even the sound of Jack faintly breathing came out as deafening by comparison. Whatever presence he'd felt here didn't seem intent on bothering him for now, if it was even still here at all.

Now that he was sure of his immediate safety, Jack let his guard down a little and tried to assess the situation. He wasn't sure where he was, how he'd gotten there or why he'd ended up there, and the lack of knowledge was proving to be rather irksome.

Jack focused on trying to remember his most recent memory, hoping to start from that and then piece everything together slowly. There wasn't much else he could try, really.

After only a few seconds of thought, Jack was able to recall his walk to the coffee shop with Signe. He could remember it clear as day and had no trouble bringing forth the details, which lead him to believe that that couldn't have been the event that lead to him getting stuck in this weird void. Focusing harder, Jack tried to bring back the rest of the story.

There was a camera. He definitely remembered a camera. The image of it watching him walk away was burned into his memory for some reason. Jack knew it was important, but why he hadn't yet figured out. Pressing further, he remembered the conversation with Signe in the coffee shop, and the pleasant hour they spent people watching, as well as the lady with the newspaper. Something in his brain was screaming at him about her importance, but much to Jack's dismay he couldn't recall what that importance was. Then there was his walk back, with the needle-like raindrops and the typical liveliness of the city, the weird anxious feeling, the man...

The man.

The man with the icy blue eyes.

The second camera.

The road.

The stick.

The truck.

His death.

It was like Jack had stumbled across a key in his mind, one that unlocked a door behind which lay memories that had been somehow blocked from him. Everything started to trickle in slowly at first, like little drops of rain from a leaky ceiling, but the more he remembered the quicker they came, and pretty soon that leaky ceiling burst from the weight of the water. All of the memories came flooding back to him in a rush, swarming and pushing to take their rightful place in his mind and escape the door they'd been hidden by.

It was both breathtaking and terrifying for Jack, who now was wishing he could shove all of those memories behind a door again, as almost none of these memories were pleasant. They started out lovely, with Signe by his side, but then progressively grew more alarming the more recent they were.

And then there was the matter of him being hit by a truck.

That was the most insane memory of them all. Jack could remember every second of it, every millisecond, every nanosecond. All of it was etched into his memory for good. The bone-chilling realization that the vehicle was too close to dodge, the sound of the tires against the wet pavement that served as his funeral march, the feeling of his body freezing up and accepting the fate that awaited him, followed by the feeling of absolute agony as the truck made impact and broke every part of him. Everything was playing out over and over again in his mind in excruciating detail.

"So," Jack said aloud. He didn't know who he was talking to. Maybe it was himself, maybe it was whoever he'd sensed here with him, or maybe it was someone else watching from a third perspective. It didn't really matter to him.

"I'm dead."

Those two words were the final straw. Jack started to laugh uncontrollably as soon as he'd spoken them, the absurdity and insanity of the situation finally catching up to him. It all made sense now. He was dead. He'd been hit by a truck and died. His life was over. Poof. Gone. Just like that, his world and his story had drawn to a close, and he hadn't even realized it!

It was so stupid, wasn't it?

So stupid, in fact, that it couldn't be real.

No.

This was a dream.

It had to be.

Jack's shoulders continued to shake from manic laughter as he considered the notion, hoping that if he believed it hard enough he could will it into existence. He didn't want to die. Not now. Not like this. It all happened so fast. There was no way it could all just be over.

Back and forth his thoughts switched, going from denial to brutal acceptance faster than one can describe. The strangeness of this situation, the sheer impossibility of it, was just too much for Jack to handle. He couldn't form an answer, couldn't state any facts, because there weren't any. This whole situation defied life and nature itself, meaning science wasn't of any use. He was stuck trying to debate this within his own brain, each idea and explanation he came up with earning its own voice, and each voice was desperate to be heard over the others. There were so many of them flying and yelling all at once that Jack couldn't make sense of what they were saying anymore. It was all just noise. Noise that starkly contrasted the silence of the void around him. Noise that occupied all of his focus. Noise that was loud enough to deafen.

He wanted it to stop.

But at the same time, he didn't.

Because that noise was now the only proof of his existence.

He was supposed to be dead, after all.

And if corpses don't talk, then maybe that noise meant he really was still alive.

Just as Jack felt he was surely going to pass out from hyperventilation, a light illuminated the darkness. It was dim at first, a faint blue glow that hardly dented the dark abyss, but steadily grew brighter until it was enough to see by. Along with the apparition of the blue glow came a noise as well, one that was much preferable to the noises in Jack's brain. It was a mechanical hum, like the soft sound of a computer running, something that wouldn't have been audible had there been any other noise in the eerie and unnatural space.

"You okay there, pal?"

The addition of yet another noise startled Jack, causing him to look around frantically for its source. It seemed to be coming from the same direction as the mechanical sound, which was directly behind him.

"No need to panic, I'm not here to hurt you. If I was, I already would've done it."

Jack attempted to manipulate this void's strange physics and slowly managed to turn himself around, where he found a young man sitting (Jack wasn't sure how, seeing as he hadn't felt any form of solid ground) in front of several pieces of strange technological equipment.

"Hi there!" The stranger said cheerfully, once Jack had turned to face him. "How are you?"

Jack stared blankly at him. His hands were still trembling, his breaths were still shallow and uneven, and he was still trying to process the fact that he was dead. The question of "how are you?" seemed absolutely preposterous at the moment.

"Not one for talking at the moment, it seems," The stranger said. He gave Jack a smile, but there was something... off about it. "But I suppose that's to be expected. This is all very new to you."

The stranger grabbed one of his pieces of equipment and fiddled with it for a few moments, sticking his tongue out in concentration. Just as Jack was about to ask what he was doing, he felt the weightless sensation he'd become accustomed to vanish, and he dropped down to a ground he hadn't even known existed.

"There, that's much better!" The stranger exclaimed, looking at Jack with a pleased expression. "Can't have you floating off when we're trying to have a conversation. Why don't you have a seat?"

Reluctantly, Jack complied, eyeing the man in front of him with a great deal of mistrust. If there was anything he was actually able make sense of out of all these strange events, it was that nothing was as it seemed. There was something off about this guy, Jack knew it, but there wasn't much he could do to get away from him. Everything else around him was empty black space, leaving him with no escape route at all. But still, Jack decided it would be best not to let his guard down, even if he had to stay in close proximity to this guy.

The man began tinkering with something in front of him again, this time picking up what appeared to be an iPad, or something of the sort. Jack took this opportunity to study his facial features, just in case he needed to remember his face for one reason or another. The guy's nose was pointed, but not prominent, and his jawline was sharp. His black hair was a messy mop atop his head, the length of each lock varying, as if a five year old had hacked away at it all with scissors. The colour of his eyes, however, was unidentifiable, thanks to the blue coloration of the faint light before them.

"So, my name's Alex," he said suddenly. "And you're Sean, right?"

It took Jack a moment to process the question, as he'd been busy analyzing the man's appearance and movements, and was also taken aback by the fact that this person he'd just met knew his name.

"Yeah, that's me..." he replied as calmly as he could. He didn't want to make this situation any stranger by making his suspicion too apparent. "How did you-"

"Well then, Sean, what do you remember?"

Jack hesitated before answering. What exactly was this guy playing at here?

"About what?"

"Just recent events really," the stranger replied. "The last thing you remember will do."

"I remember being hit by a truck," Jack said with a chuckle, trying to make light of the situation. "And then dying."

Alex looked pleased once more.

"Okay, good, you do remember. When going through this process, people typically experience a minor case of amnesia. Normally the short term memories will resurface on their own, but occasionally we have a subject who needs a little extra mental stimulation."

He looked over at one of the mechanical instruments next to him, which looked like a weaponized version of a VR headset, and regarded it with a guilty expression.

"And it's not very pleasant, to say the least."

After hearing that last sentence, Jack wasn't eager to press Alex for any details.

"But enough of that," Alex said, changing the subject. "You're probably wondering what's going on, aren't you?"

Jack nodded. Even if he didn't really trust this guy yet, the slightest bit of insight as to what the fuck was happening would help immensely.

"Okay. Well, to start off, yes. You died."

Jack remained stoic, his expression unchanging. He'd been hit by a truck. It wasn't like the news of his death was a surprise. Weird, yes, but not shocking.

Alex seemed to understand this, because he kept going without so much as a pause. "But at the same time, you didn't. It's a bit tricky to explain, and I don't have a lot of time. Your body is no longer alive, but your consciousness still is, which is where we're sitting right now."

Jack was already confused by Alex's explanation. If his body was dead, that meant his brain should be too. He shouldn't be able to think. And what did that make Alex?

"So, are you even real? Or are you just a figment of my imagination?"

"I'm real, but I don't belong here. The only reason we're able to meet right here and now is because of specialized technology that allows me to project myself into your consciousness. The problem is that pretty soon, you'll reincarnate, and I'll be evicted from here. I have a limited amount of time to get a dangerous job done."

Jack didn't like the sound of that last sentence. It implied Alex was here to perform a risky task inside of Jack's mind, one he hadn't known about or given consent to, and it made Jack even more wary of Alex and his actions.

"But everything seems to be going just smoothly so far, so I don't think we'll have any problems," Alex continued, his voice never losing its cheerful tone.

"So what are you trying to do? How did you get here? And what did you mean by rein-," Jack was cut off by Alex before he could finish.

"So many questions! All of which there are answers to, I assure you."

Jack waited for Alex to continue, to give him those answers, but he didn't. He fell silent, and the only noise left in the black void was the hum of the pieces of technology around them.

This was getting to be much too sketchy for Jack's liking. All of the supposed explanations Alex had given thus far were dodgy and unhelpful, as if Alex was just stalling for time or trying to keep Jack distracted. He was definitely hiding something, something big, and that was very obviously intentional. He seemed to want to keep Jack in the dark about all of this, or mislead him, which made Jack terrified to think about what he could possibly be doing with all of that machinery. He'd said he was performing a "dangerous task" inside of Jack's consciousness after all. He could be seriously messing up Jack's mind right now, and this whole conversation was just a ruse to cover up what he was doing.

Determined to know what he was attempting, Jack reached forward suddenly and grabbed one of the pieces of equipment suddenly. Alex quirked his eyebrow in surprise, but didn't say anything once Jack had the device in his hands. Jack soon found out why.

The thing he was now holding was phone like in both appearance and shape, but as soon as he got a look at the screen Jack could tell it wasn't a phone at all. Lines of code and assortments of random letters or symbols flew by in rows, moving to fast for Jack to be able to get a proper look at them. Though even if he had been able to study them better, Jack had a feeling he'd still be just as confused by them.

"That device won't do you any good," Alex said, the smile on his face changing slightly. Instead of looking simply cheerful, there was a hint of something else there. Something mocking. Like he was amused by Jack's efforts. "You can't read any of the information."

Scowling, Jack set the device down again.

"Okay, cut the bullshit. What are you doing here? And what's happening to me?"

Alex didn't even look up to meet Jack's eyes when speaking to him this time. "I was wondering how long it would take before you got annoyed. You lasted a lot longer than some."

He typed something into one of the many devices he had, and suddenly the floor Jack had been sitting on had disappeared again, leaving him to float weightlessly in surprise.

"Like I said, I don't have a lot of time, and I can't have you trying to run away from me right now."

Jack moved his limbs sporadically, trying to somehow swim away from Alex and all of the strange devices, but he couldn't. All of his attempts resulted in him spinning in circles over and over again, which left him stranded in the same place. Alex looked at him with amusement, the widened grin on his face showing he was clearly pleased by Jack's panic.

Alex picked up something off the ground, one of his devices. It looked a bit like a telescope, with several metal ornaments sticking off of its sides. He then stood up quickly, looking eager to carry out whatever it was he was about to do with that thing.

"It's nothing personal, don't worry," he said as he began walking towards Jack. "I'm just following orders."

"Get the hell away from me with that thing," Jack spat, once more trying to move away from his new opponent but remaining floating in the same spot.

"No can do, Sean," Alex replied, the cheerful tone in his voice making his words sound ten times more threatening. "You need this."

Without any warning, Alex reached forwards and grabbed Jack's right wrist, and brought the device up to it. He let it rest there for a few moments, just above Jack's wrist, as his victim tried to free himself from his grasp. It was to no avail, however, as no matter how many times Jack kicked, clawed, or punched, Alex didn't seem to feel a thing. He didn't flinch, didn't cry out. Didn't do anything. He just stared directly into Jack's eyes. Watching.

Jack suddenly felt his whole body being jerked forwards as Alex yanked on his arm, bringing him to an upright position and closer to his captor.

"I could've told you everything. You're going to forget it all soon anyways. But I'm not stupid. I know you'll remember someday. I know that this will all eventually come back. And when it does, I don't want any important information to come back with it.

So enjoy the ignorance for now. Enjoy not knowing. Enjoy forgetting. Because once you discover, once you remember, you'll wish you could go back."

"What are you-" Jack started, but never finished.

Because before he could continue, Alex pressed a button on the telescope-like object, and Jack felt a strong and fiery pain in his wrist. He could feel something moving from the device to his skin, and the breach his muscles and flesh, slowly making its way inside him. Jack screamed, partially from pain, partially from disgust, and partially from fear, increasing his efforts to struggle against whatever unnatural force was keeping him suspended. Once again, those efforts were fruitless, but Jack didn't stop trying. His instincts wouldn't let him.

The pain Jack felt only increased as he felt whatever had been placed inside of him begin to burrow even further, connecting itself to all of his veins, arteries, tendons, and even his bones. It was literally fusing with his body, meshing and molding to fit in with his anatomy, a piece of technology slowly integrating with his body.

Initiating command 395.

The words flashed through Jack's brain faster than he could comprehend. It wasn't like somebody had said them per se, more like somebody had transmitted them to him. Beamed them into his brain somehow. Jack wasn't really focused on figuring out the technicalities of it at the moment though, as the pain and disgust he was feeling overruled everything else.

Shortly after the strange words appeared in his mind, Jack began to feel a different sensation. It wasn't as strong as the pain, but it was still there. Lurking.

It was as if he'd been given a mild electric shock, one that left his whole body mildly numb and tingling. Unlike the pain, it didn't come all at once, but rather gradually increased, causing Jack to notice it more and more as it steadily grew more and more intense.

But the more Jack tried to focus on