Chapter Text
The last of the world he knew faded out to a black. Tim woke up in a gray world filled with nothing but a gray sky and black grass. He didn’t feel anything like pain here. It was dull.
His heart rate should’ve been rapid right now with the fear starting to grow, but it didn’t. It was nowhere he had been to and obviously not soothing. Tim staggered back, finally taking in what was going on. He was somewhere strange with nobody around. He was afraid of what this could mean. The Operator could be anywhere. This could be the ark. This could mean torture all over again.
Tim had a relapse and fell to the ground. He screamed, not wanting to go through the trauma ever again.
“WHY?! WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?! JUST KILL ME!”
After a while of panicking, he looked around. Nobody was there. Nothing was there except for the scenery he was in.
This was confusing enough. Couldn’t The Operator just come at him? This didn’t seem to be the normal world. No, The Operator can’t hurt anyone without a vessel or proxy. Then why wasn’t Alex-no...Alex is dead.
Alex has been dead ever since Tim killed him.
Right?
Yes...
Either way, the Operator didn’t seem to want to kill its victims, did it? Alex fed that thing victims so maybe it did. If that’s so then why are the sole survivors even surviving? Jessica and Tim were the only two who survived as far as he knew.
It’s either the Operator wants to feed on victims, or it simply wants to drive them all down a path of madness.
Tim knew it would never be clear. He wasn’t going to continue the investigation after everything that happened.
There wasn’t much he could do. Tim got up and walked forward. The further he walked, the more trees he found. Soon there was a forest. Rosswood park gave him numerous traumatic experiences, so it was hard to continue. Still, it was the only thing he encountered that wasn’t a field.
He couldn’t help thinking, maybe the Operator is trying to make him another Alex.
Then, there came a shack. Tim felt like he was being watched all of a sudden. He had no weapons and he had no idea what to do.
Then, there was a flash of mustard yellow running by the shack. Tim knew he had seen that. He knew that he had killed him.
The man ran after the mustard yellow.
The hooded man stopped and turned around.
“Tim?”
This caught him off guard. Tim blinked and got into a defensive stance. “Brian. How are you alive?”
Brian seemed to relax a bit, still tense. “I’m not. When did you die?”
“Die?”
“Yeah, you’re dead.”
This horrified Tim as he checked for a pulse. There was none. He looked straight into the mask Brian wore. “I’m...dead?”
“Yes. You are.” Brian said, seeming more hostile now.
Tim fell to his knees. He laughed and cried at the predicament.
The man above him was uncaring. He coldly turned around, leaving Tim.
“Wait! No! Brian!”
Tim, after some trouble getting up, started chasing Brian again. “Please wait!”
Brian stopped and quickly turned around. “You lied to me, Tim! You were the cause of all this mess! After looking through your medical files, I see now. I thought Alex was the one who brought that thing to us! No! It was you! I thought I could trust you Tim.”
“No, please, let me explain.”
“No! I couldn’t bother restoring your memory again. I was done.”
“Brian, I want to talk. I don’t want to keep all of my secrets. Even if you know already, I want to explain.”
The male looked down on him. “Fine. Follow me. We aren’t exactly safe here. Even after death, we can’t guarantee that we’re absolutely safe.”
They both walked until another house appeared. Brian unlocked the door and opened it, waiting for Tim to walk in. After he did, Brian looked outside one last time before shutting and locking the door.
It was relatively dark but a few lanterns were enough to keep it from being completely dark.
Brian sat down and took off his mask. “So, explain to me why you lied.”
Tim looked away with guilt. “I didn’t know that my hallucinations were real. I’d didn’t know that my medical history would affect so much. I know I had trouble, but you were my first real friend. I couldn’t tell you of my past like that.”
“I trusted you. If we were such close friends then-,”
“I know! I know ok? It’s my fault everything happened. I was getting better. I didn’t know that you would get affected by this. I thought that Alex was the reason too, remember?”
There was a pause before he continued. “I’m sorry I did this to you, but you weren’t exactly a complete saint during this either. You literally caused me to have a seizure!”
“That’s your fault!”
Tim went silent for a bit until Brian stood up to go to the kitchen.
“I really am sorry for all of this. I’m so sorry for killing you.”
Brian froze at the doorway. “You didn’t kill me. I just gave up. Look, I kind of get it. I’m still very mad at you.”
“I know.”
“In the end, Alex is dead. That’s all that matters now.”
Brian went to the kitchen. After a few minutes, he came back with some drinks. He gave one to Tim.
“I bet you have some questions of your own.”
“Yeah,”
With a sigh, Brian started speaking about the world they were in. “You’re definitely dead. This isn’t a joke.”
“I know, but why aren’t there more people?”
“This is more of a place for people like us. Those who have seen the Operator and have strong connections die and come here from what I’ve gathered. However it’s not the Ark. that’s where most of the bodies are. We’re in more of a purgatory.”
“I see,”
“There are probably more people out there, but from what I know about this place, it’s more like a personal room for specific people. There are many more, but it’s all categorized by which of the people went through the experience together. You, me, Jay, and Alex are all in this one. Sarah and Seth probably are too. It all has to do with association.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“I didn’t until Alex died. He’s a bit...different. I wouldn’t say that Alex got back to his old self. It’s more like he’s self aware about the full story. He knows what this place is. He knows everything about it because of the Operator. I met him and he was hostile until realizing that there’s no point.”
“What about that thing then. Does it have access here?”
“No, this is just where the dead people spiritually end up.”
“Can another purgatory be reached? Are we just trapped here forever?”
“It’s not unheard of but it’s rare for someone to jump into or from ours. I don’t know how long we’ll be here. As long as that thing is alive, I assume we’ll stay here.”
Tim instinctively pulled on his hair. “Man, I don’t know what to do now. I thought that it was over.”
“It is for us.”
“What about Jessica? Will she end up in this place?”
“Most likely,”
They both sat in silence until Tim asked another two questions. “Is Jay here? What did you mean when you said that we weren’t safe even after death?”
“Jay’s fine. He’s living somewhere else right now. I...don’t know if I would talk about the second one right now. Even though it’s safer in here, we’re never truly alone. Something’s watching us.”
Tim resisted the urge to ask. “I see,”
“Until you get your own house constructed, you should stay here.”
“Right, ok...”
Brian led him to a guest room with a bed and desk. “Not much entertainment here, so you can go outside only of I know what you’re doing out there.”
“Why?”
“I need to keep track of everyone to make sure nothing’s going on. I’d also recommend that you don’t snoop around my room.”
The suspicious activity was odd, but Tim couldn’t complain.
Before Brian left the room, he spoke. “I don’t think I can ever forgive you, but I won’t forget that you didn’t want that thing in your life. I never wanted to hurt you when I was alive. I was mad at you, but my target was Alex.”
He closed the door and walked away. Tim could hear every footstep in the quiet world he now “lived” in.
What exactly was the threat? Tim didn’t know. All he could do was sleep. He didn’t think that after dying you would need sleep, but he didn’t think he’d even end up here. He also didn’t feel well about sleeping in Brian’s house. After all, they weren’t on the best terms. It was something to note that the only things that weren’t grayscale were him and Brian. That’s probably because they didn’t originate from this place.
Outside was pitch black as Tim closed his eyes. It felt just like death all over again.