My entire body was blissfully numb. I couldn’t tell which way was up, which way was down, or where I was. The difference between having my eyes closed or open didn’t matter anymore. My entire body was blissfully numb.

“You’re back.” I heard a melodic, smoky voice behind me. I couldn’t turn my head, but I listened as the voice continued, seeming to circle me until it was somewhere to my left. “Are you certain you will be alright?”

_“Yes_.” I knew I would be alright. I couldn’t force my lips to curl upwards into the smile that I wanted to show, but I’m sure they got the message. “_I’m sure I’ll be fine_.”

“Good.” The voice chuckled. They sounded both distant and near at the same time. So close, yet so far. “It is not your time yet.”

_“We’ve been over this… but thank you_.” I couldn’t put how I felt into words. This voice had been the one constant all my life, and like many times before, I wished I could form the words to express my gratitude.

“You don’t need to.” The voice smiled, and then changed the subject, its tone tender as it echoed through the nothingness. “How has your brother been treating you?”

I didn’t respond, my lifeless corpse just staring coldly ahead as I grappled with the pang of… emotion that threatened to explode from my chest.

“You don’t need to answer that.” The voice was too perceptive. Something I liked about it.

“_Did you meet him yet?_” That one question had been lingering in my mind since I saw the photo we received in the mail. The cutout letters crudely glued onto the paper made me-

“Chloe.” The voice tore me from the whirlwind of thoughts circling me like vulutures, its gentle yet firm presence an anchor I could grip in the gale force winds that seemed to always surround me.

I took a shallow, forced breath before I responded to death. I knew this would end soon- I had to tell it everything and-

“I will see you again soon, Chloe.” Death’s voice seemed to embrace me in a cold that sent a shiver through my body.

I woke up to emergency responders surrounding me, their worried eyes boring into me over their soft cloth masks.

The blissful numbness was gone.