Leaving/Marie/Suicide/Hanging/kick/afterlife
From Create Your Own Story
You feel comfortable. Like you're laying in a nice, soft bed. In fact, that's exactly how it feels. You can even feel the comforter on top of you and the pillow under your head.
You open your eyes. You're in a hotel room, but not the one you were in before. This one is red. Almost entirely red. The wallpaper, the bedcovers, pillows, head board, curtains, even the carpet is red. What isn't red is a black accent, the lampshades, chair rail, doorframe and knob, and a few other things.
You slide out from the covers and sit up, and you realize you're now wearing a set of pajamas with a black L monogrammed onto them. You slip your feet into a pair of black fuzzy slippers next to the bed and get up to take a look around.
The door doesn't open when you try it. The window doesn't open either, but you can look out. The view is beautiful, if a little odd. The sun is up, but the sky is black as night and there are no clouds. Still, everything on the ground is lit up by the sunlight.
Everything on the ground meaning what looks like a desert of red cracked dirt spotted with a few buildings here and there. Your room is pretty high up. From below, a road leads to a massive metal wall in the distance. The wall is the only thing that seems to interrupt the beauty of the view, and the longer you stare at it the more uneasy you feel. So you look away.
The only other thing of interest in the room is an antique looking phone with a single button on the front. You put the phone to your ear and press the button.
"Good afternoon, thank you for calling the Limbo Grand Hotel, my name is Adi Miza, how may I help you?" The woman on the phone asks.
"Uh, hi. Could you tell me where I am?" You ask.
"Judging by the line in, you're in the Limbo Grand Hotel, room ⁿ202-539⅜. Is there anything else you need miss, uh... Marie Kleid?" Adi asks.
"Um, yes. How did I get here?"
"Well, Ms. Kleid, the answer to that is pretty simple but it's one you may want to brace yourself for. What's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"
"I remember I was in a different hotel, and I... I think I hung myself. So, how did I end up here?"
"Well, since you remember the act I think it's okay if I just tell you. Ms. Kleid, you are dead." Adi states.
"Okay. Okay... shit, alright. Well, so... um... okay..." you search for words.
"I can understand if you need to take a minute to process this."
"Well, I mean I was kinda... I was expecting not to wake up again at all. I didn't think there even was an afterlife, let alone uh... a hotel? So like, what?"
"Ms. Kleid, I can, if you honestly want me to, explain the founding of this hotel and why you came here when you died, but it would take hours. Instead, if you could please accept what's around you as fact for a moment, this will go much more smoothly. I will send a representative of the Memitim up shortly to explain your situation. Is there anything else you would like to know before I do?"
"I guess there is one question. Where exactly is the Limbo Grand Hotel?" You ask.
"Antarctica, if you want to know on a map, but I'm assuming you mean in a grander sense. In that case I'd have to say what you probably don't want to hear right now. Ms. Kleid, the Limbo Grand Hotel is in Hell."
"Oh..."
"Yeah. Your representative will be with you shortly, she will explain. Will that be all, miss?"
"Uh, yes, thank you." You say and hang up.
A few moments later, you hear a knock at the door. As the door is locked to you at the moment, you speak up. "Come in?"
The door opens and a tall, thin woman with long black hair, pale skin stretched over a gaunt face, and a black dress strides in. A sturdy looking skull mask hangs at her side. "Ms. Marie Kleid?" She asks. You nod. "My name is Artelia. Have a seat on the bed, please. Relax." You do, and she sits in a chair that had been paired with a small table in the kitchen section of your hotel room.
"Ms. Kleid. I would first like to let you know that you haven't really done anything wrong, and so you're not truly being punished. It's important to keep this in mind." Artelia says.
"Then, why am I in Hell?" You ask.
Artelia takes a deep breath. "The common misconception is that people go to Hell if they are being punished. This is not the case. Hell is simply a place. The reason you're here is because you have committed suicide, which technically negates your de facto access to heaven. It used to be a genuinely punishable offense, but hasn't been for quite some time. Instead, those who commit suicide are sent here for a sort of probationary period. Since you can't get into heaven and you haven't done anything that rates imprisonment in Inferno," she points out the window to the wall, "that leaves the question of what to do with you and any other soul not bad enough for true punishment, yet not quite neutral enough for Purgatory. So here's Limbo. The Limbo Grand Hotel."
"So what happens now?" You ask.
"Well, the company line is that you're supposed to wait here for a while, get accustomed to the afterlife, and eventually you'll be able to leave the hotel and explore the rest of Hell. However, I have a couple other services I offer, if you're interested. For a price." She smiles at you, a playfully seductive look, and you think you get a hint of what might be involved.
"Um, what services might those be?" You ask.
"Well, the most attractive offer I can give you is that I can fast track your approval to leave Limbo. You could even leave tomorrow if you wanted. The second offer is one I don't personally advise, but it's one that's often asked of me. I can take you back to Earth. Not as a living human, but as a spirit. A ghost."
"And what price would I be paying for these services?"
"I'm sure we can work something out. You look like fun." She says. "So, what do you want to do?"
