All I can remember from my life is a photo shooting gone wrong. I woke up in a blank place, not like a white room but a blank void. 

“Hello?” I question hoping someone can explain to me what’s going on. 

“Hello!” said a woman who looked no older than 19 in clothes you’d wear going to the store unexpectedly from a lazy day. 

I look behind me and see her, I jump back horrified, falling onto my back. 

She reaches out her hand and says, “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. My name’s Ashley, but Ash for short.” 

I responded in a calm tone, “My name's Sarah Midref”.

Ash sighed and said, “Well I guess you have questions about why you’re here and what’s the reason I showed up out of nowhere. Well, long story short you’re dead, and I’m your tour guide into the afterlife.” 

I just stood there shocked, thinking about how I could have died. 

Then it hit me, literally I was hit by a falling stage light and died from blood loss and electrocution. I said, “wow, I never would have thought I would be killed by a stage light.” 

Ash chuckled and said, “That’s a new one.” She took out a notebook.

I asked, “What’s the notebook for?” Ash explained how she writes down how people die since they ask questions about each person for judgment. “Judgment?” I questioned. 

Ash explained, “Humans are judged on their sins and personality in a court and are sent to heaven, hell, or the in-between. Before you ask ‘The In-Between?’ It’s exactly as it sounds in between hell and heaven.”

“Okay, but what do you mean by a human? Are there animals here too?”, I asked her. 

“No, but humans can be reborn as hybrid animals”, she sighed and then continued. “When you die you are untied from the bonds that tie you from your universe. So you’ll be able to travel to different universes and dimensions with ease.”

I sat there confused, still trying to figure out what in the world that meant. “Wait, so you’re saying we can travel anywhere we want!” I say in confusion.

“Well anywhere except your earth”, Ash explained to me. 

“Wait, so I won’t be able to see anyone again”, I questioned, on the verge of tears.

“You’ll be able to see them if they come to the afterlife, except if they are reborn, but that is a low chance of happening.” Ash tried to explain. All I could think at the time was that there was a chance I'd never see some of my friends and family again. And then I muttered, “So.. that means.” 

Ash was very confused why I stopped talking. And then she realized “Oh hun, there’s still a large chance of them coming here.” 

It took me a while to stop crying and accept that it may be for the best. Someone wearing a black jacket and a red backpack came over to us.

“Soooo…. We have a gray-zoner or an unjudged” the strange man said. 

“Oh shut up, Jack,” Ash said. I was just sitting there confused. 

“Wait, what's a gray-zoner?” I asked. 

The man named Jack (I think) couldn’t help but laugh hysterically. He chuckled right before saying “Oh… so she's unjudged, but”. He laughed even louder “HOW THE HECK DOES SHE NOT KNOW ABOUT GRAY-ZONERS EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT THOSE FREAKS”. 

I wanted to punch hard because no one deserves to be called a freak, but he's a freak for picking on others. “So… where do you wanna go first?” Ash said, trying to ignore Jack 

“Umm…” I said, “I’d like to go to the in-between.” 

Jack interrupted us “You want to see those freaks!?” He said insultingly. “If so you may as well be one of them.” 

Ash punched him and said, “SHUT UP.” The way she said that had me shivering. “So you wanna go in between, then come on here go,” Ash said in a childish voice. I really got shivers down my spine then, but for some odd reason, I continued to follow her.

As we walk out the huge door everything goes dark and everything we see goes dark and for a moment I wonder if this is real. After my eyes have gotten used to the light change I see that everything looks old, I guess that’s what happens when people from everywhen come to the same place over and over for thousands of years. As we walk through the small town, Ash starts to explain why there aren't any houses in sight. 

“Grey-zoners don’t build houses here for a reason”, Ash starts to explain. “It’s because the grey-zoners respect the nature and property of this land, and also because of their low population.”

 “Low population?” I ask

“Yes the grey-zoners’ population is low due to wars and the chance of becoming one,” Ash says. 

What exactly did she mean by wars? “How slim is the chance to become one?” I ask Ash. 

“Grey-zoners are a very thin line between the demons and angels, but being born a fallen angel is very common,” Ash stops explaining, acting as if she was realizing she said too much. 

“Fallen angel?” I questioned her. 

“Someone born in-between”, Jack interrupts, “freaks, absolutely freaks. They are born with wings and horns without any suffering at all.” 

Well, I learned a lot today, mostly that Jack hates people in between, and Ash feels guilt towards the people in between. 

Someone who looks to be a ‘grey-zoner’ or an ‘in-between’ walks up to Jack and smacks him. While Jack is wailing in pain like a baby, the grey-zoner says “Freak my ass, I earned this role and you earned yours so deal with it”. The grey-zoner stares at me for a moment, and for a moment I stare at her too, she seems to know me or something. “Oh sorry, I drift off sometimes” the grey-zoner apologizes sincerely. “I should introduce myself shouldn’t I” they continued “My name’s Mythic, a demi-god and next in line for heaven's throne.” 

“Wait, what!? Isn’t the queen of heaven supposed to be an angel?” I quickly say without thinking. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about what I was saying.” 

“It’s okay, and I’m a demi-god meaning I was born by a god or someone with god-like powers, which is rare.” She states accepting the apology. I sit there in awe. 

“Really! Who?!” I ask in a childish voice. “Well, my parents are god and Saten”. She says in an embarrassed voice. 

“Wait Satan… You mean the Devil?” I replied.

“No, Saten. Satan’s twin sister and the queen of magic.” She says happily. 

“Oh sorry, I just thought you were evil and all because of your uncle,” I say while feeling embarrassed. 

“No, it's fine. I get that a lot, I don’t like him either,” she says as she means it. Jack interrupts once again, with his stupid red backpack. Wait T_T  Okay now this is pathetic. 

“Don’t you guys see kids my age on the regular? '' I ask. 

Everyone suddenly answers at the same time “NO.” What does that mean? Eh, it’s probably nothing. 

“Well most, at least.” Jack says 

“Wait, what do you mean by MOST, JACK!” The girls shout.

“Yeah what do you mean Jack? Are there others my age” I ask, wanting answers that second? 

“Well? Do you know how old I am?” Jack said in suspense. 

“Yeah, you’re 18, the age to come to the afterlife,” Ash answered. So, they know each other personally.

“Well… I lied I am only 16” What’s so special about that? I thought that everyone of every age got here since kids are running around 

“WHAT, BUT HOW? KIDS DON’T COME HERE” Mythic and Ash yell. 

I just realized how Ash had said REBORN. Wait, so that means, I could have had a chance with another life! I start yelling in rage. Now realizing that I could have lived on and been part of a family once again. 

“Hey. Hey. I know you wanted to live on and be part of a family once again, but It’s okay, you can make a new family with the people you will meet. There are plenty of people out there who will become family to you. Just wait.” Ash explained to me, trying to calm me down from this brand new information I received. 

We sat down in Mythics’ house nearby and I cried there for 20 mins. After that, the day went normal except none of us talked to each other until the morning.In the morning we had talked and I had excepted that it may have been for the best. 

Ash started a conversation “So. I talked to my boss and I still have 2 days left to show you everything.” 

Mythic commented “Three days means a day for each place. We’ll go back to the market on the last day, so everyone will forget the incident yesterday. Should we go to heaven or hell first? I think that we should go to heaven first” 

“No! Hell, it’s more fun.''Jack states. Why would hell be fun? Oh yeah, because Jack is a demon and he lives there. I am still getting used to this whole ‘People who died don’t get older’ thing. While I daise out, the two have been fighting about where to go for the day. 

Ash recommends “Hey why don’t we ask Sarah where she wants to go.” 

Jack says “No, she’ll want to go to heaven, and I don’t wanna go there.” 

“Yeah well who else other than you would want to go to hell,” Mythic says, as she continues “How about we leave all the ‘fun’ for last so we can get over with heaven.'' 

Jack says “No. Wait, what about if we get heaven done with today and go have fun in hell after, so we don’t have to ruin the mood with the goodie-two-shoes. Yeah, that sounds great. Good on me for making a fun plan.” 

Mythic fights back with “Wait  that was-.'' 

Ash stops her from starting something, “just let him have this.” 

Mythic sighs, “fine if it stops this demon from starting a fire, then let’s do this.” 

Jack goes “Yay!” Jack acts like a child even though he’s older than me, only by a few months but still older than me. T-T 

Even the kids here are older than me, they were around 20 years old while I was 3. Time sure is different here. Why do they tease me with their age when they are still getting older while I’m stuck at this age. Now that I think about it, why do we not age at all? I mean you can’t keep everyone from ever coming to the same spot, so where do you go after this place? 

We begin to pack a backpack for emergencies. There are some really bad people in heaven. 

“But I don’t understand how that works, aren’t they all supposed to be good or something like  Jack said?” I asked in a really confused tone. 

“Well yes, but some people take advantage of the fact that when they are born Guardians they can’t be changed because they are mortal after all” Mythic stated. 

“That must be so sad, they will get old while some of their friends stay here forever” I replied. 

“Yeah, forever,” Ash, Mythic, and Jack said as they sigh. I wonder what that was about, I mean I sorta get it since we can’t die again. We will make friends that will grow old and die while we’re here. 

“SO! Why don’t we get the move on, it’ll be crowded if we don’t leave soon.” Ash reminded us. 

I replied with an “Oh, yeah we got to go then. C’mon guys.” I try to forget everything that has happened so far. 

But man does it seem like forever ago, especially when you have a childish Jack who wants to play board games in your room all night. But eh, maybe that's how time works here.

 We walk into the front yard when I ask “Hey how come I’ve never seen a car once pass us, do you not have cars here.”  

“Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that the Gods have seen how cars affected humans back on earth. So to keep this world alive and healthy, they removed cars from this universe and spread the word to not make cars, for anyone who does will be judged immediately.” Mythic said in a very neutral voice. 

How in the world does she say all these really big events that are so frightening to me in such a calm and collected voice, if I was saying that, I would have been a little guilty. 

“So, it’s time to go now,” Mythic said, “Off to the kingdom we go!” 

It took us about 4 hours to get there, somehow it felt like 30 mins. Not bad. 

“This is a lot bigger than I thought,” Jack said. Mythic responded 

“Well, yeah. When you have the entire kingdom’s people who are super devoted to this town create it, you can get a lot done.” 

“Wow, so all of this was made by hand?” I ask. 

“Of course silly. No one has machines in here, all we have is nature” Ash lectured me on this town. 

This is a nice town. It looks super modern, but still old since it’s made by hand. Some people walk by, they seem to live in this town due to them having wings. 

Mythic starts to ask us what we want for lunch. “We want to stay close to the place we want to eat. It is a large place after all.”

We start to debate what we wanted. Still, in the end, we ended up picking a nice fish restaurant, surprisingly they only have natural foods from farms and rivers, no machines, all-natural foods, and no greasy stuff. 

We had sat there for about 30 mins when Jack finally rose from his seat and just left without saying a word. 

As I start to walk after him, he turns and says “I need to leave for a while.” I stood there confused about why he had the leave like that.

Mythic tells me, “He can’t be in heaven for more than 30 minutes without hurting himself. Well, all demons and devils can’t be here for too long, just like how angels and guardians can’t be in hell for too long without hurting on the inside.”

We spent the next hour walking by the entrance, waiting for Jack to get back. Mythic went to talk to Jack. When she came back she confronted us saying, “Jack’s not feeling well, he told me that he’ll meet us at mine this afternoon.”

So I and Ash looked at each other with concern and tried to go on with the day, but it was almost too quiet for a while, in fact, almost the entire day. But when we got to Mythic house, we were surprised to see Jack baking a cake in the kitchen. 

Mythic yells at Jack saying “What the heck are you doing Jack?! Did you poison this or something?!” 

Jack looks at Mythic in shock and screams, “Why the hell would I do that?!” “Oh. I don’t know, probably because you've done it before!!” 

“I did not!” They continued arguing back and forth, while I sat there confused asking myself, he’s done this before? Ash walked into the guest room she was sleeping in, ignoring the two fightings. 

After a while, Ash comes out of her room while holding a long stick screaming, “Will you both shut up before I end up smacking you two!”  The room goes silent and Ash asks, “Now, Jack. What in the world are you doing?”

Jack looks at Ash in embarrassment and says, “I was making a cake to calm everyone down once they got back, though, I did not expect you to come home so soon.” 

Mythic tries to scream at Jack, but Ash screams at her instead, “Didn’t I say to shut up!” 

The room is silent once more, I have a feeling this will not be the last time the room is completely still. 

I walk into my guest room and look around, I’ve never noticed how Mythics house is so old style. Sure the whole town is, but I didn’t expect the inside of the houses to also have this cozy village vibe.

I see a photo of a big source of light and someone who looks like a younger version of Mythic. Mythic looks so young in this photo. I map out the details and decoration of this room to distract myself from the fighting in the background. There’s a twin-sized bed along with 2 nightstands in the center of the back wall. 

On the left side of the room, there is a dresser with some photos, and plants on it. The window, which is on the left side of the room has wooden shutters and the border is made out of logs of wood. I hear Ash screaming at them again and then a door slams closed. 

I walk out of my room to see what’s going on, Ash left while Mythic and Jack look guilty.  I asked what happened, and in return, I got silence as an answer.Mythic walked off as well, and Jack finished the cake he had started about 1 hr ago. The house was silent. Too silent to be normal. 

I go into a room at the back of the hallway, Mythic never mentioned this one. I walked in to see a room that looks like an office that’s been abandoned for years now, I wonder what she was working on. 

And then again, I see a photo of a very young Mythic and the strange light source.I wonder who, or what that light is. I look around a bit more, observing as much as I can from this small room. 

This room has no windows and is only big enough for a singular desk with a chair and some room to stand.When I first saw this door at the end of the hallway, I thought it was just a closet, but now I see that I was wrong. 

On the right wall, there’s a thumbtack board with some papers. A paper says, “Oct. 16, 2005, the royal angel disappeared. Dec. 11, 2007, a wandering living soul lurks around for answers. Apr. 12, 2045, a royal angel appears and waits for judgment. Jun. 29, 2045, royal angel gains name and is officially a fallen angel.” 

I found another piece of paper with a bunch of names crossed out, it seems like Mythic was looking for the name of the fallen angel. It did say Royall, so maybe it was one of her siblings. I turned the paper over, and in shock I found the name ‘Mythic’ circled. What does Mythic have to hide? We’re her friends after all, or at least I thought so.

I return to my room and think about everything I’ve just learned within the last few minutes. I realized that over time, I’ve started to not freak out about weird and unexpected things happening. I mean, I’m dead. What’s there to fear? Well, some days there are out of this world weird things that go on in the day-to-day lives of the dead and the reborn. For example, around two o’clock there was a person who looked young, and for some reason had disintegrated into dust. A light popped up out of the ashes, while Mythic and Ash were just looking down in grief. I wanted to ask what was going on, but I felt as if the situation I am in is a lot bigger than it seems. The lives of these people seem so sad and never-ending. How do people go through this and still act as if everything is fine? There are a lot of questions I have started to ask myself about this place. That is where this book comes into place. I am writing down everything I go through to make sure that when I am judged, at least I’ll have something to hold onto when I’m stuck for months. Cause little do they know, my life is way worse than anything that you can imagine. -Sarah Midref, this is where I stop telling my story. The rest is for you to find out.