In the silence and darkness, Luke made a promise to himself. He swore that if he ever got to live his life again, he would live it differently. He no longer pushes others away; instead, he pushes himself to help everyone around him. He had failed Mrs Williams, but he vowed to make her proud. He would be like her, dedicating his life to helping needy people.
As this promise solidified in his mind, Luke's body jerked awake. His breathing was heavy, his eyes fluttered open, and he began crawling in circles, his hands roughing over the dirt and dust of the ground he found himself on. The sensation of being run over by a truck was still vivid, but he was inexplicably alive. His hands frantically inspected his body, expecting to find injuries or worse, but there was nothing. No broken bones, no flattened organs, no blood. He was completely intact, though drenched in sweat as if he had just finished a grueling workout.
He sat back on his heels, trying to calm his racing heart and make sense of his surroundings. The ground beneath him was rough and unfamiliar, and the air had a distinct, earthy scent that was unlike the city streets he was used to. Slowly, he looked around, his eyes adjusting to the dim light. He appeared to be in a dense forest, the canopy above allowing only slivers of moonlight to filter through.
Luke took several deep breaths, trying to steady himself. He stood up slowly, his legs shaky but holding. The promise he had made in the darkness echoed in his mind, giving him a sense of purpose and determination. He had been given a second chance, and he was not going to waste it.
As he took in his surroundings, he noticed something peculiar. The trees were taller and more twisted than any he had ever seen. The leaves had an iridescent glow, shimmering in the moonlight. The forest was eerily silent, with no sound of traffic or city life. Instead, there was a gentle rustling of leaves and the distant hoot of an owl.
Luke squinted at the trees, their shapes and forms so strange to him. He wasn't an ecologist, a dendrologist, or a xylologist. Luke knew the names of fewer than ten types of trees. The education he had received, spotty and interrupted by his tumultuous life, left him with only a basic understanding of nature. Even the flowers and the grass seemed foreign, yet there was an odd familiarity to them. He couldn't decide if these were plants anyone could see on Earth or if he was witnessing something entirely alien.
Quenching his eyes, Luke only grew more and more confused as to what had happened to him. He began to walk, his mind racing with questions. Where was he? How had he survived the accident? And what was this place? His steps were cautious, each one testing the ground before him. He felt a strange mixture of fear and excitement. This was a new beginning, a chance to rewrite his story.
As he walked, he couldn't help but think of Mrs. Williams. Her words and her unwavering belief in him gave him strength. He would honour her by becoming the person she had always hoped he would be. He would help others, just as she had helped him.
The forest seemed to stretch on endlessly, but Luke continued to move forward. He had no idea where he was going or what he would find, but he was determined to make the most of this second chance. He was no longer the scared, aimless boy who had survived on the streets. He was a man with a mission, driven by a promise and a desire to make a difference.
Luke's senses sharpened as he moved through the forest. Every sound, every rustle of leaves, every flicker of light caught his attention. He felt more alive than he had ever felt before. This strange, new world was full of possibilities, and he was ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.
Luke's mind raced as he stumbled through the dense forest, the surreal landscape around him amplifying his sense of unease. The thought that he might be dead and this could be the afterlife began to creep in. He had never been a believer. Years of suffering and unanswered prayers had led him to abandon faith. But now, standing in this otherworldly forest, he couldn't dismiss the possibility. If this was the afterlife, what was he supposed to do? Was there someone he was meant to find? The forest seemed eerily empty, adding to his growing anxiety.
His thoughts were interrupted when he stumbled upon a small clearing and saw something familiar. There, lying side by side, were his briefcase and his smartphone. Relief washed over him, and he ran toward them, grabbing them with a mix of desperation and joy. These were his lifelines, his tools for survival. He embraced them tightly, feeling a semblance of normalcy in this bizarre place.
Luke quickly checked his phone, clicking the power button to see if it still worked. The screen lit up, but what he saw was disconcerting. The time was indeterminate, the apps were locked, and the interface looked as if it had been tampered with by a hacker. Most importantly, he couldn't see the battery percentage, a crucial detail given that his phone might be his only link to the outside world. Strangely enough, the signal bar showed full reception, implying he had internet access. This oddity made him question the afterlife theory; surely there wouldn't be Wi-Fi in the afterlife, would there?
Just as he was trying to make sense of it all, a sound broke the silence—a low, guttural grunt that sent shivers down his spine. He spun around, eyes darting to find the source of the noise. It didn't take long to spot a creature that resembled a deer, standing at the edge of the clearing. Four legs, a medium height, a snout—it looked like a deer, but something was off. The animal was unnervingly still, watching him intently.
Luke knew deer typically fled from humans, yet this one was moving toward him, cautiously but steadily. His heart pounded in his chest as the deer drew nearer, every step it took amplifying his fear. Its eyes locked onto his, unblinking and unnaturally intelligent. The closer it got, the more unsettling details he noticed. Its fur seemed to shimmer in the moonlight, a sickly sheen that made his skin crawl.
Before he could react, the deer's face began to split open with a wet, tearing sound, revealing rows of sharp fangs. The sight was nightmarish, but the smell was even worse. A sickly, musky odour wafted toward him, making his stomach churn. Thick, viscous liquid dripped from the creature's maw, a mix of saliva and some other unidentifiable substance that added to the horror.
The transformation didn't stop at its face. Luke watched in horrified fascination as the creature's hooves twisted and elongated, turning into clawed, almost hand-like appendages. These grotesque hands flexed and curled as if testing their new form. The body of the deer started to contort, the once graceful lines becoming jagged and unnatural. The creature's back arched sharply, giving it a menacing, hunched appearance.
The legs, once slender and deer-like, turned wretched and grotesque. The bones seemed to snap and elongate, the joints reversing in a sickening display. The limbs became slender yet somehow more powerful, ending in those terrible clawed feet. The most horrifying part of the transformation was when it stood on its two back legs, towering over him. It no longer resembled a deer in any natural sense; it was a monstrous, abominable fusion of nightmare and reality.
Luke's breath caught in his throat as the creature loomed above him, its eyes glinting with a malevolent intelligence. He felt paralyzed by fear, his mind struggling to process the impossibility of what he was seeing. This was no ordinary forest, and this was no ordinary deer. The world around him had shifted into something alien and terrifying, and he had no idea how to navigate it.
The creature's jaws snapped shut with a loud, echoing clack, and it took another step toward him, its clawed hands flexing ominously. Luke's survival instincts kicked in, pushing him to reach for his briefcase and run away. His fingers brushed against the familiar handle of his trade, and he scattered away, hands shaking but determined.
Running seemed futile; Luke had no idea how fast this abomination could move. But staying still won't help either. And with the deafening roar emanating behind Luke, who is already up and gliding, Luke's mind once again differentiates in thought. This is no afterlife or reality. This is a nightmare. A nightmare, perhaps a punishment, for bad people like him.
Of course, no matter how much Luke wanted to believe that this was a nightmare, the feeling was too strong to fake it. His eyes were seeing and scanning, his mouth was watering and gulping, his ears were screeching and hearing, his hands were clutching and gripping, and his nose was revolting and whimpering. All of his five senses, reflect to his brain, telling him over and over again, that this is all real.