Door Number Eight - Door Number Seven - The Afterlife

“Where are we?” Taylor looked around, trying to recognize her surroundings. There was something very familiar about the place, it felt as if she had spent a lot of time there, but so long ago, maybe in a dream.

“For lack of a better word, dead,” he clarified, too calm for comfort. “Not dead-dead, just on the other side of the river Styx, visiting, sort of. Don’t worry, we’re going back.”

“I didn’t know one could visit,” she thought, “without being, you know…”

“Sure you can,” he reassured her. “Well, I can, some people can, that’s beside the point. Welcome to the great beyond!” he smiled and raised his hands to present the environment, in an attempt to be a gracious host. “To give a more specific answer to your original question, we aren’t anywhere, at least not anywhere that can be pointed on a map in normal reality. We’re in the world inside your mind,” he suggested, “you can make it look any way you wish.”

“Then why does it look like this? I’m sure I’ve never been to this place, nor did I imagine it. Why does it feel so familiar?” she kept looking around.

“Of course it feels familiar, it is your mind, you just didn’t know what it looked like before. It feels a little bit like seeing your own face for the first time. Without a reflective surface you have now way of knowing what you look like, but you can sort of recognize yourself, even if you don’t understand why. Cozy,” he commented upon looking around. “What’s that smell?”

“Sugar plums. They’re over there,” she pointed to the corner of the table from which the scents of vanilla, cinnamon and orange wafted. “So, we’re in Heaven?”

“That depends. Do you like sugar plums?” he asked, very serious.