I woke up to a blinding light. It felt like I could see it through my eyelids. I tried to turn away, but it surrounded me. It started to fade and I slowly opened my eyes giving them time to adjust. It felt like I was sitting in a comfortable office chair. As my eyes started to adjust it reminded me of when you step inside on a sunny day and your vision doesn't know what to do at first. There was a vague person shape sitting behind what I could now see as a large, exotic wooden desk and I realized the source of the light was the person across from me. As the light faded his features came into view.

He was unnaturally good-looking. It wasn't like magazine cover good, it was this guy probably gets confused for an angelic being on a daily basis good. He didn't wear a smile, but he didn't look angry either. He was fairly stone-faced and I don't just mean that his jawline was carved from granite.

His serious eyes met mine and it was as though he was looking straight through me. "Theodore Lambert Cohen," a jolt of fear ran up my spine as he said my name, but my fear melted into confusion as he finished what he was saying, "what do you think just happened to you?"

"The last thing I remembered was handing off the toddler at the edge of the Grand Canyon, experiencing a feeling of weightlessness, and then nothing," I said still confused and a little afraid although I didn't quite understand why. "Where am I?"

"Where do you think you are?" the figure behind the desk asked as he continued to stare into my soul.

I looked around the room and saw nothing except blank, white walls, "A hospital room? Where's the door?" I asked starting to freak out a little bit more.

"How would a door help you?", he asked. I realized I was starting to go into panic mode, but not because of the person asking the strange question, it was because I felt trapped. I'm not usually claustrophobic, but this room was throwing me for a loop.

Then I had a thought hit me like a bolt of lightning and I excitedly said, "I'm in a coma, aren't I? This room with no door is my mind's way of rationalizing my situation. That means you are part of my sub-conscience and you are asking me questions to gently lead me to understand what is happening." I smiled, proud of my assessment.

The figure leaned back in his expensive-looking office chair and smiled back, "What if I told you that you died after saving that child and you are currently in what you might call a limbo-like state?"

His smile helped put me at ease at first, but as my brain processed the words he said something in my brain triggered fight-or-flight mode. I had no flight option that I could see, being in a room with no windows or doors. I also had no fighting capabilities and was pretty sure my sub-conscience buddy here could beat me up. So I took option three, inane vocalization of every thought in my head spoken with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yep, definitely a coma," I said ignoring the slight eyeroll of the man across the desk. I strained to hear either Paige or a medical staff member speak, "I've always heard that people in a coma can still hear everything going on around them." I listened again, but heard nothing. "Must be after visiting hours or something," I said trying to cope with the silence. It wasn't a good self-defense mechanism and didn't make me feel much better.

He ignored my comments and slid two pamphlets towards me on the desk motioning for me to focus on them. They both had "Afterlife Adventures" written across the top, but the image on the front was different. One had a sci-fi space theme with laser guns, spaceships, and aliens on it. The other one had a fantasy theme with medieval weaponry, a dragon-like creature, and a stereotypical wizard. The pamphlets didn't give any further explanation and I sat there looking at them quizzically.

"Which do you choose?" he asked straight-laced. As he asked the question I refocused on his piercing gaze and realized he was in serious mode again. I kind of missed the smile at this point for what little comfort it offered.

"They must have me pumped full of painkillers or something because this is wild. I didn't even think I was creative enough to come up with something like this. Is this what I do until I wake up?" I said as I looked back at the two options. "When in Rome, I guess."

"Which do you choose?" he repeated motioning again to the two options before me.

I was genuinely curious if this was a mixture of pain meds and memories of all the role-playing games I'd played over the years. "Well, I'd have to say I'm more of a fantasy nerd than I am a space nerd." I was just going with the flow at this point and doubled down on wild guesses and confusion being my new normal until I wake up. A thought occurred that maybe the quicker I get through this, the quicker I could do just that. It wasn't an intelligent thought, but my brain was trying its best.

The figure started to glow again until light filled the room once more. I tried to close my eyes, but everything was just blinding light all around. I realized that I no longer felt the chair under me, but I didn't feel like I was falling either. After a few disconcerting seconds of blinded nothingness, I felt pressure against the back of my body. I opened my eyes and saw stars. I was laying down on what felt like a sleeping bag spread on the ground.

I looked around still laying there and saw a campfire next to me. Light from the campfire flickered and illuminated some trees in the distance. I was in a clearing that looked to be made for camping out. I looked up at the stars amazed that my pain medicine-riddled brain could create such a lifelike night sky. Suddenly, a rectangle appeared floating in front of me. My first instinct was to move out of the way thinking it was falling on my head, but as I moved my head it moved with me. It stayed in the exact center of my field of view.

"These are some strong drugs," I said as I shifted my eyes around moving the rectangle back and forth. As my eyes focused on the center of the box instead of the foreground a word came into view on the left side of the rectangle. It read, "Name:"

"What drugs, Teddy?" an unfamiliar voice said softly.