[Choose]
I felt delirious.
"Where.....am....I?"
"What is happening?"
[60]... [59]... [58]... [57]
A countdown? A countdown for what? Where is this countdown coming from?
I tried to look around me, but all I saw was a black void.
.....Wait, is this place truly a black void, or did I lose my vision? But why would I.....
....Ah, I remember now.
There was an attack at the school.
....Why was I at a school? Was I a teacher? Or part of the faculty? I can't remember.
I....I think I know the attacker.
One of the students. A boy who is frequently bullied at school.
I think we tried to help. I remember a meeting with the bully's parents....So I was a teacher then?
Anyways, I tried to help, but it was to no avail. The bully's parents were worse than their son in some ways and had a lot of connections.
I.....I think they got me fired? I don't remember. I just remember anger and despair as I took my stuff from the faculty room when the bullied boy attacked.
I still don't know how he got his hands on a rifle, of all things.
Last thing I remember is standing in front of...the children? Yes, children. I was standing in front of the children, when the boy fired.
There was blood, screaming, and sirens.
...Yes. Sirens. That's the last thing I remember.....
[Choose]
[30]... [29]... [28]... [27]
Once again, I felt an insistent pull on my..... consciousness? Soul? Mind? with a countdown and a command to choose from.....somewhere.
What am I supposed to choose? And what is that countdown?
As if responding to my question, new information appeared in my.....mind? Soul?
.....Now that I think about it, shouldn't I be dead? Or am I in a hospital or something? Or maybe in a coma?
In my mind, I saw ten vials, each one colored differently, and on instinct, I could tell what was inside them. Or rather, I felt something from them that gave me impressions of what was inside.
None of this is making sense.
[10]... [9]... [8]... [7]
With the countdown nearly reaching its end, I panicked a little and 'touched' a vial at random.
The moment I did so, the other vials disappeared, and three new objects appeared in my mind.
A purple, glowing, leaf shaped like a heart. A strange red flower. And a vial of red liquid.
This time, the countdown reset back to ten seconds.
Without hesitation, I touched the purple leaf. By this point, I did not know what was going on, but I wanted it over with.
I am pretty sure now. I must be dead, or dying, leading to these damned hallucinations.
I just want all of this to be over so that I can finally leave for the afterlife.
As the counter finally hit zero, it felt like the universe heard my wish.
The black void was soon replaced with a vast jungle stuck in an eternal twilight.
...I think I saw my deceased parents. But, they felt different. They smiled at me and said something before.....
.....I have no words to describe what happened as they changed into....something.
Pain. Unbearable pain dominated my mind as information flooded in. Memories and thoughts. A life I never lived, yet was now intimately familiar with.
For a single, horrifying second, I finally understood what exactly it was I chose with those two things before.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, I was not given the time to contemplate how fucked I was as I blacked out completely.
And yet, just before I lost consciousness, I saw it. I saw her.
A colossal black panther. Her glowing blue eyes stared at me with amusement.
——————————————————————————-
Budapest, Hungary.
"....We are losing.....V-fib...."
Chaos.
My ears rang with noise.
What is going on!?
Something smells.....wait, I know this smell...disinfectants.
I don't know. I can't think straight.
Pain. Too much pain. It hurts everywhere.
"Defibrillator!.....set to....CLEAR!"
PAIN!!
IT HURTS!! IT HURTS SO MUCH!! WHY!? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME!?
STOP THIS! IT HURTS!!
"Stabilizing rhythm....continue.."
Slowly, but surely, I felt the pain subside. My head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer and gone to town with it on my skull.
The pounding is incessant.
But, otherwise, I felt the pain slowly subside.
I tried opening my eyes, but once again, pain flared in my head as light flooded my vision.
No. It's not just light. My ears are straining from the sheer volume of things around me, while it feels like the smells are physically assaulting my nose.
Just what is going on!? Is it really that hard to just let me pass into the afterlife?
And if the universe is so damned insistent on keeping me around, can you at least turn down the pain setting!??
For what felt like an eternity, the headache and sensory overload continued. But soon, they stabilized, allowing me to finally look at my surroundings.
It is as I guessed. I am in a hospital room. Specifically, it looks like I was in an operating theater with a whole host of people around me. Doctors, most probably.
Then, I saw a face that felt familiar.
I remember the days when we used to run around in the backyard. Our home in New York.
I remember the mischief we used to get up to.
I remember the many times we made our parents' lives hell with our mischief, yet made them proud as straight-A students.
I remember when our paths diverged.
I remember the day he went off to join the Marine Corps at 18, while I went to college.
I remember suggesting that he go back to college when he was discharged a year later.
I remember those distraught days after he lost Samantha. I remember our move to Hungary.
My vocal chords felt raw, yet I could not help but whisper the name of my only family left in this world.
"..Mike?"
Michael Corvin, my little brother by a year, smiled even as tears slid down his face.
"Hey, Gabe. You gave me quite the scare."
I could not answer him as I lost my consciousness again, the last of my energy spent.
Yet, i did not go to sleep. Instead, memories of two lifetimes clashed and merged.
Things that I always thought were my imagination in my childhood as Gabriel gaining a whole new meaning in light of this merger.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: https://patreon.com/Tiranus2