Chapter 8

"No," Ana whispered, slowing backing away. "No!"

"That's usually the response I get," Death shrugged. "But time is up, Anastasia, and it's time for you to move on." He held out his hand. "Let me take you to a place where no one can ever hurt you again. It's warm and safe there, and you'll never run out of things to do or people to talk to. Let me take you to Heaven, child. This may be your only chance."

"I'm not dying," Ana said stubbornly. She didn't remember what had happened to her, only that one minute she was alive and now she wasn't. Or maybe she was-she really couldn't tell. "Am I in Purgatory of something?"

"Kind of," Death answered. "This is where comatose souls come when it's time for them to pass on. It's different for everyone...though it seems your state of consciousness is much more chaotic than I'm used to." He gazed at the abandoned city around him and shot her a humorous glance. "What have you been up to, child?"

"I don't remember," she replied truthfully, "but I know it's not my time. I don't remember what my life was like before I came here, but I just know deep down in my gut that there's still something I need to do."

"That's a normal feeling," Death said, nodding as if in agreement. "Most souls feel that way before moving on. The important part is to remember that no matter what happened while you were alive, none of it matters now. If you come with me, all of your problems won't matter anymore. You'll be in a state of eternal bliss, one you know you well deserve."

Ana shook her head and began to disagree, but then paused. "Wait...did you say I was comatose?"

"I may have let that slip, yes. Why?"

Suddenly the environment began to change, and Ana found herself being thrown into a painful memory. She felt as if her body was being torn apart, and upon opening her eyes, she realized that she was lying on a hospital bed while surgeons were trying to patch a giant, bleeding hole in her chest. She could hear them shouting orders to each other, but the pain that emanated through her body muffled their voices. All she knew was the excruciating pain that stemmed from chest and shot through every nerve in her entire body.

Then the memory shifted. She found herself standing in her underwear, trapped in a dark hallway that seemed to go on for miles. Then she noticed that she wasn't alone.

Familiar figures stood in a circle around her, and as she turned to look at them, she realized she knew them, as little pieces of memory came floating back. She began to match the figures' names to their faces.

"Olivia, Elliot, Fin, Munch, Cragen," she said, listing them off in the order that they appeared. These faces brought back familiar, positive feelings, and they made her feel warm and safe. She turned to the next few faces. "Lacey, Anna, Calvin." These faces also brought back positive feelings, though much fainter than the previous ones. Then she turned to the last few. She struggled to remember the names of these figures, as if the memories were purposely evading her. She felt as though they were consciously slipping through her fingers, dancing just beyond the grasp of her memory so that she knew they were there, but wouldn't be able to reach them.

Ana didn't know why, but for some reason, she knew that these faces were hiding from her. After some intense concentration, she was able to match Harris's name to his face, but for some reason the other faces seemed blurred out, as if someone had taken an eraser to them. Then she realized that one of the figures was pointing a gun at her chest.

The shock brought Ana out of her flashbacks and back to the run down city, where she found that she was lying on the ground, sweating and breathing heavily. She looked up to see Death frowning at her.

"What just happened to me?" she breathed, pushing herself up off of the ground.

"Your memories are much stronger than I expected," Death said, still frowning. "Usually people's memories come back slowly, piece by piece, but the violent and unpredictable nature of your experiences seem to give your memories the strength to be just that-violent and unpredictable. They're more like flashbacks than memories, though. If you or something else triggers them, you get thrown back into them, and suddenly you're reliving those memories as if your physical body had been returned to that exact moment in time. Sometimes they're nice memories, and sometimes they're not. There's really no way to tell which one you're going to get."

Suddenly there came a loud rumbling, and the entire world began to shake. Ana thought she was being thrown into another flashback, but this time, her physical world was changing. One of the broken down buildings began to shake, and then suddenly began to pull itself back together. In a matter of seconds, the building that had once been only iron framework left to rust became a 20-story tall skyscraper that looked good as new. Ana turned to Death for an answer, and saw the discomfort on his face.

"Before you ask," he said, "I do know what that was. That was your mind healing, and beginning to rebuild itself. Remember how I said that this place was your subconscious? Well, you just witnessed you subconscious begging to pull itself back together. Usually it takes much longer for that to begin to happen, but..." He trailed off, becoming lost in thought.

"But what?" Ana asked anxiously.

Death's eyes flashed as he turned to face her, a new sense of urgency making its home in his demeanor. "But the mental strength that you possess is making it possible for you to recover quickly. What you saw is only the beginning. Soon you'll have this whole city pulling itself back together, brick by brick, stone by stone. Eventually, you may even be fully healed, save a few dings and scratches from the trauma you've experienced. But I don't plan on us being there for that to happen."

Ana was taken aback by the sharpness in his voice. "Why?" she asked, flustered. "Isn't it a good thing that I'm healing?"

"It's too unpredictable, and too dangerous," Death answered grimly, shaking his head. "When the subconscious mind begins to heal, bricks don't always get put back the way that they're supposed to. Sometimes you get lucky, and the bricks are insignificant pieces. In this instance, it wouldn't matter whether you had those bricks or not. But for many of these bricks, they represent important parts of your mind and body. If any one of these pieces gets put back in the wrong place, your physical body and soul could be permanently damaged. Your soul would come back, yes, but your ability to walk may not. Or maybe you'd lose the ability to speak, or the ability to hear. You see, if you come back from this, you run the risk of being permanently crippled with no chance of recovery. So I'll present you with a question: Is it worth it to live when the life you come back to may not be worth living?"

Ana paused for a moment before answering. "All lives are worth living, and regardless of what happens to me during mine, I want to be there to live it."

Notes: Hello friends! I know it's been about a year since I last updated this story, but I've finally found some extra time to write and get back into the fanfiction community! I plan on doing a lot more catching up on my stories, and I'm excited to finally have the time to work on them again!

I'd like to give a special thanks to everyone who has stuck with me after all this time. You guys mean the world to me, and I can't thank you enough for your continued support. You guys got me to where I am today, and every one of you will always hold a special place in my heart. I'd also like to give a special thanks to those who have just started reading, or started reading a while ago but had to stop here because I'd been too busy to update. I wouldn't be here without your support, and I'm super excited to finally be able to get back into the story!

Thank you so much for reading, and please don't forget to review and tell me your thoughts!