~~

Trinity

~~

It felt very strange. Walking down the road and toward the city with the muted colors surrounding me and no sounds filling the air. I hadn't noticed it at first, I had been a little too preoccupied by other things, but there were no sounds at all coming from this world. There was no sound of the wind. No birds chirping or frogs croaking. There wasn't even the sound of crickets in the woods.

And, just like the other sounds, there were no sounds that could be heard from the city. No matter how peaceful it was, I should have been able to hear the sound of cars and other things coming from the busy city. That is, I would have heard those sounds if I was in the real world. I guess the underworld was so empty and desolate that there were no sounds to be heard coming from a major metropolitan area.

I tried not to think about the desolation of the landscape around me as I walked on. This was supposed to be the underworld, a land of the dead. Shouldn't it be filled with the souls of those dead people? Or were they all in their respective heavens and hells?

While I was doing my best to not think about those things, I thought about something else. At least I could walk normally now. That strange sticky feeling in the atmosphere was no longer affecting me. Though, I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Did the fact that the land was no longer pushing against me mean that I was closer to being a permanent part of the underworld? Would I be stuck here forever if I didn't hurry and finish my business? These were the thoughts that were plaguing me at the moment.

It felt like it took me about forty-five minutes to make it to the edge of the city from the gates of the compound. I think that I had subconsciously adjusted my walking speed so that the three little imp boys didn't have to run to keep up with me. The mommy part of me had naturally walked at a pace that was easier on their small, child sized legs.

The city looked the same as I last saw it, only muted in color. I tried to think of it as there just being a thin layer of fog in the air that was partially obscuring my vision. Though I wasn't truly able to convince myself of that at all.

Besides the lack of sound, I barely saw anyone moving around in the distance. But even that was a shock to me. I hadn't expected to see anyone in here at all. Since the only other people that I had seen were the three little Reece look-alikes and the other me, I had started to think that I wouldn't see anyone else here at all.

Another twenty minutes or so later, I was walking down a familiar looking street in a part of town that I used to frequent when I was a freshman in college. This path would take me to Franny's Kitchen.

I hadn't been there in a few years because the elderly Franny had needed to retire, and her family hadn't wanted to keep the business going without her. I don't know why I came this way. I think I was just letting my muscle memory take over for me as I walked the familiar streets.

There were some people who were slowly milling about as they went about whatever business they had here in the afterlife. I saw a man with a dog leash walking aimlessly about like he couldn't find his dog. There was a woman who was just sitting on a bus bench like she was waiting for the bus that would never come for her. Three teenagers with confused looks on their faces, and very different clothing styles were walking in single file as if they were on their way to the university.

This was all really strange to me, and very creepy too.

When I got to the door for Franny's Kitchen, I saw someone very familiar looking. They were just standing there outside the diner and whispering something so softly that I could barely hear it.

"I can't get in. I need to start my prep work for the day, but I can't get in.

"

Standing there, just staring at the door, was Franny. She looked older and smaller than the last time that I had seen her. And the fact that she was here told me that she had passed away. I hadn't heard that she had died and learning about it like this was almost like a punch straight in the gut.

"Franny?

" I called out before I could stop myself. She didn't stop her whispering and she didn't even seem as if she had heard me at all.

"Franny, what is wrong?

" That was a stupid question to ask. I should have scolded myself for asking such a ridiculous question.

"I can't get in. I need to start my prep work for the day, but I can't get in. Why won't they let me in? I need to get to work. I don't want to stay home and do nothing all day. I want to do what I love.

"

"Franny, why won't they let you in?

" I don't know why, but I wanted to help her somehow. I didn't understand why she was just standing there with such a sad look on her face. She should have been able to get inside because it was her restaurant after all.

"I can't get in. I need to start my prep work for the day, but I can't get in. Why won't they let me in? I need to get to work. I don't want to stay home and do nothing all day. I want to do what I love. Why won't my family let me go back to work? Why do they need to keep me away?

"

With each time that I heard Franny repeat these words, I heard more and more of what she was saying. It was like she was adding to it for my benefit.

"Did they make you stop working, Franny? Is that why you retired? But you weren't able to do your job anymore, right? Wasn't that why you closed up?

"

"I can't get in. I need to start my prep work for the day, but I can't get in. Why won't they let me in? I need to get to work. I don't want to stay home and do nothing all day. I want to do what I love.

" She stopped adding to the phrase now. All she was doing now was repeating that initial part. I felt so heart broken as I stood there listening to her.

I tried to ignore Franny then. I wanted to see what was happening around me now. So, I looked again. There was that man again, walking in the same endless loop as if he didn't know what he was doing. There was that woman still waiting on the bus. And there were those teenagers again, walking in single file.. It was like they were all stuck on repeat. What was all of this? What was happening around me?