A Room In Between

Jane always keeps a light on while sleeping. Not for a fear of the dark, but for a fear of death. She would lie awake each night with the agony of the unknown. What happens when you die? No one can confirm it, no one can know for sure. 

The word sounded light, but felt like a punch. Terminal. Suddenly, the light she kept on wasn’t protecting her from oblivion. Her finite little world ending too soon. For days, she refused to sleep. Worried her heart might stop, and her fear would become reality. Each moment was a reminder of what could happen.

One day, Jane finds herself in a room that seems to be endless. No corners to tell the shape, no shadows to soften the light. Only a still brightness that Jane felt comforted by. She doesn’t remember the journey there, only the quiet that followed.

A loud voice, soothing and warm, calls for Jane. “Welcome.” It says.

“Where am I?” Jane answers back. “Am I dead?”

“Do you wish to be?” It asks in response.

Jane thinks. The question lingers in her mind longer than any fear she’d had. She wants to say no. She’s never wanted death. But the truth is heavy, she wants to know what’s beyond.

“I don’t know,” Jane admits. 

A long pause silences the room. Her answers provoke thought in It. But after seconds of disturbing quiet, It finally answers, “Your fear is only a shadow for what you have yet to understand.” 

Jane closes her eyes, her bottom lip starting to quiver. It wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t fear. Jane knew it was peace. True peace.

“Death isn’t the end, Jane.” It booms down. The words were direct.

Jane feels the warmth of the light surrounding her, holding her. She lets it sink in as the pulse of something larger than herself wraps around her. Starting at her head, all the way through her body. 

When she opens her eyes again, the room seems softer. The corners are still undetectable, and shadows are still absent. 

It whispers one last time, “You have feared this moment, but now you see its importance. The truth of impermanence is just that. You will leave, one day. It’s not something to fear. It's something to embrace.”

Jane smiles. For the first time, the end doesn’t scare her.