I struggled for breath, as I felt an increasing pain in my neck. The more I tried to free myself, the more the force was tightened. I couldn't scream and my body was far too weak to fight back.

...

Everything went black and the pain stopped.

That was quick.

...

An obnoxious beeping trickled into both my ears. It got louder and louder, much harder for me to ignore.

I swear, whoever's making that is gonna get it when I wake up.

I forced my eyes open, instantly regretting my decision upon being blinded by a bright light. I winced, my vision growing spotty.

"They're awake." An unfamiliar voice stated.

Once my vision cleared, I was able to make out their braided bun and a long white coat. I scanned for a name tag of some sort, only finding one that said 'she/her'.

"Who are you?" I asked, unable to stop myself from letting out a big yawn.

"I'm your doctor." She replied. "I'm glad to say that your making a wonderful recovery, as expected."

"Recovery?" My eyes widened in confusion. "What the fuck am I recovering from?"

"Do you... not remember?" She questioned, her getting pale with worry.

"Remember what?" I asked again.

"Does the phrase ''killing game'' ring any bells?" The doctor questioned.

Killing game...

...

"I'm dead...!" I yelled, sitting up in a panic. "I'm fucking dead!"

"Well yes, you died," She corrected. "But you aren't dead anymore. It's a long process to explain; you'll understand it soon."

"So your telling me that I fucking died and somehow came back to life?!" I shouted in disbelief.

"I'm not allowed to explain things at this time." She said. "Answers will be provided, but not until she can make time for you."

"She? Who's she?" I asked.

"You'll know within a couple days." Replied the doctor.

"Days?!"

* * *

I'm not buying this dying and coming back to life thing. I'm not scientist, but that sounds absolutely ridiculous.

Then again, so did the killing game...

And then I got fucking murdered.

Maybe it's not as ridiculous as it sounds.

It didn't take long for the doctor lady to clear me to walk around the hospital. She gave me strict instructions not to leave the hospital portion of the building and to not speak to anyone with a green collar, aside from herself.

What's with these collars anyway? I've got a red one, but I doubt it was given to me to match my style.

Walking around was weird. My balance was horrible and I had to hold onto the wall for a while so I didn't wobble with every step.

The hospital gowns didn't make it better. They were thin and I was freezing constantly when I wasn't under my bed's covers. It didn't help that the tiled floor was stupidly cold.

I decided to follow the doctor lady's advice and stay within the hospital. If this place had the power to resurrect people, who knows what they would do if I broke a rule?

Rules... The killing game had rules.

I didn't last long enough to break them, though.

* * *

"Hey Doctor Lady?" I turned to her, standing before a full body mirror. "You think you could get me some real clothes?"

"Haha, I wondering when you would ask about that." She checked her papers. "After your tour of the whole facility."

"A tour?!" I excitedly asked, like a child. "Like outside the hospital!"

"Yeah," She nodded. "Outside the hospital area."

"Well? When do I get my tour?" I interrogated her. "I'm tired of freezing my ass off all the time."

"You'll need to wait tor the patient next door to recover in the way that you have," The doctor lady explained.

"Ugh!" I crossed my arms, walking over to my bed to angrily lay down. "Why do I have to wait so long?"

"Because you two died quite some time apart." Explained my doctor. "But she should be recovering soon."

She?

* * *

She...

Doctor-Lady-Who-Refuses-To-Give-Me An-Actual-Name-To-Call-Her and I were waiting for the patient next door to step out of her room. The moment I saw the brunette I froze.

She fucking killed me!

"Sk-Skyler?!" Vanessa stumbled when she saw me, nearly falling backwards. "H-How the fuck are you alive?! I killed you!"

"I know!" I matched her tone. "What the fuck did you kill me for?!"

"I need the money, b-but..." She started to explain, tearing up quickly. "I would have never done it knowing that I would get executed!"

"So you would have still killed me if you didn't have repercussions for your actions?! Is that what I'm hearing?" I crossed my arms, finally lowering my voice to a normal volume.

"N-No!" She corrected herself. "If I could go back, I wouldn't kill you or anyone else!"

"Would you really?" I asked her, turning my head away.

"I..." Vanessa paused. "I'm really sorry."

"You didn't answer my question." I told her.

"At the time, when the motive was presented, I could only think about the money." She began to explain, wiping her tears. "Killing solely to get my back talent, would never be worth it to me. My talent doesn't get me anywhere outside of high school."

"And?" I sighed. "What's your point?"

"The money would be help me jumpstart my life and hold me over until I go to college or get a job." She explained. "I came to get my talent back and leaving empty handed would seen me back into the world as a useless Ex Ultimate. And I didn't want to go back to that... I didn't want to go back to everyone telling me I peaked in high school and only fell from there. I don't want to stuck and unable to move on from my glory days."

...

"Okay." I let out a deep breath.

"Okay?" The brunette tilted her head in confusion.

"Okay!" I said. "I get it."

"...Thank you." Vanessa smiled.

"I didn't say that I was going to forgive yo for ending my life." I chuckled, watching her face grow pale. "Luckily for you, not even death could handle me."

She let out a long sigh, before looking up at me.

"You're gonna owe me." I explained to her.

"That's fair." She agreed. "What do I owe you?"

"Well, you took my life," I refreshed her. "So you owe me for the rest of yours."

Vanessa didn't say anything at first. She looked down at her feet, wiggling her toes on the tile a few times. Then she turned her attention back to me.

"Okay..." She reluctantly said. "I don't have anything holding me back anymore, so I guess I need something to do with my life now."

"Quick question." I said, before asking my question. "Can you cook?"

"I can use a microwave." She cheerfully informed me.

"Fuck." I swore.

"Rory was still teaching and I haven't fully learned to make anything yet!" Vanessa quickly explained.

"Well, I've gone my whole life without learning basic skills that I probably should know and I'm not about to start now." I bluntly admitted.

"I guess now is a great time to learn something new." The brunette said.

"Maybe for you." I muttered

* * *

The tour was interesting, but our tour guide, who also did not give a name to call them by, was extremely vague when explaining anything that could let us know what was going on. In the end, they dropped us back off at the hospital's ''play room''.

"I haven't seen any kids here," Vanessa said, breaking the silence. "What do they have a play room for?"

I haven't seen any kids at all. Not around the entire facility.

"Clearly, it's for us." I pointed out, considering we were brought here.

Vanessa didn't know how to reply to me.

We both sat on the main couch, leaving the cushion in between us empty. Neither one us liked the situation we were in, especially since we had both died in the killing game and ended up here with no answers.

"Do you want play some video games?" She asked me.

"Sure." I agreed. "You can pick."

"Alright." She agreed.

"We aren't playing Just Dance, though." I stated.

"Hehe. I can't dance anyways." She said, while choosing something.

Vanessa played video games for what felt like ages. I didn't want it end, but it did. Our white haired tour guide returned, with bandages around their knuckles.

"Um..." They awkwardly got out attention. "You two are needed in the g-garden."

"This place has a garden?!" Vanessa asked in shock.

"Y-Yes." They nodded. "Only those with special orders can go there."

* * *

The garden was not what I expected. It was an unground basement, the only flowers in sight being wilted and severely neglected.

"When you talk to her, don't anger her." Our tour guide requested. "Please."

What is that supposed to–

...

"Welcome to Petal!" A sweet voice greeted me.

* * *

Much like in the killing game, my time at Petal began to grow repetitive. I didn't even notice there were flowers in my hospital room until they had began to wilt.

As much as I was enjoying playing video games with Vanessa in the play room for hours on end and having her leave for a bit to get meals for two of us, I was starting to get bored.

But then the most unexpected thing happened. Two familiar faces entered the playroom.

"You two are alive?!" One of them gasped.

Vanessa and I have a lot of explaining to do for these two.